Basilic — Restaurant in Newport Beach

Came here for a birthday dinner and had a good experience! The restaurant is located right on the busiest street of Balboa Island, and it gives off a cozy, intimate vibe with its wood interiors and dim lighting — though it was a bit too dim at first, making the menu hard to read.

The space is small, with just 7 indoor seats and 2 outdoor tables, so it feels very personal. The menu is also quite small, offering a few appetizers and entrees, which I usually take as a good sign of quality also it can a double sword. One bad dish can cost none returned customers. Orange county has way too many good or new restaurants.

Appetizers:

We ordered the Raclette with Bundnerfleisch and Bread & Butter. The plates arrived piping hot — always a great sign. The raclette was bubbling and full of rich flavor, though the fingerling potatoes didn’t add much. The cured meat was tasty and paired well with the strong mustard. I also ordered a Cabernet, but the wine selection was a bit underwhelming — just “meh.”

Entrees:

We had the steak and duck.

The duck was the star of the night — hands down the best duck dish I’ve ever had. It was juicy, tender, not at all gamey, and absolutely packed with flavor that melted in your mouth. The steak (ordered medium) had a perfect juicy center, but the exterior was a bit too heavy on peppercorns and possibly over-charred, which added bitterness that overpowered the meat’s natural flavor. The boiled veggies on the side didn’t do much — not a lot of seasoning or flavor.

Dessert:

We shared the caramelized walnut chocolate bar, and it was surprisingly good. I’m not usually a fan of chocolate bars because they tend to be too rich, but this one was well balanced. The walnuts cut the sweetness nicely, and the raspberry & blueberry added the perfect tart contrast.

Portion Sizes:

Just right. Everyone at the table was able to finish their plates without feeling stuffed or hungry.

Overall: A cozy, intimate spot with some standout dishes (especially the duck), excellent plating, and great attention to detail in the food. A few things could be improved — lighting, wine selection, and sides and...

I took my wife here for her birthday on a week night. The atmosphere of the restaurant is very nice - definitely a good vibe for a date night. We made a reservation and were taken to our table without waiting.

Right off the bat, I noticed that the waiter did not pay much attention to us; taking longer than usual to give us our menus and answer our questions. Granted, there was only one waiter serving the entire restaurant, I expected a better attitude from the waiter. He not only would not respond to our inquiries with any acknowledgement (but would still fulfill our request), he also seemed to be in a hurry every time we asked him something. Note that he was not like this to other tables. One observation that I made, and I could be totally off on this, is that the entire restaurant were filled with white people except for my wife and I, who were Asian. This could be the reason for his attitude towards us, but again, I could be wrong.

We ordered the chef's tasting menu and the waiter did not even take his time to explain to us what each dish in the menu was. When he served the dish to us, he didn't even tell us what it was and I had to ask for it explicitly. I was very annoyed by this experience as all other restaurant's tasty menu services were much better from my experience.

As for the food itself, it was delicious! I probably would not come here again if that waiter is still there. I would come for the food but definitely not...

I reserved a table for my birthday for 6 people, but the 6th person arrived late and didn’t order anything and they still charged a gratuity for the 6th person. We spent 2 hours there just because the service was so sporadic, when we were more than ready to order within 30 min of sitting. For the price it’s not worth the service, serving size nor the quality of the food. The service was extremely slow, we were totally confused who our server was because there’s was like 5 different people who came the the table to seat us, take the drink order 3 separate times, food order, give drinks, give the food, and some one else for the bill; they didn’t explain the wine menu or ask if we had questions about the menu and seemed rush, the food wasn’t given together (mine was given let when the others has their dinner almost half done), and the food was Luke warm when served as if they forgot about...