So-so service. The girls all seemed very interested in giggling with each other. I did not feel like I was a priority at all. The bar was full of creepy older men. I was not very impressed with the menu. While the food was tasty it is a 'typical Italian menu' nothing different or exciting. read more

I had a great Saturday night.. Shrimp Scampi cooked and served almost flawlessly, reasonably priced.. I highly recommend Basil Leaf

Great food, atmosphere, and servers. Went there on a quiet Monday night and it could not have been more perfect. Eggplant and Lasagna were both excellent. Our server was very attentive and courteous. Very enjoyable experience! read more

Been here three times. The red sauce is decent and unremarkable. Balsamic dressing is very strong. Some dishes suffer from mediocre execution while others are outstanding. My recommendation is to try the veal rolletini. It's possibly one of the best dishes I've had in a restaurant. We are fortunate that CNY has many great Italian restaurants and while this isn't among the best it is a solid option. read more

Went here again. PHENOMENAL DINNER!!! Had a party of 7 people. Service was excellent, food was fantastic. Each course came out timely, accurately and was PERFECT!! Great evening. Even though it was a busy Wednesday night, no glitches in any aspect of the night. Birthday celebration waz best yet!! Can't wait to go again!!!! read more

Three stars for the ambiance. The food is average and definitely not worth the price. Steaks are always overcooked. I'd go if someone gave me a gift card. read more

I will not recommend this restaurant to anyone. The bread was rock hard when it came out. Our server said it was hot because it just came out of the oven. Well they tried to warm up sliced bread and left it in too long. If you get salad, ask for the dressing on the side. They mixed the greens with the dressing and there was so much, it was inedible. Also, it was the weirdest tasting ranch dressing ever. I really think I got parmesan peppercorn. I had the filet and it was perfect. They garnished the plate with 2 onion rings and I would have liked that as my side instead of the pasta.(it wasn't offered as a side) The tomato sauce on the pasta was not very good. My husband asked for a garlic pizza(on the appetizer menu)as his entree. It was anything but pizza. Maybe garlic bread with cheese is a better name. Our server was really sporadic during the whole meal. She was not very attentive to our empty glasses and there was hardly anyone in there. I gave it 2 stars only because the filet was delish. read more

The food was just OK. With all of the Italian options in the area, Basil Leaf just doesn't match up. I found the atmosphere to be a bit odd. I couldn't tell if they were trying to be a fine-dining establishment, or just a place to get a plate of pasta. For the price, there's much better in the area. read more

Was skeptical after reading the reviews, but ended up here when the restaurant I wanted to try was closed. Glad I did, very good food and excellent service! read more

A bit pricey for what you get. The pre-meal bread is wonderful and the service adequate but, for the prices, I have found other Italian restaurants to be equal or better and much less costly. read more

We asked to be seated outside if available and were brought right out. Menus and tableware were brought out with water and we were told that someone would be right with us. I walked over to the bar and ordered drinks for us and returned to the table and waited for 30 minutes. We finished our drinks, picked up the menus on the table and started to leave. I asked for a manager on the way out and explained the situation to her to which she quickly said that it must have been a communication problem with the 3, that's right, 3 waitresses that were supposedly working the outside seating. We never saw anyone serving outside. We saw 2 waitresses conversing near us but neither even acknowledged us. Very disappointing seeing that this is what they are paid to do. What really irritated me was that it was an Oh Well situation and the manager didn't even ask us if they could seat us and serve us. I don't think we will be going back. read more

We have been for lunch and dinner several times. Very good food. The food tastes homemade not frozen, and reheated. They serve decent quality cocktails, a bit pricey but really comparable for the area, and the service has been good each visit.. read more

Excellent food and,service. The chicken parmigiano was excellent. I love their sauce here.

