Basso — Restaurant in Barrett Township

NEVER AGAIN!! FIRST AND LAST TIME!!

We chose this restaurant because the reviews were fairly good. We had a 5pm reservation on a Wednesday. The restaurant wasn't busy.

The first thing I noticed walking in was a very strange unpleasant smell. You would think that an Italian restaurant would smell wonderful from all the food but this wasn't a food smell but more like something from a bathroom. Not very appetizing at all and not a great start!

We were a group of 5. My wife, myself, our 11 year old daughter and my in-laws.

In addition to the regular menu, there was a Bar Menu on the table. I wasn't very hungry and I wanted to order the chicken parmigiana sandwich from the Bar Menu.

Surprisingly, the waitress said she has to check to see if it's ok to order from the Bar Menu!! I said, it was on the table, so I assumed I can order from that in addition to the regular menu. Now, if she has to check to see if it's ok to order from the bar menu, then apparently, sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't. Even though we were 5 people and were planning on ordering a lot of food, the waitress came back and said it wasn't ok.

Apparently, this place is ALL ABOUT THE $$ and NOT THE CUSTOMER!!

Even though the menu was fairly limited, it still took us a while to figure out exactly what we wanted but we ordered by 5:40

The nauseating smell, the Bar Menu on the table that you can't order from... this is only the beginning!! Things got much worse!!

So, we waited and waited for the food to arrive. It's now like 6:20 pm. By this time, everyone was starving, including myself, who wasn't hungry at all when I got there. I flagged down the waitress and asked, what's going on? She said it's coming out any minute now.

Another 20 minutes goes by and it's now 6:40 pm and it’s really getting ridiculous!! Finally, I flagged down this woman who was running back and forth, who I figured was the manager. I asked, are you the manager? She said, no, I'm the owner. I told her I've never waited this long for food at any restaurant, ever!! She said, it's coming out any minute now. I said, that's what I was told 20 minutes ago!!

Finally, 10 minutes later, at 6:50, some, not all, of the food arrives. It then took about another 10 minutes for the rest of the food to arrive!!

My Chicken Parmigiana was very good and the portion was large but no one else seemed to be impressed with their meals which were very unexceptional.

In fact, my father-in-law thought his lobster had a funny taste. My wife then tried it and agreed and said it had a chlorine like taste. She got the attention of the owner and told her. The owner said it came in that day. Ok, so what does that mean? Absolutely nothing, since it can still be bad, even if it came in that day. The owner then said she would take it off the bill.

I got the bill and the lobster wasn’t taken off. When I brought this to the attention of the owner, she said she talked to her husband and he said that since most of it was eaten, they’re not going to take it off the bill. Wait a second. I thought she was the owner?

Apparently, the owner’s word doesn’t mean a thing. A business depends on their trust, honesty and integrity and that means a lot to most people but that doesn’t mean anything to the owners of Basso.

As it turns out, my father in law was sick that evening and for several days afterwards with food poisoning. My wife called to tell this to the owner and she said it had to be from something else. Really?

He hadn’t eaten anything else that day that was out of the ordinary or anything that would upset his stomach. The owner told my wife that next time we come in, they will do something.

Of course, there won’t be a next time. This was the first and very last time!! A restaurant that serves spoiled food with owner’s whose word doesn’t mean a thing, not only doesn’t deserve our patronage but doesn’t deserve the patronage of anyone else.

This place is ALL ABOUT THE $$ and NOT THE CUSTOMER!!

ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE!! DOESN’T EVEN...

