Green Banana Leaf Restaurant — Restaurant in Chino Hills

No other city in the Inland Empire will make you feel safer, more tucked in, more out of harms way, than Chino Hills. Maybe because no major freeway runs through it (SR-71 acts more as a parkway than anything else). Or because the softly curving thoroughfares run abreast of well manicured green hillocks. Or because the city has a low crime rate and high income rate. Still, all this security can cause you, at times, to suffer the dull ache of boredom. So when in Chino Hills and craving danger, hop over to the sunken big box shopping center called Crossroads Marketplace and write down your name on the guest list at Green Banana Leaf. I don't profess to be an expert in Filipino cuisine, yet I know enough to esteem Green Banana Leaf to be more comprehensive than the base trim level of lumpia-adobo-lechon. GBL is a case of Filipinos cooking for Filipinos. Although not everyone dining among you at GBL is Filipino, they will be seated with Filipinos and their tables will composed of many seats, all of them filled with people prepared for family sized servings. The dining room looks as if Madonna "the material girl" had decorated the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo. Something akin to the tacky boudoirs you might imagine finding in Las Vegas cathouses in the early 80s. Bright pink, deep red, and black imitation leather abound. This isn't surprising when you learn that among the most popular names for girls in the Philippines are Princess, Reyna, and Blessica. A healthy dose of ostentation never killed anyone. And in any case, you like it. You find it unique. You find it preferable to the social media friendly restaurant interiors with their walls of astroturf and imitation neon signs. While you find the dining room amusing, your real purpose for having come here is to flirt with danger. So let's whip out the brass tacks. Kare-Kare isn't too bizarre at first speck. Braised beef in a sauce composed of beef stock, crumbled peanuts and peanut butter shouldn't be far afield for anyone. Then you define the cut of beef to be oxtail. Beef muscle slow cooked on the bone ought to be familiar to any diner with the ability to pay for such a meal, yet a good friend of mine cowered before a plate of oxtail we had ordered at a Belizean restaurant in Inglewood recently. Something about being forced to reckon with the animal's anatomy causes fear in less intrepid eaters. This ride on the funhouse continues when you reach for the condiment the waitress gave you: greyish brown tinged fermented shrimp paste. The side of rice is flecked with roasted garlic. It's all so rich and delicious, but with this degree of depth, the dish is beginning to want some harmony. Vinegar is requested and the ultra pungent Filipino Datu Puti vinegar is provided. Sit back as you administer it to your bowl lest your eyelashes be singed away. Yes, and let's not forget to mention the presence of beef tripe in kare-kare. This is truly a world class dish. Now, let's move to the supremely savage dinuguan. This is the chickee-run up to the edge of the cliff. This is the knife fight on the school field trip. This is a dish of pork belly and veg suspended in a thick, leaden, minerally, farmhouse scented sauce of blood. Whatever the amount of Datu Puti the kare-kare required, double it - triple it - for the dinuguan. Amazing restaurant, albeit with...

Our high school friend from years back came from Virginia and wanted to try some Filipino food. Green Banana Leaf was a restaurant recommended by another friend so we gave this one a try.

We started with Calamares Fritos and some Pork Sinigang (unfortunately I was not able to take photos as I was too distracted with the conversation going on). Anyway, the calamares was crispy enough not to overcook the squid. The sinigang was a good soup to start with.

Kare kare was a combination dish with Crispy Pata. We followed it up with Inihaw na Bangus. I liked how the fish was grilled to make it still juicy. Some restaurants overcook it to make it too dry for my liking.

The Bagoong Fried Rice was good topped with some mangoes and mixed with some shrimps. By this time, pinakbet arrived on our table and it was good. I just wished the roasted pork was cut a little bit more smaller bite size so everyone could get a serving of it without having to get a big chunk.

Our friend wanted to try some good old Palabok and Lomi. I would just give the palabok an average score. It's still good except that I was expecting something more.

By this time, we're already full. We initially ordered Pandan and Halo-halo to give our visitors a glimpse of difference between their east coast versions. Of course, west coast chefs won hands down.

Lastly, we tried the House Special GBL dessert. Don't miss out on this one. You will not be disappointed. It's banana/langka combination in wonton wrappers deep fried just right and served with ice cream mixed in with some butterscotch crumbles (I think it is). Presentation was good enough to tempt you even if you've said that you had enough.

It was overall a lovely experience. We went on a Sunday lunch and there was some live entertainment. It was packed when we came as there was a family celebration going on.

I had the chance to meet Joy and Julius, the couple behind the scenes. Servers were polite and serving time is just right.

If you're in Chino Hills area and wanted to get some good Filipino food with some fusion edge, I'd say you should give Green...

So when you walk in there is a sign that says "Please wait to be seen a seated". This gives the impression that they have a host. They have a weird sign in sheet but there are no instructions to add your name on the list. When we finally see a staff come up she calls a name off the list but does not bother to greet my family. We have to stop her and ask what to do to get seated. When we do get seated we get a waitress who could careless, not assertive, not attentive, not personable, or friendly. Pretty pathetic for a person who is choosing to be in a field that requires all of the above. We ordered our drinks and our lunch. The soft drink dispenser wasn't distributing the soda syrup accurately. It took the waitress 30 minutes to come back around. I tell her what was wrong with the soda. She walks away with my drink. At that time our food begins to come out and I still have no drink. She literally took 15 minutes to get my drink and of course did not provide a straw ( mine d you she refilled my drink and still no straw for my drink). We ordered various dishes including pancit bihon, Kare kare, pork sisig, and seafood salpicao. Most of the food was decent. The pork sisig is not crunchy but is instead rubbery and fatty. The pancit was a little dry but the seafood salpicao was not brought out to our table until we were finishing our food. The waitress was not apologetic as this was completely unreasonable timing. Also, the seafood salpicao says it comes with Shrimp, green mussels, and calamari, with bell peppers and onions, sauteed in salpicao sauce. The establishment does not give you shrimp instead they substitute the shrimp with prawn. If I wanted prawn I would have ordered that. Very dissatisfied with the dish. This location could use better management and consistency in the kitchen. I would not bother coming back. The place is overcrowded and...