Blade 1936 — Restaurant in Oceanside

I orginially wanted to go to Blade 1936 as my first resturant preference but went to another resturant (Hello Betty) closer to my location as I was walking, and I then spoke to a hostest but was told to seat myself a waitress will be with me shortly. I waited about 20 minutes or more at the table without recieving service inside the resturant. I gradually started to watch other people being seated after me, order and then served their meal while still never recieveing a menu nor drink. I quickly left and made my way to Blade 1936 where I was greeted by the hostest in less than 1 minute of arriving and immediately seated with water, menu, and great customer service. The waiter came to me around 35 seconds to a minute after being seated very politely and asked if I needed anything right away. Less than 5 minutes being in this busy resturant and I was already recieving (over exaggeration) KING level service. Thats how the enviorment made me feel especially after being stalled and ignored for about 20 minutes at the prior resturant I visited. I already knew what I wanted to eat as I was very hungry and exhausted from training. I informed the waitress I was ready to order and she immediately took my order, took the menu back, and left me with a smile. I do not usually leave detailed reviews as I am very minimal with good reviews because if the buisness is good its good thats all I need to say, but I was very impressed by the level of care this place gives to their customers. She brought my food out when it finished cooking and gave me condiments befitting the meal. (Parmasen cheese and chili flakes). I couldn't ask for anything more from them. I felt happy, comfort, and calm after I was displeased before arriving to Blade 1936. The food was amazing best Rigatoni I have ever had. I was pretty poor growing up and I always ate Pasta meals as they were cheap to make and delicious to eat. Experimenting how to make it taste better going to resturants that served many types of pastas to bring me nostalgia of my childhood. But never have I ever ate something as good as this Rigatoni especially since I am from Minnesota and hardly get to eat real Italian foodies. The sauce was delicious, the meat well cooked and the pasta was soft but firm at just the right level. The flavors exploded in my mouth causing my serotonin levels to be at an all time High. I thought I just ate crack by the way I devoured the meal I just ordered all in an estimated span of 35 minutes of being in the resturant. I arrived around 5:40-48 pm and left approximately at 6:25 pm and met back up with friends at 6:30 since I was also on a timeline. Don't take the time of service very seriously as I was indeed keeping track of it but I was not timing anything nor expecting to be served slowly. I just want to express the account so the timing may be off but the service was fast and beautiful. The waiter also came to me 5 mintues after eating to see if I was enjoying my meal and I informed her that I was delighted the food was amazing. Some time passed by and I was greeted by a kind man I saw earlier in the day buying Doughnuts. To which I believe might be one of the owners of the resturant. By the Higher powers of life I was lead to this resturant one way or another and it boggled my mind. He created small talk with me at my table and lightened my spirit even more by how respectful he was and how much care he put into his customers and buisness. I thanked him for the delicious food and wonderful service I received while telling him about my irritating experience elsewhere and he apologized for another buisness he didn't need to do that. It wasn't his fault I recieved such negative treatment but knowing I got this high level of treatment by Blade 1936 that doesn't owe us consumers anything made me happy. I tipped cash to my cook and my waiter then I left roughly a 24.4% tip on my card as well just because of how amazing this resturant had me feeling. The older gentleman even gave me farewells as I left. I have never had a buisness owner do this for me...

We made reservations for a group of 10 at 8 p.m. for my cousins 25th birthday. We were very excited to try this place out. Unfortunately, the experience was not great.

When we arrived, we were seated about 15 minutes after our reserved time. Our waitress was very nice and friendly. We got a large table in the back. Two members of our group were seated at the end of the table underneath an a/c unit. The a/c unit was dripping on their heads which made us have to squeeze on the longer side of the table. We brushed this aside and kept on with our evening.

We ordered drinks which came out without hiccups. Next, we ordered 3 appetizers. About 15 minutes later two appetizers appeared but one did not. We assumed the last appetizer would come out in a bit so we ordered our entrees at this time. Time has gone by and it was clear that the appetizer would not come out. We let our waitress know and asked to have it removed from the bill since our meals should be out at any moment.

Around 8:45 p.m. two of our meals came out. Again, we assumed the rest of the meals would come out shortly after, however, the seven of the meals didn’t come out until 30 minutes later. The two members who got their food earlier in the evening were cold by the time the seven other meals came (they were waiting to eat with everyone). At 9:15 we had 9 out of the 10 meals. Our waitress noticed that one meal did not come out and went to go check on it. At 9:30 the meal finally came. The plate was steaming hot and the food smelled delicious (ravioli was ordered) however, when the ravioli was cut in half, it was ice cold. We had other reservations made at 10pm and we decided to return the meal since we couldn’t wait any longer for the meal to made (this was told to the waitress). We were not charged for the meal or the appetizer. At this time; we did not want to ruin our cousins birthday so we did not complain to management about the service and decided to come back the next day.

