This is a sad review to write but I feel compelled to do so. I've been coming here from across the river off and on for the last 11 years and I've noticed a steady decline in the quality of food and service. Â I've been in restaurant management for over 25 years and I can smell a dying establishment a mile away. The 1st "Red Flag" was pulling into the parking lot on Valentine's Day at 6:45 in the evening and noticed that there were only 7 or 8 cars in the parking lot. I thought "Wow this place is dead", and it was in fact quite slow for what is normally (in the restaurant business) one of the busiest days of the year. So, I'm waiting for an order for two wood fired pizzas I had called in 30 minutes prior to my arrival thinking I'd only have to wait but a minute or two, wrong!. The 2nd "Red Flag" was virtually no management presence, none, zip. After waiting 30 minutes I asked to speak to the manager and was told "Oh, the owner (Tim) is here cooking tonight but he rarely talks to guests if ever". I couldn't help but laugh because I thought the waitress was joking, she wasn't, he never came out the entire 45 minutes I was there except to open the cash register and other guests were visibly anxious due to the long wait for their food. The waitresses here run the show and I could tell even as slow as it was they had more than enough to do with just keeping up with their tables let alone managing the shift but I was told "That's how it always is here". Â The 3rd "Red Flag"! Dirty restrooms (or at least the men's room). The restroom speaks volumes for how a place is managed because anyone who visits the restroom will likely view the cleanliness of it (or lack of) as a direct reflection of who's running the place. Dirty nasty restrooms? Makes you wonder what the kitchen looks like. Eeewwwwww! Actually, the entire restaurant appeared as though it hadn't had a good cleaning in months!
OK! Lastly, the food! I ordered 2 wood fired pizzas, the Prosciutto and the Chicken Portabella. The menu description says "fresh pressed garlic on an olive oil crust" but nothing could have been further than the truth. The crust tasted like cardboard and I'd bet the cardboard the pizza came in tasted even better. My guess is he did away with the oil and garlic to save money. The pizza's have shrunk or at least not the same size as I've seen in the past and again, probably trying to save some money at the guests expense. Total bill with tax was $24.98 which is by all means a very poor value for subpar food and to top it off I was told I couldn't use my gift certificate because it was for "dine in only" (this was not disclosed on the certificate). Not a problem though, I just walked to the nearest table and gave it to them as I had already made up my mind that this was the last time I'd ever set foot in a Pomodori's. My message to the owner Tim is simple, if you no longer have the passion to serve great food along with great service then get out of the business, retire, be done. Don't assume that the UC student body and surrounding community will support you just because you've been around for umpteen years, they won't. As UC grows, so will the choices for places to spend their dining dollars and you will for sure (at the rate you're going) get many less of those dollars. You got my last dollar for sure......
It is usually fairly easy to get a spot in the Pomodori's parking lot. Â It is usually fairly easy to find a table as well.
The food is usually really good at Pomodori's. Â The wood fired pizzas are outstanding and the salad and pasta options are also excellent. Â The service on the other hand, while friendly, is usually extremely slow in all aspects (drinks, dishes, and check). Â We stopped by for a quick dinner recently and ended up being there for two hours due in part to the fact that the check took about 30 minutes to prepare and process. Â If I were to review this restaurant solely on the quality of the dishes I would give it 4 stars, however the wait, especially for the check is exceedingly long so I really cannot justify more than two stars.
I've lived in the Clifton area for over 20 years, and have been a customer of  the Pomodori's location on McMillen St. for much of that time. For many years, I've enjoyed the food. And while I didn't dine in at the restaurant location much, I would order delivery or take-out pizza at least 2-3 times a month. Fairly recently though, I've quit being a customer, because the service (which was never great, but was usually acceptable) has taken a sharp turn towards terrible, and more importantly, the quality of the food has decreased, and quality control of the food coming out of the kitchen seems non-existent.
My story - I would usually order the Goat Cheese, Leeks and Pancetta wood fire pizza. Â Over the last 20 years, I have probably ordered that one pizza over 200 times. The last 3 times I've ordered it, smoked county bacon was substituted for Italian pancetta. And for those who don't know, there's a very big difference between the two. Country bacon is smoked, and smoke is a key component of the flavor. Pancetta isn't smoked, and has a more distinctive, delicate flavor.
