Basil’s on Market expands, contracts and tweaks — all at the same time
The first half of 2020 has been somewhat tumultuous for Basil’s on Market, which is contracting, tweaking and expanding in a span of a few months.
The locally owned and independent restaurant group confirmed it has shut down its Piqua operations permanently due primarily to the coronavirus pandemic and the two-month-long state-mandated shutdown of dine-in services. Basil’s owners also are delaying the reopening of their Mason location to change its concept, Basil’s on Market co-founder Todd
Uhlir told this news outlet. The changes come as Basil’s founders also gear up to expand with a new restaurant near the front entrance of the Mall at Fairfield Commons in Beavercreek.
“We’re looking at opening right after the Fourth of July,” Uhlir said of the Beavercreek location.
Basil’s had opened Locktenders pub and Stone Ground Deli in Piqua last year, but neither of those businesses survived the forced shutdown, Uhlir said.
“We could not keep them open,” he said. “They were just too new.”
The Basil’s on Market on 5650 Tylersville Road in Mason will remain shuttered for now, Uhlir said, but plans call for the business to reopen with a craft brewery/tap room concept, perhaps by the end of the summer, Uhlir said.
Amid the expansion and other changes, Basil’s on Market’s first two locations, in Troy and in downtown Dayton, reopened their dining rooms and patios this week, and its Dayton location will restore its popular all-youcan-eat crab special this Friday, a promotion that may also be introduced soon in Troy. Uhlir said the restaurants were able to rehire about 90% of their previous employees.
The first Basil’s on Market bistro-style restaurant opened in 2014 in downtown Troy. The downtown Dayton restaurant, which overlooks the Great Miami River, welcomed its first customers in 2016, and the Mason location opened in 2018. Stone Ground Deli and Locktenders opened in Piqua in 2019.
The Troy and Dayton locations of Basil’s on Market are open six days a week for lunch and dinner, closed Sundays. When it opens in July, the new restaurant, which is replacing a Flyboys Deli restaurant at the Mall at Fairfield Commons, will be open seven days a week for lunch and dinner, Uhlir said.