Sweet Basil Italian

VERY disappointed after being a long term customer. The new owner has zero personality. The prices have gone through the roof. The entries now do not come with sides. You have to pay for a side soup or salad.
Best to to go somewhere else. You will overpay here for somewhat mediocre Italian food.

A friend invited us here to celebrate The Giant’s birthday and what a sweet find! It’s an unassuming little place, been there for many years, and the staff greeted us warmly. Our server, an enthusiastic guy with a huge smile and thick accent, was swift and generous. And happy. We all ordered off of the Special menu for the evening which, for $ 21, includes salad, entrée and dessert. Since I’m off sweets for awhile, I ordered sans dessert. My entrée was a luscious and generous portion of «Chicken Balsamic» which turned out to be chunks of chicken, mushrooms and sun dried tomatoes in a balsamic-​infused broth with linguine, which soaked up the balsamic beautifully. Heaven! Salads were fresh and delicious. Only one of our party desired the dessert that came with the meal; a choice between cheesecake or key lime pie. She got the key lime pie and it was a lovely presentation. She said it was delicious.
Our cheerful server, however, wasn’t having any of our «no dessert» replies so he returned shortly with a huge bowl of fresh strawberries, sliced just so, with a dollop of whipped cream on the side. How lovely! Yep, they disappeared.
Service top notch. Food top notch. Will reserve the fifth star for our next visit. All in all a very repeatable performance!

I had an amazing relaxing time here. The service is fantastic, always coming to check on you and fill your water or wine. No hassle, an easy breezy dinner. The owner is such an amazing man as well. I would most definitely recommend this restraunt!

Me and my friend We went there for a dinner last week and we were impressed by the food, nice atmosphere and a wonderful Italian decoration! Great music and service! This is a good place for a date or family time! Our server Sal accommodate us very well, literally he put his heart into our plates and he made sure we were having unforgettable time at this restaurant! Thank You so much Sal for Your service! We will be back for sure!

This establishment is for the much older crowd. Came to eat at the restaurant because just wanted to try new restaurants since I just moved. Server was attentive, but food took a little while to get to us. Eating the food, much was left to be desired. Probably will not be trying this establishment again.

I’ve been to sweet basil twice now and love it. Our friends are regulars and have their favorite table even!
They ordered the special of the day– not on the board or on the menu. Red snapper encrusted in pecan and champagne sauce. It was amazing! I wished I would have had it. I chose their salmon. Flavorful and moist with capers and lemon butter sauce. Excellent! They are very accommodating with special requests and changing certain vegetables for others. The desserts are beautifully presented and delicious. The waiters are excellent and attentive. Have the wedding soup! It is amazing!

Hmmmm, came here at the suggestion of a friend who wanted to celebrate a birthday. I would say it was an underwhelming experience.
Our server brought out some sliced french bread that was every bit as special as what you could pick up at Walmart next to the check out lanes. We ordered the fried zucchini appetizer which was OK.
They had a wonderful sounding Chiliean sea bass as their featured special and it’s a good thing I asked about the price before ordering because it was priced at a whopping $ 28! We all ended up ordering the salmon which was priced a bit high at $ 16.99 considering it didn’t come with any sides (those were priced seperately). It tasted alright but it was nothing spectatular.
Being underwhelmed so far, I would’ve gladly passed on dessert but it wasn’t MY birthday, so we opted for the tiramisu. Again, just meh. I could make a better tasting tiramisu at home (and have!).
Service…our server was nice but I was a little annoyed that he continously kept coming around and topping off everyone’s glass of water — even after taking two sips and the glass being practically full. I swear he must of topped off water glasses about 6 times — I finally had to say «no mas». And then as we were winding down, a female staff person came around and filled up water glasses one more time for good measure.
Sadly, there was nothing special about this restaurant. I tried to like it but the mood in the little back room was depressing and the food lacked flavor and was mediocre at best. As much as I don’t care for chain restaurants, I think Olive Garden’s food has more flavor than this. I just can’t recommend this place.

Hard Pasta, Watery Marinara or Tomato Sauce, Watery Alfredo.
I give the atmosphere 4 stars, nice place inside. Unfortunately the food does not score as high.
First Try: Manicotti. 3 hard pasta rolls filled with minimal tasting fillings, set in a very watery marinara sauce. I have never had Manicotti that wasn’t baked in a dish, served piping hot and full of flavor. This looked like a train wreck. Cold pasta, watered down marinara and minimal flavor. Blech.
Second Try: Chicken Parm, substituting the marinara with alfredo. Spaghetti served hard. Imagine your favorite Alfredo + a cup of water. No flavor, and the chicken dry.
We will be sticking to Collinas (Houston) and the pasta we press, sauce we make and meat we flavor at home.
Very disappointed, but live and learn.

Awesome food and amazing service!

We LOVE LOVE LOVE this place. We have been here every Sunday since we discovered it. The service is great, the food is always amazing. I can’t say enough good things about this restaurant.

The potato and minestrone soups are amazing — as are the bread and salad — so I’m always stuffed when my amazing pasta carbonara comes out!!! Highly recommend it! Try to save room for your entrée

This is one of my very, very favorite places to eat. My husband and I stopped here on a whim when we first moved to Carrollton in 2005 & have been regulars ever since. We constantly take friends when they are in town craving italian or large groups who want a good meal where we can all sit together and actually hear each other while eating good food.
My favorite to start here is the lobster bisque. I was born & raised in Boston before moving to Tx and pretty much worshiped Legal Seafood’s LB so natually when I moved here I would try LB anytime I saw it on a menu. Sweet Basil’s is the best I’ve found. SO GOOD that in fact when I returned to Boston this year after not having been back for 8 and going immediately to Legals and ordering a bisque… I found I prefer Sweet Basil’s now!
Their Hollywood salad hooked me on the specific blue cheese they use to top it. The roman pork shop with the brandy sauce makes me lick the plate clean every time. The shrimp parmesan is decadent while decently priced. i could go on to talk about all the dishes as I’ve tried most!
The service has always been top notch even when it’s busy. The Owner/​Manager seems to truly care that his diners are happy; I saw him go around to every single table yesterday to check even though the waitstaff had done that already too!
So give this place a try! If you aren’t happy with something, politely tell someone about it and I’m pretty sure they will do their best to make you happy! :) I can’t wait to go back!

