On Septermber 1, 2008 two close friends took me to dinner at Bastas for my birthday. We had a reservation for 6:30 PM and arrived promptly at that time and were seated. We were given menus. After a half hour, the hostess came by our table and wanted to know if we had been waited on yet. When we told her that we hadn't she sent one of the two waiters over to our table. It was quite obvious that the waiter was upset with us because we had told the hostess that we hadn't been waited on yet. We ordered two drinks and two appertizers. The two drinks arrived at the table 20 minutes later. Why it took 20 minutes to prepare two simple drinks boggles my mind. Perhaps the drink ingredients were being 'freshly prepared'. The appertizers arrived a half hour after our drinks!
The two appertizers were a clam dish and a fried calamari dish. When I asked the hostess why it had taken so long to get our appertizers, she informed me that the kitchen had to change the cooking oil so that the calamari could be properly cooked. In 50 years of dining out, I have never heard of a restaurant changing its frying oil in the middle of dinner service. This, to say the least, is extremely poor preparation on the part of the kitchen.
The two appertizers were simply unacceptable. The clan dish was tasteless and the clams were certainly not fresh. The fried calamari dish was so bad that it wasn't even ediable. The calamari was actually burned and should never have left the kitchen let alone be served to customers.
Another 30 minutes passed and we still hadn't been served our main courses. I did have hope that the evening could be saved if our main courses were good. Again, I asked the hostess where our main courses were, and with attitude she informed me that because everything was prepared 'fresh' it takes time to prepare our main courses. I pointed out ot her that four or five other tables that had been seated after us had not only been served their dinners but had already paid their checks and had left.
The main courses finally arrived and to say that they were disappointing would be an understatement. One of the main courses was a seafood dish served over pasta. The pasta was cold and I seriously doubt that the seafood was fresh. In addition, the dish was totally tasteless. The second dish was a chicken dish. The chicken was overcooked and barely ediable. The third dish was a Ceasars Salad. How a restaurant can ruin a salard boggles my mind, but Batas managed to do it!
The hostess knew that we were totally unsatisfied with our 'Basta experience' but made to attempt to apologize. In the fifty years that I have been dining out, I have never felt compelled to write a letter to the owners of a restaurant, but in this case I made an exception. Even though I took the time to write a letter to the owners, they have failed to even acknowledge my letter. It would appear that they could care less about what their customers think or have experienced in their establishment.
I have spent the last few weeks telling all my friends to avoid this place like the plague. There are two many good and excellant restaurants in New Haven to be 'stiffed' by a place like Basta. Perhaps the owners would do better to close this place down and open another hamburger place. It is pretty hard to ruin a hamburger! Basta certainly does not know or serve gourmet food. Again, this place should be avoided like the plague, the service is poor and the food is barely edible.

Okay, so the place is very small and you can't always hear what your partner is saying... but the food is great and so creative. I really love the presentation of the food, the food quality and, to be honest, the NYC style it shows. Great place for a date or for a special occasion. Enjoy!!

Basta is a great LITTLE place for a dinner for two. The service is prompt and the food is flavorful. I love that they are open for lunch! Their salads make the best lunches. BASTA forfilled all my dinning needs and wants! 5!

Basta Trattoria is a very SMALL restaurant! I definatly reccommend no parties larger then 4 when dinning here. As for the service it was amazing. For such a busy little place the waitress and hostess made time to check on each table as frequently as possible. The hosts was so polite and friendly! The food, some what on the pricey side, was great. Definatly worth the money! I had the pasta with fungi and my husband had the steak special after splitting the best calimari I've had down town new haven. We also ordered a bottle of Pinot Grigio which was reasonally priced. My only dissappointment was dessert. The dessert was "some thing chocolate" and was way to dry (from Claires)! Other than that I had a GREAT experiance at BASTA and will come back for future dinning!!!