After this happened the 1st time (the pizza was delivered 45 min late), I made it a point, the next time, to ask the person on the phone if they had pancetta on-hand. I was told "yes." Yet still, the pizza arrived with soggy country bacon on top, and bacon grease lining the inside of the pizza box and crust.
The final and last time, I took the time and effort to politely inform the person taking my order that the last two times I had ordered, the cook had put country bacon, not Italian pancetta, on the pizzas. I also informed the person that the last couple of orders had arrived very late, and the pizzas were cold. Again, I asked if they really had pancetta on-hand, and was told "absolutely." The person on the phone actually laughed at me when I told them about the problems - no explanation or "sorry sir" or "we'll fix it" - but a contemptuous laugh. And I'll admit, I wasn't surprised when the pizza arrived late, with soggy country bacon on top, bacon grease covering everything in the box, and this time, the bottom of the crust burnt completely black from edge to edge. I can't help but wonder if burning the pizza was intentional, and done out of spite.
It really bums me out. I like to support local business, and have given Pomi's a number of chances to improve. Unfortunately, the business appears to be hiring employees who don't care, which is ultimately hurting the quality of the food, and I suspect, destroying the business.
I was very excited to go to Pomodori's. Â Wood fired pizza, the super zaah, great salad, who could want more? Â What we really wanted was good service. Â I know super zaah's take a long time, but we had to repeatedly remind the waiter to get drink orders for the latecomers in our group, get sugar for iced tea, and even to get us plates when our salad was ready. Â We didn't even get clean plates when our pizza came out. Â Who wants to eat a meaty super zaah on top of blue cheese dressing, ew. Â I might go back, just for the food, but I sure hope their staff improves....
Review Source:Been coming her for many years now since I was a lowly freshman in college way back when to get the wood fired pizzas. It's on the monthly rotation of places to eat while in Cleveland just because the pizza is so damn good. Try the goat cheese pizza with prosciutto added and an apple pizza to take home.
Review Source:I've been here more times than I can count. But honestly, either it's going downhill or I'm just losing my naiveté.
They have exactly the things I like - the proscuitto and figs, the leeks and goat cheese, the very good caramelized onion. Big hunks of cheesy bread and bruschetta for appetizers. Cheap beers that are respectively cheap.
But as much as it pains me to say, Pomodori's is only just decent as a restaurant. They do wood fire pizzas well, but not always, and they have good service, but not always. I've had arnold palmers super sweet - then super tart. I've had particular pizzas about three different ways. I've had friendly, attentive, fast servers - then discombobulated, distracted, easily-irritable servers. I've had fast pickups when it's busy - and slow service and careless missteps when completely dead.
I've read a bunch of reviews that say similar. I would say that the nostalgia for me is still there, which is why I'd still go and put up with any problems. But I would recommend other places above it now - which makes me a sad panda.
Both times I've been to Pomodori's the food has been good. I am particularly fond of wood-fired pizza and I like their menu for the range of ingredients they use and the general care with which they seem to prepare and present the food. However, there is something lackluster about this place--maybe it is the layout, the color of the walls, the service, the bad acoustics, or the crackly naugahyde that oversteps any charm one might associate with crackly naugahyde. The experience comes up short.
Maybe the arrival of Adriatico's next door will inspire this place to step up its game a little (and not just its parking lot security...wow). Both restaurants seem different enough to compete in the same space.
I think that this is a perfectly fine establishment, but there's no shortage of pizzerias in the area where one can find an ambiance that lives up to the food.
Beware... This review is from a very patient person who excuses all faults, so my experience is likely very different from other peoples. That said, if you can't gather from other reviews, the service takes away from the perfection that is their menu. I went here for lunch once, and it was dead, so you'd think it'd be quick, but it took over an hour to get our food. I wasn't mad, but just be wary.
