Joey Basil’s Pizzeria Bar & Grill

I’m pretty sure that they’ve closed down.
I’ve passed by here a couple of times, and they are not open.

Updated simply to reflect that the more things change (owners, time…), the more they stay the same (smoking, cleanliness, table arrangement…).
I really wish I could like this place more, but I can’t.

We entered this restaureant at 04:45 PM and the place had very few customers. We were delatyed in seating because most boothys were uncleared. After waiting for a booth to be cleaned, we were seated and ordered a chicken garlic pizza. 20 minures later we were served a pepperoni pizza. At checkout we asked for the AAA discount and were told that they didn’t offer one. After we pointed out that the sign on the door said that they did we were given the discount. A visit to the rest room revealed that there was no soap.
Aside from the horrible service and atmosphere, the pizza was incorrect but acceptable.
Unless improvements are made, I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant.

Where is my pasta?
Came here for dinner last night with boyfriend and another friend. Since it’s a holiday Monday, the restaurant was quite empty and we had our choice of seats. Put in orders for garlic fries, lasagna, baked penne, and seafood fettucini with our waiter. Everything was great.
Minutes later, the fries came. Portion was good and they tasted good too, but I’d put the garlic and cheese in while the fries were hot — as neither the garlic or cheese adhered to the fries.
A few more minutes afterwards, the lasagna and baked penne arrived. The bf and friend started eating, thinking my dish was not far from delivery — wrong! The waiter dropped by for seconds twice asking if everything was ok, then ran to see customers at the bar or ran into the kitchen. I had to chase down another waitress to ask about my pasta after ~10 minutes.
Another 10~15 minutes passed, and still nothing! Eventually, the bf and friend were at the end of their dish, and I was fed up. The waiter finally decided to grace us with his presence, so I confronted him about the fettucini. He then said, the kitchen missed it but they were making it now.
OMG! I told him forget it because everyone was done with their food, but he offered to comp me the pasta to take home.
It’s a shame to give Joey’s 2 stars because the food was great, but it would have been 1 star for such bad service. Really hope the manager pay more attention when hiring! I’ll give it another try before crossing it off my list.

Although I am not the fan of other stuff on their menu, I love their pizzas. We order their Chicken garlic, chicken combo and veggie pizzas all the time. In Fremont, this is definitely my favorite pizza place.
Note my rating of 4 star is only for pizzas, I won’t rate them so high for other stuff on the menu.

I went here on Sunday with my two friends. Our waitress was very kind, and promptly gave us our drinks. We ordered The Garlic Fries, Ceasar Salad, Medium Vegetarian Pizza and Chicken Alfredo Pene Pasta.
The only thing wrong was that the Vegetarian Pizza came out with a red sauce instead of a white sauce like we had originally ordered. Meal was seriously fabulous and there was lots left over to take home.
The bar is the place to go on nights and weekends! Be sure to try a green alligator shot.

The food is mediocre, but it’s alright for the most part. It’s just that nothing stands out to me. It’s a good Italian place. The menu is big with lots of soups, salads, pastas, pizzas, and calzones. The lunch is pretty cheap. Dinner is pretty cheap too. The prices here are very fair. The place is pretty big so there should be no problem with seating.
I know most people complain about restaurants being understaffed, but this place is overstaffed to the point that they sometimes do not notice you because they are having too much fun hanging out with each other.
Their website is good. There are coupons online.

If bad food and service were gold this place would be Fort Knox! Where do I start on how bad this place was? How about the service? The waitress seemed more interested in watching tv and texting on her cell phone than she did taking our order or giving refills. When you have to get up and walk over to her and ask her for a refill that’s when you know the service sucks!
The food? BLEH! I ordered a philly cheesesteak. More like a philly cardboard box. It had zero flavor and I asked for no onions. Needless to say it was loaded with onions but no flavor. My friend ordered a meatball sandwich. He was starving and only ate half. He said he couldn’t stomach the rest of it.
If you’re feeling adventurous and don’t mind punishing your stomach then by all means eat at Joey Basil’s. It’s great for that warm Pepto Bismol feeling.

