My friend Kate and I had dinner at Sweet Basil recently since my hubby is away in CA at a conference. My daughter came with us but she slept in her car seat all night! We started with some authentic village bread and a pesto/butter spread. The vibe inside is cozy and rasta-like, pretty funky for an Italian place in Needham!

We shared an app “Steamed mussels in garlic and wine with fresh roma tomates, evoo
and garlic crostini.” Very high quality mussels and with the village bread to dip in the sauce, it was perfect.

I had the soup of the day (yummy eggplant, red peppers, cheese, basil) and my entree was “Rosemary chicken with crispy pancetta and asparagus in a garlicky parmesan cream sauce with ziti”. The portions were so big that I had to take most of the food home, but thats great for leftovers.

Kate had the “Seafood Fra Diavolo - assorted fish and shellfish in a spicy tomato brodo over linguini fini.”

This place surprised me, I would definitely recommend it and plan on coming back here with a bigger group. Apparently you can bring your own wine too with a small corkage fee.