Blades Bar and Grill

See Gone, but not forgotten

Blades Bar and Grill was an Italian restaurant and bar. Their specialty was contemporary Italian cuisine with many tastes of the Mediterranean such as wood-fired pizzas, homemade pastas, steaks, and burgers.

The location in the Culver/University/East neighborhood was situated in a turn-of-the-century sawmill factory with a rustic-industrial setting. In warmer weather, they offered an outdoor patio and bar, along with live jazz many Friday and Saturday evenings. (Note that was Pomodoro Grill and Wine bar and shares the same address with Blades diner and not visible from the street.). Offered live music on weekends.

Local millionaire Sami Mina owned Pomodoro, along with Aladdin's Natural Eatery. He also owned Saha Med Grill, Mina Tapas Lounge and Via Mina.

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ADMIN NOTE: Comments previous to 2009 are archived in Pomodoro Grill and Wine Bar/Comments

2009-01-24 13:17:28   Went here for drinks last night and had a nice time. We noshed on a Mediterranean pizza on whole wheat crust which was excellent, with big chunks of creamy goat cheese. They had a nice selection of wine and spirits, and the bartenders knew how to use them. They had a jazz band playing standards at an appropriate volume, which added to the very nice atmosphere.
When we left, my companion forgot her credit card, and the bartender ran out the door to remind us. What service! —EastSideStephen

2009-05-04 23:24:34   My wife and I were promptly greeted upon arival this past Friday night. We had to wait 25 minutes for our table, but didn't mind the wait having a full bar and a great band to listen to. My wife and I both ordered the Halibut Cheeks special. We hadn't ever had them before this, but our waiter insisted that we wouldn't be let down. Only 15 minutes went by before our dinners arrived. The presentation was delightful and the cheeks were absolutely delicious!! They were served over a chilled cous cous salad and the cheeks were sauced with a pancetta vinaigrette. The vegetable was pan seared frisse lettuce with olive oil and lemon juice. We will most certainly be back (but only if chef Yeager...hope I spelled that right... will cook for us again!!) —Magdelan

2009-06-07 23:44:24   I have only been here for lunch. The service has been good. The food is a little slow to come out but the pizzas I have tried have been excellent. I love the outdoor seating!

—OneLove

2009-07-03 17:48:19   This place is really great. I had a lot of fun here on New Year's Eve, and the food is always good. I will continually go back. If you sit outside, though, watch out for the bees! —Sionainn

2009-09-26 08:33:04   Pomodoro is a fantastic establishment. Great decor, trendy, excellent service and amazing food. I have yet to have a bad meal or experience there. I will certainly continue to frequent it! —AV8R

2009-10-21 14:42:16   Have greatly enjoyed this restaurant in the past, but on a couple of recent visits (summer 2009) we really noticed a decrease in the quality of their ingredients. The pizza used to be on par with veneto (i.e. excellent), but now it is just so-so. A real pity because the location and everything else about the place is fine.

—PSB

2009-10-25 16:03:06   We made our first visit to Pomodoro last week and it was a delight! Maybe I am super behind the times but I felt like it was a hidden gem. My husband and I split a salad and pizza and had lots left over- but both were delicious! The waitstaff was very attentive and we had great service. An overall good experience and I am excited to go back. —ShawnaLusk

2009-11-04 11:25:54   I go to pomodoro often - the food is very good - only 2 complaints 1. 90% of the time you go there, the service takes fooooorever (I'm talking atleast 2 hours for just lunch). 2. The pasta portions are a little on the small side. That being said, I still go there often, so it hasn't stopped me from going there. —meghanoo

2009-12-15 01:22:50   The couple of times that my wife and I have gone to dinner at The Pomodoro, the pasta portion was so big that my wife had to bring home what she didn't eat... I've become partial to ordering the entree special (whatever that may be). Also, I have been in a few times for lunch with business friends and the food only took 10-15 minutes to get to our table. This was only a few friday's ago too. —Magdelan

2010-02-14 09:37:49   Went here for Valentines day 2 years now, the service has definitely gotten worse and the menu cheaper. At the bar and the table, the staff was inattentive to us even though the place was pretty empty still. We could see the wait staff BSing by the cash register in the kitchen. Once I was at the table, I had to wait 10-15 minutes without my waitress coming by to ask for my drink order, I was able to get the manager's attention since unlike his staff he was walking around. Well he told her to get out there I guess but the rest of the night my waitress was just giving us the cold shoulder instead of stepping up her game. I was almost ready to ask for a different waiter. When we left I could still see her and the rest of the staff BSing in the kitchen instead of waiting tables.

The pizza special was excellent, chicken with applewood smoked bacon and honey wheat bread. Very nice!