I visited for lunch on a Sunday. There was one waitress for the entire place, running around rather frantic whilst three guys stood around in the kitchen and two at the bar, all seemingly waiting for her to remind them to do something!
We ordered drinks, a lemon drop and whisker sour. Both were worse than what I’ve had at dive bars in the SF Mission District. Reverted to beer, of which they were out of our first two picks. We had to ask for water long after our drinks were out and after several attempts to grab her attention.
Ordered appetizers that never showed up. Garlic fries were akin to McD’s with garlic and basil showered over them – pretty poor. Cheese pasta was yummy, though not fully baked through. Pizza toppings were yummy, basil and tomatoes, but the dough was super thick and didn’t seem finished.
Getting the check wasn’t easy. Getting her to take the check was even harder as she rushed back past us several times, seemingly ignoring the card we held out. Having the check run was the hardest. We finally walked to the front and handed it to her: she took it and walked to the register. Several minutes later as she seated folks that came through the door, we realized we weren’t waiting for the card processor, but still waiting for her to run it! We quietly joked about just leaving the card and ordering a new one at this point: we just wanted out.
Felt bad for the waitress. Felt bad for the two tables on either side of us, each of which had issues they had to bring to the waitresses attention. Felt worse for anyone else that walked in the doors to eat.

I’ve been to Joey Basils 4 or 5 times and it’s sooooooooo close to becoming a good restaurant but it seems that it needs some help.
1. The food is inconsistant which is a sign of poor managment.
2. The service is inconsistant, which is a sign of poor management.
3. The pizza toppings and sauce are very good but the crust/​dough is poor.
I spoke with the owner about the crust and he said; «We’re not changing it, the pizza is OK the way it is.»
An owner of a pizza restaurant says his pizza is just OK, and that’s fine with him. Hmmmm… it seems he needs a lesson in restaurant managment and a different cook to teach him that food should be made to finer standards. It bothers me when an owner could care less about the quality of his product.
The calzone’s are the only item I feel are saving this place and why I gave it 3 stars, they are quite good. I will go back for the Calzones, but it’s always a crapshoot when you go.

I haven’t dined here yet but I’ve ordered for take-​out a few times.
Their Philly cheese steak is awesome! Especially at lunch when they serve it with your choice style of fries. You can also add mushrooms and bacon for a little extra… that’s some good cheese steak!

I am really amazed at most of the bad reviews. I have visited Joey Basil’s 4 or 5 times in the last year, and have never had a bad experience overall.
The food is good. I especially enjoy the pizza. The red sauce they use has a good flavor and a slight kick, which I very much enjoy. They are very generous with the fresh toppings. The crust is a sort of tasty hybrid between pan pizza and the standard tossed.
The garlic fries are better than you get at the local sport stadiums, and the wings, while a tad generic, have a great flavor.
The only reason I give this 4 stars instead of 5 is the service. The service is slow, and the waiters are totally lost. The last person that waited on me seemed either to be new or totally inept. Unfortunately, I have seen him here before, so its probably inept.

Before I even start my review, let me be very clear on one thing:
THIS IS NOT AN ITALIAN RESTAURANT. (it just sounds/​looks like one)…
I’ve only been here for lunch but i will say that the bar looks half decent and I would consider coming here for a drink if the food weren’t so nasty.
I’ve been here maybe 3 or 4 times when it was the Pasta place and now as «Joey Basil’s», can we say c-​l-​i-​c-​h-​e? anyway.
I can’t recall anything special nor even particularily appetizing about this place, but i will say that the interior is spacious so it makes for a good place to meet clients and etc for lunch.
the food is mediocre to be kind. case in point, today I ordered a Portebello Melt, i asked what type of cheese is in the sandwich. First, the server says that it doesn’t come with cheese. uh… ok, it’s says it’s a «melt» and it says «cheese» right here on the menu…
then he says, oh, then it’s probably american, like white american slices. REALLY? Are you for real? WHITE AMERICAN CHEESE on a melt??? uh, ok, thanks, but no thanks on the cheese.
disgusting.
Aside from the 4 other sandwiches on the menu, there are also burgers if you don’t feel like sub par frozen pizza or mediocre pasta. Sorry to report but the burger patty is also frozen, so if you’re looking for something that is not fast food, this will do it, but don’t expect a gourmet burger here.
The food took a long time to come out and they used to provide bread sticks but i guess they stopped that since they changed owners. So when the food finally came, it was just edible in the way that «bread and water = sustenance» type of edible. my sandwich was hella GREASY. WTF, did you grease the bread with oil? what, i don’t have enough grease with my onion rings to go with my greasy sandwich? ugh.
I got a look at the salads the server was bringing out and it looked like cut up pieces of white and american cheese slices on top. Dude, I could make a better salad at home, can i charge you $ 2.99 instead?
if you want pizza go to Mission Pizza, Mountain Mikes or Shakey’s instead. If you want a sit down venue for lunch and don’t really care what you eat, this will do since it is walking distance from the office.
Total bill for lunch for 2, no beverages, w/​tip: $ 22.00.

