With Sweet Basil being a very short distance from our hotel, seemed like a perfect place to go to for dinner, especially given that m.y family and I had heard nothing but good things about it And for the most part, it was a satisfying meal; good ambiance, good drinks, nice bartender, excellent entrees, lively scene, etc. Our actual waiter, however, left something to be desired. I'd tell you his name, but he never told us what it was. Anyway, I'm relatively sure he was high on something, although none of us were quite sure what, and his service could be described as sporadic, at best. He seemed nervous, scrambled and stand-offish in a way that made our table uncomfortable. It only became more irksome when our server began serving the table next to us - where he spent more time with them within ten minutes of their arrival than he did with us in our 2.5 + hr (!) meal. In the end, our evening turned into an instance where poor service got in the way of an otherwise good meal and a fun place. read more

Visited last weekend with friends. Service was good but food quality lacked. For the money you pay you would expect more. The dishes are not clean. Too much on the plate and too heavy. Snow foie Gras good idea but destroys a classic dish. The eggplant side almost didn't have eggplants but a sea of raisins. What a disappointment when comparing to mountain standard. That's the real deal! read more

Great spot for a nice dinner in Vail. We liked the ambiance and appreciated how good the service was - very attentive and helpful with making recommendations. Food was awesome. My girlfriend got the salmon and I had the duck. Both were delicious. This place is definitely on the pricier end of the spectrum but I felt like we got a good value overall. read more

The service was exceptional and the food was very good. However, i do wish there was a better variety of options for lunch. I had higher expectations for the lunch menu and i was a little disappointed. read more

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My family and I enjoyed Sweet Basil tonight. The service by Christopher was really great and he had a fun and entertaining personality. The corn soup was great, and the lamb dish was really good. The restaurant itself was really loud, I felt like I was screaming across the table. Overall recommend! read more

Sweet Basil - Lamb dish - New American Near Me - Vail, Colorado

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Weather your in Vail on business or pleasure Sweet Basil should be your go to spot. This is my families favorite place to eat. Its not to pricey and there is nothing on the menu that isn't delicious. I highly recommend you stop by for lunch or dinner. read more

Dishes are beautifully prepared and plated. Portions are relatively small, particularly appetizers. Our group shared several plates... the grilled octopus, duck tamale, shrimp and crab chile relleno and lamb sliders. They were all delish. Great wine menu. During mild weather, get a table in the back overlooking the creek. read more

The service was great. The food was a perfect example of trying to hard. The foie gras was overwhelmed by the berries and granola. If you dig deep into the bowl and minimize the surrounding flavors, it's not bad. Would be better for dessert. The lamb T-bones fell into the same category - too much going on that the star of the dinner was hidden. The sesame quinoa crunch and balsamic glaze were too powerful for the lamb. Overcoming it did not help. For ambience, it is a great place to go for coffee and/or drinks but for dinner, definitely not worth the money. read more

Late night drink and snacks- really great service. Presentation and execution of all our dishes were on point. Fresh Washington oysters on the half shelf - properly shucked and ice cold, fresh grated horseradish. Melon and prosciutto was elevated with both presentation, fresh plums and surprise crunch of pink peppercorns. A small dish of gnocchi were sautéed perfectly giving a slight buttery crunch with a light fluffy interior. The sticky toffee cake for desert was a perfect sweet ending. So nice to stumble upon this restaurant on an unplanned road trip. read more

Food outstanding but service TERRIBLE. Guest ordered medium-well on lamb and it was served blood rare. Was taken back to kitchen and returned 45 minutes later after all other guests had eaten... and waiter was nowhere to be found. Then ordered peppermint ice cream and was served chocolate chip. read more

We jumped at the chance to take advantage of some off-season deals at Sweet Basil. We spent $45 for a 3 course meal. Between 4 of us, we ordered all different appetizers and shared them. I am not exaggerating when I say they were all delicious, but the beef carpaccio was phenomenal. As with the apps, the entrees were all amazing...the east coast haddock was my personal favorite. And as for desserts, the deconstructed mud pie took the cake, pun intended. The cocktails also deserve an honorable mention! The service was impeccable...they were very knowledgable of everything on the menu. read more

