Blu Basil

Blu Basil Has Left The Building…
Saw they were vacant today…
They are closed !

The name threw me off! For a long time I thought it was Thai. So whenever I walked by to look at the menu because I was in the mood for Thai, when I noticed it’s Italian I just kept walking. Even when I typed the name to look them up on Unilocal,they didn’t appear but a bunch of other Thai places did. So it’s not just me! (Or so I keep telling myself…)
But finally I was in the mood for Italian and we remembered to try it! Their Napa salad with champagne vinaigrette is friendly for non-​dairy folk and delicious. I can’t wait to try it again with grilled chicken on my next visit. The star for me is the spaghetti with meatballs which is a perfect portion size. There is just a hint of spiciness in the sauce and the meat is lean and flavorful. Everything came out of the kitchen nice and hot.
Super clean place, friendly atmosphere, nice bathrooms. Full bar! And of course for dessert lovers they have a flour-​less chocolate cake which we ordered to take home. La dolce vita!

I’m definitely a member of the Blu Basil fan club! In the past couple years I’ve been here at least 20 times (hint hint: they always have BOGO coupons in the Citipass books!)
I was very happy when I learned they now offer their lunch and dinner menus all day. This is important because one of my top two favorite items is on the lunch menu, the other on the dinner menu.
I LOVE the PORTOBELLO MUSHROOM PANINI! So so so yummy! The bread (focaccia i think?) is just the right amount of flavor and crispy-​ness without overpowering the other ingredients. In addition to the fresh veggies and cheeses, there are two sauces/​spreads to give this sandwich that extra flavor: a garlic aioli and a basil pesto. You get a choice of side with their sandwiches, I would recommend the pesto pasta salad or the sweet potato fries… delish!
My other favorite dish here is the BUTTERNUT SQUASH RAVIOLI. This dish is pretty simple but the flavors are a perfect combination. Rich ravioli with a browned butter sauce, dried cranberries, and walnuts… YUM!
Other dishes I enjoy: Napa Salad, Tomato Basil Cream Soup, Sun-​dried Tomato & Feta Cheese Dip.
I do not recommend: Bruschetta Classico (boring!)
PROS: Fresh ingredients, vegetarian friendly menu selections, nice and attentive service staff, kid friendly section of menu for those picky eaters, booths
CONS: Prices are just a little high (but not bad considering quality of ingredients), restaurant isn’t very big (so it can get a little crazy at lunch time), the parking lot at this Cotswald shopping center sucks!

My wife & I went back to Blu Basil last night. I’m upgrading their stars to a 4 for their customer service alone! Outstanding! Our server, Smith, was friendly and attentive. The manager, Tony, was working the room like a pro! From the moment we arrived til we walked out the door, they made us feel like we were the only customers in the place (It was packed). The food was really tasty to boot. My wife had the BYO burger. She definitely enjoyed it. I had the oven roasted salmon. Let’s just say I cleaned my plate. Were there a few mishaps? yep… but they went over and beyond to correct them. That goes a long way in my book. Blu Basil has won me over with their customer service. I look forward to returning!

My review for this restaurant is really a 2.5 stars. 4 Stars for the service. 3 Stars for the Classic Bruchetta appetizer. Less than 2 Stars for the entrees. The dishes that we had were:
Butternut Squash Ravioli — Sweeter than it should taste and not memorable overall.
Seafood Risotto — Very few pieces of seafood. Risotto was over cooked and mushy. I picked out the shrimp and calamari, ate 2 spoons of the Risotto, and left the rest on the plate.
Spaghetti and meatballs — the meatballs were well flavored with fresh basil but the spaghetti was way undercooked.
Pretty mediocre meals for the price. I would rather eat at Miro Spanish Grille or at Maggiano’s than come back here.
The ambience here is very low key and more of a neighborhood restaurant and seemed to be mostly elderly.

Stopped in here after an impromptu hot yoga class without a change of clothes, so I was very grateful for the casual atmosphere. Although my friend & I were probably a tad more casual & a little more sweaty than they would have liked us to be (sorry about that!). We both enjoyed our lunch. I had soup and a yummy (and large!) salad. I did have to request extra dressing for my salad, which is unusual for me, but our server didn’t mind. He was actually pretty upbeat & friendly. They were giving out some sort of bounce-​back coupon when we were there. The only odd part of the offer is it’s a «surprise» scratch off coupon that you can’t reveal until you return and scratch it off in front of your next server. Seems like an odd concept, but I’ll bounce my way here to take advantage of that.