Not sure I'll be going back next Valentines day. —DamianKumor

2010-05-10 16:06:22   I took my mother here for dinner this past Friday night. It was not terribly crowded when we arrived and we were seated promptly. The service was all right. Our server was not overly attentive nor did he hover. However, I was underwhelmed by the food. We both ordered pasta dishes - mine had lemon, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes with feta. It was nearly tasteless and swimming in some watery sauce. At those prices I expected more than sticky tables and flimsy, mismatched cafeteria silverware. I was unaware that Pomodoro's reputation has declined recently. Had I known, I would have chosen an alternative for Mom and me. We should have gone to Lento instead. —HeidiWinfield

2010-05-30 14:21:49   Enjoyed a wonderful dinner here with the husband back in March. We got there at about 6:15, the height of the dinner rush and was told about a 15 minute wait. We went to the bar where the bartender was so nice and friendly, offering me the last bit of the South African wine from the bottle when he saw I was just about finished with it. The wait was more like 10 minutes and the waitress was so nice and attentive. I had the seafood special with salmon and this wonderful, sweet tangy sauce and freshly steamed asparagus. After dinner, I had mentioned that hey it's my birthday I should have a dessert, just jokingly. She came out with a small candle in my chocolate cake and said, "Happy Birthday, I won't sing." Will be going back! —KSBehr

2010-07-13 08:50:32   We hadn't been here in a couple of years, but the previous times we had dined there had enjoyed the atmosphere and food. So this past Sunday three of us ventured over there. It seemed quite quiet, and we were promptly seated, and given menus. The only waitress we saw was the one serving the table next to ours. Perhaps she wasn't our waitress but surely could have let our waitress know we were sitting there. Or, she was our waitress and just didn't care to stop. Either way, apart from wait staff rushing past to serve diners outside, we didn't see anyone we could stop and ask, for 15 minutes! At that point, with not even a glass of water, we left. When I stoppped by the front desk to mention this to the hostess, she was also vacant from her post! Just like DamianKumor, it seemed the wait staff had time to BS in the kitchen, but apparantly not time to serve us.

We won't be going back to Pomodoros, and will be telling friends and colleagues of our experience. With the plethora of good Italian restaurants in the area, you cannot afford to treat customers like this. If you are in the neighborhood, go around the corner to Lento for upscale quality food and service, or to The Gate House which is wher we we ended up, and had a fantasic dinner; great appetizers, fabulous food and wonderful Sangria. —Dlacy

2010-07-13 10:20:19   I'm sorry, this seems fishy to me. Pomodoro AND The Gate House? Hmmm. —cbcritic

2010-07-13 21:15:24   What is fishy? They weren't served at A so they went to B. Man's gotta eat. —ThomasPawlik

2010-07-30 00:16:17   Me and my friends went here last weekend to celebrate a promotion. We began with a round of drinks and a couple pizzas to start. Our Waiter was very attentive and quite funny. The pizzas seemed a bit doughy and considdering they were thin crust, this was a disappointment. Next, our entrees came out. I ordered the ribeye medium rare and it came out almost well done, it was also heavily salted (and I like salt). My friend next to me ordered a pasta with lemon and asparagus. He said the asparagus was stringy and chewey and the dish itself was lacking flavor...maybe not seasoned well. My other friend ordered the beef tenderloin. Again overcooked. We still had a great time celebrating the promotion but we might choose to do it elsewhere next time. Service - thumbs up. Food - two thumbs down. —BillFreeman

2010-08-02 15:22:38   Went here Sunday night for a family event dinner. Food was fine—no issues there. Seating was poor- we were put squarely in the sun with 4 people of elderly age in our group. My Uncle tried hitching our napkins on the awning to make some additional shade—other tables loudly applauded him—but the waitstaff said nothing. Also there was 2 tables with children near by who were allowed to run wild—loudly screaming and running all over the place. The parents did NOTHING to contain them and staff did the same. Unless forced by family request, we won't be back. —PeteB

2011-07-03 12:22:58   Bland mushy pasta. Rude waiters. Unwashed nasty muscles and clams. I was really disappointed, as the location looks great from the outside. —walternmoss

2011-07-11 11:17:15   Had dinner at the University Ave location Sat 7/9. Hostess indicated 30 min wait for outside seating. Ended up being an hour. Not a deal breaker, just a minor annoyance. Had drinks at the bar while we waited. The female bartender was great. The male bartender provided good service, but seemed to act like a jerk to one of the wait staff. Once seated, we waited a little too long for our server to come take our drink order. There was a bug in the olive oil. Understandable since we were outside, but still disgusting. Avoid the bruschetta appetizer. They put a pile of bruschetta on a plate with some toasted bread and you have to assemble yourself. Wouldn't seem like a big deal, but actually proved to be very annoying and messy. Most of the pieces of bread were too small to hold more than a few pieces of diced tomato, so everything kept falling off. The pasta was great. Outside seating was nice, but the table was way too low for anyone more than 6' tall. Great pasta, but overall uncomfortable dining experience. —WestSideB

2011-09-19 18:46:07   Food was nothing to write home about. It was kind of bland, but not not in an offending kind of way. Mostly just....boring. —jberna

2011-12-05 15:52:16   Went to the Monroe Ave location to check it out. The noise level was incredible, don't go here for a romantic dinner. There's a lot of ambient noise from the large bar in the middle of the restaurant. The server was okay, not great, not bad. He was slow to bring out the bread to the table and it was bland and cold. They forgot to put salt in the dough kind of bland. I had a pretty okay winter risotto, but the menu has lost a lot of its creativity over the years. It's very nice inside except for the restrooms which are clean of weird. I think the University one is better. —DamianKumor