Food was amazing, Courtney the hostess is a snatch. Our waiter from Romania was super cool, as was bartender. Bloody Mary's are good as are the spring rolls and organic salmon tataki. read more

Great food - very unique decor and lots of food options. The menu changes, but the appetizers (fondue/bruschetta/charbroiled octopus) were amazing. Made that out meal. Very nice place with great service. Highly recommend - it is a sister property to the Standard. read more

Excellent service and great menu ! I came Vail for spring ski with my fiancé and we loved Sweet Basil a lot . One of the server Amanda has very attentive and has knowledge of menu . Highly recommend this restaurant when you visit Vail . read more

Favorite restaurant in Vail; you NEED to order the warm sticky toffee cake for dessert, it's life changing!

Fantastic.... Our server Craig J. was a delight. The food is very clever and delicious. This is a must if you are in Vail, CO.

I have to rate this place just a 3, I think it was just too overpriced given the quality of the food. It's priced more based on the location. Don't get me wrong, the food was good. We had flat iron tartar and Ahi Tuna Crudo as apps - both great and better in my view than the main. We had the monkfish and cod as mains - both good, although I'd say the Monkfish was better than expected the and cod didn't really wow as much as I'd hoped. For dessert we had the pudding cake and ice cream. I was so full I could hardly eat it but I did! The drink menu was fun, but pretty standard fair in my view given all the creativity out there at the moment. They also did what was one of my biggest pet peeves. After a $200 meal, they charged us $3.50 each for drip coffee. Drip coffee after a big order should ALWAYS be free, just like water. The cost to the restaurant is basically free, throw it in because people remember that. In fact after a big dollar meal they should be looking to throw in something else for free too, like a mini unique dessert. Any restaurant that does this increases repeat business quite a bit. Anyway there you go. The interior of Sweet Basil was boring which also led to a lower rating. Perhaps living in Toronto and having access to so many amazing restaurants I'm just spoiled, but this place is a marginal 3 for me. Hopefully you'll like it better. read more

This restaurant never fails to amaze me with the menu! We have been coming here for years and have been regular guests. This past Friday night the manager went above and beyond to accommodate a request for our group to be able to sit together. So not only is the food outstanding, but the service there is phenomenal as well. The rest of the evening was great as always, the servers were friendly and pleasant. Thank you for a great night! read more

Amanda was a disaster. She insulted us when we first sat down then again when we wanted to order our entrees. We left after appetizers because of her condescending attitude. read more

Let's start with the good: Nice atmosphere Good Food Bad: The Service was so awful. My husband and I thought at one point we were on a you got punked show. The server was basically non-existent. When he was there, we had to repeat our order numerous times. We would literally tell him it and he would be looking the other way. It was as if he couldn't be bothered with a two top. read more

Seeet Basil is consistently the best restaurant in the Vail Valley. Food, ambiance, service are all consistently top notch. We had another wonderful meal here on Jan. 13, 2020. This is one spot not to miss. Enjoy!!! read more

I love this place, a real hidden gem with a great chef.

Unfortunately, I had to take off 3 stars for service. My fiancé and I were spending our vacation in Vail and decided to come here based on yelp reviews. We had a reservation and that was not a problem, we were seated right away. It was all downhill after we decided against ordering a $20 appetizer and going right for dinner because we weren't that hungry. "Well actually the menu is meant for 3 courses so if you're okay with waiting 20 minutes for dinner..." Are you kidding me?? Then to top that off...we came to the table with our two beers because we ordered drinks at the bar before we sat down anticipating a potential extended wait for our table. After being seated, our waiter said to us would you like something to drink with dinner or are you JUST going to have beer?? It sounds silly typing it out but the way he said it was so pompous. Like it's clearly so low class if we decide just to have beer with dinner!! We sat with empty beer and water glasses for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, the table next to us who had ordered a bottle of wine had seen the waiter probably 3 times. Is that a mere coincidence? Or was it a server spending more time with the table who by default will provide him with the bigger tip? We'll never know. If you're just coming here for some good food and didn't need the $20 app and the $60 upgrade to the rack of lamb instead of the lamb t-bone and you don't want a $100 bottle of wine with dinner you may leave disappointed. read more

