Blue Basil Asian Cuisine

I have to say, food wasn’t the greatest this evening. It’s only our second time so of course, we came in wanting to try other entrees on the menu. It might’ve been a bad idea, but hey, at least customer service was still on point.
Braised Beef Stew Noodle soup: ¹⁄₅
It was a SMH disappointment. I ordered it because the picture on the menu looked really good. Only to find out it’s deceiving. -.- The broth was bland, even when I tried to add soy sauce, that still didn’t help. Pointless. The noodles were okay, nothing major. The meat was a total disaster. Tough, chewy, not flavorful at all. I had to settle on this one. I wouldn’t recommend it. I had leftovers and I didn’t even bother taking it to-​go.
Grilled Beef with Vermicelli: 3.5÷5
It was decent. Flavor was there but it needed more of a WOW factor. Add hoisin and sriracha to dress it up. The only WOW we got from it is that the portion is HUGE! In the picture, it’s served on a flat plate but when it arrived to our table, it’s bigger than a phở bowl, seemed like it! We asked for a to-​go box and it filled up the whole box like we didn’t even make a dent. Crazy. It’s alright. Try something else on the menu.
Fried Chicken Wings with spicy salt: ⁵⁄₅ We had to order it again because our first time was such a hit! When I ordered it this time, I requested for no salt. PERFECTION! It’s even better than the first time around. Again, add white vinegar to it, so good. It was just as crispy and hot! I love it!
We didn’t get drinks last time so we tried something new too.
Passionfruit juice: ⁴⁄₅ I like that their juices are caffeine free. I requested for less ice or no ice at all since today was chilly outside. It was allowed, thank goodness. The flavor was good, I would’ve preferred a little sweeter. But still refreshing.
House Milk Tea: 3.5÷5 I was surprised it came in a clear cup, sealed. Nothing wrong with that, it reminds me of the drinks from Boiling Point even if you dine in. It was expected to be strong since it is made with black tea. Flavor is all there, I just wish it wasn’t so packed with ice cubes. We finished the whole drink and half the cup was filled with just ice. I dislike that because then I start thinking we’re paying so much for just ice. Lame. I’ll mention less ice next time.
Again, food & drinks were okay tonight. But that’s ok. We’ll try other entrees again on the menu. Better luck to us next time. I’m glad the service was exceptional. There was about 3 – 5 servers and they all paid attention to their guests and were very nice, with smiles too! I like that they’re attentive and quick.
Service: ⁵⁄₅

This place is pretty good solid Asian food. It’s definitely a place that I could frequent.
Their menu could use an update though considering I ordered chicken and mustard greens hot pot (after being told they didn’t have fish maw for the fishball, fish maw, mustard green one) and got stir fried chicken and mustard greens instead. Oddly enough the waitress was as surprised as I was when she saw the dish. She was nice about it though and offered me something else since what I got clearly wasn’t hot pot, but it looked pretty good so I decided to give it a try.
And I’m glad I did. The dish itself was actually really good. There’s hainannese chicken on the menu so I’m guessing that’s where the chicken came from because it tasted exactly like really good hainannese chicken (which I happen to love). And the mustard greens were cooked just right — enough to be hot but still crunchy and delicious.
So, despite the menu issue, I would still recommend this place. Just don’t expect to necessarily get what you order.

I am torn with this review… It’s a very nice restaurant. Clean and new interior, and service was great. Food was the part that I am conflicted with. Honestly, the Stone pit beef and egg was disgusting. Absolutely bland and tasted like burnt mush. The eggplant dish was amazing. There was a noodle dish that came out totally different to the menu. Looks like they need to narrow down the menu, or hire really skilled cooks.

Nothing makes me happier than trying a new restaurant and being thoroughly pleased with my meal. I ordered the shrimp lettuce wraps which were very fresh and flavorful and I also tried the wonton soup which was very good as well.
The restaurant is very clean and nicely designed. Staff is very friendly. This was previously Polly’s Pies. The entrance is in the back so it’s a bit different from the other restaurant but it work! I will definitely be back!.

Pleasantly surprised. Came here for a quick bite as its across the street from Harbor UCLA Hospital. It’s a big place but the service was still great, immediately served a soup and given my drink. Parking was ample, the menu is extensive, and the dish I got was great: the shrimp with green beans and garlic ($ 8.50). The portion is large and it’s served with the soup above and rice. It is flavorful and cooked nicely. The shrimp was a bit mushy but it did the job. Wish I had room for one of their deserts !