But now for the good stuff! I have been here plenty of times throughout my time in Clifton, and I absolutely love the food. Whenever I am craving a solid pizza or calzone, it's either here or Dewey's. Whenever I have that craving and am feeling a little anti-establishment, I choose Pomodori's. They have some excellent specialty pizzas, some very solid calzones, and good pasta dishes as well. Their brick oven is a big part of their success, so I recommend something that will spend some time in there growing into a culinary blessing.
They also have the weird ability to play host to casual dates, business gatherings, and late night drunken stops. I think this says a lot about their food and the atmosphere. It's very warm and cozy, and I will always hold this place dear to my heart.
Again, however, I am very patient with restaurants, especially if they are local and serve food as good as this. Keep doing what you're doing Pomodori's. Maybe hire an extra server though...
I hate writing bad reviews, as restaurants are ever-changing; however, I can't bring myself to give this place much credit. Â Also, when reading this review, please note that I'm writing in regards to the Montgomery location, not the Clifton one (I've never been to the Clifton location).
To give a brief history, I went to Pomodori's a couple times when I was younger (like 10 years ago younger) and was never very impressed. Â When given the opportunity to try it again, I decided to give it a second chance.
We made reservations for 7:00 on a Friday night. Â There wasn't a wait anyways but the place wasn't totally dead (which would have scared me). Â The service was great, the atmosphere is relaxing, and I was able to find parking. Â Unfortunately, I base my reviews mainly on the food quality... and the food was absolutely lacking.
For an appetizer, we ordered the bruschetta. Â They brought out 4 huuuge slices of toasted bread and some halved grape tomatoes lightly sprinkled with cheese. Â I generally have no problem getting messy with my food, but this was ridiculous. Â By the time we scooped the tomato mix onto the bread, it was falling off everywhere. Â Eventually, we gave up and ate the bread separately from the bruschetta mix. Â Maybe that's the point and I just misunderstood...
As an entree, I ordered a wood-fired pizza. Â I thought I was playing it safe as this is what they are famous for. Â The pizza came with mozz, provolone, spinach, mushrooms, red onion, and bacon. Â I subbed caramelized onions for the bacon (Lent...). Â The server brought it out and 1) they accidentally threw some goat cheese on the pizza (which I didn't mind...) 2) the onions were definitely not caramelized even in the slightest bit of the term, and 3) the pizza was pretty flavorless. Â Not impressed and I'm pretty easy to impress.
I also was able to try my friends eggplant parm. Â It was breaded and sat atop a bed of spinach noodles. Â Again, not impressed. Â The eggplant was flavorless, soggy, and honestly tasted like stale water. Â The noodles reminded me of cafeteria noodles, bent, hard, old...
I wouldn't ever go here again and based on some other reviews of the Clifton location, I probably wouldn't go there either.
I went here today and was satisfied. Â We ordered an Eggplant Parmesan, a cheese & sausage pizza and an apple pizza. Â Food came very slow, but the taste was great! Pasta was homemade and fresh, the eggplant was super tender, pizza was soft (easy to chew), and the apple pizza was just delicious. Â As the other review said, it's cold in there. Â Overall, it was a good experience.
Review Source:This was the latest stop on our "deserted UC" tour....the husband and I try and check out restaurants near campus during times that students are gone. We figure it helps out a local business during their slow times.
We went on a rainy, Monday night. Pomodori's had been recommended, so in we went. We were seated at a small two-person table and our hostess also turned out to be our server. Sadly, the service was less than stellar. As dead as it was, we were still not very high on her priority list. There was even at least one other server. She also sat us and rushed us into drink orders and then came up to the table about 30 seconds later wanting our food order....we asked for more time, she came back about 10 minutes later. After ordering, she then came out to state that they were out of an ingredient on the husband's pizza. After that snafu was fixed, she came back about five minutes later to tell us that they were out of an ingredient on my pizza and she just didn't remember to mention it. My ingredient was a bigger component to my dish (figs on a fig and prosciutto pizza) and I required a menu. She got that and then finally noticed our empty glasses (10 minutes of waiting around is thirsty work) and got refills. When she came back and took my new order she then finally admitted "it is slow tonight so I'm not really into it." Well, at least she was being honest.
