BananaBro The Gardens Mall — Restaurant in Kuala Lumpur

If only you can practice this level of prompt service in the store.

First things first, we arrived to a large table. Waited beside it for a minute or two but no one came to clear so understandably, we asked one staff to clear. He looked at us for a few seconds before doing other stuff. After 5 mins, we signaled again and received the same stare. After even longer, the table was finally cleared. But it was funny because the staff decided to clear another table first for a group that arrived later than us.

Food then took forever to arrive, we waited around half an hour or more for our meat to arrive. So for the FIRST HALF HOUR we were only eating the vegetables and sides. Asked them and the food still didn’t arrive for a very long time. This was a weekday evening mind you, the shop wasn’t full. Still, the staff walked around slowly and chatted, ignoring our concerns. Ordered a bottle of water and it was sitting on the kitchen counter but still took ages to come, our friend ended up going to take it from the counter himself. We had one missing dish from our set order and decided to leave after it still didn’t come despite asking several times. When we told the cashier, she wasn’t able to resolve our issue. She attempted to break down the set into individual dishes and deduct the dish that didn’t come. That made our bill even expensive so I don’t know how that was even a solution, it’s obvious she wasn’t even trained to solve this basic issue. We rejected and she proceeded to give us our missing dish in a takeaway packaging. Why would we still want it. Where was this dish when we asked for ages? Seriously unprofessional and disgusting in terms of service. Please don’t continue operating if this is the service you’re going to provide. Also, judging from the negative reviews here, the higher ups should know there’s a major issue in this branch. You guys should seriously consider either shutting down or retraining your entire team because they’re honestly not...

Came in for Saturday lunch. The place was comfortable but packed with people and the tables were surprisingly close to each other. Big groups of people will have issues eating here for the limited space. Ordered the craving set which cost 12.90 in a set and that is the basic amount you need to pay for each person. Keep in mind that you will need to order a craving set for each person to be served rice and you can't share the food between two which is quite bad in that respect. The drinks are quite pricey as well, so try to share drinks if you're on a budget and especially if you're a big family.

The food was okay, and the portions given were sufficient for our party of 4 adults. You can refill your curries, side dishes, and rice, which were included in the craving set, but you can't refill ala carte orders such as chicken, fish, and others on the menu. The fried fish tenggiri was NOT cooked well, so I would suggest not ordering it. Honestly, the price is only worth it for the free refill of rice and the side dishes included in the set. The additional ala carte orders are only okay, and don't taste spectacularly well.

As for hygiene which is a common theme in the other reviews, I did not see any issues with the cleanliness of the place or anything out of the ordinary. Perhaps they were having a good day. However, I would err on the side of caution if you're someone who minds how clean a place is, before deciding...

BananaBro is one of the few banana leaf rice (BLR) restaurants to operate in a mall. Looks to be successful venture for them as they are opening another outlet in Mid Valley.

Does the food measure up to the comfort of dining in an air con environment? The short answer is yes if your expectations are average. They didn't leapfrog into my Top 5 BLRs in the Klang Valley.

The goods: service was brisk although we needed to signal their waiters for service. That is because the place is almost always crowded. My acid test - were the curries good enough? The fish curry met my mark; dhall and chicken curry were ok. The portions were generous. The potato curry (served as one of the obligatory trio of veges) was superb. As was the fried gourd.

Now, the so-sos: the fried sotong, chicken varuval. Both passed but barely. There just wasn't enough punch in their taste. The fried bitter gourd wasn't too bad either.

The bads: just what is Chicken 65? The chicken pieces were bright red, mainly breast meat and the light batter was falling off the meat! The cucumber raita (sans yogurt) was too sweet!

All in all, it is not a bad place to have BLR after a hard day of shopping! Not the best but it is a convenient place to meet with family and friends who don't mind visiting a mall. The air con certainly helps - you won't be drenched in sweat during and...