Basil Restaurant

I went here yesterday, because I wanted Thai food, and it was basically all Chinese food with no flavoring. The name «Basil» is kind of misleading. The Vietnamese soup was not good. The broth had no flavoring. This place is crossed off my list. The only positive things are the waitress we had was so sweet and they also have a large menu.

Again (see my posts for Taste of China, Chao Restaurant, etc.), I lament the availability of good, affordable, and authentic Asian food in New Haven. Why, I ask, why? My pain is only made deeper after living in Singapore for 9 months before returning to New Haven. Now there’s a country that understands Asian food, boasting nearly every combination and permutation of Asian cuisine (all cuisines, really) you can think of. It’s so delicious — And cheap!
Basil is another one of these pan-​Asian casual restaurants that aims to cater to the student clientele (I remember it being another Asian noodle place back in the day). Its menu has a range of Asian cuisines, from Thai to Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian, Taiwanese, and Singaporean (I likely left out a few), so it’s sure to please everyone’s taste buds. My group and I decided to eat Western style (e.g., everyone fends for herself), so we got to sample quite a few dishes. Here’s a few notes:
— Udon — two people raved about it. A healthy portion size and an option to include a protein.
— Xiaolongbao (Shanghainese dumplings) — were mediocre.
— Scallion pancake — like the other person who complained about it, I wasn’t impressed. Was overfried and hard. Flavorless.
— Three kinds of meat on rice — he seemed happy with it.
— Sesame chicken — I went for an Chinese-​American dish, it was actually hot, crispy, and not too overwhelming on the sauce. Not overly sweet either.
— Thai green curry — with so much Thai food competition in New Haven, it didn’t stand out.
— Crispy noodles with chicken — very Americanized, think of those times you saw ‘Asian Chicken Salad’ on a menu and found it it meant ‘Regular chicken salad with friend noodles on top’
It was affordable and fast. I also saw bubble tea on the menu, but after living in Asia and the land of fresh, amazing Taiwanese bubble tea, I couldn’t stomach any potential disappointment.

Went here tonight… the service was great… greeted at door by owner and felt like family… food was great… especially the seafood… portions were also huge… I was not a big fan when first started going there… but have been won over

It’s my favorite asian restaurants. With good fried rice, roasted pork.

I’m being generous with 2 stars.
Don’t expect any kind of customer service from the snappy woman owner (I assumed). The restaurant wasn’t even busy so I wonder what she’s snappy about?
The food was tasted ok by Asian standard. We ordered three soup noodles, one BBQ buns, one shumei, and a Singapore meifin. The ingredients were average, nothing high quality but the taste was fine. Probably loaded with MSG. It’s not someplace that I will go again.

I love Basil. It’s cheap and delicious. Be warned though, if you order something that’s not that popular, like duck, quality and freshness definitely go down. Stick to stir fry and noodle dishes. The drinks are quite mediocre– they make the bubble tea as slushies with boba and the Thai iced tea is sickeningly sweet.
All that said, they have a lot of my favorite Asian food. I love the teriyaki eel, chinese sausage and salty fish fried rice, and tom yum soup. Service is always fast no matter how busy it gets.

Very affordable. Nice staff. Clean. Great place to eat for college students on a budget.

I love the roast duck soup w/​dumplings. The service is good and the food is consistent. This is an inexpensive, casual, quick, and reliable option.

The food is good and always fresh. The staff is always very nice. Great prices as well

I love basils! Everything is always fresh and delicious. It is also very fast. I highly recommend the general tso chicken.

LOVE Basil. I just recently moved to New Haven and have already been to Basil two times. The food is great however the service isn’t that great. I would of given 5 stars if the service could of been better. When they take your order it is very demanding, and when you need something no one is to be found. But I’ll keep coming back because the food is great!

Great place to drop in for a meal anytime. Informal, comfortable setting with friendly staff and great service. The curry vegetable noodle soup is scrumptious! Perfect seasoning, perfect combination and amount of vegetables and the price is soooo right. They also serve beers which are a great accompaniment to the soup. Try it, you’ll like it!

This place has decent Chinese, not quite NYC or LA standard, but probably the best in New Haven. They have a wide selection of Asian food and service is pretty good too. It’s definitely a hidden gem in New Haven. I wish they offer delivery.

Today l arrived at 10 pm, and rest was closed ! please update the info in Unilocal ! is very annoying wast the time and Gas ! Very irresponsible from this rest !

Home cooked Asian food near Yale. Prices are reasonable to boot — mains cost than $ 10. If I was a student here I’ll probably visit this place quite often. I had the Thai chicken red curry which had all sorts of vegetables inside. The curry was creamy and tasty, gave me a little reminder of home.

