Tomato & Basilico is an Italian restaurant franchise with (now) four branches in Dubai, including this smallest one in Kite Beach. Although limited in size, its interior is beautifully rustic and Mediterranean in décor with uneven mosaic flooring offsetting a ceiling draped in realistic looking vine leaves and walls of narrow planked wood and natural field stone. Regulars of their Motor City branch where they often order pizza from, my family were quick to choose the restaurant among the many other options in that little Kite Beach culinary enclave. The only bench available was the outer most one which has beside it a table with the menu for passers-by to look at. This turned out to be an absolute nightmare because we constantly had people all over our table. Avoid that table at all costs.
Rather than stick to the pizza they know (and love), my wife and daughter ordered pasta and grilled seafood. A friend who was with us ordered a salad. I ordered a hamburger from next door. T&B allow food from other venues to be eaten at their tables so long as you order from them too, nice touch. I wished I hadn’t ordered from elsewhere the minute I saw my wife’s order: two skewers of grilled shrimp and calamari on a bed of fresh salad. A drizzling of lemon and she had the best dish of us all. The pasta, however, was bland. And the salad? Well, it was just a salad. No Wow! So, a very mixed experience.
Bland salad 
Seafood Skewers 
Bland pasta
The bland pasta and salad weren’t our only disappointments, service was slow and disorganised. Okay, I understand that they were packed that lunchtime but hey, that’s not an acceptable excuse. All in all, we left unhappy with our experience and will not be going back to this branch. Summer is almost here anyway. We’ll stick to our tried, tested and much loved Tomato & Basilico in Motor City for now.
Hey! Now read this –
Xerxes physically dines at, or orders from,
each and every venue he reviews. He pays in full for whatever he and his
companions eat, drink, take away or occasionally throw at each other. Xerxes accepts
no money, gifts, discounts or free meals in return for reviews or favouritism.
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