We have been to Basil Leaf on three (3) occasions, and each time we enjoyed our dining experience. Service is excellent, menu is superb, and the ambience is over all satisfying..Highly recommend this restuarant... read more

Ate here the other night and had a very delicious meal. My pasta had some of the best sauce I have had on pasta in a while. We also ordered chicken riggies which were the nice light kind of sauce as opposed to the heavy cream sauce. Our waitress was very friendly and we didn't wait long at all for our food as mentioned by previous reviewers. The salad was good and nice warm bread was served as well. The only complaint was the hostess who could have been a little more welcoming and friendly. The first face of the restaurant should set the tone. Anxious to go back and try other things on the menu. read more

I was seated promptly by an upbeat hostess. My waitress was cheerful and accomodating. I ordered the Marinated Chicken salad which was a very generous portion and very fresh. An overall pleasant first experience. I will be back. read more

One of the best meals and service I've ever had. Lauren, our server, was awesome and made the experience amazing!

This is my go to restaurant when my husband wants to take me out to dinner or for a celebration. I love Italian food. It's my favorite kind and I've been to many places all over the country. This place is just awesome-they make everything from scratch from pasta to dressings to the sauces. We've tried every appetizer on the menu and atleast half of the entrees over the last few years and every single one has been absolutely delicious. We of course have our favorites (Utica greens, calamari, stuffed peppers, shrimp scampi & Gorgonzola filet all excellent choices). I'm not sure how there are so many negative reviews. We've had attentive servers every single meal and the manager has always stopped by to see how everything was which is always appreciated. On one occasion they felt our food had taken especially long on a busy Friday night (which we were fine and enjoying wine and conversation and didn't notice.)The manager dropped off a slice of chocolate cake for us to share with her apologies. A very nice gesture and we were impressed that they took it upon themselves to do this. Of course we now have to get a slice of that cake when we go because their desserts are also SO delicious. Highly recommend this place! read more

The food is very good, however the 2 times I have been there the service is slow. Good portions, but be prepared for slow service.

We came here on the advice of a friend that said the food was awesome and he was right. That is where it ends. We arrived at 9:15 so it wasn't very busy.We waited 15 minutes for wine, apps came much later, dinner was very slow. The waitress was just too busy talking to other people that worked at the restaurant. But we always want to give the benefit of the doubt so we decided to try takeout. I called at 6:00 pm and was told that a server had to take the order. I waited on hold for 10 minutes so I called back. The server took my order and asked what dressing did I want on my salad, asked if I could get the soup (the menu says you can have soup OR salad. She said yes and I could have the pastina or soup of the day. I got the soup of the day. She then told me it would take an hour for pickup. So instead of going straight to the restaurant from work, I went home and waited. I got there at 7:00 and told the girl at the reception desk that I was here to pick up a to go order. She told me that she would for a server. About 5 minutes later a server came and asked what I wanted to order. I told her that I was here to pick it up so she said she would go back and find out who it was. Finally at 7:20 a server came and brought me the check and told me that the food had just come up...really? It took an hour and 10 minutes to make vodka riggies and veal alfredo? I took the check and she went to get the food. When she came back I asked her why I was being charged for the soup that came with the meal. She informed me that the soup of the day did not come with the meal...only the pastina. Now that would have been nice to know! However she told me that she had given me the bowl instead of the cup for my wait. Now to be honest at this point I had decided to just give up. Now I live less than a mile from this restaurant and when I got home and opened the soup it was steaming hot. The pasta was less than warm and looked like it had started to cool (you can tell because it tends to get a darker color on the pasta). In fact I had to warm it up in the microwave. I then asked my wife and hers was not hot either. So to sum it up....don't waste your time or money. The food was great when we ate there but service was slow. Takeout was slow and the food was cold. Save your money and go to Utica Pizza Company.....better food and better prices! read more

Disappointing. Unfriendly atmosphere. Hostess could barely be bothered to look up from what she was doing to seat our party of 4 on a not so busy evening. Waitress was standoff-ish. Appetizers were ok. Service was slow. Our 2 soups and 2 salads took about 20 minutes to arrive with dinner then taking at least that long again. One dinner was mistakenly omitted, quickly replaced by an undercooked meal which was returned to the kitchen. A manager came out and offered a replacement to take home. We refused for fear of how long it might take. We prefer to support local business but will not return to this one. Unfortunately, the food was not spectacular enough to make up for the slow service and uncomfortable feeling in the air. read more

