I love Sweet Basil. Whenever I'm in Waltham for work, I stop in. The food is always great if a little oily for my taste, and the portions are very generous. My current favorite is either the lamb shank (sadly the salmon they used to have is only available as a special and not consistently offered). Ambiance is eccentric. Background music, dim lights, and an artful array of furnishings. My favorite table has all the faux cow hide covers. The star is their selection of cocktails. Their bartender is artsy and personable. Many of the cocktails themselves are carefully crafted variations on traditional cocktails. The last one I had, when figs fly, was a light rum cider with fig. Beautifully executed.
Mike
Fried Calamari didn't come with spicy vodka sauce like the menu says and we were looking forward to it. Rosemary chicken way too salty. But the ribs app, rotisserie chicken and ravioli were good. Apps came before our drinks which we ordered at the same time. We are repeat customers but we were just a little disappointed this time.
Rosemary
Our waitress was excellent. The bread and pesto was delicious. The salads were great. The dessert was great. I ordered the Rosemary chicken in cream sauce. There was no sauce, it was very heavy. The pasta had absorbed it all. I think less pasta in a smoother sauce would be more appealing. Also, too large a portion. Felt glutenous.
Kendra
Over repeated visits, the food is consistently delicious. Our dining experience as a whole however was not relaxing. Our service was a bit over attentive at the start, then disappeared and then one person helping us express no apology that one of our group went without her cocktail until right before the entrées arrived. The music was way too loud. We couldn't hear each other and two of our party found the volume really unpleasant and a distracted from spending time with our friends. . I can't see myself booking the restaurant for another relaxing night out, which is too bad because the cocktails and food are fantastic. Take out might be the way to go here.
Thomas
Service was fair at best. Felt rushed. Part of the order forgotten. Veal chop was poorly prepared. Disappointed. Love the Needham location and was hoping Waltham would be as good. Not so much.
Noam
Great evening. Wonderful food. Everyone was so friendly and let us just sit and chat after. The cocktails were strong and yummy! phenomenal food with enormous portions! Take out for daysssss! Go here. It's so good !
Philip DiDomenico
Quantity more than quality pretty much tells the story. Atmosphere leaves a lot to be desired.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 3
Service: 3
Brady
The servers were polite.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Colin
The place isn't bad but isn't great either. The ambiance is a mix of stage art and mismatched chairs. The wait staff is all in casual street clothes which makes it feel more like cafe artists vibes. Appetizers arrived before our drinks. Food was ok but not great. Nothing terrible about the place but just an odd mix and feels like it just needs a general manager to shape up the place
Caitlin
We had mixed reviews of sweet basil in Waltham - the food was great when it arrived. The staff and servers were all friendly and let us know multiple times that they were running behind in the kitchen so we appreciated that, but then they were also bringing out a lot of complimentary apps which was appreciated but it took us 1.5 hours to get the apps we originally ordered and and then our entrees. The food was delicious! I would recommend and hope they were just having a rough night!
We had a great experience dining here! Food was very delicious! We got the Baked Gouda, which came baked inside a puff pastry and on top of salad - it was so good and perfectly crispy! For our entrees, my husband had the lamb shank and I got the rosemary chicken pasta dish. The pasta was maybe slightly on the salty side for my personal liking but the texture was perfectly al dente 👌🏻 and the lamb was fall off the bone good.
We enjoyed our cocktails as well!
We were most impressed by the service - our waitress brought us a plate of arancini and a lemon cake on the house, which was really unexpected and very nice of them!