Now onto the food...wood-fired/brick-oven pizza is by far my favorite style. It is the reason we ended up at Pomidoro's. Even though the husband and I both had to adjust our original order, the pizza was good...good not great. I had the Mediterranean and for some reason, there is a layer of flavor missing. I don't know if it was not enough garlic, olive oil or what. The crust just seems okay. Despite being wood-fired, there also seems to not be enough of that flavor represented either.
After the lack of service and the food not quite being enough to make up for it, I am in no real hurry to head back
I just had a really bad meal here. My brother-in-law and I had an early lunch, starting around 11:10, but we were still the only eat-in customers there when we left at noon, and now I understand why. I ordered the margherita pizza, and it was awful. The sauce was supposedly "fresh crushed tomatoes," but it tasted canned and stuffed with garlic powder. And if that was fresh mozzarella, then I've never had fresh mozzarella. And despite being the sole customers there, the service was lousy. It took 30 minutes for us to get our pizzas, my iced tea had tea leaves in it and was warm because of too little ice, we had to ask for napkins, silverware and the cheese and pepper shakers, and we waited forever for our checks and then for the checks to be processed.
I used to really like Pomodori's, but it needs a reality check. Better food, better service. And with Adriatico's opening across the parking lot, people will have another choice. Until I hear of improvements, I don't think I'll be back.
OH college memories, how I don't really, really love you at all.
This happens to be the place my husband first took me on a "date" to, if you can call it that, not that I am complaining. We had already been "dating" / "going out" / whatever for awhile before we went on a date.
This place is great because it is one of the few decent food places that you can walk to from UC's campus that is sit down and fairly nice. It was our date place in 2006-2007.
The restaurant sits next to a convenience store with parking - which is important to Clifton as I HATE parking in Clifton so much I've driven away from friend's houses before and just gone home. Parking - it's a plus!
The restaurant itself is fairly cute, there is a large brick oven and you can see them make the pizza. There is a part of the restaurant that you can't see any of this in, and I am seated in that part about 80 percent of the time. It is also always cold in here. Always. Bring a sweater.
The service is okay. I've never had superb service, they've gotten my order wrong, and it's not really fast. That being said, it's not bad and I'm never unhappy.
The food, depending at where you are in your life, is amazing or just normal. When I started going here, it was amazing because anything is better than UC's stupid food courts (sorry if you like them, I cringe at the thought of them). Now, it's still good, but I can get better so it's not as amazing.
The alfredo here is actually really good. It is better than most Italian places and by far my favorite dish - chicken or portobella mushrooms. It's my suggestion - it was the one that got my to eat alfredo sauce.
The pizza is good - the brick oven ones of course. I am not a fan of their red sauce, so we get a white pizza. They have a 4 cheese mixture that is good, but comes with one cheese I can't stand and always looks like boogers (yeah, sorry) on the pizza and because it's pre-mixed, they can't get it off. I think it's the gorgonzola, but then I don't, because I like that kind of cheese. It's a good pizza, but not the best white pizza around. That being said, I love the crust.
Overall, if you are at UC, this is one of the better places to stop by. If you are a freshman, carless, and need to go on a date, I'll still suggest here. You'll have plenty of time to talk and grand opportunities to offer her your sweater because it's collddddd in there.
Best pizza I've had in town so far. Tons of yummy options, many of them vegetarian. Sounds like we lucked out on service -- it was a slow Sunday night and our server was a 30something dude, not a sorority girl. I'd be interested to see if things change on a busier night and/or with a different server, or if we ordered something other than pizza.
Review Source:I have been here a few times now and its really a hit or miss depending on what you order.
Pros:
1) They deliver italian food
2) I enjoy most of their pizza's
3) Most of their sandwiches are good as well
Cons:
1) Sometimes the service is extremely slow when you dine in
2) I have not enjoyed a single pasta dish from here yet
One of my favorites. Â Pizza is my favorite food that's not a dessert. Â This place has very good homemade, made in front of your eyes, pizza. Â With many different types on the menu. Â
Nice atmosphere. Â Service is friendly but slow. Â We ordered a gourmet wood fired and a traditional NY style. Â Both were very good. Â I recommend the loaded 'best for your dollar' pizza, which has tons of different toppings. Â
Fun college pizza place, and great representation of local quality food. Â I've been back a few times and have recommended Pomodori's to friends. Â It's on my list of pizza places.
