Il Basilico Trattoria — Restaurant in Maryland

My daughter had less than an hour for lunch and this was close to her office. I had my doubts, as it was hiding on a strip mall, but we wanted to avoid the MD State Fair traffic, and this was perfect. Parked right outside the door.

And what a find! The service was excellent, the waiter was friendly but not obtrusive, professional, knew the menu very well, was accommodating for my demands, and admittedly I am kind of a difficult patron. He gets an A+. And the food was delicious. They served this salt sprinkled hot bread and olive oil that was excellent. We weren't starving to death, so we didn't get entrees, just a collection of appetizers and salad.

The Fried Calamari was perfectly fried, fresh, crispy, and light, the dipping sauce was homemade. The Shrimp Venezia was also perfect, the shrimp were large and freshly sauteed to perfection, cleaned completely, the toast on which they were served had been brushed with a delightful herb/olive oil/melted butter. My daughter got the spinach salad, which was good. I did have a problem with the Mozarella Caprese I ordered; the tomato was not ripe, pale pink and hard, but the waiter took it back without flinching and brought back the fresh mozarella with cherry tomatoes, all sprinkled with a herb infused olive oil. I told him it was unforgivable to have no ripe tomatoes in August in Maryland, but I did find it forgivable after all.

Everything was served promptly, the table was set very nicely, and I liked the ambiance for being a small strip mall eatery. From now on, when I take my daughter to a weekday lunch, this will be...

Our first time at this Timonium staple. We had heard good things about the food and the fact that it was BYOB sealed the deal. It is a very popular local restaurant so I would recommend a reservation. The restaurant had an old world charm with vinyl covered tables and seats with ripped upholstery. The pizza was excellent with sausage that actually looked and tasted like sausage: I would go back for the pizza. I would give the Arancini a miss. It was stodgy and bland. The fried calamari however was executed perfectly. The salad was nothing phenomenal. We had the Nico and there was barely any Gorgonzola and the salad had no finesse. They have an excellent marinara and ragu. So you can’t go wrong with any entree with a red sauce. The Chicken Parmigiana was paper thin and over done to the point of it being rubbery. The MamaPia Ragu with the sausage and pork ribs and brasiole was good. Thought the brasiole was over done and dry. The pork ribs were delicious . The Chicken Alfredo was horrible. bland with no seasonings . It did jot even have salt added . For a simple dish like this it was disappointing. The chicken picatta was very lemony and very bland. Large portions so come hungry as long as you can tolerate the poorly executed dishes I would do it again only for the pizza and ragu. Stay away from anything that dose not have...

I'd rate 3.5 if I could. We came here on an "endless pasta" groupon at a relatively slow time (about an hour before dinner) and seated ourselves. The environment is pretty nice in there. I like that it isn't too terribly fancy. The menu is full of options, most of them reasonably priced.

Of the things we tried: The stuffed shells were good but the red sauce was a little on the bland side. The first dish of alfredo we got was delicious, creamy, and awesome, but the second dish of alfredo was meh, mostly just butter instead of creamy sauce. I was bummed that we had to pay for meat to be added to our dishes. Our waitress came to our table three times before asking to "refill" one of our dishes. In her defense, she was friendly and helpful, and things had started to get busy. I noticed a lot of people coming in for pizza, which we didn't try. We'll probably return for a second go at this place and try different dishes next time.

Overall: Decent, but I think the other reviews of this place raised my...