Blue Highway

Blue Highway got its start out in the small outlying town of Micanopy. It quickly garnered a reputation of having outstanding pizza. Eventually, they opened up shop closer to Gainesville, though still in the small town of Jonesville. I happen to live down the street from the aforementioned establishment, and decided to meet some family there for lunch.
It would be foolish to go to to a pizza establishment, and not get pizza. I chose the meatball Sicilian, and to be healthy a Ceasar salad on the side. To top it off, a beer from the local brewery First Magnitude.
The ceasar salad was impressive, with shaved asiago cheese instead of shredded. It really allowed the flavor to translate to the romain lettuce. The croutons, if not house made sure fooled me. Crunchy, and seasoned with cheese. The dressing was creamy, and not overbearing adding the perfect compliment.
The Sicilian meatball pizza was huge! Crunchy and crispy crust, just spongy enough to give the perfect thick crust consistency. The roasted garlic emerged from all the flavors to give a nice kick to the tender meat balls, and goey cheese. Every now and then a little ricotta would float to the surface. I would say it would be enough to feed 3 people.
Stuffed to the brim with pizza and salad, somehow our waiter talked us into getting desert! It’s hard for me to refuse chocolate, or ice cream. Even harder to say no when a dish has both! So, I made a little room in my stomach for a brownie with ice cream. It played with the boundaries between chocolate cake, and a brownie. Dense at times, but then also a little light and fluffy. A thick spread of chocolate icing topped it off, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream and whip cream finished. It was decadent. I was glad I was sharing it with my wife because half way through I think my taste buds gave out.
Good company, and good food created a great experience for me at Blue Highway. It defiantly did not suck!

I wasn’t sure how many stars to give here — I’d give the food 5 stars and the service 1 star. This is our favorite pizza in Gainesville (it’s in Tioga town center). Ceasar salad is delicious with shaved Parmesan and the margarita (sp?) pizza. The spinach artichoke flatbread is basically like a pizza and it’s delicious. The service is subpar and honestly seems to get worse every time we visit. It’s a small place so unless you’re there early and not a weekend, expect a 30 minute + wait time.

Stopped in town and saw this place while checking out the shopping center. The pizza was good and the service was great. What more could you ask for?

Decided to head back here, and was not disappointed. I had the deep dish pizza, and we were able to sit outside. It was really great, the evening was perfect, the pizza was awesome, and the service was very efficient and friendly. The pizza is at least as good as the last time we were. Good job.

Food is great and we love the outdoor/​veranda seating. They can get very crowded on weekends or prime dinner hours so we generally stick to take out if we fall into that time frame. Their pizza’s are awesome but the lasagna is our favorite!!! If they are busy then food to table service gets slow. I like to think that is because food is made to order as opposed to boil in a bag!

New to gainesville, but Blue Highway has quickly become one of my favorites. Great staff and have yet to try a plate I haven’t liked.

Pros: Fresh ingredients and a wide variety of specialty pizzas
Cons: Crust can be a hit or miss depending on the day.
Bottom Line: Has a pizza for whatever you may be feeling but quality can be variable at times.
I used to love Blue Highway pizza in the past, but lately my experience has been a little disappointing. I’ve always loved how there are so many type of thin crust pizzas for whatever mood you may be in. Fresh seafood pizza and interesting vegetarian pizzas that use ingredients like fried eggplant and funghi; I used to come to come all the way to Tioga because there was something interesting to be had. Lately however I have found my crusts to be closer to burnt then its characteristic crispiness, and there is nothing worse than ending a fantastic pizza on a dull end. Try your luck if you hadn’t been here before, however I’m going to take some time before I come back.

Go here all the time, wait is sometimes slow but trust me the food is worth it, exquisite dough and huge salads. My favorite is Lombardo pizza! Definitely a must if you want the best restaurants in Gainesville.

I came here expecting to be amazed by the amount of hype that this restaurant gets, but I may have had my expectations a little too high. Don’t get me wrong there food was really good, 4 stars pretty good. And the staff was very attentive. As soon as my soda was near finished, the waitress already had another on it’s way without me having to ask for a refill. I am hoping to go there again soon to try their mushroom pizza!