So as I was waiting to get my hair colored, I decided to stop into Blu Basil to try their version of a filet salad.
The salad was lovely, walnuts, cranberries, Gorgonzola cheese, and mixed greens. I asked for the protein to be added.
The original dressing it came with was no bueno — so I asked for some balsamic — which was a 100% better, but really thick and creamy — trying to lose some lbs for my NYE dress…
Like I said, the salad was lovely, but the meat was nasty… it tasted old… I tried salting it… covering it with dressing, but just could not get past that old frozen taste.
This scares me and I’m pretty certain I will not return. The only reason it got two stars is the water tasted nice and the salad was fresh.

Walking into Blu Basil was a little wierd. You walk in and the hostess stand is right there in front of you. Take another step and you walk into it. Immediately to your right is a booth for patrons. Against the window to your left is a 4-​person bench for anyone that may have to wait to be seated.
The whole layout of the restaurant was strange. My group was seated in a large booth against the left wall. On the wall over our booth were lit up signs with pictures of entrees and a tv so you always felt like people were looking at you.
Sat down and ordered. For an italian place, they have an odd menu… cajun chicken and shrimp for an entrée and the soup special was clam choweder? I ordered Chicken di Napoii which was described as penne pasta in a pesto cream sauce with kalamata olives and pancetta.
It arrived and the sauce looked more like a soup. The flavors while individually decent did not marry well together. I really think even Applebees could have done better with this dish. Was the sauce supposed to be runny and was there still supposed to be ½ inch of it in my bowl when i finished?
The best thing I had here was the almond gelato for dessert with chocolate cake. The cake was lightly sweetened and not as heavy as it looked. The gelato was absolutely delicious.
So maybe this place is better for dessert? But really I didn’t get the whole concept of the place.

Excellent lunch, I like the place and will come back. Had a salad and it was memorable. Can recommend.

Since Blu Basil is so close to my house we had tried it a few times. For the most part we had good experiences, but others were just mediocre decided to give it another try this weekend and let me tell you it was AWESOME! We started with the feta dip appetizer which was amazing. I could have sat there for hours eating just that dip. For our meal my husband had a wrap that he really liked and I had the grilled cheese. I know a grilled cheese sounds kind of boring, but this one is not. It has 3 different cheeses and an aioli sauce… SO GOOD. Also, while you are there you have to try their desserts. They are worth every calorie, especially the gelato and the red velvet cake. Those are my favorites. Definitely give this place a try!

I stumbled upon Blu Basil restaurant this week. I was heading to a fast food place in the area, but decided to try something different. The menu was posted outside so I gathered it was an Italian restaurant with a slight Mediterranean feel. I opted for the feta dip as an appetizer, chicken picatta w/​spinach as the meal, and finished it all with a slice of chocolate cake with almond gelato. Everything was delicious! The appetizer was plentiful so I did not finish the chicken picatta, All the dishes seemed to be prepared when ordered, so the temperature and quality was excellent.
The prices are medium to high. Average dish is about $ 12 — $ 15…but I think it’s worth it for a quality meal. Give it a try…

Such a great small italian restaurant! Hubs and I went here for date night and it was so cute and cozy. We liked everything about this place. Food was REALLY good and came out HOT… nothing was warm or cold. So I def recommend this place for a quick bit on a budget or for a cute date night with the one you love. Free Gilato w/​entrée purchase, and half off your appetizer if you check in using foursquare! Can’t beat that!

Was very impressed with the food. They have a good selection and have a great house dressing for the salads. It’s also great as a dip for the house made chips. Just ask for some. What made the place special was the staff. I eat out a lot and the folks here are outstanding. Have eaten there many times and can’t wait to go back again.

Yea, Blu Basil looks like an airport restaurant, and it has potential, but their prices are too high. It should be $ instead of $$.

Hmmm, how to best describe the place… it seems they don’t know what they are or what they want to be (like Eric K. mentioned). However, as I was sitting there, it hit me! They remind me of an airport restaurant. Trying to give the feel of a nice sit down place, but with fast service and strange décor. They have two different areas for seating, which just felt weird. In addition, there are tvs on one wall, but they didn’t play anything important. They showed the daily special on two and then on the other two there was an infomercial about songs from the oldies. What place entertains their guests this way?
We got one order of whole wheat pasta with meatballs… man, it was way too salty. The other order was shrimp and pasta, which was fine. Salads are extra. Their house salad was the best part of the meal!
For the price, I would expect better quality and much better atmosphere. The service was good. And ladies, check the toilet paper… one stall was out of service and the one that was working was out of paper.

