Basilico New York Deli

Every now and again, we forget how bad the food is at Basilico and try to eat there. And each time we get a rude reminder that this place is quite literally a disaster.

Our most recent reminder was because I felt like having a chicken caesar wrap. If I had known what awaited me, I would have convinced myself to eat anything else.

I ordered a cup of the tomato and orzo bisque to start, and the aforementioned caesar wrap. My wife ordered their citrus chicken entree.

A bowl of soup was brought to the table. It looked like tomato bisque, but it wasn't. It was lobster bisque. I can't eat seafood or shellfish. In large quantities, it makes me very sick. Thankfully, I realized the error after one spoonful, and brought it back to the counter.

Instead of apologizing or offering to comp the soup, the gentleman at the counter just yelled at the girl at the register and said they'd bring out the right soup shortly. They took it VERY lightly considering they served someone with a food sensitivity something that could make them very ill.

When the right soup - the tomato and orzo bisque - arrived, it was lukewarm, had literally zero orzo, and no real tomato flavor. It was like eating Parmesan cheese melted into heavy cream. The sad, cold, soggy roll served with it was also highly disappointing.

One of the roving employees saw that the soup wasn't getting touched and asked what was wrong. We told them that ingredients were clearly missing (orzo) and that it was like drinking whipping cream, and they took it away.

Then, the entrees arrived. The chicken caesar wrap was missing listed ingredients (croutons, shredded parmesan). It was also dry and bland.

My wife's citrus chicken was dry, tough, and flavorless. The chicken was served in a low-walled bowl on top of rice. That's a problem, because any citrus sauce that was supposed to flavor the chicken that might have been added was lost to the starchy pile of unseasoned rice at the bottom of the bowl. The vegetables were also undercooked and under-seasoned.

A new caesar wrap was provided with all of the promised ingredients, but it was still dry and bland. It's clear that they pile the ingredients on the wrap and then apply dressing, instead of tossing the ingredients in a bowl, and then placing them on the wrap for wrapping. The result is inconsistency from bite to bite and a VERY dry wrap.

Food aside, this place basically runs like a cafeteria, which sucks considering they struggle to put out edible food. If they forgot ingredients or served you something unpalatable (which is pretty much the norm for them), you've already paid and there's really nobody to talk to about it.

Food runners zoom by and ignore your polite "excuse me." You have to bring food to the front counter, cut in front of people waiting to order, and try to explain what's wrong. The most they'll do for you is remake something, when all you really want is to get your money back and go someplace else that can actually execute on its food.

And god forbid you have an acute or intense food allergy. At least they're close to the emergency room!