I've been going to the Pomodori location in Clifton for years. I was super surprised to find out there was a location by me in Montgomery.
You could have the garlic bread with cheese. Pretty straightforward. They do not use any kind of garlic salt on this. Just bread, minced garlic and cheese. Pretty tasty!
Pat's custom wood fired pizza with beef, pepperoni and ham was good. Pat was super impressed with it and didn't stop eating it.
I love the leek, goat cheese and pancetta wood fired pizza. This was really delicious. They pretty much had me at goat cheese.
The crusts for the wood fired pizzas are all hand tossed. I prefer the olive oil and garlic crust myself. Very basic and tasty.
I've also had the proscuitto pizza. Pretty delicious.
Pat decided on pistachio gelato for dessert. He ate it in almost total silence because the taste was something familiar, but he couldn't place the memory. I think that means he liked it. I decided on the chocolate hazelnut, which tasted like a fudgecicle. Awesome!
Pomodori has pastas, regular pizza, and a pretty nice wine list. Give it a shot next time you want some really great Italian but the pizzas are the best!
I went to lunch at Pomodori's the other day and tried one of their wood fired pizzas and a salad. Â I had "The Gourmet" pizza, which is made with pesto and various plant-y goodness (artichokes, olives, mushrooms). Â I thought it had a nice flavor, but just a bit too much cheese and oil (I was burping it up all afternoon). Â The salad was very simple and I had the tarragon dressing, which had a nice hint of tarragon, but again too oily. Â It needed more vinegar, I think. Â Anyway, it was a good little place with good service and I'd go again, I just might try something else next time. Â The eggplant parm sandwich sounded promising... :)
Review Source:I genuinely hate giving a restaurant a bad review, but sometimes it is well called for. I spent over twenty years working in restaurants in the front of the house, most of the time as head waiter. Â This means not only that I know good service, but also that I am more inclined than many to turn a blind eye to errors if the server is obviously "in the weeds," or otherwise having a crappy night. I've been there, it sucks.
I have to speak out concerning my first visit to Pomodori's this evening. The food was quite tasty, but the service was nothing short of abysmal. A spontaneous dinner out with some friends became a comedy of errors in extremely short order.
Sitting around for fifteen minutes waiting for a drink order is a bit excessive, but I've dealt with worse and still left a solid 20% as long as the rest of service went well. Such was not to be the case. One reason that a good waiter repeats your order back to you is in order to ensure its accuracy. This is especially true if the table is asking for changes to the dish, or "mods," as most places call them. Our table had several mods, all of the simplest kind- add chicken, add prosciutto, etc. Nothing subtracted, no drastic rewrites of menu items. One would think that your average college student could get that, right?
No. Well over twenty minutes after placing our order the first entree arrived, accompanied by a pizza that turns out to be for a different table. Lonely it was as it sat, unaccompanied, on the broad and empty expanse of our table of six. Another twelve minutes go by. Then four more entrees arrive. One of them is a salad, not the pasta we ordered. It goes back and our party begins to dig in, sharing what is there. If you're having trouble keeping up that is now four out of the six entrees that are on the table. Additionally, my Alfredo was suspiciously lacking in the chicken I had requested. Absolutely famished at this point I wrote it off and began to dig in.
Another fifteen or so minutes go by and the replacement for the salad, the Gorgonzola pizza we originally ordered, arrives. That still leaves us one down, a pizza that had still not arrived. I really should have called a manager over, but morbid curiosity had gotten the better of me I have to admit. I wanted to see just how far the quality of service would actually sink. You see, among the other annoyances the server only came by to refill our drinks once during our entire two hours there, when one of our party motioned to her after prolonged neglect.
The entire visit was filled with this sort of thing. The check had to be redone three different times, and it would have been more if I had not decided that my time was worth more than waiting another twenty minutes while a $2.00 addition of chicken got removed. It was the first time in over a decade I left without tipping. (I tip 20% for average service so you can imagine what this took.)