Five of us had a great dinner! Two salads (Cobb and Greek) were very well done just needed a little extra dressing. The pita chip served with the salads was also excellent! Eggplant parm, chicken picata and stuffed chicked got rave reviews also. It was also great that Thursdays are ½ price bottle of wine night! I will be back!!!

Hubby and I stopped by for lunch mid-​week.
Excellent experience. Wonderful service! i ordered the daily special: blackened talapia with steamed veggies and delightful wild rice side. I am not a fish person, but am trying to eat healthier. It was absolutely wonderful and I want to go back and have it again.
My husband ordered a chicken with proscuitto panini with homemade chips. Great taste, plenty of food in the servings. Chips were a bit overcooked and flavorless, and when the server realized it was exceptionally helpful by offering replacement or substitutino — went with fresh fruit and it was a nice serving.
Gelato!!! Ok, the server talked us into coming to view the gelato and giving us a free taste of each of them. Wow! I admit we didn’t order any at that time, but I certainly plan on going back to do so and taking my two sons.
We were happy to «discover» this restaurant so close to home, and will go back soon!

Found this place while on vacation coming out of a spa. Wow… good food, good atmosphere, helpful and friendly team. We were there on free dessert saturday, what a bonus! We overindulged on the mexican organic coffee and turtle cheesecake which was amazing.
Everything was fresh and made to order. Stop in here… Yum.

We decided to give Blu Basil a try Saturday night for something different. We entered and weren’t quite sure what to do. Do we wait to be seated? Do we order at that counter way in the back of the restaurant? We stood at the front pretending to read the menus, watching what other people were doing. We discovered that, yes, indeed, you order at the back and then take a seat, any seat. Kinda like one of the noodle places here in town. Now that we had the basics down, we could walk past everyone sitting, order at the counter, get our number, and go grab a table.
I ordered the grilled chicken and prosciutto panini, which was actually very good. It was toasted just right and the ingredients were very flavorful. The pesto pasta salad I ordered with it was tasty, too.
Unfortunately, we decided that Blu Basil isn’t quite sure what it wants to be. Is it breakfast, lunch or dinner? Is it a fast food or sit-​down restaurant? Is it a restaurant or a coffee bar? Is it a nice place to relax? Is it a sports bar? Is it a place to bring the kids and watch TV? Yes, there were four unstrategically placed TVs along one wall of the restaurant, which clashed with the modern Cheesecake Factory-​style lighting fixtures.
I think Blu Basil has potential, but it just needs to work out the details. I think they’d do well by taking out the TVs, making it into a service restaurant (no ordering at the counter) and converting the back area into a real coffee bar with atmosphere. OR there needs to be more signage so first-​timers know what to do when they walk in.

I was coming out of Harris Teeter and decided to return some movies to Blockbuster that had been sitting in my car for a couple of weeks. I decided to go a route I rarely take and noticed this place for the first time. I was shocked to learn they had been open for 7 weeks.
The décor was nice and trendy and definitely laid back. Had a nice LCD/​Artwork concoction on the wall upon entering. The staff was attentive and immediately asked me how they could help. Being new (to me) I needed a few moments to peruse the menu.
The menu begins with pastas and entrees that include spaghetti with meatballs, cheese ravioli, chicken di napoli and oven roasted salmon (some others to, but my memory isn’t THAT good).
Next is a various sampling of Italian motif salads with a Greek salad thrown in the mix.
They also include some 10″ pizzas such as margarita and spinach and mushroom.
The main thing here is sandwiches and they offer 13 signature sandwiches on the menu ranging from a fresh mozzarella and roma tomato panini to a meatball sandwich to a black bean burger. Meatball subs/​sandwiches being one of my all time favorites I decided to go with this. One side comes with each sandwich purchase and I chose the home made chips. You can also choose from fruit salad, pesto salad or an apple. About 10 minutes later my sandwich was brought out to me nicely tucked away in a paper bag. I drove the .5 miles home and the sandwich was piping hot and the home made chips were crunchy and hot. The sandwich was great, the homemade meatballs were enormous and I had to bite into them like an apple. Very satisfying sandwich. The sandwich and the chips ran me a very respectable 7.50 bucks.
I will be returning for lunch and brunch when possible and this could potentially become one of my favorite lil sandwich shops. I recommend it.
I hear their desserts are fantastic but I am not much on take out desserts. However, I asked enough to learn that their gelato is made in-​house.