Great low key spot. Parking is located in back. When ever I go here, I am always a little confused as to who my server is solely because they have 4 different people asking you constantly if you are ready to order, which can get a little annoying. but hey… ITS ALL BOMB FOOD!
Great place to go to have family style dinner (order a whole bunch of food and everyone just shares)
They have THE BEST Buffalo wings!!! I have only tried the spicy pepper wings but dear lord, they are on POINT!
Their FR15 is also pretty darn good. I usually get another protein added to it, but it comes with diced ham already in it.
Their sweet and sour chicken is also a great choice! (I don’t usually get sweet and sour anything, not really my jam)
They also have a delicious Thai Tea that I always get.
We brought someone here who is a very picky eater (doesn’t eat anything spicy etc etc) and after we left, even he said he would love to come back. Score one for Blue Basil.
I will definitely be coming back here again and again and again and again and again and again and again.
p.s.
Did I mention I was coming back again and again?

The only thing going for this place is that it’s new. Eating here was so confusing and bland. I am ok with Asian fusion but this was just weird — American, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Thai? Pick one cuisine and get that right first before expanding. There are much better restaurants nearby that does food right. Sorry, I won’t be back!

Came for dinner and ordered the jumbo shrimp stone rice pot, Indonesian fried rice, and spicy basil fried chicken.
The shrimp stone rice pot looks impressive but it was just ok. You get a prawn, some fake crab meat, and shrimps. Though the shrimp is good, there is a lot of rice and not enough flavor in the fish. It had a seafood aftertaste, but much of his dead was really bland.
The spicy basil chicken tasted like the popcorn chicken you would get at a boba place, but not in a ball form. The basil smelled really good, but this dish didn’t stand out to me. Some kick, but not too spicy.
Since the basil chicken did not one with rice, I ordered the Indonesian fried rice. It was not spicy at all. It came with an sunny side up egg you mix in with the rice. Good amount of shrimp and chunky pieces of ham. I liked this dish the most but wish they cooked the rice a bit more so it wasn’t so hard.
Would come back to try some other dishes if I was in there area, just to see if there are some good dishes. Service was good and place was clean, parking lot in the back and near the freeways.

I wanted to try this place since the pie place closed down, I gave it a 3 because they don’t bring out all our food at the same time which sucked cause who wants to eat cold phở?
My phở came out really quick less than five minutes after ordering and then my friends curry came out 15 mins after. If I didn’t eat my phở it would have been cold already.
The meat wasn’t that much like in King way bowl in Carson but the broth was good, lots and lots of noodles for sure and the curry my friend got wasn’t bad.
I would come back

This place is good. First time here and my rule of thumb for my first visit in a Phở place is not to other Phở but their grilled items and then just ask for a bowl of their broth to try. So I ordered the grilled pork chop over rice and the portions were huge. Probably can serve 2 people. It was delicious! It has the right amount it sweetness and the meat was tender
And now comes the broth — it was the bomb! It was served hot and fresh which I like, literally I had to let it cool down for a couple of minutes but it was flavorful. I had some green tea which they serve in nice tea pots and they use tea leaves. These best part is the grilled pork chop plate was only $ 8.50.
I will definitely come here again if I happen to be visiting Carson again.

Sister and I were very excited about this new Asian restaurant, decided to give it a try on a random Tuesday. Big and open place, looks very clean too, the booth seatings were very spacious. Huge menu with Chinese /​Cantonese, Vietnamese and Thai dishes, very extensive. We started off with hot fruit tea, very tasty and fruity green tea, the second pot was better.
We ordered a few dishes to share. Loved the basil clams, fresh and good sized clams with flavorful sauce, surprisingly good. Greens with mushrooms were delicious too. Sweet and sour fish filet was so soft and tasty, I loved the flavors, sister thought it was a bit too sweet. The Tom Yum seafood soup with vermicelli was just OK, we didn’t like the pineapples in it, flavor was a bit bland. The flavors were light, the portions were huge, the prices were fair. Finished our meal with two boba milk teas, they were very tasty, think we will come here for tea drinks often.
Overall the food items are just usual Asian food, nothing too special. Since we don’t have many this kind of restaurants in Torrance, we will come here from time to time for sure!

Tasteless. In an effort to appeal to a contemporary audience the flavor is absent or at least dimished to a shadow of its former self.
Friendly, clean, with waaaay too much white rice as a filler. Kung fu not good. Moving on.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!
So it is Chinese New Years/​Lunar New Years and my parents, sister, and friend of the family wanted to come here. The first thing I noticed when I walked through the doors was «they must of spent a lot of money to gut the place that used to be Polly’s Pies». They probably redid the entrance as well. There is a homeless guy or two camping out.
They have an extensive menu. Asian Fusion cruisine from Vietnamese to Chinese. We ordered a lettuce wrap, some soup, chicken with Chinese broccoli, and pad Thai. They didn’t have the Pad Thai noodles. So they made it up for it by having pan fried noodles. At the end of the dinner comes with red bean soup which I don’t drink (don’t know why but they should of asked instead of wasting it).
There was one round table and the rest of the place was booths. I am glad the server kept filling our glasses with water instead of flagging down the server at some Chinese restaurants for water.

