Pasta & Basta — Restaurant in Ventimiglia

This place is an over rated tourist hotspot. It features a wide variety of pastas en sauces. The short story; if you want good pasta with bad atmosphere and terrible service this is the place. The long story:

You get to choose your own pasta shape and sauce combo, in theory a great concept but in reality it is a show of a lack of understanding of the art of pasta; some sauces are made and go best with some shapes. This seems to not be a item of interest for the staf, and it might cause some less good choices by an uninformed customer.

The portion sizes are big for the price, so big in fact that sharing one portion between two people is more then enough. However, neither the portion size nor the recommendation to possibly share is stated anywhere or told by no staf. In other restaurants with similar portion sizes that I have visited this is more common practice. The pasta itself and the sauces are very well prepared, I would however, stay away from the fruti di mare options, as these are frozen not fresh (surprising seeing as the restaurant is next to the harbor).

Another point is that the already pre-combined pasta-sauce combos are slightly more expensive then if you would chose them individually. This comes with no apparent reason other then the restaurant trying to market them as more “premium” options, even tho this only applies to some of the pastas in the list.

The service started out great, but soon turned sour. It felt the staff wanted to have us order as quickly as possible, coming to our table every 30 second moments from when we got the menus if we had already decided. This attentiveness was to a certain extend polite but also felt pressuring in the end. The food took a moderate time to arrive, but dishes ordered together did not come together, even tho they were part of the same course, with enough time in between them to let one of the dishes cool down nearly completely.

After finishing our main course we were promptly asked if we wanted a dessert, we said yes and asked for a menu, but the menu never came, even asking for it 3 times again. Furthermore, eventually giving up on the menu (and the desert) after waiting for 30 min, I asked for the check, they again proceeded to never bring the check, leaving us to wait for another 30 minutes, after which I walked to the door between the kitchen and dining area to catch a staff member and ask to pay. The staff seemed very disorganized and the bill was unclear at first for the staff member. Receiving the bill I was unpleasantly surprised. A unexpected service fee was charged (€2-€3 per person). I overheard another customer asking the manager about this, who explained it was for the 2 breadsticks provided on the table, as well as the tap water they gave us. It is quite remarkable then that, in addition to this fee, they charged us extra for a bottle of water.

Overall the rating for this place is way to high, and it should be more around the 3-3,5. The food is tasty but not outstanding; the service is appalling; the prices both fair, but through its presentation misleading and in some forms a scam. If you have to choose a restaurant you would not have the worst time here but most certainly your time could be spend at a more picturesque establishment with a higher standard of service and...

So delicious, brought slight tears to my eyes. Hands down, the best pasta I have ever had in my life, in all my travels. ALL their pasta is freshly handmade each day. As well as their sauces....and everything else offered on their menu. I had the ravioli with fresh mushrooms in a delightful cream sauce. 😋 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐🤗 We also ordered fettuccine with fresh seafood in a fresh tomatoe and cream sauce as well as a fresh tomatoe pasta with aubergines, fresh basil and pomodaro sauce. We then enjoyed espresso and americano coffees with fresh Tiramisu...OMG so perfect. 👌 The service was outstanding. The owners are present and fully engaged. This is a family business, run with pride, love and a lot of experience. Fabulous location, literally.across from the Marina....we enjoyed a gorgeous and romantic sunset while we experienced our meal extraordinaire. Reasonably priced - approx 75€ total. And at the end of the meal that no one could finish, as the portions were generous, one of owners explained he spent some time in America in the 90's and learned about the "doggy bag" concept, and so he proudly offered to pack up our food in doggie bags. Italian, French, English all spoken, by all the staff and the owners This family owned charming restaurant MADE our trip to Ventimiglia sublime. A lifetime of waiting to come here ....SO well worth the wait. On the outside of their restaurant are awards they have won over the years....and I have included a photo one of the owners. He was so engaged with the patrons and charming! #Michelinstar in the...

One of the most memorable meals during my 5 week vacation in Europe. It was so wonderful of the restaurant to provide us with menus in different languages (French, English and Italian), The servers were super kind and friendly, and the decor simple and elegant. The food though, was amazing, savory and satisfying. Generous portions meant that the dishes could easily be shared, however you will probably want your entree all for yourself. I ordered the tagliatelle with Argentinian shrimp and champignon mushrooms and thought that I wouldn’t be able to finish. Gosh was I wrong! Likewise, my son loved his carbonara dish and practically licked his plate clean. The hardest part was deciding on dessert. We ultimately picked tiramisu and will now be comparing all other tiramisus to the one from Pasta Basta. Come early because a line forms as soon as they open for dinner.

Sometimes google disappoints and sometimes, it helps us to find gems that become part of family traditions and memories. Pasta and Basta will most certainly become a family favorite and must visit on our next...