All Fired Up

It’s such a cute idea!
I brought my son here on a weekday afternoon to have a little artistic activity. He painted a firetruck and I painted a mug– so much fun! The owner is super sweet and helpful, as it was our first time. Lots of color selections and ceramic options.
This is a wonderful place for families, children, and even a cute crafty date!
I’d definitely recommend this place to others!

I am writing on my mom’s account. I have been here before and it was great! But, last weekend I went to a friends birthday party here. The service was ok. We got our colors and a nice place to sit. The only problem I had with the painting part was one of the employees decided to bring her dog (the dog was trained). She just let it roam around! Under the tables and in people’s way. Today we got our pieces back. My piece had a big smear down the front and the back was all lumpy! I was very disappointed. After all I did spend an hour and a half working on that and I was very passionate about it. The worst part is, THEY LOST THE BIRTHDAY GIRL’S PEICE! They gave the family a coupon, though I was still disappointed to hear that and I am very sorry for her. To conclude, This place is pricey and doesn’t work out all the time.

NEW BETTER MANAGEMENT!!!
Cutest little shop, loads of options of ceramic things to choose from lots of bright beautiful colors! Really helpful staff that helps you with the entire process such as how many coats to apply and what order to apply it in. There are plenty of great ideas and samples around the shop to give you ideas of what to paint if you don’t have a muse yet! Really great for families with kids (and even adults) that need an idea of what to do.
Great staff, great little shop, lots of creativity and fun!

Very disappointed when I received my finished product. I had a great time while I was there and the service was good, but when I got my finished product (a large bowl), there was a large paint stain sealed into the bowl that was not there when I left it. The stain was in a color that I never even used on my bowl and is very obvious (see the picture). I took a lot of time and care to make sure my bowl would turn out nicely, so needless to say that I was very surprised and disappointed when I got the final product and saw that it had been marked up (I think by the staff that fired it or put the glaze on). Pretty bad.

Very nice lady who helped us. However the prices are out of this world. Really taking advantage of the Burlingame reputation. Will never go again. Better to drive down to Menlo Park to go to Color Me Mine.

I hadn’t been here in years! On my birthday, my eldest son and I walked around burlingame after having some ice cream and to my surprise– I remembered this place where we can paint together. It was such a fun activity (and relaxing one) and now that he’s at the age where he can enjoy these kinds of art projects, it made it that much more worth it. Time slowed down for the hour or so we were there. and that’s exactly what I was looking for!

We just had our daughter’s birthday party there. The girls that helped us, Lindsay and Sarah were excellent! They were patient, sweet and very helpful. The party went really smooth. I really want to thank them for their hard work!

I wanted to love this place. It’s right in my neighborhood & now that I have a little one I was excited to see what they’re all about. My experience was actually quite strange and probably unlikely to happen again (I hope)! But, regardless let me explain it all.
I walked in on a Tuesday weekday mid morning. There was no one in the shop and the door had been mistakenly left unlocked. I had my new baby with me just shy of 4 weeks old. I didn’t know the door had been left unlocked unintentionally so I decided to wait. I would say 5 – 10 minutes later someone showed up clearly embarrassed by their mistake (I can definitely understand that feeling). My first instinct was to call it a day and not pursue it further, but I had walked my little one all this way to get his hand and feet prints done. The lady I dealt with was very nice and helped me right away (I was the only customer in the store at the time). She was great at getting my little ones prints on the pieces I wanted. Then showed me how to use paint for any writing I wanted to do. This is where things got tricky I’m not very artistic myself & struggled to write clearly and nicely to accompany my little ones hand prints. I was willing to overlook that in hopes that it would all work out better than I had hoped.
Prior to this, I was asked to pay. My total was much higher than I had expected. I understand there’s glazing fees $ 2 per item & I had 3 items. But, suddenly the numbers weren’t adding up. I was in a rush to get home and clean my little ones hands & feet more thoroughly and vowed to look over my receipt to see where all the costs had actually come from. I was disappointed to discover that I didn’t have an itemized receipt none of the charges were every outlined for me or discussed prior to purchase it was all charged after with no explanation.
This is bothersome for a few reasons. I had come in the weekend prior to look at pieces and was quoted different prices. I decided to get a more detailed explanation when I picked up my items. However, there was only one person working and handling a children’s party. She was kind enough to locate my items and offer me an explanation of the charges. However, even she couldn’t make sense of them. I came in on a day when the children’s sitting fee was supposed to be free. As an adult I didn’t think I should be charged but clearly was charged a fee unknowingly and suddenly the prior prices I was quoted were wrong. The frame I got ended up being $ 30 instead of $ 24. The poor employee had no idea about the additional charges and couldn’t explain why I had been charged an adult sitting fee when it was my infants prints that had been taken. To be clear, I have no problem paying for an item and quality services I just would appreciate a level of knowledge and a clear explanation when you can’t give me one I begin to wonder why I even paid you for these services in the first place.
Needless to say, my pieces came out fairly well. The hand & foot prints looked great. My terrible penmanship not as much (my fault, I know). I just now feel I can’t trust this place of business to give me the appropriate prices and to explain any of the charges. I would like to say I will be back, but that’s hard when it seems they’re unorganized & I can’t seem to get a straight answer on what I was charged or why, which feels dishonest to me. I’m extremely disappointed and wish that I had not taken a chance on this store once I discovered I had walked into an empty place of business. I felt I had been honest and trustworthy when I clearly could have taken advantage of the situation and instead was taken advantage of with high prices that employees themselves couldn’t explain or make sense of to me.
Sadly, I won’t be coming back…

