Basil Thai
8358 Point Meadows Drive
Jacksonville, FL 32256
Phone: (904) 379-3446
Hours: 11 am – Until…
www.basilthaibistro.com
I frequently go to Basil Thai on the Southbank, one of my favorite places for lunch. The girls and I from work could go there pretty much everyday. I was thrilled when I saw that they opened another location on Point Meadows which is down the street from my home. Yay! I couldn’t wait to go there and give it a try. I was hoping they had the same dishes they have at the other restaurant. Again, yay! They did.
We went there for lunch on a Saturday. We were seated quickly and were given menus. Great décor, kind of edgy and minimalist with rich woods and granite counters. There is a patio available for outdoor seating which some patrons were taking advantage of and they also have a full service sit down, stocked bar. Our waitress, Laura, who never introduced herself, took our drink order and brought us our drinks and walked away without taking our order or bringing any sweeteners with our unsweetened tea. This must be a pattern since the other Basil Thai location makes this mistake with the sweeteners too. Laura seemed frazzled like she was super busy; however, there weren’t that many people in the restaurant. She came back to our table and we ordered appetizers of spider roll sushi and fresh spring rolls, my lunch of Phad See Ew (rice noodles, carrots, broccoli, egg, scallions in a light coating of Phad Thai sauce) and Pie’s lunch of Jasmine fried rice with chicken. The sushi came out without any shrimp sauce which Laura had to go back and get. When she brought it to our table, instead of placing it on the table, she held it out for me to grab. I told her she can put it on the table. I’m thinking, “What? No, she didn’t! Did she just try to hand me a dish?!” She set the shrimp sauce on the table and scurried away. The sushi was great; I wouldn’t expect any less from this restaurant. Hmmm, where are my spring rolls? Helllloooo?
Spider Roll Sushi
Our lunch orders were brought out by the kitchen staff. They looked fantastic topped with long, thin shreds of beets and carrots. I love the way they plate the food…not too fancy but definitely not your average sprig of parsley on top! Ehh-hemm, yoohoo…Laura…honey…spring rolls? We got Laura’s attention and asked where the spring rolls were and she smacked her forehead and scurried away, again, to the kitchen. We were almost done with lunch when the spring rolls finally came out. Our waitress started with the apologies and I told her that we didn’t want them anymore; we wanted them as an appetizer. We were sitting there with empty drink glasses and when our plates were cleared, we finally were asked if we wanted a drink refill. We opted for the check, which is when we found out our waitress’ name, it was on the receipt. Pie went to the restroom after dinner and claims it had to be the bestest bathroom in all of Jacksonville (I thought that might be worth mentioning. Kisses!)
Phad See Ew
Now, my biggest pet peeve is customer service, it can make or break a restaurant. If I didn’t know there was another Basil Thai location, I wouldn’t go back to this restaurant solely because of the service. I know the Basil Thai I go to on the Southbank has great service and their only “ding” is taking forever to bring the check, oh yeah, and not bringing sweeteners to the table with the drink. But that is all forgivable! The food is fantastic at both locations and both places are upscale casual (if there is such a thing). The service at the Point Meadows location can kill this potentially successful restaurant in no time at all. That would be a shame, I hope they make sure their staff knows how to waitress professionally and succeed at this location. If you go to Basil Thai on Point Meadows, please…go there for the food, not the service and you won’t be disappointed.
Review by Rhonette, email: rhonette@piesplate.com
Thanks for the review — I ll have to check that one now that its closer. We always go right down the street to Lemon Grass.