Il Basilico Trattoria

Best Italian restaurant in the area. I’ve waited until I ate here more than a couple time to confirm my delight, the food is consistently good. Excellent really!

They are so nice here I ordered the gnocchi Toscano and asked them to add sun dried tomatoes and shrimp and they did it. Lindsay was great and got our order in fast because Dylan was starving and close to melting down. Hard day of school and football with only pizza for lunch

Stopped in for a quick lunch here today and I was pleasantly pleased. We were greeted when we walked in and and told to sit anywhere we liked. We ordered the lunch special with the chicken and broccoli and a slice of cheese pizza. They brought the pizza just a few moments later and we shared that while waiting for our pasta. The pasta was cooked perfect and was very creamy. The server was very polite and kind. I will definitely stop by this spot again to try something different.

Had the lasagna and italian cold cut. The lasagna was great, but the cold cut was the most authentically italian cold cut I have had in many years.

Good lunch special: 2 slices of gourmet pizza with a house salad. I had one slice of mushroom with pinenuts and another with eggplant, black olives and ricotta.

Love the pizza. It is a good place to go with kids. i think it is BYOB but the liquor store is just a few doors down. We have been going there for years thanks to a neighbor’s recommendation.

Fantastic food, and wonderful staff. We had the garlic cheese bread and calamari appetizers. Both were amazing, the breading on the calamari was just right. Everything on the menu looked so good it was hard to choose! We will certainly be coming back!

We used to frequent and love this restaurant, but it has just become a frustrating experience. Last night was probably the last straw for us. We arrived around 6:40pm. The place was maybe 60% full. There was one booth left, that we couldn’t have b/​c it was reserved even though nobody every sat in it. We were seated at a very wobbly table. We ordered wings as an app and they took around 25 mins to receive. Waitress was attentive but not friendly at all. I ordered a salad that comes with Parm Cheese. I asked for goat cheese instead of parm — was told no problem. Salad came out and I took a bite — bleh! It was not goat cheese, but instead I thought it was blue cheese — gross. Flagged down the waitress and told her the issue. She replied with a shocked look and said, «Let me go ask them what they put on it». She came back a few mins later and said, «It’s not blue cheese, it’s gorgonzola». She had a small cup with her, with a tablespoon amount of goat cheese in it. As if she expected me to eat the salad covered in gorgonzola and I guess if I wanted to, I could mix in the miniscule amount of goat cheese. I explained to her that I could not eat the salad with gorgonzola as it was making me gag and definitely was not what I ordered. She seemed annoyed by this and said, «Ok, I’ll have them make you a new one». Around 8 mins later a new salad is brought to me. With NO cheese on it. I guess they figured since I was already brought a tablespoon of goat cheese, that was good enough. I felt as though I was being punished for their mistakes. She didn’t apologize about the issue until she handed us our check — like, «Oh crap. I probably should have apologized earlier b/​c it might affect my tip, so I’ll apologize now». No thanks. We have had issues like this the past 3 or 4 times we have eaten there. I’m not sure what happened to their service and kitchen in the past year, but we’re finished with them.

We went for the restaurant week meal of a 7 fishes meal. The first course had a tuna tartare which was tasty along with a slice of another fish that was delicious. We had another dish with mussels which was very good. For another dish, shrimp which everyone liked they substituted scallops for me since I am allergic to shrimp. The breads were excellent and all the pasta is made at the restaurant. The waiter was very attentive and had a good personality. I believe it used to be called Basta Pasta, but they changed the name because they thought it was too generic. Also a plus is that is BYOB. If I could choose it, I would put 3.5 stars.

Food is amazing! Been coming here for a few years now every now and then. Table service could be better but overall it’s hard not to love this family oriented business. Liquor store is only 50 ft away so BYOB is never particularly an issue.

Best pizza in the area! I’ve been trying to find a great gourmet pizza place and this cozy casual spot has it all. Their plain cheese is what I’ve been missing from New York but they also have white veggie, buffalo chicken, and other delicious different options. Pasta is decent but seriously go for the pizza– you can order a whole or try several single slices of the ones they have on display!

