Banana Leaf Restaurant — Restaurant in Milpitas

This review is for the seating and service provided by the manager, his hostess and server. Very very disappointing experience ..... friends and family have been visiting this location over 20 years!! Beware!!! Poor service!!!!

I reserved a table for 12 for a BIG birthday celebration. I called two weeks prior and requested seating near the entrance side. On Saturday, at 11:45 when my party arrived, the hostess tried to seat us by the kitchen in the back. I declined the location and requested another location.

She wanted to seat us in next to another area near the kitchen. I said I had called and confirmed to be be seated on the other side near the entrance. I told I was celebrating a big birthday and my party didn't want to sit near the kitchen.

She had a major attitude!! She called out to the manager and made some comments. Very disrespectfu!! None of this was appreciated!! I spoke to the manager and informed him that we had requested this two weeks ago, and he verbally agreed over the phone as well and today he still did not have the table set up and wanted to seat us near the kitchen!?!

His response was have my party wait outside as they set up the tables. I also reported that I didn't appreciate the attitude of the hostess. He brushed that off. So very unprofessional!

Then, after being seated, the female server seemed to be rushing us through the meal. We spent hundreds of dollars on this luncheon and she was rushing us through.

The table in front of us of consisting of five or six individuals, that had already completed their meal, were sitting there conversing but no one rushed them.

At the end of the meal, I asked the server if there was a complimentary dessert for birthday individuals, and even that she begrudgingly offered and quickly set on the table.

BUT, instead of cleaning the table of used dishes, she quickly brought a piece of chocolate cake with a lit candle and put it in front of me.

Now, common sense should've prevailed and she should've cleaned up the table so that one could actually take birthday photos, but she left a mess! I had to clean up the area so we could actually take a group birthday photos.

Overall, a very disappointing experience!!!!! The management should have listened especially since we made the reservation, called two weeks in advance and requested specific seating, again called and confirmed the day before the party but we treated like this.

Very very disappointing experience ..... friends and family have been visiting this location over 20 years!! Beware!!!...

We were a group of nine people who reserved a table ahead of time. Since it was a big crowd we shared our food. We ordered appetizers, drinks, main course and dessert. A couple of people ordered separately as take out for their home. The service was good and we were meeting after a long time hence, didn't pay much attention to anything but went with the flow. It was not even closing time but the waitress came and told us the kitchen is going to close and so the moment we heard this we rushed to order more as some of them were strict vegetarians. But we realized the kitchen was not closing that soon. Anyway, when it came to paying the bill, it was decided the take out items will be paid by the individuals. We asked for the bill and saw that our bill included the service charge and then for take out there was a service charge included too. This seemed very strange as for takeout how can you ask for a service charge? Our friend asked the waitress, to which she responded- when you come in a group and ask for takeout, it's a lot of work for us to fill in a box hence the service charge. This reason didn't seem reasonable hence my friend asked for the manager. The manager came and was already in an apologetic mode. My friend explained the situation and the manager without asking anything further did a refund for all the takeout items and apologized on behalf of his staff. The other thing, I had ordered a cocktail and I didn't want that to be included in the group bill. Hence ahead of time I requested the waitress to not include the price for cocktail in the main bill and I will pay it separately. She agreed and got my cocktail bill. Later while we were checking our main bill to make sure we were paying for what we ordered, to our surprise, the waitress added the cocktail bill in the main bill as well as she gave a separate bill to me which I had requested. The food was great and I have been going to this place since 2005. I always enjoyed the food, service and the manager was a nice person then too. This time I learned a lesson, always check your bill and when in doubt ask for the manager as he will...

Went to this place for lunch with colleagues on Friday afternoon. We've dined out a few times in different places in the recent past once the restrictions were relaxed. However, this was the first time stepping into a fully packed restaurant since the pandemic started and we were awestruck at the attendance. We were thankful to our colleague who had reserved a table for us. Every single table inside and in the patio was taken and there were 10-12 people waiting for a table too. Clearly, operating at full capacity has its challenges. We were seated and provided water but then no waitstaff checked on us in the next 15 mins that followed. You have to scan a QR code on the table using your phone and that takes you to their menu. But you can pick/order your dish there as it is just a PDF document. This was a hassle but the alternative would have been to wipe/sanitize every menu handed over or to use menu printed on standard paper, dispose them every time. We had to call the waitstaff to take our order. The dishes started arriving about 10-12 mins of having placed the order. The options are diverse, a lot of vegetarian options too. The Roti prata was alright, I found the Roti on the sweet side and absolutely nothing noteworthy in the curry sauce. The pineapple fried rice too was just “ok”, nothing compared to the ones you get in a proper Thai eatery. The chili paste in the fried rice was not fully mixed and there were clunks of rice and paste. Not many veggies in the Vegetarian version either, except for some pretty big pieces if cauliflower which wasn’t even cooked properly. Broccoli sautéed in the fried rice would have been perfectly fine semi-raw, with a crunch, but not cauliflower. Pad See Ew was nice but Pad Thai, not so much. A lot of tables started becoming available around 2pm. It took ~10 mins to get the bill and another 5 mins to clear it. Struggling to come to terms with so many 4+ star ratings...