Was elated to try this place, we are in town for our anniversary. The atmosphere was laidback and cozy. We were greeted and told they might not be able to sit a table for 2 when it was around 7:30pm and was moderately busy. I understood we didn’t have a reservation but it didn’t seem that busy. They did accommodate us and had us seated. We sat down and noticed the very noticeably sticky table, dirty plates with fingerprints and crumbs on them, and told the very kind waitress, and she quickly went and brought us new ones. She was very nice and polite and me and my partner ordered Surf and Turf, and the Prosciutto Steak. We quickly got a side of bread with delish bruschetta and olive oil with herbs. The waitress recommended the Espresso Martini, and it was good. We got our meals and the timing wasn’t bad and was not too bad of a wait. My partner thought his Prosciutto Steak was okay, and was ordered rare, to me it looked medium rare. He liked it and the flavor was there. The cheese and prosciutto got a little much on top, and the steak was chewy and just not worth $30.I ordered my steak medium rare, and it came out to me looking and tasting completely well done with a pale pink spot in the center. The Lobster tail was amazing, and I loved the veggies on the side. The waitress asked how it was and I politely told her unfortunately it seems to be cooked well and not medium rare, and offered me a new one. I was appreciative towards this (I hate making a fuss) but I had difficulty eating my steak since it was so chewy and not how I wanted it. I should’ve just kept that one because it just got worse. She came back less than 10mins later with a brand new steak. At that point I had finished the rest of my entree and she stayed to see when I cut into it, and unfortunately it was completely raw. Like I’m talking still mooing. I put my finger on the inside and it seemed not even warm, so I knew they must’ve just seared me a new one to get it to me. I felt bad complaining so much but I had to tell her, it was completely raw. At that point it took a damper to our 4 year anniversary dinner and he was almost done with his meal. She offered for him to cook it more and I said why not. Well, again, just searing the steak doesn’t change the internal temp so it came back completely raw again. At that point another waitress got involved and said the chef would make me anything I would want. With that being said, I felt like I was burdening the staff with this issue but at the same time, having to send back a steak 3 times isn’t a great experience for me too. At that point in the evening, I just don’t want it anymore, my appetite was dampened by this experience and we were finished with our meals. I had asked maybe for tiramisu, and they agreed. I will say, this was a mean tiramisu and was very good, just the moment I cut into it, I knew they had must’ve just pulled it out of the freezer. (I work in a culinary department so I kind of had a knowledge of what could be happening.) We enjoyed it and it was pretty good. We quickly got the bill and the waitress was still very polite and helpful. I appreciate her. I just really had hoped for a better experience with this place. Reading the reviews I had a feeling it would be either really good, or more like the experience we...

My very 1st review...I normally don't do reviews but the alarming experience I had at this restaurant was very awful & unsatisfactory! I was on a couples trip to Poconos PA, all the way from Mississippi & Florida. This restaurant was recommended to us by locals. Prior to going we noted they were a 4.5 restaurant (sound good, right? Wrong!) We made reservations for 7pm for Friday April 28th. We arrived to the restaurant on the date mention, & was seated in a small room in the back. Our waitress was very nice & helpful with the menu & drinks. Her sevice was great! My fiance & I ordered the signature calamari for our appetizer, which was very good. My friends order their regular calamori with the marinara sauce which wasn't good (tasted like it came straight out the "Motts" can) We then ordered our entrées. My fiance ordered the Lasagna which was ok, we had better! I ordered a medium well steak with a lobster & a shrimp. My steak was well done but I didn't complain about it. My friends fiance order chicken florentine & she ordered chicken picatta. Both of them said that the chicken was very dry. Now this is why this place received a "1": My friends told the waiter that they would like to order something different because the chicken was very dry! The waitress took the new order. Then the owner came over to our table without an apology & was very confrontational. She was not sensitive to fact that my friends were not please with their food. The owner never gave her name & stated her cooks tasted the chicken & it was not dry! She then walked off after she realize they ordered different food. After talking amongst each other about the owners unprofessional behavior. My friends decided to cancel the other order. Then the owner came back to the table very confrontational & stated, " It was said I was very unprofessional!" I said & you are very unprofessional! As a manager/owner if customers are complaining about their food you should show good customer service skills by apologizing that the food wasn't pleasing to them & offer them something else. You don't comfront them about your cooks tasting the food & telling them it wasn't dry to your cooks! Yes very nasty & distasteful service!!! Then a man stepped up to the table not properly introducing himself selling us lies about them being a 5 star restaurant & no one ever complains about the chicken. Well.....LIES & GARBAGE, as evidence by these reviews!!! Crazy owners wanted to maintain a argument with customers about how the food taste on the CUSTOMER'S palate!!! Owners are definitely in need of leadership & customer service skills & training! They never acceppted accountability! This place should not be in business based on their very poor customer service skills and their insensitivity when it comes to customer service. When you know better, you should do better!!! I understand that the owners just doesn't know any better!!! Most of these reviews must have come from locals & their families....I will never recommend this place or go back!!!! Especially for my southern people who are use to great customer service & hospitality. I could have had some good authentic Italian food at Salutes in...