Cafe Basil

“Unlimited toppings on a chopped salad + a lemonade or iced tea for $7.99 — By far the best salad deal I've found in the area.”

“I have come to Cafe Basil several times in recent months to pick up cookies from the Mrs. Field's counter for a weekly meeting at work.”

Cafe Basil

Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Caters: Yes

Price range.

$ Price range Under $10

8 reviews

  1. it's a cafeteria type cafe with few tiny tables and chairs. wouldn't seat lots of customers.
    but it has extensive menu choices and the food is yummy and CHEAP!
    breakfast deals are $7 and the portions are huge.
    Good price for the food.

  2. This place is kind of gross. I decided to come here for lunch because there was a pretty sweet groupon. $4 for $7. I figured, that I could get a decent sandwich and maybe a drink for that price. Well, think again. Decent is a luxury here and, it's definitely missing.

    Cafe Basil is a grimy spot in Midtown East. Here you can get salads, sandwiches, and other entrees. Supposedly they sell sushi, but when I was there the sushi section was filled with juice. Perhaps its a new drinkable form of sushi?

    I ended up getting a chicken quesadilla because the sandwiches looked pretty nasty. The quesadilla was decently sized, but definintely not worth the $7 that I paid. To be fair, it seems the majority of the people coming here do come for the salads. I can't imagine anyone messing up making salads, so in that sense, it shouldn't be that bad. Even so, all the other stuff that they serve here is mediocre at best.

    Even with a $4 Groupon, this place is not worth my money. The food was mediocre at best, and what makes it worse is that the staff is not friendly at all.

  3. I have come to Cafe Basil several times in recent months to pick up cookies from the Mrs. Field's counter for a weekly meeting at work.  The workers there are very patient with me as I lovingly select sweets for ~20 attendees.  The favorite flavors are the chocolate chip (either milk or semi-sweet) and the double-chocolate, however, I brought in mass quantities of mini-cookies a few weeks ago, and people are still raving about the bite-size goodness.  I have a hunch I will be there again in a few days….

  4. Cafe Basil Gourmet is fairly forgettable. It's yet another of those restaurants that has a bunch of stations and is busy around lunch. Most of these stations aren't special. A pre-made sandwich using Boar's Head meat at one place is pretty similar to another place.

    But what these guys started doing recently is changing their normal salad bar to what I like to call a CrAzY salad bar. Note the use of alternating caps to show how truly crazy this salad is. CrAzY salad is just another way of saying they have "unlimited toppings". But the salad guys don't put very much of these toppings on your salad, so it's important to get a lot of them. You do, but then you have a salad with a dozen different things on it. Which is good, tasty in its own way, and oh so CrAzY.

    I hope they continue making these salads, for they are tasty. Today I kept tasting the avocado and shrimp, which was fantastic. More of that please.

  5. the 5.99$ special (panini, drink, chips) is a really good deal. and while, the panini i had wasn't especially stuffed with ingredients like Pax does, it was still filling.

    they serve chock full o nuts chai so REALLY yummy! i used to go there ever day in the winter and get a chai latte. love that powdered stuff.

    their pasta is also a really great deal because you can add in quite a bit of different toppings. so many options!

    note, it's  a $5 min to use CC

  6. At the suggestion of a colleague I ate here for lunch. I was feeling breakfast so I got a three egg omelet with the included three toppings, home fries, toast, and an iced coffee. It came to under $5 without the iced coffee but with it came to about $7. Not bad. The food was decent enough.

  7. A good spot for midtown lunch takeout.

    I'm a corporate drone and sometimes walk to Cafe Basil for takeout during the 10 minutes a day I use to pretend I'm not working my life away pointlessly!

    While Cafe Basil doesn't save me from myself, it does provide a truly unlimited toppings chopped salad for $7.99 (large) with one main ingredient (meat, avocado, portobello mushrooms, etc) plus a free powder mix lemonade — original OR pink. Woo!

    They also have weekly breakfast and lunch specials, including all-inclusive lunch meals (sandwich, chips, soda) for $7-8. Fast service, decent food, good for a quick bite.

  8. I got really sick after eating an unlimited salad bowl from here.  Not sure if it's because I was already sick with the stomach flu, but it made me not want to eat salad for a very long time, and I still don't want salad.

    BUT, besides that fact, I gave it 2 stars because its a great bang for your buck, and you can fill it with as many toppings as you want + a free lemonade/tea.  The small is very much so enough for 1 person, but I suppose if you're absolutely famished then go for the large for $1 more.  The grilled chicken was tasteless though – could've used some seasonings or something.

    I would come here for something quick and just to fill you up, but don't expect something fabulous.

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3rd Avenue 762
New York 10017 NY US
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Monday, 5:00 am - 10:00 pm
Tuesday, 5:00 am - 10:00 pm
Wednesday, 5:00 am - 10:00 pm
Thursday, 5:00 am - 10:00 pm
Friday, 5:00 am - 10:00 pm
Saturday, 6:00 am - 4:00 pm
Sunday, 6:00 am - 4:00 pm