Banana Leaf — Restaurant in London

Disappointing Experience at Banana Leaf Restaurant

We visited the Banana Leaf restaurant two days ago and were quite disappointed with the overall experience. We placed an order for vegetarian meals, expecting a traditional banana leaf dining experience — especially since the restaurant is named “Banana Leaf” and their menu card even displays food served on a banana leaf. However, when we asked if the food would actually be served on a banana leaf, the staff said no. After pointing out the misleading menu, they attempted to address the issue, but the experience went downhill from there.

Food Quality: None of the vegetables were fresh. The taste was terrible, and if you have any expectations of authentic or enjoyable food, I suggest tasting carefully (if possible) before committing to a meal.

Customer Service: There was absolutely no friendliness from the staff. No smiles, no warm welcome — just rude and unapproachable behaviour. It honestly felt like the staff were unhappy or poorly treated by the management. Either way, customer service was a major letdown.

Hygiene: The hygiene standards were shocking. Cups were placed on surfaces carelessly and then put back on trays for serving. Staff didn’t appear to have clean hands, and there was no attention to cleanliness at all.

Atmosphere: The atmosphere was okay — not great, but tolerable. It’s not a place I’d return to or recommend unless they make serious improvements.

Final Thoughts: If you're going for the banana leaf experience, be cautious. What’s advertised and what’s actually delivered are two different things. Hopefully, the management takes this feedback seriously and makes the necessary...

The Food is fine. However, the review is only for the service. Specially for a member of staff named Daud. The last time I was here. We ordered masala dosa. The dosa was super oily. When it was bought to the notice of the person. It was told that you need to inform if dosa needs to be less oily. And when confronted with the knowledge that dosa are oily but not super oily. The person mentioned that the reason can be that they had a new cook and took the full payment. Then told that next time the dosa would be free. Today we went to the restaurant and ordered 3 masala dosa. When I told him of the earlier conversations. He flatly said that he doesn't remember and was disrespectful to the conversations. We took the food and left. Now, I am not sure if the issue is with the particular person or the issue is that they are now big and hence think they can do that. Anyways I don't think I will ever return to this location again while I see the person working there.

Finally A Place where I was able to eat a great spicy masala Dosa. The taste was so good that I couldn't even wait to get out of the restaurant and am posting the review. The taste transported me to the time when I had my first Andhra Dosa in Hyderabad. The taste was really authentic. My family ordered the Paneer Butter Masala. The paneer was super soft and succulent. The taste was not overtly sweet. And the pieces were the right bite size. Everyone was enjoying. Need to give a shout-out to, the girl who took the order and bought the food, Logika who heard my request and suggested the right dish. Thanks Banana Leaf for making this vegetarian dinner a super one...

As a new eatery, we decided to try out the south Asian cuisine and compare it other very similar places nearby. It was not extremely busy, but it took 3 staff members to separately ask how many seats we needed (couldn’t fault their friendliness and welcoming nature though).

The masala dosa was generous in terms of the crepe size, but the filling lacked flavour. The idly was okay, mango lassi was really delicious and worth its price, but the gobi 65 seemed like the last scraps leftover from the cauliflower and quickly fried.

It took well over 90 mins from walking through the door to finishing the meal; not ideal, as the venue has a more street food vibe to it where you want to quickly eat and go. A few stars lost due to the waiter asking “No tip?” It’s the first time I’ve ever encountered this and it did make us feel bad. Surely if customers don’t initially leave one, it means there was something lacking in the overall dining experience…but we did end up giving 10% purely out of feeling we were called out for it. However, with the current climate, there are people who budget tightly for eating out and may not be able to afford to leave a tip on top, this would simply put them in an awkward position. We are not the US where they are renowned for chasing people out of the door to get “what they deserve”. And if tips are that desperately asked for, perhaps they need to address their wages with the owners. We may go again one day to try out the other dishes, but not in a...