El Basha

El Basha

2 Connector Rd.
Westborough, MA 01581

508-366-2455

El Basha is a Middle Eastern restaurant located at 2 Connector Road – arguably the eastern most restaurant in all Westborough.

Founded in 1990, there are three El Basha’s in the area: 424 Belmont St, Worcester, 256 Park Ave, Worcester, and the Westborough location.

This is a restaurant where the ownership needs to spend some more time on fundamental service. That’s frustrating, as the food is excellent.

Arriving just past seven on Super Monday, the restaurant was approximately 30% occupied. Nonetheless, it took 8 minutes for one of the two servers to acknowledge me, and then to clean a table.

After being seated, it was 10 minutes before someone said hello at the table….after observing how the table was set up for me (see picture) and counting the number of light bulbs burned out in the dining area (four). I debated leaving as I did at Maxwell Silvermans, and would have at 15 minutes.

After placing my order for a salad and chicken kabob from the tasteful menu, I was reminded El Basha is a “bring your own bottle” (BYOB) place. A little wine would have been nice, and I wasn’t in the mood to walk to the other end of the plaza and the package store.

The salad was quickly served. The salad was fresh, very peppery, and swimming in salad dressing. I like a fresh salad, and generally prefer when the salad dressing is applied in the kitchen. In this case, the dressing was just too much.

At this point, one of the servers took off for the evening. Ahh, I thought, this must be why she was rushed…she just wanted to get home.

Dinner was excellent. The chicken was moist and flavorful. The grilled veggies (onion, tomato and pepper) were of tiny portions and a little overcooked. The rice was nicely steamed.

At $6 for a salad and nearly $18 for a chicken entrée, El Basha is fairly pricey for what you get.

Paying the bill was another adventure. The remaining server had to stop her conversation with her friend at the little bar area.

Overall, this struck me as a place putting out a good product and where the wait staff needs oversight and direction.

I might go back one day, but won’t go back soon.

Hours

Lunch Mon.–Sat. 11:30AM – 3PM
Dinner Mon.–Sat. 4:30 – 10PM

El Basha gets an AMBER LIGHT…use caution.

About the RAG scale:

       Green Light – Go and enjoy

       Amber Light – Use caution

       Red Light – Save your time and money