I would also mention that not once did we receive an apology for the service, quality of the meals, and delay in receiving meals and appetizers. It is customary for a chef or manager to come out when a meal is sent back, but nobody came out.

The next day, we returned to share our experience with a manager. We were told the manager was not in, but the owner was. We ended up speaking to the owner, chef, and the waitress who assisted us yesterday. They were all incredibly rude and argumentative. They did not listen to our experience and we overhead the chef stating to another team member “do not give them anything - all they want is money”. The owner of the facility was dismissive of our experience and did not want to offer any apologies, or take responsibility for the service we received. They state that they “made an exception to accept a group of 10” and we essentially had to deal with the mistakes they made and the delay they created in receiving the food. The chef asked why we didn’t mention anything yesterday and our response was that we didn’t want to ruin or kill the mood of our cousins birthday. The waitress said “you said you were full” which is entirely inaccurate. The waitress was told we could not wait for a new meal since we had reservations at another facility at 10 p.m.

It was incredibly insulting that the owner, chef, and waitress were literally arguing with us about the experience and would not take any responsibility for their service and quality of food. The most they could offer is a $50.00 gift card (our bill was $500.00 with an already mandatory 20% tip — we were not given the option to change the tip which we would have given the poor service). We asked for $100 gift card so our cousin and come again with their partner on a proper date and the owner said “I can’t do that”, which again, is rubbish since she is the owner of the facility.

I would not recommend this restaurant to anybody. As other reviews have said, this restaurant is a tourist trap. Please save yourselves the negative experience and visit...

Finally got a chance to visit Blade 1936. Since hearing about their indoctrination into the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN), which formally certifies their pizza as true, authentic Neapolitan pizza (one of only two in San Diego), I've been enthusiastically wanting to try out their pies.

We are surrounded by pizza joints - one near every corner it seems, and most of them are frankly sub-par. Sure, even frozen pizza can taste okay, but you want the BEST.

I've learned that my favorite style of pizzas are either true deep-dish Chicago style, thin & greasy New York style (where you have to "fold" the pizza to eat it), OR Neapolitan style, where the outer crust is bubbly in some places, slightly burnt in other, crispy on the outside & fluffy on the inside all while being thin in the middle. It's a very specific style of pizza.

Blade 1936, named after the 84 year old Blade-Tribune newspaper building they took over, is a great new addition to the Oceanside food scene. They sit on Seagaze Avenue behind the large AMC multiplex downtown. Parking wasn't too difficult to find, in fact we parked on the street right near the building.

They have a large patio dining section on the side of the place, but we chose to sit inside. Seats are PADDED, too! I can't tell you how important I think it is that restaurants make the decision to offer padded seats. Save the metal chairs for breweries and other joints where you're drunk enough not to care how much your butt hurts.

We ordered some wine for the wife, a cocktail for me (the "Rumblepony" with Rum & Campari). I actually wanted a beer instead, but wasn't impressed with the short selection of draft options (they also have a few bottles). Most seemed to be IPAs. There was a Peroni and Dolomiti on the bottle beer list, so keep that in mind. Would like to see more draft options, or at least a better variety...

For an appetizer, we chose the "Polenta e Salsiccia" (Polenta with Fennel Sausage in a pink sauce). I don't remember the last time I had polenta, but this dish makes me forget all the other times I've had it. This was excellent. The slight grittiness of the polenta matched well with the creamy pink sauce that was bustling with tasty bits of sausage. We ate it all.

My wife ordered the Pappardelle Bolognese, and I had to try the Truffle Pizza (it was National Truffle Day afterall). Both were excellent. The pizza doesn't have any meat but it doesn't even need it. The freshness of the arugula atop the puffy, slightly charred dough was magical with the slight flavor of truffle, mushrooms and mozzarella.

The pasta was excellent as well, and side note: the leftovers tasted even better the next day.

Service was excellent.

I really liked the newspaper references located here and there inside. At the end, even the receipt is served in a leather-bound tray that boasts a vintage, "newpapery" background.

If you check-in on Yelp, you'll get $5 off the bill.

Overall I really enjoyed Blade. There are several flat-screen TVs around if you need to catch a game. Some quiet Italian music in the background might be cool, however cliché. It's a smallish restaurant which probably seems that way due to social distancing. I do wish the bar was a tad larger, but overall I was quite pleased with the food & service. Looking forward to the...