Overall, we enjoyed our time here and will be back to try the other dishes.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Grigory U. Petrov
I am usually not a fan of dining on Moody street since it is always crowded and a slow drive from the office, but had to go to a work dinner at Sweet Basil and... OMG, this is where I will be planning my next team dinner now. Everything was great about the restaurant. It is spacious and quiet, so it was actually possible to have conversations without yelling. We ordered several appetizers and different types of main courses. All of them were generous and delicious. I had salmon with roasted brussels sprouts and it was the best restaurant salmon I ever had. Even though we were full, we decided to try desserts on a dare. The decision was not regretted - chocolate, date, and citrus olive oil cakes were phenomenal and were completely consumed. Highly recommend.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Kimia Tabatabaei
Our server was great and very sweet, but other than that everything about this restaurant was disappointing. The decor is extremely odd, cheap, and overwhelming - cant tell if im in a Japanese restaurant or a southern bar or what. The menus are excessively large and get in the way of everything. The food was all mediocre at best. The rosemary chicken pasta was overly saucy and tasted more like a kid’s order at Bertuccis than a $35 dish. The steak frites was so over salty due to the salt and vinegar fries - it was inedible. Even the burrata salad was simply bad, the burrata was so bad. Overall it was maybe one of the most disappointing restaurants i’ve been to in 10 years.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 4
Shahin
Our server was attentive and courteous, which we appreciated. However, the overall experience was disappointing. The ambiance felt cluttered and lacked cohesion, making it difficult to relax and enjoy the meal. The food was served in large portions but fell short in quality. The Steak Frites was overwhelmingly salty and bitter—unfortunately inedible—and had to be returned. The pasta dishes were overly heavy, lacked flavor, and did not meet expectations. We had originally planned to celebrate a birthday, but opted to skip dessert and leave early. Sadly, this turned out to be one of our most disappointing dining experiences in the Greater Boston area.
Jill Potter
Came to Waltham from NY to visit my friend and had dinner here on 6/28. I ordered crab cakes and a Caesar salad. We left the restaurant about 9:30PM. By 1AM, I started feeling sick, headed to the bathroom and spent the next 4 hours dealing with violent bouts of vomiting and diarrhea. My friend called the restaurant the next morning and left a message telling them that I had gotten food poisoning from the crab cakes - she wanted them to know there was a problem to protect other customers. They never called back to acknowledge the message or apologize. The one star is because of the food poisoning and the lack of response when this was reported to them. Without the food poisoning, I probably would have given it 2 or 3 stars. The food was mediocre at best.
I love Sweet Basil. Whenever I'm in Waltham for work, I stop in. The food is always great if a little oily for my taste, and the portions are very generous. My current favorite is either the lamb shank (sadly the salmon they used to have is only available as a special and not consistently offered).
Ambiance is eccentric. Background music, dim lights, and an artful array of furnishings. My favorite table has all the faux cow hide covers.
The star is their selection of cocktails. Their bartender is artsy and personable. Many of the cocktails themselves are carefully crafted variations on traditional cocktails. The last one I had, when figs fly, was a light rum cider with fig. Beautifully executed.
Fried Calamari didn't come with spicy vodka sauce like the menu says and we were looking forward to it. Rosemary chicken way too salty. But the ribs app, rotisserie chicken and ravioli were good. Apps came before our drinks which we ordered at the same time. We are repeat customers but we were just a little disappointed this time.
Our waitress was excellent. The bread and pesto was delicious. The salads were great. The dessert was great. I ordered the Rosemary chicken in cream sauce. There was no sauce, it was very heavy. The pasta had absorbed it all. I think less pasta in a smoother sauce would be more appealing. Also, too large a portion. Felt glutenous.
Over repeated visits, the food is consistently delicious. Our dining experience as a whole however was not relaxing. Our service was a bit over attentive at the start, then disappeared and then one person helping us express no apology that one of our group went without her cocktail until right before the entrées arrived. The music was way too loud. We couldn't hear each other and two of our party found the volume really unpleasant and a distracted from spending time with our friends. . I can't see myself booking the restaurant for another relaxing night out, which is too bad because the cocktails and food are fantastic. Take out might be the way to go here.
Service was fair at best. Felt rushed. Part of the order forgotten. Veal chop was poorly prepared. Disappointed. Love the Needham location and was hoping Waltham would be as good. Not so much.
