Basta

Such a disappointment! Portions were extremely small for the price, pizza was soggy, side of pasta came after we finished eating our dinner and it had no flavor. In my view Basta is a Bust!

An Italian restaurant that would not be at all out of place (or less crowded) on Federal Hill or the North End in Boston in Pawtuxet Village? An outdoor patio in a parking lot that feels like you’re at a very hip eatery in Boston or New York? Pizza that’s made in 90 seconds that is among the best 100 in the country? Yes. Yes. Yes.
Basta is a great little place that’s actually a pretty big place when you factor in the large bar area, two dining rooms and outside patio that all make you feel like you’re in a cool little find. Upscale in atmosphere and lively, it’s got a great feel, but you’re here for the food. And what awesome food it is.
I had veal parm, and it was outstanding. A super bright, fresh, incredibly tasty sauce covered the thin, crispy veal also topped with fresh mozzarella cheese. The pasta side was cooked perfectly and al dente, but for some reason, the sauce was either not the same or not nearly as flavorful and delicious on the pasta. I happily used some of the crispy, fresh foccaccia bread that came first to sop up what little remained of my veal gravy.
The pizza is cooked in a 900 degree oven and with the freshest and highest quality ingredients. It has been recognized as one of only 100 restaurants to have that high a quality.
The service is extremely professional, super friendly and very much on top of your needs without being at all intrusive. You’ll be seated quickly, served in a timely manner and we’ll taken care of until you’re ready to leave. But you won’t want to.
Basta has a great atmosphere, outstanding professional service, food as good as anyone in New England, with really inventive specials that truly are special, all in a pleasant indoor or very appealing outdoor seating on their patio. It’s well worth the trip to enjoy a truly outstanding, professionally run restaurant.

Mother’s Day 2016 was my first visit to Basta, my family had been, however, I hadn’t. Let me tell you Batsa did not disappoint. Our server Katie was absolutely the best, she was attentive and accommodating yet not overbearing. The food was delicious, I went with the Chicken Parm and it was outta this world! I will be returning to Basta for sure!

Been here twice and have been really impressed with the food. We were given a gift certificate (although we don’t live IN the state) and really wanted to use it. By the time we got around to using it, the restaurant had changed hands and they no longer were accepting gift certs. It’s the law that they cannot expire and in this case I think we got jipped — they nicely used half of the amount but I don’t think we will be back because they did not honor it — who knew it changed hands? That’s not our fault-​I think that was handled wrong and am very upset we lost out on half of our large gift after enjoying a very nice (pricey) meal.
With saying that, the food is great. I had the chicken parm (with grilled chicken) and it was so tasty. We enjoyed wine, beer, cocktails and after dinner martini’s.

My new favorite place! I was celebrating my birthday with my daughter and my husband. The service was absolutely astounding (Thanks to Ian and the rest of the staff)! I have worked in high end restaurants and it was a pleasure to watch such an amazing team work together so well.
The food deserves 6 stars. Everything was delicious from the appetizers to the entrees to the desserts. I can’t wait to go back and try everything else!

This place is awesome. Went as a group of 4. Top notch service, excellent food, great atmosphere. Pizza is awesome, get the butternut squash pizza, so unique and delicious. Creative, delicious drinks as well. Be sure to make a reservation, this place gets busy.

Party of 4. Saturday night ⁴⁄₂. First off, service was fabulous. Drinks were delicious, bread with oil and the carbonara pizza as an appetizer split was very good. Looking forward to our dinner, what a disappointment. Friend 1 had the bolonese, didn’t look like any bolonese I’ve ever had out. He did not like. it was under seasoned, zero tomato in it.
friend 2 had the veal parm, very dry with too much breading. Hubs had the Baffoni Chix with salsa Verdi and veg salad. Presented on this wooden cutting board, however the sauce was on the side, not even cooked with the one of the driest piece chicken we’ve ever had out The fresh veg salad was so salty. He took a few bites and left the rest. I had the pink vodka sauce subbed fusilli pasta. It was awful. Very bland no bite to it at all. We usually stay for dessert and cappuccinos but paid our bill and left. Ended up at Gregg’s for desserts and coffees. It’s too bad, the place is beautiful. Maybe the kitchen had an off night but 4 out of 4 terrible dinners usually isn’t a fluke. I would only do pizza and drinks next time out.

