Basil’s Restaurant

Not sure how this place stays in business. There are so many things wrong here.
When you walk on through the door you are greeted NY a dining room that looks like a bottle of Pepto Bismol exploded. There is pink everywhere! Booths, chairs, floor tiles, etc.
Next you get treated to service that could best be described as glacial. A good 10 minutes from ordering drinks until you actually get them. And this with only one other table occupied.
Once you actually get to order your food you have plenty of time to talk about how horrible the décor is, as it will take forever for the food to arrive. Just don’t get your hopes up to high.
Not only was some of the food cold by the time we received it, it also tasted like it had been cooked several days ago and had been reheated in a microwave.
Portion sizes can best be described as being appropriate for someone that is on a diet. The prices associated with the portion on the other hand would have you believe you just had a three course meal.
Stay away from this one. Any fast food restaurant will give you better food at a better price than this place.

My ex used to love this place but I’ll try not to hold that against it, ha! Guess it doesn’t affect the food.
Basil’s spicy Pod Thai is to die for and its enough to feed two. Great lounge with a solid wine selection.
More people should come here!
Ex, if you read this, calm down, I’m only joking! ;)

I bought a groupon off the Internet which ended up only costing me 5 dollars for 20 to spend here. How could I go wrong! But wait, there’s more! Act now and you too can eat an awful, awful (it’s awful) lunch. The London broil tasted like it was a good 2 – 3 days in the fridge already cooked and then reheated to order. It had that sour meat taste that only cell decomp in a cool fridge can give you. Cornbread, stale. Peaches, canned. I was hassled about having to print my groupon (it’s a mobile world, it doesn’t work that way). There was a ton of pro life pamphlets and bracelets etc, by the register. My advice would be to make a statement in your cooking, not the abortion argument. I wish I had aborted my mission to try this place.

Basil’s is one of those places that appears to have been there forever and you just
have to know about it to actually go there. Since I’m «new» to this part of Charlotte, I
try to notice different places to have lunch and I saw this one day as I was headed
someplace else, but decided to try it the next chance I got.
I opted for the fish sandwich and fries, but won’t make that mistake again. They
don’t compare to Showmars.
I went back a week later and had their daily special grilled chicken salad and it
was not bad. I would have this again if I go back.
One thing I will say, the waitress are very friendly and went out of their way to make
sure you had everything you needed. They apparently have a complementary soup
like the restaurant in the next strip shopping center.

I’d never heard of this place. We took the car to the mechanic right next door and had a few hours to kill before the car was ready. Becky and I spotted this restaurant in a nearly-​deserted strip mall off Old Pineville.
We walk in for breakfast and find it to be one of those generic American food breakfast restaurants you find all over town. The sign outside said they only serve breakfast and lunch but we were there for breakfast.
Saturday morning at 10AM and we were the only people in the restaurant. The waitress, whose name was probably Betty Lou or Bobbi Jo (and sounded like it), was the biggest ray of sunshine in the otherwise desolate place. She was very nice and attentive. She engaged in lively conversation and was all peppy and shit. I was kinda hung over so I just wanted by breakfast.
The only other people there were the Asian owners who were taking down their very Eastern Christmas decorations.
The menu is your typical American breakfast food fare; pancakes, waffles, grits, biscuits, eggs, all sorts of hog parts and whatnot. I ordered a standard egg, pancake and bacon plate and a sausage biscuit on the site. The food was good, nothing exciting, except for the country ham… which tasted like I’d just popped a gram of salt in my mouth, but Becky likes it.
The biggest gripe was how long it took for our freakin’ food to arrive. It took roughly about 20 minutes for us to get our food. I assumed the Asian man was too busy taking down the Xmas decorations and hadn’t even started the pancake batter that morning.
On our way out there was a funny side on the register that said, «Do you want to talk to the man in charge, or the woman who knows what is going on». That sign alone gave them the third star.
That’s it… pretty generic stuff.

Deciding I had passed by their A-​frame on the curb one too many times, I pulled into the odd strip center on Old Pineville and walked myself up to Basil’s. Nearing the entrance you see neons which say breakfast, lunch, and dinner… but I’m pretty sure the place is only open through lunch these days, and the amount of signs in the windows and along the building are beaten out only by the number of baseball team plaques and «best of“s that line the entrance and the cash register. Looking closer you realize you’re among a city’s best from 1997 and an aol’s best from 2007, so alright, this place has to be doing something right to stick around this long.
As far as lunch goes, you have your standard sandwiches, meatloafs and hot plates, free cup of soup with order, the make your own «veggie» plate from the sides column, and the rotating «daily specials» menu insert. They do also have crab cakes and apparently offer a Chinese lunch on Saturdays and Sundays. (Additions I believe made by their current owners, an Asian-​American couple– the wife running the front and the register, the husband in the back cooking) This couple is also what will keep me coming back, along with the sea of regulars, as even on my first return trip I was treated like I had been eating there for years. I will occasionally overlook having to scrape off the mayo I requested my sandwich not to come with for the service and warmth here. (and I need to make it in for breakfast soon, because the specials on their white board looked tasty!)
Nothing extraordinary, but I’m happy to have found another decent breakfast & lunch place in town (especially one where I know I get to sit and relax in a booth). And there isn’t a soda fountain here, all sodas are served in a bottle.

I love this place. I’ve only been a couple of times since it’s across town for me, but it made enough of an impression for me to want to go back whenever I’m that way.
The food is good, but it’s the feel of the place I really like. A lot of older regulars that the owner pals around with. The owner and his wife are always there.
Breakfast is available all day, and you can get a good variety for a decent price. The lunches looked good and home-​style, but I’m just a breakfast girl.