Basil Babe — Restaurant in Ypsilanti

This is not a standard restaurant. Look up the menu for that week on your phone before you even get in line. They have a rotation of dishes that they serve on a relatively small menu. You place your order at the counter and pay right from the get go, then they bring you your food at whatever table you have sat at.

It isn't table service as you would expect from a normal restaurant , but the food was delivered quickly and was still fresh and hot.

Apparently they used to be a pop up thai experience in A2/Ypsi, But now they have found a home in the old town inn pizza/hamburger mary space. I was very sad when hamburger marys closed, so I was a bit surprised that I liked basil babes as much as I did. I'm still gonna miss the drag shows and karaoke, but this food is too good to hold a grudge.

Okay, enough commentary, let's talk about the food.

The Crab Rangoons appetizer was delicious, crispy and chunky with crab. Highly recommend. The table next to us had the mushy dumplings and they smelled amazing, according to them they were even better than the crab Rangoon, so definitely on my next time list.

For entrees we had several dishes:

Pad Thai noodles with chicken - spice level super mild- overall rating ok. Certainly not bad, I would eat it again. But nothing particularly special about it.

OG Basil Stir Fry (Pad Kaprow) - spice level medium - overall excellent My favorite dish of the night, i'm definitely getting this again. I ordered it with a fried egg, which I cut up and mix together with the rice for a very satisfying meal. I added a little bit of lime juice, which I found a very pleasant addition to the dish.

Pork Belly & Basil stir fry - spice level mild - overall very good. Pork belly isn't for everyone, but this was very well made. Get it with a fried egg and mix everything together with the rice.

I will definitely be back, and am already looking at dishes that I hope are still on the menu to give a try. As for complaints, I do have a few relatively minor suggestions.

Appetizers need to have small plates. It's a bit silly to be eating an appetizer over a napkin. There should be qr codes and links to the menu all along the front entry way, since the menu changes every week. There should at least be a giant blackboard menu for that weeks dishes. The water should be cold, or ice offered. Additional drink options over water or thai iced tea. Not that the thai iced tea isn't delicious. Spice levels for each dish need to be listed on the menu.

Relatively minor inconveniences when compared with the quality of the food provided.

All in all I highly recommend...

Summary: Difficult to place a pickup / take out order, but the crab Rangoon and spicy pork dumplings are out of this world!

Details: It was challenging to place a pickup / take out order. My wife called twice and the phone continued ringing and no one would answer. My wife had to drive to the restaurant to place a pickup order in person (and while my wife was placing the order, she noticed that the phone continued ringing and went unanswered). Additionally, my wife asked if the restaurant uses MSG as an ingredient in any of their dishes, and the staff told her that they do not use MSG for any of their dishes. Once my wife was able to place our order, the food was made quickly, it was ready in 10-15 minutes, everything was correct in the order, and my wife also requested separate bags for certain dishes and the special bagging was also done correctly. My wife brought the food home, and I tried four dishes: (1) crab Rangoon, (2) spicy pork dumplings, (3) mushroom dumplings, and (4) chicken pad Thai. The crab Rangoon was by far the best crab Rangoon I've ever had. And the spicy pork dumplings were absolutely phenomenal. However, I would say that the mushroom dumplings and the chicken pad Thai were at least a little underwhelming.

In summary, great food and we plan to order from here again. But hopefully someone answers the phone and it's easier to place a pickup / take out order next time. Overall, 3 stars with breakdown provided below.

Food (4 stars): 5 stars... No MSG 5 stars... Crab Rangoon 5 stars... Spicy Pork Dumplings 3 stars... Mushroom Dumplings 2 stars... Chicken Pad Thai

Service (3 stars): 5 stars... 10-Minute Order Time 5 stars... Correct Items in Order 5 stars... Special Bagging 1 star... Pickup Order Process / Not...

Last week (after too many months of IG lurking), I finally got around to checking out B.B.- and OMG! This could be another happy review post, where I joke about being upset with myself for not checking them out sooner, except that I don't think I would change a thing. I wanted some slightly indulgent comfort food on kind of an icky fall day (while stuck at work), and let me tell you, the pork belly and basil stir fry 1,000% hit the spot. Crunchy, moist, smoky, sweet, mild heat, perfect rice. We also tried the crabby rangoons, which were nice and crunchy outside/ fresh and flavorful inside. The weekly featured dumplings were spicy pork and basil, and MAN, were they full of flavor! Again with the nice crispy exterior, and the lovely sweet chili sauce, but holy wow was the filing good. I swear I tasted apple and other fall flavors in there. It was so good that we ordered again tonight, two nights later- the sweet/ spicy garlic Thai chicken wings, and the chili-jam stir fry with pork belly. Somehow, this is even better. The chicken wings?? STOP. My only feedback is that I wish I'd had one or two more of the chonkier wings with more meat on it- but that's just me being greedy. There is something so irresistibly cheerful and comforting about Basil Babe, I can't help but somewhat selfishly wish them the very very greatest success. 10/10 will order again....