I want to close with a comment, so that it is fresh in your mind after reading this: The food, was wonderful. I really enjoyed the items that hit our table. All compliments to the chef, Â still it would have been nice if there were more resemblance to the items we ordered, but it was great eating nonetheless. Â Since I'm the new guy, only been in Cincy a year and a half, I'm still trying out restaurants. I have a feeling that despite the great food it will be a long time before I go to Pomodori's rather than trying something new.
Service like that is something you remember.
Pomodori's Pizzeria is pretty good! Â Their brick fire pizza is delicious. Â I think the crust could be a bit crispier, but overall, its really good. Â The wine prices are a bit steep. Â It would be nice if they had some kind of bargain wine but they serve good wine, so I can't really complain, but the house wine is $25.
The owner is obviously a man, because the wait staff consists of attractive UC college coeds who most like belong to some organization on campus with a name consisting of a few Greek letters. Â Their service isn't the best in sense of being on top of things and quick. Â However, they are at least, friendly and easy on the eyes.
Good place to go for a low key evening, decent pizza and a couple drinks. Â Though, you may wanna go the beer route, its cheaper!
I ate a weekday lunch at Pomodori's the other day with my parents after not having been there in probably seven years. Â The place looked the same, but the food just didn't seem to match up with my memories. Â My mother had the spaghetti and meatballs, while my father and I each had a woodfired pizza. Â The spaghetti and meatballs came in a huge portion and my mom reported loving it. Â My fig and prosciutto pizza was good, but, like I mentioned, just not as good as I remember from when I was younger. Â It seemed a bit bland. Â I'm just not sure if it was who had changed.
Review Source:This place is solid. Nothing too great, but good. The wood fire pizza or calzone is what you need to get it you go. It offers something unique that many other places don't offer. The food is usually pretty good, but the taste just does not jump out at you. The service is always nice and helpful, but I just can't get past the fact that the taste does not jump out.
I don't think you should avoid it, but don't go expecting something that creates a whole new pizza experience.
Each time I visit this place, I remember why I shouldn't go back. Â The wait staff is not well-informed, nor are they helpful in the least. Â As a matter of fact, it seems they could really care less if you get what you order. Â The food is pretty good, but not worth the poor service I've gotten all four times I've been there. Â It's really a shame, because this place has lots of potential.
Review Source:Here around campus in the Clifton area, there are plenty of pizza joints. Pomodori's is different. Their wood fire pizza's are excellent, and come in any combination one could think of. Besides pizza they offer calzones (including the specialty pizzas as calzones), pasta, salads and other things expected at an italian restaurant.
For desert they have one of the best desert pizzas I have ever had.
Down Sides: often gets crowed, a bit expensive, and service can be a bit slow.
I won't say I was blown away by Pomodori's. Â I like it. Â I was in the mood for pizza, and it fit the bill. Â I had the proscuitto, leak, and goat cheese. Â It was good. Â My one complaint is the toppings weren't very generous. Â I typically like my pizza to be all about the toppings and not the dough. Â While I know a wood fired pizza is typically a little more doughy, I'd have liked a nicer balance of toppings with it.
The service was terrific. Â They were very accommodating and attentive and I would certainly go back.
I used to pick up pizza by the slice every now and then from Pomodori's several years back, and Sarah remembered it being good many years ago, but neither of us had visited in a long, long time. Â <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2FRestaurant.com&s=0aab4cbd731f3d3b0d1453050d3abc56a8c80bd214e25469c7555b750dca8a51" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://Restaurant.com</a> provided the ridiculously cheap coupon (I think it was $3 for a $25 coupon), and we decided to give it a go. Â We've visited enough pizza places in the past several months to have a pretty good idea of what spots may stay in our rotation, and it doesn't look like Pomodori's will be on that list.
The Food: Â We started with the Bruschetta Caprese - a crusty ciabatta with halved grape tomatoes, bits of fresh mozzarella, and herbs. Â It was fine, but there was something about the flavors that just didn't quite mesh. Â It could have used more salt. Â Then, about half way through eating this and deciding on pizza, we realized that the coupon makes it so you have to order $35 of food, so we ordered enough for 2 lunches for 2.
