total disappointment. i had heard good things about basi, so we decided to check it out for our anniversary. the first disappointment was when we arrived, only to find the valet was $5 and they literally parked your car right around the corner. now, i have absolutely no problem with paying for a valet; however, this place is not like most of the restaurants along high st. in the short north - there is plenty of parking in the area. had i known, i would have just kept driving and parked right around the corner. the wait would have been much shorter than using the valet. upon entering the restaurant, we weren't really greeted. no "hello" or "i'll be right with you," instead, the staff just kind of stared at us for a couple minutes, as if they were waiting for me to say the secret password. after finally being seated (on the patio, which was very cramped). our waiter didn't seem very amicable, and i felt rushed to look over the menu, which didn't seem very "italian" at all. we decided to start with the charcuterie plate, which was a special. the meats on the plate very ok, however the bread ratio was totally off. only three small pieces of bread? for two people? also, it seemed very overpriced ($20) given the small amount of meat. for the main course, i ordered the lamb meatballs and my partner ordered the scallops. while waiting for our main course, our water wasn't refilled at all and i had to flag someone down twice (as a side note, we were outside it was in the mid-90s this day, even still late in the evening when we dined). thefoodportions were quite small, given the price. my meatballs were served in a mini cast iron skillet, which wasn't even hot (seemed to be only for decoration). there was a bottom layer of ricotta, which was cold, and the sauce was only lukewarm. additionally, there was a weird metallic taste, likely because acidic things, such as tomato sauce, shouldn't be served in cast iron! any chef worth his/her salt should know this! my partners scallops were alright, although they had neglected to remove the small chewy muscle (the "foot"), which the scallop uses to attach to the shell. rookie mistake. also, the flavor of the scallops were overwhelmed by the strawberries, which were much too sweet. overall, we were very disappointed with our experience, especially given that we had heard such good things. definitely not worth the money.