Not gonna lie — this was the worst meal I’ve had in a long time.
Scallion pancake was way overdone — all you could taste was «fry», and the dipping sauce did little to help. Avocado salad was decent — good dressing but tomatoes were a bit sketchy looking.
For the main course, I got the Sesame Chicken «over» brown rice (they were actually completely separate on either side of the plate). I asked if it came with broccoli and it did — 3 tiny undercooked florets to be exact. The chicken itself was inedible — completely overcooked with a very unwelcoming sauce. The rice was also not good. I’ve never eaten cardboard before but this plate is what I’d imagine it to taste like.
Big disappointment. Woof.

I love the food at Basil. It’s fairly light — feel good after eating there. It’s cheap. The portions are not huge. Very casual, clean dining room. They don’t do delivery, but takeout is super fast. I like that if you get soup, they pack the noodles separately from the broth so they don’t overcook.
The menu is mostly Thai with some classic American Chinese dishes and some more authentic dishes. Basil has my favorite coconut curry noodle soup in New Haven (and there are a lot of choices!). I also love the drunken noodles, steamed shrimp dumplings, scallion pancakes, and General Tso’s chicken.

Campus staple. Cheap and efficient eatery. Aka always a solid option. I’m usually not the biggest fan of Asian fusion, but you really can’t complain about the food here. As others have noted, the prices are really unbeatable. You can have very filling noodle soups, rice dishes, and a myriad of other fusion options for under $ 10 (and that’s including tip and tax). I’ve tried everything on the menu, from the dim sum to the bubble tea and all of the entrees in between. Some of my favorites include the house special fish casserole, fish ball noodle soup, and rice with Chinese sausages. You really can’t go wrong with most of the choices though (as a personal opinion though, I would shy away from anything with dry noodles). A detail that I appreciate: for all of the noodle soups, you can choose among many different types of noodles.
Service is generally very fast and efficient, though the restaurant is super casual so your food kind of comes out in a random order. It’s also a family-​owned restaurant, so don’t be surprised to see kids in the back. Everything is kept very clean and organized. It’s a great place for a casual bite. Undergrads read: great place to take a break from Yale dinning.

Pork buns and Kirin beer can make anyone’s day, especially if it’s your birthday.
I lived pretty close to the Yale area and was all about the restaurants. I can honestly say I had visited every single one except for Basil. I was extremely partial to Ivy Noodle and didn’t think I would care for this new place. That’s when my brother told me to get over myself and just try it. I’m so glad I did!
He suggested we go to this place since I’m really into eating a lot of food for a good price. I really wanted to go to Ivy Noodle (now Ivy Wok), but he swore up and down that this place was good. Can’t say no to him, plus, he was paying.
It was amazing. Pork buns! Pork buns! My first time ever eating a pork bun and I fell in love. Fried rice! Nice servers. Everything I would want to eat in a lifetime, I ate that day. I even went back the next day with my parents and sister. Mom wasn’t too happy about me drinking, but she had a few sips herself and liked the beer.
A lot of people compare Basil to Ivy Wok (formerly Ivy Noodle), but I think it’s a waste of time. Both places have great flavours and their own kind of charm. Yes, the décor differs greatly, but both help with the ambiance. Can I choose a favourite? Well… I could, but this is not the review for it. Focus on the food.

This was one of my favorite Asian fusion places when I was at Yale.
I have had so much chicken and broccoli in this place it’s a wonder my hair isn’t a big green tree.
I love coming here. The service is good (not great), there’s a wonderful selection of rice dishes and a variety of noodles. Also food service is generally quick — even if you order brown rice — and the noise is never too bad, even when it’s full.
Oh by the way: this place is CHEAP! I recently revisited after a couple years’ hiatus and was actually shocked to recall how inexpensive it is for really, really good Asian fusion. I love this place. Makes me miss the ‘Have.

Not a terrific place to find Singaporean malaysian cuisine but definitely more decent than Bentara. It’s a shabby quick eat sort of place, servings a range of asian food from south east asia. It’s a place where I go to get a quick fix meal for thai, Singapore, malaysian food. But maybe because nothing tastes close to my home food it’s not really for me. I have ordered their potstickers and dumplings before, the skin was ridiculously thick. No favorites here.

Solid soup and noodle selection. Especially for Under $ 7. I had quite a day on Prospect street filled with Bengali burritos, brownies, and Thai food and needed something easy on the stomach. I ordered the Tom Yom vegetarian soup and was quite pleased. Great serving size, flavorful, and chock full of veggies. AND at $ 5.95– a steal. Considering that we were thinking of going to Miya sushi where a small miso is $ 4… yeah. STEAL. My amigos ordered a noodle dish and another soup– btw you choose your noodle with your soup. I got the glass/​thin noodle and it paired perfectly with my Tom Yum. My friend ordered the spicy beef with a thick udon that he enjoyed very much. This place isn’t mind blowing delicious or anything but solid. Clearly loved by Yale students by the 14 979 824 749 Yale sweat shirts I witnessed.
Note– Like someone else mentioned, you’ll get your appetizer when you get it. Probably not before your meal.