A caesar salad was our next choice, and it was straightforward and good.
For pizzas, we picked from the wood-fired choices - a "Spinach" (which is not nearly so simple - it has mushrooms, red onion, garlic, and bacon) and a traditional "Margherita." Â We had a problem with the Margherita - there was a very bitter aftertaste that we are pretty sure came from the tomato sauce. Â It made it hard to enjoy any of that pizza. Â For a pizza place to have sauce that has gone bad, that is pretty disappointing. Â Plus, the "fresh mozzarella" did not have have the consistency of what we know as fresh mozzarella. Â It seemed more like the typical mozzarella you'd find often find shredded and ready for pizza topping. Â But, the Spinach pizza was actually quite good. Â Every bite was buttery and the crust was nicely bubbly and soft. Â This was the only redeeming part of the meal.
The Ingredients: Â No mention of local or organic ingredients here. Â Unfortunately, as I mentioned above, while they talk about fresh ingredients on their menu in several places, we were served some not-so-fresh options.
The Story, Setting, & Service: Â Pomodori's is located across the street from the humongous chunk of vacant land between McMillan and Calhoun streets in Clifton (what the heck is going on up there - weren't they supposed to build a park or something?). Â It's sort of an odd shaped building (inside and out), but it has plenty of parking. Â The service was fine, nothing of note.
The Last Bite: Â There are so many better pizzas within minutes of Pomodori's (ZZ's, Dewey's, and Adriaticos to name a few), let alone further away, that I don't think we'll return. Â But, I can see how students around UC might make the choice. Â If you do go, we'd recommend the "Spinach" pizza.
If you enjoyed this review, there's more at Amateur Foodies.
Right after we moved to Cincinnati a few years back, we went to Pomodori's for what we thought was the first and last time. Â The crust of our wood-fired pizzas was somehow both soggy and rubbery, and the spinach in our shared salad was beginning to rot. Â But we went back there this weekend when a friend whose taste we trust wanted to go there.
This visit was definitely better. Â We shared three of the pizzas--a margherita, a Mediterranean, and a white pizza with prosciutto and figs. Â All three were tasty and used quality ingredients for the toppings. Â (The prosciutto and fig one, especially, surprised me because I'm usually anti-white-pizza.) Â Still, the crust was off: Â It is too thick for a wood-fired pizza, and it comes out too doughy. Â There was some nice char to it, but the crust needs a little crispiness to enhance those flavors and textures. Â (Betta's Italian Oven in Norwood is a far cry from perfect with its wood-fired pizzas, but it gets closer than Pomodori's does.)
Salads were pretty mediocre for the prices.
The attractive centerpiece of the restaurant is the massive wood oven in which the pizzas are baked. Â But otherwise this Pomodori's location needs a facelift, or at least a paint job. Â The walls are beat to hell from chairs being scraped against them. Â The whole place feels kind of tired and, both inside and outside, looks like it hasn't been remodeled in 15 or 20 years. Â And the service on this visit wasn't terribly attentive and was only OK; we had trouble getting refills and extra plates for salads, even though the restaurant wasn't very busy.
The pizzas, though, were decent enough that we'll probably go back at some point, something I wouldn't have said after our first visit.
In sampling Cincinnati eateries, this was one of the first places I visited due to its close proximity to my home. Â They offer good Italian food with their wood-fired pizza as the best option. Â In addition to the outstanding pizza, their pasta selection wasn't bad and they have a respectable selection of beer and wine. Â
The dining areas are nice with smaller tables in the most crowded part of the restaurant, which is the front dining area.  I usually prefer the  peace and solitude of the back of places like this, as it features a larger, more open space with big tables and booths.  I've noticed, at times, the front area can get rather crowded especially with parents saddled with kids.  Whereas I don't have anything against kids, I prefer them to be "seen and not heard" (as the old proverb goes) when I'm dining out. Â
One time, this strategy back-fired on me while dining in the back corner. Â Too much of a good thing is a rare occurrence but our quiet dining experience was missing something else in addition to the excessive noise and chaos of the main area: service. Â We had to wait far too long for the inattentive waitress to take our orders and for the pizza we ordered. I have given them a one-time pass because they did appear to be short-staffed and anyone can have an off day. Â The quality of the food coupled with the reasonable price demands a favorable rating. Â If they had a more competent wait staff, I'd have given Pomodori's a near-perfect endorsement.