The salmon Caesar is delicious. The salmon is always perfectly moist and I get the same server every time. He’s really friendly without encroaching on dinner

I’ve always worked kind of close to this place and I had never tried it. I went in with some friends one night and I was amazed by the food. It was a quaint, friendly restaurant. It was very clean and the staff was excellent.
We ordered a little bit of everything. I really enjoyed the ravioli and the pasta messina. They were both full of flavor and seemed pretty authentic. The sauce over the ravioli just appeared fresh and had the best taste. It’s hard to describe it all perfectly. The pasta messina has a nice original flare to it and it’s a little bit of a lighter feeling dish. The bruschetta is also yummy.
I’d recommend walking into this place. I would definitely go back based on the food and service.

Love the ambiance of this place! Takes you away from the concrete jungle for a bit! The staff is so attentive and food is usually spot on. I’m not sure if they make their own pasta fresh everyday now or not– I noticed a change awhile back.
Give them a try!

I occasionally work just up the street from Sweet Basil, so I stopped in one Friday for lunch to give it a try. I was happy to see they had a lunch menu, which is generally quicker and cheaper than the full dinner portions.
I ordered the lasagna and a small salad. The salad was decent. The lettuce wasn’t particularly fresh, nor were the tomatoes. Overall, the salad was mediocre at best. The lasagne looked like it was going to vindicate the experience so far, but I found myself disappointed. The portion was fairly large. It was your standard Italian-​American lasagna. The biggest problem was the temperature when it was served. It was luke warm at best when I began eating it, and quickly fell cold. I ended up sending it back to be reheated after a few bites. When I asked for it to be heated up a little, the waiter acted as if I had insulted his honor/​family/​etc. I really wasn’t mean about it at all, but his demeanor changed significantly.
I understand lasagna is one of those dishes you make ahead and reheat. I also understand you want to keep lunch moving quickly. When there are only three other tables of customers, I expect at least a proper re-​heating. Seems like something you would check before serving to customers.

We randomly selected this place from a short list of restaurants open with a Thanksgiving menu. Very pleasantly surprised. The food was delicious. Our server was very attentive but
not in your face. The portions very generous and fair. The Lobster Bisque was light and delicious. My Flounder was cooked to perfection. All in all our experience here was great.
Yes do plan to return sometime for their Italian food offerings.

I’ve lived around this place forever, but never been. I’ve no clue why? I’m Italian… duh. This is the way Italian food should taste. Flavor, that’s what it’s about. I can tell the sauces are fresh, the pasta is cooked perfectly and the staff moves fast. My tea was never empty, the owner sat us and was so cordial. yea the owner was there on a Saturday night! That’s what I like.
The waiter was completely knowledgeable about the menu. He even recommended items based on where I was looking on the menu. How’d he know I loved pork chops? I kept trying to decide between them and the Farfelle Pesto. I got the Pesto, and it was great. Pesto is extremely easy to screw up when making fresh… but done right it’s awesome!
The portions are huge as well, so if you’re hungry go for it. This place has been here for 20 years, and it shows. The place is spotless… hard to believe a building this old can be kept this clean. They’ve started serving Sunday brunch, so we’ll be back for another try!

This was restaurant was just average to me. I was here for a friend’s birthday dinner, and they had us in the private room which was cool. Service was pretty good. I ordered the ceasar salad with grilled chicken, and it was good. Nothing really stood out about the salad, but the chicken was pretty flavorful. A friend of mine ordered the lobster bisque, I had to try, it and it good but could have used more of a kick to it. I may have to come back and try something else. It’s a cute little restaurant with a nice ambience.

Used to live in Carrollton and always wanted to eat here. A friend had her birthday dinner here and finally I was able to try this place.
They have a private dinning area which worked great for us. We were able to act a little crazy without disturbing others, Good set up and it worked well.
I came a little later to the group and ordered. I stated with lobster bisque which almost came out immediately. It was meaty and tasty but I def had better. it was only «OK»
After getting recommendations from the staff about the Tuscan dish. I ordered it. It literally came out in 5 minutes. Weird. It’s penne pasta with Italian sausage, spinach and beans? Hey if two guys that worked here says it’s good, it had to be. Wrong. It lacked that full flavor most Italian dishes have. The sausage was burnt on some sides and it all was sitting in a puddle of oil. I wasn’t impressed with my friends entrée either which also came out in record time. It was decent but the cream sauce was runny and it was kinda bland. No one was ever offered Parmesan cheese for their entrees or cracked black pepper. Hmmm… who’d cooking back there?
***Mind you the staff was on their toes and did well, keeping our drinks full and catering to our needs and providing fresh, hot bread… but this place is lacking something.
The other thing that caught my eye, was when the server was serving the birthday cake. He would cut with one hand and catch the sliced with his BARE hands and put it on the plate. Not cool.
Sweet Basil, I am extremely disappointed in you. I think Olive Garden could outshine you. I think you need to hire a new cook and retrain staff on cross-​contamination. Sorry if I am being harsh. Just telling the truth.