E for effort. Food is definitely not bad, the kind of food where the first couple of bites are pretty good but towards the end, you’re just like shrugging your shoulders and sayin’ «eh, not great but not bad». The pizzas are sorta deep dish, (not my thang!), but that’s me, the pastas are old school (bolognese sauce is good but a little oily), wings are spicy but are breaded then sauced (yuck) but their ribs and fries (appetizer section) is quite a meal with beer and a ball game. The ribs aren’t smoked, but they’re meaty and slightly charred with a good sauce.
Sitting in the bar area is my choice here for they have tv’s, more casual of a pace and aura, and drink specials on the weekdays. For example ½ off margaritas on Mondays, Patron Margaritas for 4 bucks, OLE! to that. 3 dolla pints on Tuesdays with usually a pretty decent selection (on my last visit they were out of half their selection, HUH?!) And $ 10 pitchers on Thursdays (most places charge at least $ 15 for premium beers).
So bring your crew, enjoy some decent food and drinks, watch a game and just let loose here. It’s all good times.

Every so often when my husband goes away on business and I’m left by myself, I’ll normally treat myself to a meal or two out.
Lol, who am I kidding? When my hubby, the best cook ever, leaves me for business, I’m Miss Take Out. With the exception of baking, I am a total disaster in the kitchen. I’m trying to be better in the kitchen… slowly, but surely :)
On one particular occassion, I decided to go to Joey Basils. Have not been to this building since it switched from being Pasta? I decided to give it a chance and grab some take out. Went in and a nice girl greeted me right away. Took a quick look at the menu, and decided on a calzone and side salad. While I waited for my food, hung out at the bar and watch the Shark’s playoff game. Food took about 15−20minutes.
Food itself was pretty good. The side salad was huge with two things of dressing on the side. I liked that they gave me a little extra. The calzone was pretty tasty, stuffed with cheese and meat, wasn’t too shabby. Wasn’t the best calzone I’d ever had, but it was good. Calzone came with dipping sauce too which was cool. The portions here our crazy big (to me), and I wasn’t even able to put a dent in the salad, even though I poked at it for like 30 minutes. The only complaint is that they are a little too expensive. For pretty good food, and not excellent or extraordinary food, prices were too high. Wouldn’t mind going back, but probably won’t make a point of purposely going here.

mmmmm penne primavera…
service = good.
everything else in the plaza was closed so I kept aimlessly driving around.
thanks for being open at 3:30pm Joey’s Basil.

Nothing spectacular. Just plain pizza. We like Round Table’s pizza better.
Nothing special with the décor. This place would be great for people with big parties, especially teenagers or kids.

Service = 1 star
Food = 3 stars
That’s how I cam up with 2 stars for this place. The food here is decent, but the service here sucks. While the staff isn’t rude, they just seem highly disorganized. If I could sum it up, I would say it’s a lack of efficiency.
Unless the owner or the management makes gets some experienced trainers in there soon, they’re going to have a hard time keeping the masses happy.

Finally tried this place and now I wonder:
why would anyone eat here a second time? The food is approximately the same quality and tastiness as a can of Chef Boyardee.
My husband commented that the sauce tasted about the same as if they’d opened a can of Campbell’s soup, watered it down and poured it over the pasta. It had that same consistency, too.
The music was too loud and created a cacophony as it fought with the too loud television in the bar.
Prices (although in line with similar places) are about double what it’s worth.
Service was OK.
Bottom line: this place sucks.

This is actually a cursed location… every establishment that has resided here has gone out of business within less than a year. The previous place was a pasta bar and the one before that was some Asian fusion restaurant.
I agree with Arnold G. that even though this is a local establishment, it DOES have the chain feel and I dislike that. The chain feel is very impersonal and it’s probably because this restaurant is just too big. I never see it packed. When we went today at around 1 p.m., it was pretty empty. Honestly, your food has to be awesome for your non-​chain restaurant to survive in such a big building.
I went out on a limb and ordered the Chicken Calzone (grilled chicken breast, red onions, fresh mushrooms, garlic, mozarella, garlic cream sauce — $ 8.79). I’m very weary about ordering calzones because a lot of places makes the bread too hard and there’s a lot of air IN it which makes it awkward to eat. However, I was actually very satisfied with this one! This was like a folded over pizza and they even put cheese on top (big plus for me since I’m a HUGE lover of cheese). The marinara is actually on the side. The garlic cream sauce reminds me of Round Table’s garlic chicken pizza. I ate the whole thing and was absolutely stuffed to maximum capacity.
It seems like EVERYONE but the hostess in here is a white male of about mid to late 20s. I felt like I was in a clone factory. In terms of service, the wait was a couple minutes too long considering the restaurant was only 20% filled. Now if they dropped a couple bucks off the food ($ 17.99 for salmon??), I’d consider going again but they probably won’t because of the expensive rent for such a big place.