It’s a very good place to come with kids.
We had such a good family time, painting plates with my wife and daughter.
Can’t wait to see the result in a week!

After writing this review, have been bombarded with inflammatory hate mail with personal attacks from employees with regards to my poor experience at All Fired Up. It really does show how mature certain people working here are… Unfortunate.

3.5 stars.
So glad I got the Living Social deal for this place. I chose this place for a date but it was limit one deal per person so I bought a deal for me and one as a gift for my boyfriend. It was pay $ 10 for $ 20 worth. In order to use both deals we paid separately.
I came here probably 10 years ago for my own birthday party and it was so fun. It wasn’t until now that I realized how pricey it was! (Thanks Mom and Dad back then!) Here’s how it was broken down for the two mugs we painted.
Mugs $ 22/​ea
Adult fee $ 9/​ea
Glazing fee $ 3−5/ea
Living Social deal -$ 20/​ea
How much I paid in store: $ 30 total
How much I paid in coupons: $ 20
So I actually paid $ 50 just for the two of us… and if I didn’t have that deal, it would’ve been $ 70! That’s crazy…(to me, anyway).
But pricing aside, the service was alright. We came on a late Saturday afternoon and there was only one other group there so we stayed there for about 3 – 4 hours on our pieces. Even though there was only one girl working there, she was really helpful and sweet. I guess the bathroom sink doesn’t work so you have to wash your hands in the sink in the store but I wasn’t sure where the towels were to wipe my hands. It would’ve been nice if the girl working there noticed that I was standing there for 30 seconds trying to find the towels/​napkins so I ended up asking my boyfriend who washed his hands first. Also, if your girlfriends are gonna visit you at work, it would be courteous of them to not sit in a circle in the walkway. I felt like I was the one who had to apologize for walking by to the bathroom or to set my finished mugs on the table when it really shouldn’t feel that way.
Also, try to find residential parking away from the busy streets. You might get lucky and find a spot without having to pay a meter.

Valerie was spectacular in helping me today. I wanted some footprints and handprints of my baby on mugs for a thank you gift and couldn’t have done it without her.

I was really sad when I got home and realized they had given me my piece back with a huge chip on the bottom and a big piece of ceramic (probably from another piece that was stuck to mine in the kiln) on the handle. I would have driven back to point it out but after that move of just handing it over, I won’t be a returning customer so what’s the point of making a huge deal over it? I’ve been to several different paint-​your-​own pottery places and loved them all except this place. The staff is very friendly here but the prices are the most expensive out of all the studios I’ve been to. The mug was $ 22, then there was a $ 9 studio fee, then a $ 1 glazing fee and after taxes it came to a grand total of $ 35. Oh well.

I am amending my previous review.
I genuinely appreciate & admire anyone that acknowledges a possible mistake & tries to make right!
I will gladly give this place another shot & i’ll bet it will be wonderful!