cincinnati pizza quest took liberal foodie, the husband (hers, not mine), and me to pomodori's in march. we liked it. the toppings were interesting and fresh, the service was good, and the pizza itself was damn tasty. our only real complaint is that we did not think there were enough toppings for the price. it's pretty much a one pizza per person kind of place, and at $12-14 each for the pizzas we ordered, we just thought we would get more.
actually, my pizza (fig and prosciutto) and the husband's (prosciutto and mushroom) were fine. but LF's (shrimp, red pepper, and asparagus) was kind of sparsely covered, and all the toppings were clumped up in the middle of the pie. since it had no sauce on it, a lot of the bites she got were just dough and cheese. blah.
other than the lack of toppings everything was pretty good. it's not the cheapest pizza, and there are no drink specials, but i think it's worth it. the crust is flavorful and soft and chewy and delicious. the service was friendly and attentive. next time i would like to try their pizza margherita.
here are our ratings:
crust - 4
toppings - 3 (the quality was excellent so this would be higher if LF's pizza had more toppings)
sauce - n/a (none of our pizzas came with sauce)
cheese - 3.5
service - 4
overall - 3.5 slices
there are other items besides pizza on the menu, but i can't tell you what they are because i forget. anyway everyone else in the restaurant was ordering pizza so i'm thinking that's pretty much the thing. however, they do make their own pasta so that would probably be worth trying.
I got the five cheese with shrimp on it and thought it was really good. Â I also had a few glasses of wine, and its always nice to have a pizza place where u can get a glass of wine. Â Extra star cuz the wait staff was so nice and friendly..they weren't just robots, they were very very welcoming
Review Source:Talking with some of my friends yesterday, we recalled our childhood in Cincinnati and the similar experiences we had going to Pomodori's Pizza. The copper topped tables and giant wood fire oven make this place so memorable for a young one.
The waiters have a tradition of giving young ones some dough to play with while they are waiting for the meal. The child can play with the dough and eventually form it into any shape. They will then bake that dough and bring it back to the table. Every time I went growing up, I would braid the dough and go home with a beautifully browned bread bread!
Pomodori's pizza is pretty good. It features really strong flavors and a perfectly wood fired crust. Sometimes sections of the dough can be slightly burnt, but it doesn't affect the pizza. My favorite pizza is the five cheese pizza. It has so many stinky strong cheeses on it. If you aren't a huge fan of cheese I would stay away from this one! They serve wonderful sodas such as cream sodas, root beers, and fruit flavored sodas. Delicious!
There's an adage that pizza is like sex -- "even when it's bad it's good" -- that is utterly, painfully, and embarrassingly wrong. Â Bad pizza is as desirable as bad sex - which is to say, I think we all would have been happier if we just watched a good movie and ate some popcorn. Â
When we first moved to Cincy we ordered delivery pizza from the first place that caught our attention in the phone book: Donato's. Â The pizza that arrived (via a nearly-obese, grunting, late and mustachioed delivery driver) was like being mugged: shocking, unfair and ultimately damaging to one's faith in fellow man. Â The pizza was cold, leaden, overly sauced and our topping request (anchovies) had obviously been thrown on AFTER the pizza was cooked. Â Way to use up that rogue extra cheese pizza, boys.
Suffice to say, as far as delivery pizza is concerned, Pomodori's is a comforting return to normalcy. Â The delivery drivers have always been polite (maybe it's because I tip well, who knows), the pizza has always been piping hot, and the pizza itself is pleasant. Â It's true: it's not the best pizza in the world. Â But on a blustery cold night when you realize you don't have anything to make for dinner, a reliably good pizza is the next best thing.
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