Sweet Basil - New American Near Me - Vail, Colorado

Sweet Basil confirmed we had a reservation for a birthday party of 5 a month in advance and then bumped us the night before leaving us to hastily make other plans. And to top it off the manager laughed at us when we called. Guess the only sweet part is in your name. Hope the owners are reading this. read more

Exceptional restaurant! Menu choices are very creative and made choices difficult but exciting. Presentations were very artistic. I had the beet plate app which was delicious! Followed it with the Colorado lamb - do e perfectly and paired with Moroccan carrots and sweet peppers. Savory! Nice selection of beer - had a nice Ska Pinstripe Red Ale that paired well. read more

I couldn't let the evening pass without giving a 5-star review to Sweet Basil for our excellent dinner tonight. We have been eating at some great restaurants here--laTour, the Tenth, and mountain Standard, but Sweet Basil rises to the top above these fine places. First, the decor is modern and fresh, but not stuffy. Second, the menu is broad enough and imaginative. The service--from being welcomed in, to table side waitstaff, was professional and loaded with helpful recommendations. Oh, and did I mention they offered a $45 prix fixe 3 course menu? So, on to the food--my dining companion started with the venison carpaccio...now I don't eat a lot of any kind of raw meat, but this carpaccio was fresh, well-seasoned and not gamey. I started with the crab and lemongrass bisque. This bisque was lightly creamy, with generous portions of crab and with a light Thai-spicy flavor. The taste was rich and delicate at the same time. Yum! Second course-my dining companion had beef cheeks that melted in your mouth. I had the beautifully cooked lamb shank. The portions were generous and delicious. I gave up part of my lamb shank to my date so I could save room for dessert. He had the sticky toffee pudding with rum sauce that our waiter suggested. Now my date doesn't like cake desserts very much, but he scraped the dish and probably would have licked the plate if he could. And yes, it was epic. I opted for the lighter, but equally as tasty coconut Panna cotta flavored with dollops of passion fruit and bits of kiwi and other delightful favors. He had a glass of Cabernet franc and I had a glass of zin. (This high altitude really killed my ability to drink more than a glass!) Total damage-$150, including tax and a generous well-earned tip. I would come back to Vail just to eat here! read more

I hate to write this review. First, because I've dined here several times and each time has been great, and second, because in the end the restaurant manager gave us our meals for free. But I'm still going to write it, if only to warn people it's possible to experience the perfect storm no matter how good a restaurant is reputed to be. We ordered several apps. The crab salad was excellent but we had to send our oysters back. They were awful. Yes, Colorado is landlocked but that's no excuse for poor seafood. And there should be at least 2-3 choices of oysters, not one. Our bread had hair in it. Lots of it. First my friend found a piece in his. Thinking it was just a fluke, I bit into mine and suddenly pulled a long blonde strand out of my mouth. Disgusting. Minutes later my wife was examining hers and yep, another hair. We spoke to the manager who explained he had just switched bread suppliers. Apparently SuperCuts now supplies his bread. Two of us ordered lamb T-bones. Last time I had it there it was excellent. In this case my friend's lamb was practically still alive while mine was so cooked it couldn't have been more dead. We both sent ours back. My friend's lamb came back correct, mine was rare this time. How difficult can medium be? I sent it back again and told them not to bring anything back. Near the end our coffee was forgotten twice. Third time's a charm, but by then it was too late. Not even free dessert could save things. (Free dessert is a cop-out in my opinion so that you'll still pay for your expensive meal.) The bill came - and it certainly wasn't cheap - and they had taken off the lamb and the oysters. But nothing else. My friends, who were in town from San Francisco and who we told wouldn't be disappointed, were shocked. An experience like that in the Bay Area would be made up for by a heavily discounted bill or more likely, a free meal. My wife and I had to agree. We called for the manager, probably for the 5th time, and I gave him a drubbing. He offered to take all our wine off and we agreed. And then five minutes later he came back and said he reconsidered: we'd get the meal for free. Kudos to him for making the right decision. I might go back. Needless to say we provided an outsized tip because we wanted to pay something, but it was really really disappointing. And unfortunately Vail doesn't have much more to offer in the way of fine dining, at least until the Ritz and Four Seasons are finished. read more

