Basilico

For my daughter's college graduation we were a group of 13 at Basilico. We had made a reservation and were quickly seated. We all felt very welcomed by the staff and the owner. The service was stellar and the food delicious. It was my first time and I was impressed with the overall experience. In this era of high inflation, the prices were reasonable for suck quality food.

We have been driving by this place for years, and finally decided to try it out last week for lunch. The restaurant is located in a very unpretentious but extremely crowded strip mall. Once you get inside, however, you find yourself in a chic (yet not snobbish) place with down tempo music in the background. Their bar is small, but they have two spacious dining rooms, all nicely decorated with Venetian masks and painting. I also liked the fact that the tables are not so close to each other. Their lunch menu has very good prices, but to tell the truth their regular prices are extremely convenient as well; not to talk about their wide choice of wines, where you can get several of them at just $8.00 (without being in HH)! We ordered homemade Ravioli al gorgonzola e pera con salsa di fico ($16 on lunch special, just $19 on the regular menu) and Paccheri all’amatriciana (for the regular price of $19). The entrees come with choice of soup and salad, which wasn’t the regular “garden salad” that usually restaurants offer, but a fresh arugula salad with diced tomatoes and some strips of fennel! Then as usual, in every Italian restaurant I “have to” try the tiramisu. The food was absolutely delicious, and the service very attentive: it is now on our ‘list of the best restaurants in Miami’, and I’m looking forward to going back soon again to try their other dishes.

What a great find! We stopped there while in Doral for lunch, as we were going on our traditional December trip to Mercato Italiano to load up on Italian salumi and other Italian imported food. The strip where Basilico is located is a small one and easy to miss. It’s located on NW 41st St, east of 107th Ave and west of 102nd Ave. For some reasons I thought I was going to some type of Italo-American small place, you know, the typical “pizza and pasta” joint. Well, big surprise instead: we ended up in a white tablecloth upscale-feel restaurant, really a place that feels like an Italian trattoria. The ambience is relaxing, clean and like I said, really “Trattoria-style”: you don’t go there to grab a drink at the bar, you go to eat. The décor is neat, from the modern spot light on the ceiling to the wood frames all over the place to mix modern and nice comfort style. The other surprise factor was that the prices are very reasonable for Miami and for people like us coming from West Palm Beach, the value price/quality was totally great. I had the paccheri all’amatriciana, very good and rich with the thick amatriciana sauce. My wife had the Ravioli with gorgonzola, fico e pera (fig and pear) and they were really a nice delicacy. Both dishes were $ 18.95 each, we were in some sort of paradise coming from an area where some spaghetti with 4 small shrimps on top can set you back easily $ 26-28. We split an Italian salad and were super satisfied; service was great and we felt at home. I had a glass of Chianti D’Albola, my wife a glass of Merlot from Friuli (a rare find in Miami); she won this one. Her merlot was much better than the Chianti, so much that I had that as my second glass. This is going to become out place to go in Doral for our future trips to that area. Last thoughts: no liquor license, that means no “Amari”, or other Italian digestive liquors. Big deal? Nope. Also, if you are far from Doral you can visit them in Miami Springs (I believe NW 36th St and 59th ave). Molto buono!

The food is excellent - we've NEVER had a bad dish. The atmosphere is electric. If you go and it's empty, it won't be for long because there are a ton of regulars who go all the time! The prices are very fare and the service is typically excellent. I absolutely suggest this restaurant for business, family dinner or a girls (guys) night out.

I was surprised how pretty it was inside. Very nice. And our server was very friendly and accommodating, at first. I actually thought he was the owner at first. He was that good. Some of the appetizers were good. The salmon I had for dinner was delicious but the veggies were undercooked and the mashed potatoes came out like a soup and not hot. We were never offered another wine nor had our water refilled. We were never asked if we wanted dessert or anything else. They cleared our dishes and basically abandoned our table. We sat for quite some time without a check and had to ask several people for one! Finally our server showed up with our check but paying and getting out of there took about 30 minutes. That's ridiculous.