Sweet Basil Restaurant — Restaurant in Dallas

The Owner Mike was the nastiest, rudest overly condescending pompous a## I ever spoke with in a restaurant. It was last Thursday evening, February 14th when my son gave me an unexpected reprieve for a couple of hours from my caregiving responsibilities of my loving husband. He has Alzheimer’s and is in the severe stage so I hardly ever have time to myself. It never entered my mind that it was Valentine’s day when I called a friend to see if she could join me, and I hit the jackpot, she could. Her husband was working late on a Valentine present for someone. So we went local to a place she and her husband eat at often off Midway. I had never been there but they said they went there often and the food was good. Got there and he just seated someone. There was no one else waiting. He came up a few minutes later and asked us if we had a reservation and we said no, he said nothing else and literally disappeared (we thought to get a table). Then another couple came in and he came back and asked them if they had a reservation, also a no, and he disappeared again. A table opened up right in front and wasn’t cleared yet so I sat in the chair because I am disabled and can’t stand for very long. Another couple came in and took two seats that opened at the bar. The table was cleaned off and Mike returned about 10 minutes later to the front and stared at us and the other couple and disappeared again. About 5 minutes later 2 or 3 couples came in that had reservations and he came back up front and sat them right away completely ignoring us and said nothing. 2 more couples came in and he sat them. Then another couple came in and asked if there was a wait to be seated and said nothing about a reservation and he sat them right away. Then he set the couple at the bar. The date of the couple waiting behind us finally hunted him down in the hall and I joined her to find out why we hadn’t been seated yet. We felt bad because we encouraged them to wait when the first got there. Mind you I’m sitting at an open table now for about 40 minutes. He never asked me to move or asked me why I was sitting. During this time the 2 other tables in the front both had to get Mike to hunt down their waiter for their bills because I only saw that waiter once when we first came in. Chaos is the only word that could describe what was going on in that restaurant. There was a girl waiting there when we first came in at the corner but she said she was there because she just walked out of another place she was working. She went to the ladies room and the next thing we saw was she was serving water and helping the waiters, so they must have hired her on the spot. She had those deer in the headlight eyes because it was so chaotic she was very confused. When we finally got hold of Mike he said he would not be seating us because we didn’t have reservations. The other girl and I were flabbergasted to say the least. He said it was Valentine’s Day and we should have had reservations. We asked why he didn’t bother telling us that an hour ago and he just shrugged his shoulders and said he was too busy. I told him I could not believe he could be that rude and my friend and I left and were seated at Saltgrass in less that 15 minutes. This man had no idea what he was doing. Obviously was way short staffed and thought the best was to deal with it was to just ignore you. Never got to taste the food. The decor looked extremely cramped so to squeeze every dime out of the place.

I only put the food was good because my friend said it was, I NEVER tasted it, that should be an option on the review. It doesn't matter if it is good or not if you can't get a table to try it. Or that the Owner was so BAD at running it, would it be cold or hot? Thursday I'm sure it would...

I rarely write negative reviews for restaurants, but the experience was so bad I need to deter people from going here. Me and my friend visited today and everyone was friendly at the start, but then the waiter was rude and almost contemptuous when I only ordered a soup and salad, with no drink aside from water, trying to pressure me into getting an entrée, and he was clearly upset that he wasn't getting a table with a big tab. I used to be a waiter, so I understand the frustration, but I would never show my disappointment to my table, that is very unprofessional and uncalled for. The soup course came, and my lobster bisque was very fishy tasting and pretty bland aside from that, and my friend's minestrone soup had no noodles and she said it tasted like vegetables in broth without much flavor at all. The salads then came out and the dressing on the house salad tasted like mayonnaise... just mayonnaise. My friend's chicken caesar salad didn't taste like there was any dressing on it and the chicken tasted like it was out of a box. We decided to go somewhere else since we had only taken a couple bites. We told the waiter that our food was bad and he offered us to go boxes. We insisted that we didn't want to eat the food, and then he sent the manager over. She was nice and we left. On the way out the door, the waiter made a sarcastic remark, asking if we wanted to see what our tab would have been (fishing for a tip since we took up 15 minutes of his time, even though we didn't eat our food and he gave us poor service). If that were all, I wouldn't have written this review, but when we were sitting in the parking lot, processing the insanity that just happened, the owner walked up to the car, and asked us about the food and told us we should have gone to McDonalds instead. And he was right, McDonalds definitely would have been a better choice. He said that he would have made us pay for the food, that we didn't eat, if he had been handling our complaint. He even went as far as to insult us and call us the B word. The whole experience was awful. The food was inedible, and the service made it even worse. I would not recommend going to this...

I wanted to like this place so badly. The reviews are all good and we live right by it, so we finally decided to try it.

I want to start by saying that the service and the atmosphere was wonderful. The restaurants decor made me feel at home (as someone who grew up in an Italian household) and our waiter was incredibly nice/prompt. I had absolutely no issues with the service here tonight.

My issue was with the food. For an appetizer, our bruschetta was pretty good. Our entrees, the manicotti and the bolognese, were not unfortunately. Our waiter brought them out suspiciously quick. The manicotti was, and I say this as politely as I can, the worst I have ever had in my life. It was not baked. The ricotta was chewy and watery, and the manicotti came prepared almost like bare enchiladas. There was no cheese or garnish on the plate, just bare manicotti noodles and red sauce. It tasted like it had been frozen for quite some time. It was inedible. The bolognese was edible, but it was not appealing or appetizing. It, respectfully, looked like throw up on a plate. Partner could not get down more than three bites.

I wanted to say that our waiter was so so nice and tried to replace my meal, but we declined. The waiter and owner were very kind and took the manicotti off of our bill, even after we offered to still pay for it. As I said, the service was wonderful and I am so sad that we didn’t enjoy the food more.

All in all, the appetizers were alright, the service and atmosphere was wonderful, but our entrees were disgusting. We probably won’t be back, but I do sincerely wish this place...