Absolutely amazing time. The atmosphere is beautiful and welcoming, the staff is friendly, knowledgable and attentive. Their chicken Parmesan is out of this world and their take on Girl Scout Cookies cocktails were phenomenal. I just can’t say enough good things about Basta and can’t wait to come again

Amazing drinks, food, atmosphere and people. Nice date night out at the bar. Definitely would recommend

Absolutely amazing, I love love LOVE Basta! The last time I went I got the calamari, a caesar salad, a prosciutto pizza, and tiramisu. All of it was fantastic!

I don’t know what it was about this place when I walked in that made me think to myself… I will be back! Maybe it was the warm and inviting fire place and seating area when you first walk in or maybe as you continued to walk through to the restaurant area, it was the brilliant hecticness of the wait staff so smoothly maneuvering themselves in such a tight space as if they had all the room in the world. Either way, I knew I was going to want more.
My hubby and I decided to try Basta after hearing such good things from co-​workers. It was a Saturday night, so the expectation is that it will be busy if it’s that good. Well, it was busy so much that there were additional small 2 seater tables set up In between other tables. You could practically rub elbow to elbow with the person next to you. Usually, I would turn around and walk out because it would just be to crowded for me and I do not like sitting that close to strangers, but my feet stayed planted until the hostess walked us to our little 2 person table that was placed right next to two booths on one side and a few four person tables on the other side.
Our waiter was very friendly and knowledgable. I cannot remember his name but he had a great personality! The way he was able to handle the crowded tables and walkways with a smile on his face was very much impressive.
We started off with some wine and then moved on to an appetizer which consisted of a mushroom bruschetta. It did not disappoint.
For dinner I decided on a hand-​made pasta dish while my husband went with a chicken Marsala. BOTH meals were fantastic! For dessert, I had ordered an apple pie a la mode of sorts… I’m pretty sure my eyes rolled into the back of my head on this one! So freakin good! We also ordered a single and double Espresso to top off the night.
We both agreed that we will return here for another round of jaw dropping, eye rolling, cramped beyond belief, dinner again.

Have been to Basta numerous times and it’s always a great experience. The food is outstanding with a lot of inventive specials. Ingredients are always fresh and their grilled pizzas are a real highlight! Great wine list and they serve flights which is a nice way to try different wines before committing. I always save room for desert because they typically have a desert special which is always something delicious. This is one of my standard go-​to restaurants when I want a nice night out with a great meal.

Don’t get the fusulli eggplant dish. I was very disappointed. Couldn’t find any eggplant in my entrée.
10 of us had dinner Saturday night and the service was excellent. The menu didn’t have as many choices as I would expect from an Italian restaurant. Beautiful place. Loud. Small restaurant and bar. Great meeting place. Not sure if I’d go back for dinner.

First I’d like to say the first time I came here everything was great! Food, service, atmosphere all 5 stars. Now for my last time here, service great, clams casino appetizer had much smaller clams than last time but was good over all, 1 mixed drink an old fashioned was perfect, side order of pasta with bolognaise was great, now my ribs, that’s where it all went bad, first bite was a little off, since I did not have ribs here before I took a few more bites my last bite was when I realized my ribs were WAY under cooked but not all of them, they come out in a set of 3, 2 were gray as rib meat should be, the other red as can be, the manager came over and apologized, said that was not acceptable and took it to show the cooks, gave me a free desert which was also good, so my negative review is strictly food quality control, raw ribs that I took several bites of is not ok whatsoever especially For a pricey restaurant

4 stars because our bar service was outstanding and Moonstone Oysters and Caesar Salad delicious!!. Thanks Stephanie — best bartender ever! Now the dinner — Veal Parm — the veal was pounded to paper thin and that is no exaggeration. The breading was eggie and did not stick to the veal and it was warm to almost but not quite cold — not impressed. However, the pasta — mama-​mia — delicious, pappadella was melt in your mouth and sauce with Marzano tomatoes like what my grandmother used to serve on Sunday afternoon. And the best Brown Sugar and Maple Old Fashion! That was dessert!