Great evening. Wonderful food. Everyone was so friendly and let us just sit and chat after. The cocktails were strong and yummy! phenomenal food with enormous portions! Take out for daysssss! Go here. It's so good !
Quantity more than quality pretty much tells the story. Atmosphere leaves a lot to be desired.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 3
Service: 3
The servers were polite.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The place isn't bad but isn't great either. The ambiance is a mix of stage art and mismatched chairs. The wait staff is all in casual street clothes which makes it feel more like cafe artists vibes. Appetizers arrived before our drinks. Food was ok but not great. Nothing terrible about the place but just an odd mix and feels like it just needs a general manager to shape up the place
We had mixed reviews of sweet basil in Waltham - the food was great when it arrived. The staff and servers were all friendly and let us know multiple times that they were running behind in the kitchen so we appreciated that, but then they were also bringing out a lot of complimentary apps which was appreciated but it took us 1.5 hours to get the apps we originally ordered and and then our entrees. The food was delicious! I would recommend and hope they were just having a rough night!
Restaurantji Recommends
We had a great experience dining here!
Food was very delicious! We got the Baked Gouda, which came baked inside a puff pastry and on top of salad - it was so good and perfectly crispy! For our entrees, my husband had the lamb shank and I got the rosemary chicken pasta dish. The pasta was maybe slightly on the salty side for my personal liking but the texture was perfectly al dente 👌🏻 and the lamb was fall off the bone good.
We enjoyed our cocktails as well!
We were most impressed by the service - our waitress brought us a plate of arancini and a lemon cake on the house, which was really unexpected and very nice of them!
Overall, we enjoyed our time here and will be back to try the other dishes.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
I am usually not a fan of dining on Moody street since it is always crowded and a slow drive from the office, but had to go to a work dinner at Sweet Basil and... OMG, this is where I will be planning my next team dinner now. Everything was great about the restaurant. It is spacious and quiet, so it was actually possible to have conversations without yelling. We ordered several appetizers and different types of main courses. All of them were generous and delicious. I had salmon with roasted brussels sprouts and it was the best restaurant salmon I ever had. Even though we were full, we decided to try desserts on a dare. The decision was not regretted - chocolate, date, and citrus olive oil cakes were phenomenal and were completely consumed. Highly recommend.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Our server was great and very sweet, but other than that everything about this restaurant was disappointing. The decor is extremely odd, cheap, and overwhelming - cant tell if im in a Japanese restaurant or a southern bar or what. The menus are excessively large and get in the way of everything. The food was all mediocre at best. The rosemary chicken pasta was overly saucy and tasted more like a kid’s order at Bertuccis than a $35 dish. The steak frites was so over salty due to the salt and vinegar fries - it was inedible. Even the burrata salad was simply bad, the burrata was so bad. Overall it was maybe one of the most disappointing restaurants i’ve been to in 10 years.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 4
Our server was attentive and courteous, which we appreciated. However, the overall experience was disappointing. The ambiance felt cluttered and lacked cohesion, making it difficult to relax and enjoy the meal. The food was served in large portions but fell short in quality. The Steak Frites was overwhelmingly salty and bitter—unfortunately inedible—and had to be returned. The pasta dishes were overly heavy, lacked flavor, and did not meet expectations. We had originally planned to celebrate a birthday, but opted to skip dessert and leave early. Sadly, this turned out to be one of our most disappointing dining experiences in the Greater Boston area.
Came to Waltham from NY to visit my friend and had dinner here on 6/28. I ordered crab cakes and a Caesar salad. We left the restaurant about 9:30PM. By 1AM, I started feeling sick, headed to the bathroom and spent the next 4 hours dealing with violent bouts of vomiting and diarrhea. My friend called the restaurant the next morning and left a message telling them that I had gotten food poisoning from the crab cakes - she wanted them to know there was a problem to protect other customers. They never called back to acknowledge the message or apologize. The one star is because of the food poisoning and the lack of response when this was reported to them. Without the food poisoning, I probably would have given it 2 or 3 stars. The food was mediocre at best.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 2
Loading...