Have to say I am pretty disappointed in this place after the rave reviews. In summary: 1. None of the food we ordered was a knockout. TINY portions. We got pumpkin soup, salmon and a tortellini dish. 2. Waiter was very nice but a little overbearing. He suggested we get the salmon "medium rare" which I am really not used to, so I asked for well done against his suggestion and it still came out rare in the middle. 3. Decor is nothing to brag about (not affecting my review, just wanted to mention that) Overall I can see why this is popular in Vail because it seems to be the only new age restaurant in the village, but basically it felt like it was trying too hard to be an NYC scene-y place and it was really off the mark. read more

The food and service was amazing as always! I have grown up in the Vail Valley and am now a luxury real estate broker here in Vail and no matter how many times I go to Sweet Basil I am always thrilled with the food, service and atmosphere. It is always a hit to bring clients, friends and family to this great restaurant and it never gets old due to the constantly changing menu. I always feel a little sad when a favorite is gone but that is quickly wiped away when I get my order and a new favorite inevitably emerges. You seriously must go if you can get a reservation when you are visiting. After that you will be hooked. read more

For a nice meal when you are in Vail, every local will tell you that this is the best place to visit. We at at Sweet Basil and it did not disappoint at all. I had the NY Strip steak dish and it also had a mix of potatos and lump crab meat. It was EXCELLENT! My husband had the pork roast and said it was excellent as well too. The service was very attentive. They constantly were filing up our water glasses and checking if we needed anything. Bottom line, this is a high class restaurant that you should give a try! read more

Creative menu, although dishes were overworked; adding more ingredients does not necessarily improve the main one. Limited entree choices were disappointing as one of our party is not a fish/seafood eater. Be prepared to pay a lot.... $85 special-for-the-night local beef tenderloin. Two dishes did stand out... Lobster linguine was wonderful ($47) and the beef tartare appetizer has an awesome presentation ($17). Our total bill was $550 for 4 people. We don't mind top prices for extraordinary food and service. But overall we walked out unfulfilled. Disappointed also in our server whose answer to asking for a wine recommendation was "It's up to you." We are repeat customers, coming, I guess, on the reputation for fine dining. But tonight was our last visit. Sorry, Sweet Basil. read more

Favorite dining experience so far while visiting Vail!!! The service, the food and the ambiance......stellar!!! Every dish was enjoyable, from the appetizers to the main course. Definitely add Sweet Basil to your list! read more

Amazing restaurant. The bruschetta was the best I've ever eaten. I highly recommend eating that. I also had the beer battered snapper tacos and they were simply amazing. They had a touch of citrus with avocado on corn tortillas. We also ate the wag you beef that was delicious and the king crab cannelloni. But truthfully, I could've just eaten that bruschetta over and over and over again. read more

My last meal on earth would be here, and it would be the buffalo kansas city strip. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Came here for my boyfriend's work outing. The service was top notch and didn't seem to mind that we had taken up several tables on a Saturday night. The drinks are superb, my absolute favorite being the Cherry Bomb. If I could afford this meal on my own, I will definitely be back! read more

Scrumptious delicious food! If there is one place to make a reservation in Vail, Sweet Basil is where I would recommend. I have tried about half of their menu now and all ingredients are super high quality and prepared with perfection. The location is convenient and there's plenty of free public transport if you need it. Sweet Basil is always busy and they have a healthy mix of cocktails. Prices are a little high but totally worth it every time I've gone. read more

Where do I start. After our apres we were indulged into this pure chic mountain modern environment. The first course we were treated to an absolute decadent buffalo tar tar accompanied by only the finest sprouts de Brussels. This was truly a whose who of the vail valley. Many a fur coat were present. I would proudly say that I would join them if I were only privileged enough to call this place home. read more

I agree with others about service. The staff at this place needs to learn not to judge a book by its cover. We went in and are younger early 30s. Staff was extremely stuck up and rude. Additionally, don't take your kids there or you probably won't get any service. FYI If u don't want kids here then do away with kids menu. read more

Idk the steak was so so, it was over cooked and smaller than it should have been for a porterhouse. The waiter was not pleasant. It was as if we were beneath him. And the space was not even half filled. Compared to other choices, no. read more

You can never go wrong coming to this restaurant with family, friends, or solo. The food is phenomenal and the service is exquisite.

Just had lunch with family in Vail Village. The food was wonderful. Great appetizers, including wonderful presentation.