BASILE - Fine Italian Kitchen — Restaurant in Boston

I will qualify this review by saying until this one, I have only ever left 5 star reviews. Anything less than 5 stars, I give feedback directly to the business, rather than tell the internet. I am departing from that practice for this review because I did try to tell the business, but was not listened to. My friend and I treated ourselves to a fancy dinner at Basile last night. The good: The steak entree was quite nice, but for the $62 price tag, it should be quite nice. I thought it was a little odd that it came with a potato but not a vegetable (This wasn't a steakhouse with a la carte sides), but generally this dish was good. The service was also good, although the restaurant was almost empty, so that would be expected. I believe they were training a new waitress, so we did have multiple servers, but everyone was helpful and attentive. The restaurant itself was beautiful and the tablescape gave a high-end dining vibe. The Ok: Before we ordered, a bread basket was brought out with two tiny pieces of bread. It was almost more comical than anything. Not a bad thing, but I would prefer bread or no bread, but 1 tiny piece each of us just felt silly. We shared the musels appetizer, which was good, but had very little of what I call " The good stuff" for dipping bread. We had to uncomfortably stick our hands far down into the bowl to try to sop up some of the "good stuff" with our few pieces of bread. Still, this was tasty and acceptable. The Bad: The reason for the 3 stars: we ordered the crab ravioli which were not good. When the waitress came by to ask how things were, I tried to be polite about it, but told her quietly that the crab tasted quote "swampy". We were not interested in eating any more of the dish. I didn't necessarily expect for the dish to be comped, although that would have been appreciated, but I did at least hope for more than just a small little laugh from the waitress. She might have said that she would let the kitchen know, but that was it. No apology, no offer for something different, and certainly not taken off the bill. We left most of the dish uneaten, including the shrimp, not just the ravioli.

In the end, before tip, the bill was $180 for the two of us. This did include my 2 beers, my friend's 2 mixed drinks & the food mentioned. For that kind of price tag, I would expect a delicious and memorable meal. We both agreed as we walked out that it was...

Have not been to this spot since it was the old DaVinci. The layouts and decor didn't not change too much. Came on a Friday night to celebrate a birthday. Made reservations but the restaurant was only half full. Mentioned on reservation that we will be celebrating a birthday but no acknowledgement. Most restaurants, either the hostess and/or server would mention or at least ask and wish the birthday person a happy birthday. It's a small but nice gesture. Our server was polite and friendly whenever he was at our table. Even though the restaurant was only half full, they must've been understaffed or lack of training. Service overall was slow. Server took our drink orders, knowing we didn't order wine, the big glasses were still left on our table. There was a woman kept walking around, helping set up the table and looking around. Maybe not her job but we had put our wine glasses on the side of the table and asked her to clear it so there'll be space for food. I'm not nitpicking or anal. But given the location, prices and "fine Italian", I expected a bit more service.

The food was very underwhelming. Our server was nice enough to separate the charcuterie board into 2 due to someone in our party is vegetarian. We got the Arancini, they are on the smaller side. The sea bass seasoning on top was very salty, fish itself was cooked perfectly. The duck was medium rare but tasted more rare as it was very chewy. All the pastas came out cold. The wild mushroom risotto was dry and rice was undercooked (hard), the pumpkin ravioli had very little filling and not much taste, the fiori alla Norma was disappointing (the description sounded good but it lacked flavor, tasted like a step up from chuck e cheese pasta (if they actually served pasta)).

When we finally got the check (light black ink printed on dark pink paper), my friend just gave her card without looking. The server ran the card then realized it was the wrong check. Instead of voiding, he suggested charging the card again for the difference. We were ok with this. But then after found out there was a 2% credit card fee. Have not seen this at other...

Da Vinci review

Da Vinci has a warm and welcoming atmosphere, the cocktails were a plus, the staff were very friendly and attentive when it came to refilling waters and removing extra unused glasses and the empty bread basket. The quality of the food and presentation was perfect. The reason I gave 4 stars out of 5, was due to an issue of more then one waitress approaching the table which was causing a lack of communication and confusion between the two waitresses and our orders. Our first waitress arrived and kindly introduced herself and took down our first drink requests. Less then a couple minutes after another waitress came to our table asking what we would like to start off with for drinks and I looked at her strange and said “We already ordered our drinks from the other waitress”. So she leaves and our first waitress comes back with our drinks and asked if we are ready to order, we needed more time since we were to busy talking but eventually we ordered an appetizer. As soon as she walks away, the second waitress comes back to our table to take our order AGAIN and I said “I am a bit confused, we just ordered, what happened to our other waitress”, she mumbled something under her breath along the lines “she’s not here...” and I was thinking to myself, did she just give up her table or all of a sudden went on a break? As the second waitress started shaking her head and brushed it off as if our first waitress was a mistake, she then immediately asked what we would like to order in an irritated tone. At this point we felt pressure and so much confusion, which I expressed my concern to the first waitress, after that we no longer seen the second waitress. Our first waitress on the other hand was really patient, accommodating and assured we were receiving our food just on time despite the confusion that was arising. She had such a great attitude and energy, and made sure she was providing the best service...