SO MUCH HYPE. Ya know, I just didn’t get it. I went to Blue Highway hearing people say what an incredible place it was. I got a chicken caesar, which is essentially my go-​to restaurant meal. Don’t get me wrong, it was good, but also kind of underwhelming. The pizzas and flatbreads looked beautiful, but I had the sense that more effort was put into the art, then the flavor. The place was crowded, but the waitresses did a good job. Somehow, I felt that the experience was lackluster. For me, it was just another random pizza shop.

Simply the best pizzaria in the Gainesville area. My favorite in the thin and crispy carne combo, (sausage and pepperoni) with an addition of mushrooms. The ingredients are fresh, locally grown whenever available.
Blue Highway offers a lot more than just pizza. Their salads are delicious. The Caesar Salad, with added chicken, is fantastic — the only dressing is almost as good as my wife makes from scratch! The carbonara is excellent, a favorite for our friend from out of town.
Blue Highway in the Tioga Town Center is one of our go to restaurants. Service is excellent, food prep is done efficiently and managers check on customers frequently. Never had a bad meal here, well worth a visit. You will be back!

This restaurant is wonderful. Discovered it while visiting my boyfriend in the area. I’ve eaten here so many times and have never had anything but delicious food and good service. Some times there is a wait, on Friday nights and such, but it is worth the wait.
The pizza is delicious. We always create our own and it comes out amazing. The pasta is delicious. The meatballs are very good. I’m a pretty picky eater and I have loved everything I’ve ever tried. The menu is pretty big, I’ve tried getting a new thing every time and it’s always delicious.
Oh and they give kids dough to play with which is super adorable. Just a very nice place all around.

The original Blue Highway (Micanopy not Tioga) is a far better experience than it’s more well known and conveniently located 2^nd location. I’ve been eating here for years and have never had a bad meal. The Blue Highway salad is my favorite in Gainesville. If you are in the mood for pizza, the Carne and the Shrimp Scampi pizzas are both outstanding. The Geno is a great sub sandwich if you happen to be in the area for lunch. Loaded with italian meats, cheeses, and peppers.

This place is OK… there’s so many people that rave about it but I don’t get it. It’s a convenient location for me so sometimes when I don’t feel like cooking Blue Highway wins the battle. I don’t think the pizza is spectacular (or anywhere close for that matter) and this is a pizza place so hence the 3 stars. Also, the service is always subpar in my opinion. If you want to eat at the restaurant the dining room is small so you may find a long wait ahead of you. I don’t think they put enough toppings on the pizzas either. Do NOT get the bruschetta, it’s terrible and shouldn’t be called bruscetta. It’s their giant panini bread cut up with about 2 TBSP of diced tomatoes to try and make last for all the bread. The only thing I have found to be ok is the turkey asiago panini but again… way to much bread. I always end up eating it open-​faced so I can taste the turkey. 3 stars for this restaurant.

this place never disappoints. The service is friendly and the pizza amazing. Anytime we come back to Gainesville its a must.

Yes it is a bit of a ride to Tioga from Gainesville but the little shopping village that this place is in was worth it.
Sit inside or out to enjoy some very delicious food
We ordered the mussels — fabulous and fresh
Got a clam pizza — fresh seafood from Cedar Key, also ordered the shrimp scampi pizza and a veggie Cuban on crisp garlic focaccia
Service was good too
Walk around after your meal and visit the shops
We found the farmers market on Monday in the back parking lot and bought lots of local veggies and jams