My husband and I are so happy we came here!
So I got home from work on Super Bowl Sunday and my husband had gotten home from his tailgate about an hour before me. We didn’t want to cook and I was craving phở, so we remembered this place next to the hospital but when we got there they were closed (even though they were supposed to be open until 10pm). I looked on Unilocal and found Blue Basil Asian Cuisine, it was right across the street (literally) and when I called they had phở so we figured why not? Even if it’s bad at least it’s close.
THANK GOODNESS WE WENT THERE! The server (I wish I had gotten her name) was so nice and had a conversation with us even though they were almost closing and a lot of servers would have been annoyed. She helped with everything including how to eat what I eventually ordered.
Honestly even if the food had been awful I would have left a good review just for her, thankfully the food was AMAZING.
My husband ordered us both some egg rolls and a pot of hot oolong tea, the egg rolls were crunchy, and had a great flavor. The oolong was good but I always put so much sugar in my tea idk how I’m supposed to know the flavor lol.
For dinner he got a large bowl of phở (only $ 1 to go from small to large!) And he said it had excellent flavor even before he put his spicy stuff in it. I got the stone pot beef and rice with an egg (the server had to tell me how to eat it smh I’m such a dork) and it was wonderful, and it literally came in a stone pot which I thought was cool.
At the end, for all the food the price was less than $ 35 which is much better than I thought it would be.
We will be back, and we can’t wait!

This is a new Asian cuisine restaurant in the city. I wanted to try this place for lunch but I came down during dinner time.
And let me tell you, this was filling. It is a great place to eat with your family. Such a huge open restaurant so I would recommend taking your family here ! I probably exaggerate but big enough to stuff your family full with the family size choices. We ordered the stone pot beef and egg and phở. I knoooow, my choice seems very simple. Their phở for a Large is pretty large for one prson but who could not upgrade to a large with only $ 1?! Their menu was so extensive I couldn’t choose an exotic plate. If you like stir fry, wet or dry noodles, hot pot, boba, or fresh fruit juice, etc. This place is for u. My meal was delicious without the overpowering taste. Try this place out !
Next time I come by, I’ll probably see you at lunch lol I am going to get their hainan chicken plate. Yay !

So my family decided to try this place out for a Sunday lunch and was pretty pleased. Its very similar to Blue Lotus which is just a few blocks away. I believe its owned by the same family.
Its a pretty big place so we were seated right away and they took our orders. The waiters dont speak the most perfect English so it was a little hard to understand but they worked with us. We ordered their honey walnut shrimp, salt and pepper fish, thai style pan fried noodles, mongolian beef, and salt & pepper pork and all of it was pretty bOmb! My only complaint was that their salt and pepper pork wasnt as crisply fried as i expected but its still good nonetheless. I was also really impressed with their boba drinks! Most restaurants that sell boba only have a few selections but this place had a wide array to choose from and they were surprisingly really good and reasonably priced! Overall i was really impressed with this place and i would definitely come back :-)

New restaurant that took over the Polly Pies location. In opening the menu I was overwhelmed with so many choices. Soooooo many! Their menu carries a vast amount of Asian menu items. From Chinese, Indonesian, Thai.
I believe their Chinese menu items are their specialty, stick with the Chinese items. We chose the salt and pepper pork and it was good, not the best but good. Lightly battered pork pieces, fried, topped with chili and green onions. This is a favorite when I go to Chinese restaurants.
From the Thai choices, we tried the tum yum seafood soup with noodles. I don’t care for it… It had maybe some Thai influences such as the spices… and maybe that sour taste. Maybe. But I was so disappointed eating it. I was looking forward eating a typical tum yum soup on a cold rainy day to warm me up. It had pineapple and Thai Basil and that’s all I can taste, not at all tum yum in my memory of tum yum.
And then the Hainan chicken rice. Now I have not find a place that serves delicious dipping sauces for the chicken rice just like in Singapore. Same goes here… No good dipping sauces where it was just hoisen and chili paste. I need to find the ginger chilli. The plate though was okay. Chicken, served with chicken stock flavored rice and picked veggies.
The boba was actually good though. They have a good variety. But I got the iced milk with caramel, pudding, and boba. And I even asked them to not to add sugar.