Great neighborhood Italian restaurants
Get rid of pasta blitz sign
Get rid of bread in bag

We made reservations for 7 people on a Saturday night, and only ended up with 4 people. It was not a problem for them. While we were there, the dining room filled up, then emptied out about half way, and then filled up again. Our stay there was at least 90 minutes.
This is a BYOB restaurant, and we brought 4 bottles of wine (OK, we only drank 2 ½.) The bus boy was extremely friendly and offered to open our wine (one had a cork). He gave us our water promptly. A while later, he asked if we had gotten our bread — we said no, but he never returned with any.
It seemed like a half hour before we were waited on. (In fact, we had to ask to be waited on.) Ultimately, our order taking went fine. And we got our bread and olive oil-​balsamic vinegar dip — the bread has an awesome crunchy crust, and is dense and delicious. Two of us had the Anna’s Veggie Lasagna. It was not what I expected, but it was very tasty, green with spinach. One had the gnocchi — can’t say what preparation, but the taste of it I had was good. One had the Rigatoni «al frutti del mare» — bits of seafood mixed in to the marinara sauce. There were a couple of scallops and shrimp in that dish, but mostly chopped clams.
None of us had any complaints about our meals. Their desserts (at least what we had: tiramisu and the chocolate tartufo) were excellent. Our bill came to a bit over $ 120, including the meals, salads, and desserts.
When the dining room is full, it can be very noisy — I wish they had a little more sound insulation. On both of my visits, the staff seemed friendly, some even convivial. The food is good, if a bit pricey. My only complaint that night was that our meal order was neglected until we grabbed a waiter cleaning another table. They did not charge a corking or glass fee for the wine.
It’s a nice casual place to go, for food that I feel is a good bit better than ordinary,

Was told bread was baking
Came out cold. Not a fan of the service. The chicken parm was good however.

Update: While I stand by my original review, I will commend their owner Anna for contacting me and asking for another chance to be tasted. I respect that commitment to their product and service. I’ve upped my review from 2 stars to 3. I think that good customer service should count for something.
Ordered 2 slices of pizza. They just really weren’t that good.
Maybe I’m spoiled because I grew up on New Haven and New York pizzas. But this had mediocre flavor and too think of a crust for my liking.

I was in the area for work around lunchtime, and since it was close by I thought I’d give this place a try. First of all, I was surprised by how nice it is inside, considering that it’s wedged into a strip mall in a section of town that’s not exactly known to be aesthetically pleasing. But the interior is very clean, colorful, nicely decorated, with lots of tables that are spaced out very well. Thumbs up for that!
I got there before the lunch rush hit, so there was only one other occupied table in the place, and I was told to seat myself. A server was with me very quickly, brought my drink and took my order with little wait, and the food came out pretty fast as well. Of course, I only ordered a panini and fries, so it didn’t take THAT long to fix, and with no other people in the place, I would have been really disappointed if it HAD taken long. But… moving on.
The staff were friendly, and there was an older gentleman who came in while I was there who is apparently a regular, and it was kind of enjoyable listening to him cut up with the employees. So with the quick service, nice interior, and friendly staff, why only 3 stars you ask? Well…
The food itself was a bit on the bland side. I ordered a caprese panini, because I do LOVE me some fresh mozzarella! But typically, caprese is served with a balsamic dressing… this really had almost no flavor at all. It had a pesto spread that was also flavorless, and I’m pretty sure they just splashed a little olive oil on the sandwich and thought that would pass for balsamic… it didn’t. The fries were OK, but it’s kind of hard to screw up fried potatoes (although some places have managed to do it).
The second reason I only gave them three stars was that when it was time for me to get the check, it seemed as if service stopped. Which seemed odd… you’d think they’d WANT to clear the table for another guest, wouldn’t you? But I placed my credit card on the table, and the host walked past at least 3 times without acknowledging it. The server then came by (with my card laying on the table) and said «I’ll be right back with your check». Before I could say «Please just go ahead and take my card now», he had disappeared. Now… this STILL wouldn’t have been that bad, but when he came back with the check, and with my card lying on the table for several minutes, you’d think that he would know that I was ready to go… but instead, he drops the check on the table and bolts away, saying «I’ll be back for that when you’re ready.» EXCUSE ME??? What about my credit card lying on the table gives you the impression that I’m NOT ready NOW? It took several more minutes before he came back to get my card, and I barely made it to my afternoon meeting on time.
Word of advice to anyone in the restaurant industry: When the customer is ready to leave, this is your REAL moment of truth. There is nothing more frustrating than wanting to leave and having to wait for the server to take your payment. Pay attention to your customers and be attentive all the way through until they’re out the door.

