Basil Leaf — Restaurant in Town of Clay

Update to previous post: Went back and the food was just ick! Don’t order vodka riggiez unless you expect there to be no flavor and the service here is really lacking. Place wasn’t busy and couldn’t get a refill on any drinks until they bring you the bill. Nobody in my party liked their food. So I lowered the rating based on both visits. See below for other review.

Placed an order for pickup and I do not recommend this restaurant for pickup at all. The staff is very confused from calling in to order to picking up your food. When you arrive, nobody bothers to greet you and you get ignored by the wait staff, so you end up waiting around until someone passes by. The individual who passed by was told I was there to pickup an order and she left without saying a word. The waitress went back to work at her tables and left me waiting and ignored me. I was late picking up the order to begin with, so I’m not sure why I had to wait for someone else to come to the bar with my order. I had asked the server how much the order was and she told me, so I gave her the money for the order. She went to the register and then came back with my food only to want me to pay for the food again when she had already placed it in the register. I had a coupon where I was supposed to receive a voucher for my next visit where she was supposed to provide me with the gift certificate for a future use, but she seemed to think that I hadn’t paid her and wanted me to pay again. I had to go explain to her I did pay her and that I was aware that the gift certificate was being used at another time. When I finally arrived home I found that my meal was missing the salads that came with it and the bread I was given was stale. This place needs to get their act together if they want repeat business. I have no problem waiting if the restaurant is short staffed, but I do have a problem with bad service...

While cute inside, the food was mediocre. This might be a bastion to the 60+ crowd but if you’re looking for flavor and good execution, look elsewhere. We were the first guests of the evening- right at 4 pm. The staff was friendly, but when I ordered a Zinfandel, I was brought a White Zinfandel. I have years of restaurant experience so I’m not too upset and understood how this happened, but it is a rookie mistake. I was told there were 2 red zins available, although I only saw one on the menu and was not brought the menu back to decide between the two. The one I arbitrarily picked tasted a bit sweet and thin, more like a piano noir. We started with Utica Greens- hot. It was a generous portion, although the spice level was more a generic hot than actually hot. Like hot for those that find marinara spicy. Our entrees came with a side of broccoli, pasta, baked potato, or fries in addition to soup or salad. I had the soup, which was bland but edible. My partner had the Cesar salad which was so overdressed he didn’t eat more than 2 bites. The croutons were flavorless bread that seemed to have been fried in canola oil- soggy and uninteresting. We were not asked why he didn’t eat the salad despite a $2 upcharge. We both asked for pasta with our meals. When served, it was penne with marinara in its own bowl. My partner had the chicken piccata, which was decent if weird to be served with the pasta on the side and with marinara. I had the Hot Antipasta- overcooked mussels, clams, and shrimp with a stack of inch-thick eggplant parmigiana. The eggplant was soggy and undesirable. Olive Garden does a better eggplant parm. This place is great if your culinarily aspirations ended in 1985 and your idea of a good meal is large portions. We...

We've eaten at Basil Leaf twice. The service has been very good both times. Food and drink orders were taken promptly. Our water glasses were refilled at least twice without asking for refills; I appreciate our server's attentiveness. We both ordered meals and an appetizer. (Meals come with choice of side salad or soup). Curiously, our side salads were delivered prior to our appetizer and bread. The side salads were fresh, but unremarkable, it would have been nice to have more than one cherry tomato in the salad. Our dressings (Italian and ranch) were both very good. When we got our bread, it was warm, fresh and delicious. Two thumbs up on that item. The clams casino was tasty, but there were only 5 clams; a little awkward if you're planning to share that appetizer. (we expected 6 clams). My chicken parm entree was excellent and ample. The angel hair pasta was slightly overcooked. My wife's shrimp scampi was very tasty, but there were only 5 shrimp, and not a lot of pasta. Again, we expected at least 6 shrimp. For dessert we ordered chocolate cake. It was rich with a nice flavor.

Based on our most recent visit, I give Basil Leaf a solid 4-star rating. A few minor improvements would swing my opinion of this restaurant "from good to great"!! Try it...