Let just say you have to GO HERE to experience it yourself! So different than other Asian restaurants like Phở and Thai. It gives you a wider menu choices. You can experience different places in their dishes!
It’s our fist time here. I know this joint will be one of our favorite spot from now on. (Plus I live across the street lol)
WONTON SOUP IS CRAZYYYY AMAZING! sorry Mami King and Chow king. For 6.95 $ omg I swear to the God of wontons it’s delicious! It will make a broken heart on a rainy day feels better. Hahaha
INDONESIAN FRIED RICE is good. Kinda spicy for my taste but none the less great try. Big serving on everything!
BEEF CURRY is HUGE! Good as well but not outstanding! But good!
TARO SLUSH is a bit bland so ask for them to make it sweeter.
THAI TEA is the shitttt! To fucking unbelievable! Its so bomb!
Will be coming back here often and give you guys more reviews for their food. Super nommm! Foodie approved!
Day 2: tried their sweet and sour pork LUNCH menu. Huge portion tasted fine and clean.
Salt and pepper squid no spice is so good. For those you are crazy about fried anything. It reminds me of Golden Pleasant’s fried squid but this taste better and cooked clean.
Day 3: Tried hot pot. It’s just okay.
Pineapple chicken fried rice is good, add some hot sauce for a wonderful kick!
Vietnamese Egg rolls is good too!

Driving down Carson St, earlier in the week, I spotted a bright yellow banner at the place where Polly’s Pies used to me. Upon closer look I saw it said «Blue Basil Asian Cuisine Grand Opening.» Do you know what I did, right when I got home? You betcha, I checked Unilocal right away! Sure enough a new Asian eatery had opened up in the South Bay and it didn’t take long for me to come here to check it out ;). It is a new year and it’s a time for new eats and new discoveries!
Walking in, one will see no trace of the old Polly’s Pies! Everything is so different including the entrance that used to be on the side and is now in the back facing the parking lot. Inside is a fresh and clean new interior with new booths and tables! They have a small section by the kitchen where they prepare their fresh drinks. The whole place just looks larger and spacier.
Speaking of large, this place has one large menu! Both their lunch menu and dinner menu is extensive! They also have a kids menu. They have Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, American and even Italian dishes! You can find appetizers, lettuce wraps, soups, salads, sandwiches, grill items, baked rice, pasta and macaroni, italian style pasta noodles, curry dishes, seafood dishes (shrimp, clam, scallops, squid, fish), beef, pork, vegetable, tofu, casseroles, hot pots and noodle soups, Hong Kong style fried noodles, fried rice, house rice plates, stone pot rice, and Vietnamese noodle soups! (Wow just typing that alone made me feel overwhelmed… just imagine trying to pick a dish!)
After a little bit of pouring over the gigantic menu, my mom and I decided on Vietnamese egg rolls for appetizers ($ 6.95) and the lunch special Fried Chicken with Basil ($ 6.95) and Beef with Vermicelli in Satay Sauce ($ 7.50). Lunch specials come with steamed rice and a daily soup. The daily soup today was egg flower. I also chose to get the strawberry, pudding and boba ice milk drink ($ 3.95).
First up were the Vietnamese egg rolls. It came with six pieces and were crunchy and tasty! I’m always a fan of good egg rolls and they sure make some good ones here!
Next came my boba drink and I was surprised at how big their boba drinks are here! For $ 3.95 it is quite a deal! It’s the size of one of big boba drinks you can find at a boba shop. It was not just big in size but big in terms of taste too. At first sip, I liked the taste of the sweet milk tea. It is very refreshing!
Our lunch specials were very good! The flavor was distinct in each of the dishes. I though the Fried Chicken with Basil dish would be «Fried» but it actually was more like a stir fry dish! The basil flavor was really distinct. The Beef with Vermicelli in Satay Sauce was also very flavorful. I liked the soft and long vermicelli noodles and the pineapple pieces on top were a nice add.
I was sad when Polly’s Pies left because I did like their pies but I don’t think I will be sad anymore because the new Blue Basil Asian Cuisine that took it’s spot is awesome! I know that I’ll be here more than I was actually at Polly’s Pies haha! I can’t wait to try more of the items listed in their huge menu.

This restaurant was formerly Polly’s Pies and was very excited about a new Asian cuisine restaurant opening up in the area. Blue Basil is a combination of Vietnamese, Chinese and Thai food. Great selection of items to choose from and we nailed it to down to ordering the combination fried rice special, the honey walnut shrimp, and the deep fried honey chicken wings w/​lemongrass …everything was delicious and portion sizes were good. Prices are also very reasonable, and their lunch hour specials are 10am-​4pm. All the staff was very friendly and welcoming from the time we walked in to the time we walked out and Blue Basil is also under the same ownership as Blue Lotus (right down the street) Will definitely be back soon again, especially cause it’s across the street from where I work! =) if you work for Harbor-​UCLA medical center, show your badge and you get a 10% discount