This is the worst dining experiance I’ve had in a looong time.
First we purchased the all you can eat pasta for 2 groupon. When we got there I advised the waitress we wanted to know the specifics of the promotion so we could decide if we wanted to use the groupon or not. She handed us a peice of paper with very limited choices but never the less we decided go with the groupon deal.
The waitress was delayed in coming over to the table to get our drink order. We were with a 4 year old child and although we noticed crayons and coloring pages she never offered. Then when we inquired she stated she would bring them over. One set was given out to a table with another child. 10 minutes later my husband got up to grab another set of crayons to find out the second basket was empty. 5 minutes later our waitress came over to tell us there wer no more crayons.
Finally our food arrived. Our daughers food would not arrive for another 5 minutes. When her food came it was so hot she couldn’t eat it. So she had to wait. When she was finally able to eat … her comes the waitress with crayons and a coloring page. When the basket of crayons arrived there were at least 10 crayons in there. I’m wondering why our waitress could not ask for a few crayons out of the other basket. So now that my daugher can eat all she wants to do is color.
So, one pasta dish down. My husband and I wanted to try another pasta dish for the all you can eat pasta for 2 groupon deal. When we placed our next order we were then informed «You can only order the same dish» Really, its pasta. It cost you next to nothing. If I was told this in the beginning I would have never used the Groupon deal for this meal. How much baked ziti can one eat.
Over all bad experiance topped off by bad service. The deal misleading and the waitress did nothing to clarify making it even worse.

We stopped in here after originally heading for the sushi spot next door; the Love of My Life decided that Italian would be a better bet.
The place is huge, a lot bigger than its location in a strip mall would indicate. We were seated right away and our waitress, Sara, was very helpful with giving us time to order. So, I decided on spaghetti alla carbonara while the boyfriend decided on rigatoni alla Siciliana (basically, rigatoni with black olives and baby eggplant).
The meal started out with bread and an olive oil/​vinegar dipping sauce. The bread was a bit too hard for the boyfriend, but I loved it. We would have maybe liked a bit more vinegar in the dressing, but it wasn’t bad at all as it was.
My carbonara was rich, fattening, creamy and intensely satisfying. Lots of pancetta bits; they sure didn’t skimp on the meat portion. The rigatoni dish was tasty, but had a bit too much tomato sauce for my boyfriend’s liking; still, overall it was delish. We were too full to have dessert, which is always a good sign.
The bill came to about 25 dollars, with drinks; pretty reasonable, considering the size of the portions (I can’t even imagine what the dinner portions are like here — probably the size of a small island). Generously sized, it was more than enough for a good lunch and we probably could have taken some home if we’d really wanted to.
The service was really good; Sara worked hard and earned her money, for sure.
We’d come back.

This place is called something else now, but it’s essentially the same place.
Got gnocchi with tomatoes and it was good. Nothing spectacular, but it hit the spot and it was yummy. The tiramisu I got was good too, but again nothing worth writing home about. Between myself and Pat we spent around $ 40, which is surprisingly expensive for a place that’s in a strip mall.
Timonium is loaded with Italian places, so I think you can do much better. But, it’s worth a shot if you’ve never been here.

I went to Pasta Blitz for lunch today. (First time.) I wasn’t sure what to get (foccacia vs a cheese steak sub… I asked the girl at the cash register and she said either one was good… but she raved about the cheese steak so I went with that.) The sub tasted good, but was kind of small for the price I paid. Mostly bread and lettuce, very light on the meat. Overall, I would’ve given it 3 stars based on the sub, but…
The FRENCH FRIES were a completely diffent story. Out of the 5 people at our table, 4 of us got fries. Only one of us could eat them, however, because they were simply AWFUL. Bone dry and hard as rocks, obviously reheated and reheated and reheated… I swear they tasted like old fries that they had left over from yesterday. They were so bad that most of our lunch conversation was about how utterly disgusting the fries were. This is the reason for the 1 star.
With so many other food choices in the area, I don’t think I’ll be going back there again.