Basil’s Flame Broiled Chicken & Ribs

First time here. Corinne gave us a wonderful greeting and helped us to decide what to order. The chicken (3 piece dark special) was delicious as well as the Spanish rice and mashed potatoes. The gyro was excellent as well. The place is clean and inviting. Will come back.

Basil’s is a bradenton institution. I had the grilled chicken with potato salad and baked beans, and it was just as good as I remembered it from the old Manatee Avenue location. You can’t go wrong here and the prices are low.

Pathetic at best! So sad what this local chain has become. Let’s start with the look of the restaurant next to the counter, where you place your order, there’s a handwritten poster board menu that hangs off of the front windows. It’s kind of haphazardly done and is really unattractive and the original posted menu had lights is fading. Looking around you notice that some of the tables are not wiped very well and the booths need to be replaced because they are so old and beat up! Why don’t restaurant owners keep up their establishments?!? The soda area is dirty looking even from afar. The old beat up rug in front of the soda machine is stained and faded and sticky. Onto the food… I asked to see a pc of the spanakopita (I am greek and should’ve known better than to ask) they are kept in a Tupperware stacked on top of each other and look like a phyllo burrito that’s squished and flat. This lead me to believe that there’s very little filling. I passed! I guess I’ll be making spanakoptia this weekend lol. The chickens have gotten smaller over the years and the price has gone up so we decided to order the gyro. Apparently their gyro cones have changes too. The meat was super dry! And there was something off about the texture, it was mealy like. Weird! Now let’s talk about the salads. We ordered a large salad to split in addition to my side salad. They are as cheap as they come! Ice berg lettuce 4 half slices of cucumber as well as tomato, maybe 4 kalamata olives, 4 pepperichini a good amount of white onion and a good amount of cheap no taste feta cheese. Seriously can’t you at least splurge on some good feta, after all it’s a greek restaurant! Hubby had cole slaw as his side and had two bites and that was it. The taziki sauce was good!

Love that this place is close and healthier then any other chicken around. I will never go to KCF again and they have a drive thru!!! The wraps are awesome!!! Oh the the cole slaw to die for

Basil’s used to be one of my favorites so we were happy to learn there is one close by. I hate to write them off on one experience given the quality of food I had previously come to know from Basil’s but I was more than a little disappointed this time. The chicken was severely dried-​out. The salad was just as I always remember it but being that this is an establishments known for their chicken, I would expect that they would not want their signature item to be the worst part of a meal. I’m hoping this was a fluke as I would like to give them another try and actually enjoy my next meal!

I like Gyro’s, a lot. Basil’s is an excellent place to grab a delicious gyro lunch or a weekday dinner for the fam all at a very reasonable price. My wife loves their chicken salad pita, she says it trumps the gyro… I argue that.
The owner is a nice guy and his staff are also nice. The prices are fair and their product is always fresh and consistent. The joint is clean and their bathrooms are as well. My only qualm with Basil’s is that they are a «Pepsi only» joint.
Check out Basil’s and have a delicious gyro. Or take my wife’s advice and try a chicken pita. Up to you!

Unlike the psycho Greek individual who posted before me, I came for the chicken. You will not find a better quality meal for the price. Chicken is good sides are delicious, no complaints here.

I have had the chicken salad from other Basil’s locations and this is, by far, the best Basil’s chicken salad. At another location I would periodically find piece of bone in the salad, but not here. It was creamy and well seasoned. I went through the drive-​thru and the food came out fast. Very pleased!

Service was prompt, friendly, helpful and polite.
I didn’t have the chicken, but my husband said it was «Ok, but KFC’s broiled is better».
Simply AWFUL. I had spinach pie, Greek salad, gyros and something they called mashed potatoes. They don’t warn you there’s probably yogurt in the mashed potatoes and the gravy, just enough to make them taste sour. They taste really nasty. We took a few bites and left it. They must surprise a lot of people with that, I wonder why they insist on preparing it that way. I can see if it’s supposed to be ‘Greek’ style mashed potatoes, but if you’re going to do that, add some GREEK SEASONING (oregano, dill, garlic, olive oil) and WARN people so they don’t think you’re serving sour, spoiled potatoes. Ti einai afto?
Their food is REALLY BAD. It’s salty, especially the gyros was so overly salted and full of oregano I made a face when I ate it (did not finish it).
The so-​called Greek salad had VERY WATERY dressing & no taste, not even salty. The feta they use has no taste (must be domestic. Real feta has an unmistakable tang. The crap they put on the salad was bland like cottage cheese. Domestic is cheaper, but perhaps a better quality would help).
How can they ruin spinach pie (spanakopita)? They use margarine, and no-​flavor feta, no dill. It looked nice but it was VERY disappointing to eat. We each took one bite and stopped eating it. Heavy and greasy food is not fun if it has no taste.
Most gyros I’ve had anywhere in the USA come with cucumber-​yogurt sauce called tzadziki. Their gyros came with plain yogurt, no cukes or spices. Some onion and tomato, but no sauce. HELLO! I’m part Greek, I’m missin’ the tzadziki. Anyone who knows what they’re eating would.
Hubby said his cole slaw was fine, but then it probably was made by a third party. The creamy italian dressing on iceberg lettuce salad he had was so-​so.
I asked the high-​school aged person taking our order to put our food in take-​out containers (I usually eat half a portion, take the rest home). He said ‘sure, no problem’ but did NOT do it, we were served on plates. That was ok, because we LEFT most of it there (well, we bussed our own table and threw it away). I wouldn’t take any of it home. Yuck.
No wonder no one has ever recommended this place to us. NEVER go there. What a waste of money. Who told them they could cook? NOT! STAY AWAY FROM HERE!