Came here for a fun work event. My team and I decided to go and paint some pottery after having lunch in downtown Burlingame. When we walked in, we were the only people there since it was during the day on a Friday. The girl working was super nice and told us to first pick our pieces and then she would help us find our paint, accessories, and other things we would need. They had a ton of different style of things to paint. All sorts of platters, plates, vases, jars, etc. When we were picking out our pieces, we accidentally dropped one of the plates that they had on display. I think we all felt a little bad that we had dropped it, but the girl working was very nice and told us not to sweat it. (She said it happens all the time, but I am sure it happens with little kids and not grown women!) Anyways, we all picked our plates, platters, and cookie jars, then sat down. We picked out our paints and brushes, stamps, etc. We were probably there for about 2 and a half hours and just chatted and painted. It was nice.

I will not go back to this location. sorry but it because of the owner. I loved going in there with my girl friends and the HS girl that was working that night was awesome. She was helpful in picking out great colors and setting up our station on the table. But when I came back with my son to finish my platter and my son wanted to finish his truck the owner was so caddy and very rude to my son. My 5 year old said that she was «cranky» and that is saying a lot. She hung out with a past co-​worker and when she did come and help us or check in with us she was wanting to know if we are done. (this is only 25 mins into the painting.)
Basically it comes down to feeling like you are welcome while working on your project (that costs a ton). I did not. She asked my son what colors he wanted and then told him after he picked two choices that he could get more once he finished what he had… is there a paint shortage in the world? he is five and will get extra paint on the truck. Isn’t that why you are charging an arm and a leg?
anyway, go to the place in San Carlos if you really want to go somewhere and paint. The owner needs to learn some better communication styles and loosen up on being a paint hoarder.

Sadly, compared to Laurel Street Arts in San Carlos, this place does not measure up.
Hidden cost that is not divulged up front (fire fee and glazing fee) lack of available paints as well as the small detail bottles not working. (there was a choice of less than 10 and 4 did not work. so we had to use colors we did not even like)
Staff was half hearted. Overall. I think I will spend the gas and time and head to San Carlos again next time. At least I will have huge selection of Pottery, huge color selection. big space :) and also much more fariety in brush selections .
Update ¾/​2011
I just picked up my fired pottery. (and lowered my rating to 1 star)
compared to Laurel Street Arts. this is a disgrace. the paint is clearly not as high quality. even though I put on 5 coats. it looks like 1 coat at Laurel Street arts. the color is not vibrant and there are bubbles all over my pottery. Wow. that was so not worth the money. and time. My son will be so disappointed.
There is a clear quality difference.
If you don’t care about the result. and have extra money to spend. than this is your place.
This was my first and last time. Nearly 190 dollars spend. I should have given it to charity instead.

Great place for kids! I went there today with 3 year old kids and we had fun painting some kitty cats for a birthday present. We got there around 5 pm and were the only ones there so it was very quiet and the store employee took the time to explain everything.
PROS: great location, great selection (items and colors), friendly employees, fun bathroom
CONS: maybe too expensive, one-​week wait to get items back

We stopped in completely on a whim in between having lunch and doing some last-​minute shopping on Christmas Eve. What a fun diversion for an hour or so! We picked out a cat to paint in the same style as my own beastie.
The young lady who helped us was friendly and quick to get us additional paint and colors as we needed them. There was a good assortment of brushes available on the table, so we had everything we needed, and the result was better than I expected.
It’s just a touch on the pricey side– you pay for your piece, there’s a charge for each person sitting to paint, and a charge to glaze and fire your piece. Still, it was sufficiently entertaining and the result was nice enough that this wasn’t bothersome.
Expect it to take about a week for your item to be ready to pick up.
A tip: hang on to your receipt. It isn’t absolutely necessary to have it to pick up your item, but it makes life easier on the staff doing their bookkeeping.

Went here for a girls day with coworkers and we had fun.
The paint color selection was not as good as other studios and when I picked up my mug, it had three rough spots on the bottom that are so sharp they could cut skin.
I was floored by the lack of professionalism of the «staff». Over the 2.5 hours that we were in the shop, there was a succession of three gum-​smacking 16 year old girls who would not stop talking on their cell phones long enough to help us or let us pay for our pieces. One even had a horrid Paris Hilton yappy dog in her purse.
Gross.