Very very unhappy with the service we received and we didn't even end up eating there! Walked in on a Sunday at 4pm to have the host ask us about reservations, we informed her that we did not have any, she said "oh,ok..." Then walked into the back and came out with another woman who informed us we can sit over there in the corner to wait but no one will be waiting on us anytime soon. From what we could see there were two other couples in booths near the bar that's it! Never been somewhere where they were any less accommodating! Bad impression. Needless to say we left. read more

Made reservations for a party of 7 a number of days in advance. We were called prior to the time of our reservation that day and were told that they had overbooked, and wanted to know if it was acceptable if we were seated in the back room...? That sounded fine to us...I guess...we had never been there for dinner with this owner (had been there when it was Fresno's, so we figured the back room was the main dining area). But when we got there for our dinner, we seated in a 'split' seated corner booth that sat 3 at one table, 4 at the other, and were not together. We couldn't have a conversation with everyone due to the distance of half of our dinner party. Not a good start. Although our server was kind and friendly, we had problems with our meals. Although one of the salads was acceptable, the other salads had little to no dressing on them. After an extremely long wait to receive our meals (over an hour), they were finally delivered. We were apologized to by the waitress, told that there were only 2 in the kitchen cooking. Quick rundown of the issues: 1 veal parm was overcooked and tough to chew. Filet Mignon was cooked to requested temp, however it clearly had been sitting around for a while because it was cold and dry. There was no blood or juices anywhere to be seen (cooked medium/MR). There was no seasoning on the steak, tasting VERY bland (to be honest, it was the worst filet I have ever eaten). After telling the waitress it was cold, she took it back, and sure enough, a microwaved filet was returned to my table (sure it was warmer...but you can tell it was just put in a microwave and replated). Not everything was terrible...two of the meals was enjoyable, and the Utica greens were very tasty (but unfortunately was later to be found to contain a hair). The deserts were very good...we didn't go for deserts. Overall, our experience was pretty terrible, will not go back again, and would not recommend any else to do so. The following weekend I had a sirloin at a 'chain' seafood restaurant and it was 1000 times better than what I was served. Go elsewhere... read more

Went there tonight ordered Cavatelli was served Gnocchi and told it was Cav's. Later as we were leaving I heard that they were substituting Gnocchi as they "didn't have cav's this evening". Never told that by our waitress. Everything else was an upcharge. If I wanted oil and garlic instead of marinara then upcharge If I wanted the soup another upcharge and the upcharges didn't make any sense. For instance the Tortilini with carbonara was a 15.99 The Cavatelli with Marinara was $14.99 but if I wanted the Cav with carbonera it was 17.99. Decaf coffee was good though. We won't be back. Very noisy also. read more

Best Italian food in Syracuse..I ordered egg plant with a side of angel hair pasta...Excellent...I have eaten at every Italian restaurant in Syracuse and everyone of them has terrible spaghetti sauce..Basil leaf is my favorite for Italian food...Billy is a very good chef,...keep up the good work..THE BEST... read more

First time in the place and the experience was horrible. The hostess was downright RUDE. The place was empty and she asked us if we had a reservation for our party of TWO. We said no and she looked appalled. She proceeded to tell us how busy it was going to be with lots of parties coming in but she will see what she can do. When she sat us she told us again how busy the place was during this time of year. The food wasn't bad. A little pricey. The chicken I ordered was literally a plate with three large pieces of chicken in a sauce. It was tasty but how much just chicken can you eat for dinner. It came with a side which I chose a pasta. The pasta was ok but it was penne and butter. It was the most incomplete meal I have ever paid $20 for. Not to mention the place was freezing. I never took my coat off. Our server was nice but we will not be going back ever if only because of the rude hostess. Don't waste your time or money but if you are going to go make sure you have a reservation. read more