I would love to give Basta 5 stars and I was so so close, except for one thing. Let’s start from the beginning. Great pre dinner drink at the bar. Had an amazing pomegranate mule. Loved it, especially with the real pomegranate seeds. The service was great throughout. I give the service 5 stars. Our waitress was fabulous and very attentive. As soon as I told her about my nut allergy, she was all over it and checked with the kitchen about each dish. The wine was good and the pizzas were incredible, especially the butternut squash one! The cheese and squash together were top notch. I had the tri color salad with grilled salmon. The salmon was grilled to perfection, and was very tasty. The citrus vinaigrette was the perfect accomplice to the salad. My friend ordered the cotoletta pazza after the server told us it has been on the menu for so long and was so popular. It was very good and the veal was so flavorful. The broccoli rabe, however, is the one bad thing I have to say about our experience. It tasted like chemicals, and may have been cooked in rancid oil. It was not seasoned correctly and there was no lemon or oil or seasoning that could be tasted but rather it tasted like soap. Pretty disappointing because we all love broccoli but this was not edible. My other friend who ordered the orecchiette also had Broccoli rabe in her pasta dish and it ruined the dish. Whatever they were seasoning it with needs to be discontinued immediately because it tasted toxic. Other then that, no complaints around the table and we enjoyed our meal and experience. But. Please change the broccoli rabe.

This is a really nice restaurant, a bit loud, but upscale and very attractive. We had a good dinner here, not spectacular, but good. The place is quite loud on Saturday night. And it ended up being really expensive, other than that, an all around good time.

Over the summer we had our small 30 person Wedding Reception here and it was fabulous! Alex not only helped me plan the event but also tended bar on the fly filling in for the regular bartender. He did an awesome job! Ian was one of the main waiters for our reception and he’s a very bright vibrant person and we really appreciated the outstanding service.
What was especially unique is that Basta is primarily a dinner spot. Our reception was in the afternoon and we had their entire gorgeous dining room and bar. basically we had the entire restaurant for our event. So that was really cool and it’s a day I’ll never forget.
So thank you Basta!
Book Your Event Here With Confidence! BASTA= SERVICE EXCELLENCE!

I like Basta.
I’ve been I guess 4 times now. I’ve only sat at the main bar and once at the back bar, but the service is always welcoming and attentive yet relaxed. The cocktails have always been delicious (Steph makes a mean espressotini), and I’ve liked all the food. The carbonara pizza is GREAT. I’d definitely recommend it. It has all the delicious flavors of a traditional carbonara pasta, but with a chewy crust, fire-​roasted flavor, and sunny-​side eggs with perfectly runny yolks on top. I’ve never had eggs on my pizza but I can honestly say that I might just add eggs to my pizzas from here on out.
Great spot to grab a drink and some tasty food in the village.

Basta was a bust. Nice environment and a decent if strongly priced winelist. But, not a single item we ordered was spot on. Some not even close.
The Orcchiette with ground sausage and broccoli rabe was fine, nice even, but those little pasta were shells, not the thicker and denser bowl shape typical of orecchiette.
We added an order of chicken to the Tortellini, which was served grilled, sliced and unseasoned set ontop of the vodka and basil, tomato cream sauce. No effort was made to incorporate the flavorless chicken into the dish.
The Vitello Saltimbocca was dreadful. The veal, thin as a wafer, was cooked to the texture of shoe leather, with a hard browning in places. The prosciutto above it cooked to a crisp. The whole thing buried in super thick blanket of mozzarella goo.
My favorite part of the meal was the bottle of wine, which in fact was a substitute, as they were out of the wine I had placed the order for.
All in, quite a disappointment.