We almost didn’t come cause it was packed ! But I’m so glad we did cause I experienced heaven today here. I’m
Not trying to be dramatic … Sike. This place deserves dramatic.
We walked in and cause it was just me and a friend we sat at the bar stool where you can watch them cook. Service was awesome ! Until we needed to leave he lagged a bit but I’m giving him the doubt because ladies and gents lemme tell you this was the most packed restaurant I’ve seen in my life and they were busy so it’s okay ! Don’t penalize them !
We got the bruschetta and holy cow guys. This was a foodgasm times ten ! I’ve never had such a simple appetizer be so dang delicious!!! I could have eaten that twice and not had dinner.
My friend had a veggie panini lookin thing and says it was really yummy and fresh but let’s talk about me (:
I ordered shrimp pasta and a pizza (thin crust). It’s not thin like tostinos crappy stuff. It was just like regular pizza. Fluffy and good decent small size. Perfect size for two. Or even one. I had onions garlic and tomatoes on it. You can either choose what they have on the menu or make your own ! It’s an awesome choice for those who have picky eaters !
The pasta was the bomb ! Everything about this fish was flavor blasting and amazing ! I can’t wait to come back and I’m sure as **** gonna be back every time I come to Gainesville. It makes me sad there’s not one in Jacksonville. Very very sad. I’d drive here for dinner all the way here just cause it was this awesome ! The service was very good for a weekend and the food was out of this world ! You will deff not regret it ! It’s a good family spot, date night, anything. Kinda small like they need to move to another spot it’s so successful.
I beg you give it a try and it’ll be your new hang out. Lots of beer choices too ! I’m telling you tons ! Come on out and try some stuff. They have Italian stuff sandwich stuff spaghetti you name it ! Not just Italian.
See ya soon !

Been looking for an amazing pizza place since I moved here a fewonths ago and thanks to a coworker at GHFC I was guided to this place. So good!
My gf and I got the Sicilian (serves 3 – 4) so that we would have leftovers. I was stuffed after two pieces, but had a 3^rd because it was so good. After thinking about the leftovers in the fridge for the next two hours I had to go and finish it off, thinking about how good it was made me hungry again! Excellent food, great customer service, small and busy but it was a Friday night. ¹¹⁄₁₀ definitely recommend.
Just don’t go in wanting Dr. Pepper, they just switched to coke: P

Good pizza, lots of different choices. Great appetizer menu as well. Interested to try the pasta dishes. They were pretty busy even on a Monday evening but we got seat pretty quickly and servers are friendly. My boyfriend and I ordered the antipasto plate, carne lovers thin crust pizza, and a canoli for dessert. We enjoyed the food and overall experience.

I came here for a pizza, not flat bread or panini. Oh, and a side salad that does not suck. I left still craving pizza and paid about double what I was expecting. I highly suggest carefully reading their menu online to realize that lunch for two will set you back almost $ 40.
This is specialty pizza folks, so if you are craving the stick to your ribs stuff you will not that find that here. This is where old ladies lunch together; they split a panini or salad and both get bowls of soup. It makes them feel like they are splurging and not straying from their diet. Almost all of the tables around us were examples of this.
My Mom bragged about the Blue Highway salad for days, so I just had to give it a try. The waitress recommended either the Balsamic or Gorgonzola dressing. I should have gone with the Balsamic, my mistake.
The Margherita pizza was seriously lacking in flavor. You really need a good crust to support these types of ingredients. The Blue Highway crust is light and crispy, but there is absolutely no flavor backing it. The mozzarella puddles were rubbery barges floating on a sea of sweet tomato purée. You could barely taste the basil, so I suggest using full leaves instead of shredding them. It is sad, but the overall flavor of the pizza here reminded me of Carrabba’s pizza, which is not their speciality. Except Carrabba’s pizza is actually cheaper and the crust has more flavor from the over being wood instead of gas.
The Lombardi pizza ($ 13.50) was on the specials menu and was one of the most difficult foods I have ever attempted to eat either by hand or with knife and fork. The thin yet massive slices of prosciutto covered multiple slices and could not be sawed through using any implements in a normal table setting, including my teeth. The delicious cheese, olive oil, and garlic underneath could not carry the musky meat poncho on top. Then, on top of that is a salad mix, again almost impossible to knife-​and-​fork my way through. I ended up hand tearing all of the meat into bit sized pieces and taking half off of the salad off of the slices. However, the flavor was wonderful once re-​assembled.
The ingredients are all fresh and are high quality, but there is too much competition in Gainesville. Maybe over time this restaurant will have more of a local feel instead of sleek and polished, which may bring a more novel approach to the atmosphere– making customers want to spend their money here instead of other local places that serve better pizza for a better price (Satchel’s, Leo’s 3 locations, etc etc…). At least they accept credit cards.