Basil Pizzeria 300 13th Street, Oakland, CA 94612

"I moved 2 blocks away from this place a few months ago.  My buddy from the neighborhood insisted on giving me the rundown of every restaurant around.  He never mentioned this place even though it is so close.  Since then, I have discovered why. The place doesn't seem to stick to their advertised hours.  Ordering online proves to be challenging, and when you call, the phone sometimes just rings forever.  This is the reason why it took me so long to try the place at all. Their pizza is pretty expensive, so when I finally tried the place, I got a calzone.  The flavor was way off and, while not terrible, I would never eat that again. Decided to give them a second chance last night.  I wasn't very hungry, I just wanted a snack, so I phoned in an order for 2 of their appetizers (first time they ever answered).  When I ordered, I was told that my food would be ready in 10min.  I told him that was quicker than I thought it would be and that I would be a little longer.  15min later, I was a block away when I got a call from them basically asking why I wasn't there yet.  Seemed pretty unfriendly and slightly confrontational.  I have NEVER had that happen to me before, and I order a lot of takeout. When I got there, I was rang up and then I noticed that I was charged a dollar more per item than the price listed on their website.  When I mentioned it, the person at the register tried to claim it was tax and then tried to fast-talk his way out of it.  They pointed to their in-house sign where the price was, indeed, $1 more than what was posted on the site. I was a little annoyed at this point because I had a feeling I was gonna regret coming here, just based on anticipated food quality, and now I was paying even more for something I felt was already overpriced.  I mentioned the false advertising on the website and that they should honor that price for me, as I was on the fence about patronizing them anyway.  They tried to reduce it down to convincing me that I could afford to pay the extra $2, implying that I was complaining because I didn't have the money.  Pretty insulting, as I promise you my bank account is fatter than any of theirs (run your business better and maybe you'll catch up).  Although they insisted on charging me the full amount, I was promised that they would give me a discount next time.  This was a sleazy move considering 1)He was trying to hook me into coming back after this terrible service, or 2)Assumed I would never come back again and by saying that, he would shut me up and have me on my way.  If it was the second, he is correct.  I left confused and slightly insulted. Story’s not over.  They put my food in a brown paper bag and I left.  A few steps out of the store, something stabbed me in the thumb.  I realized these people thought it was a great idea to stable the bag closed with massive, loose staples, and one of them penetrated my thumb about a quarter of an inch and hurt like hell. To top off this wonderful experience, the food sucked, as expected. With the high prices, low quality food, and combative customer service, I don't expect this place to be around too much longer."

"What is this? Look at the picture! Where are the toppings? We get one cherry tomato and a basil leaf per slice, and maybe 1/5 of the slice has some sauce?! This is offensive! It tasted microwaved, none of the cheese is browned, this is an atrocity. Just get Domino’s at this point, Basil’s can’t even improve on strip mall pizza."

"Got a vegan cheese pizza delivered. Crust was not bad but there was barely any sauce . Would give it another try and ask for extra sauce maybe ."

"This place was so dis functional that not even the menu is written correctly. Food order was wrong and took an hour to make. Food was undercooked and it tasted horrible. Do not come here"

"It seems to be a small ma & pa pizza shop, small lobby with a couple of tables. Their pizza was amazing. We ordered one of their listed pizzas & added a few extra meat topping. You can go wrong with their pizza, very tasty. Next time I am in Oakland, California, I will be ordering 2 pizzas, one to eat & one to take with me home."