Crispy Basil: A new pizza place in a very crowded market

My girlfriend and I tried the new Crispy Basil restaurant, inhabiting the old Friendly's on Western Avenue.  It is the second Crispy Basil in the area.  As I drive along that stretch of Western Avenue every day, I have peeked at the Crispy Basil parking lot and have noticed that they do not attract much business.  I was somewhat concerned about whether or not our food would be good, but I wanted to try something new.

Crispy Basil has tons of coupons in this month's Coupon Clipper magazine.  One of the coupons is two salads for $11.99.  My girlfriend and I were in the mood for something relatively healthy after working out at the gym, so we figured we would take advantage of this great deal.

The restaurant is fairly well appointed on the inside, especially for a pizza place.  It is a casual fare restaurant than a fine dining experience.  There is no waiter/waitress service.  There is seating for around 20 people.

Upon entering the restaurant, the first thing we encountered is the display case of pizza.  The pizza in the display case did not look too appetizing.  It did not look inedible, but it looked like it had been sitting there all day.  That confirmed my idea that business is slow at this establishment.

We ordered our salads from the owner and picked up two drinks from the refrigerator.  We handed him our coupon but he allowed us to keep it, which we both thought was very nice of him.

Both of us got very nice sized salads, as you can tell from the picture below.  Mine was a chicken salad with the chicken tossed in mild buffalo sauce.  The lettuce was high quality romaine, which I appreciated.  The chicken was fresh off the grill and in plentiful supply.  I liked my salad a lot.

Overall, we had a very positive experience at Crispy Basil.  Now that we still have our coupon, we will go back again for salads.  I will not be buying my Super Bowl pizza from them though.  I will get it from Price Chopper, which surprisingly enough has excellent pizza for a supermarket.

The Side Door Cafe is not just a bar...

My girlfriend and I both live in Guilderland, so we both spend a lot of time on Western Avenue.  That being said, I pass by the Side Door Cafe on 1656 Western Avenue at least twice every day.  I had often gone in for drinks on the weekend to listen to Mark the Shark host karaoke. 

The Side Door Cafe is a bar first and a cafe second.  The bar can seat around twenty people and on the wall there are at least five big screen tv's.  It has a very comfortable atmosphere.  A nice mix of middle-class people of all ages sit at the bar.  Past the bar, there is a separate dining area with about ten tables.  The dining area does not have a dedicated waitress -- one of the bartenders doubles as the waitress in the dining area. 

My girlfriend and I decided to head over to the Side Door Cafe to try the food.  The food is definitely above average, though not spectacular. 

The first time we went, I wanted to eat something relatively healthy, so I had the buffalo chicken salad.  I got a fairly large portion consisting of two large handfuls of romaine lettuce and a sliced fried chicken cutlet dipped in buffalo sauce.  It was quite tasty.  My girlfriend had the grilled chicken sandwich with pasta salad and she also enjoyed her dish. 

The second time we went to the Side Door, my girlfriend had a rough day, so she wanted to get a beer and something to eat.  We ended up sharing the chicken quesadilla.  The chicken quesadilla was wonderful!  First of all, it was huge, probably ten inches in diameter.  It was wonderful, gooey deliciousness.  I am not much of a cheese eater, but I definitely enjoyed this quesadilla.  The quesadilla was stuffed with chicken and an assortment of cheeses.  It came with a small cup of salsa and sour cream, standard fare.  On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate this chicken quesadilla a '9.'

I would definitely go back to the Side Door Cafe.  It is conveniently located and has a comfortable atmosphere.  Next time, I would like to try the pizza.