The Banana Leaf — Restaurant in Rocky Hill

I should have known from the filthy men's room that this place was not going to be great. We had a six person table, reservations at 6:00pm. We ordered the Pho Brisket, Chicken egg rolls, curry puffs, Pad See Ew, Panang Chicken, and Yellow Curry.

The fried chicken rolls were pretty decent. But the rest was very problematic. There were a ton of raisins in the curry puffs. The number 2 spice level and the number 3 spice level might as well have been both level 5. One of the servers tried to make the number 2 spicey dish more mild for my MIL, but it didn't really work. The chicken in the Panang chicken was tough and the giant zucchini pieces in the dish were not very palatable. The Pad See Ew came out cold but it tasted good at least.

The Banana Leaf offers lots of Pho options so I was very exited to try it. But what a disappointment! The brisket pieces were half fat, half meat. I had to remove the fat with my fingers and try to chew through the very tough brisket in the soup. The broth was not like traditional pho broth. It did not taste right. Worst of all it came out lukewarm.

The staff was not present, nobody came to check on us or clear dirty plates. At the very end our water was refilled. Just everything was off. We asked for a pot of jasmine tea, we were brought mugs of some orange looking "tea". I asked for extra jalapenos for the pho, never came. Then when I asked again they brought me an extra plate of basil, bean sprouts and a few extra jalapenos. Even the mango and sticky rice was bad.

Looking at the reviews for this place, you would think it would be wonderful. And the pictures look great. We drove an hour to get there and we were all very disappointed. We will not...

Came here for lunch at the recommendation of a friend. We came at an off time and were the only customers at the restaurant. I ordered pork ramen noodles, the food was decent, served hot. The pork was very fatty with not much meat on it. I confirmed it was not pork belly. My mother ordered pad thai. It had a very fishy taste and smell to it making it unappealing to eat. We brought it to the waitresses attention and she said that there was no fish sauce used in it despite us both tasting a very apparent fishy taste. She had the kitchen remake it, gluten free style, which meant no sauces used. It was better the second time around. And “as a courtesy” did not charge us for the second dish – as it should’ve been. The waitresses had a change of shift during our time dining. The second waitress was talking on the phone loudly and not paying any attention to us. We had to get up and get her attention to give us the check after waiting several minutes to hopefully get her attention. And we even brought the payment and check back to her to cash out. The entire time she continued to talk on the phone to whoever she was speaking to. I understand we were the only customers dining at that time but as someone who has worked in a restaurant before it was very unprofessional, rude, and annoying to be dining listening to someone else’s full blown phone...

Man, I was going to wait until I tried more things on the menu but after meal #2 I had to write a review. This is, without a doubt, the best southeast asian restaurant I've had in Connecticut. I've tried other Pho's and Phat kaphrao and this takes the win, without a doubt. Admittedly SE Asian food is not my most ventured cuisine, but typically when I do order it I'm always excited and get a little disappointed. This is not the case with the Banana Leaf. The firs meal we had was Beef Pho, Phat kaphrao, and Pad Thai. The second we took a bite, we were instantly hooked. So much more complex than other Pho's I've had, accoutrements were fresh and vibrant, meat was tender and high-quality. Phat kaphra was salty and addictive. We instantly knew we were going to become regulars. I'm typing this as I alternate between Tom Yom broth and rice noodle. I wish them the best as their a relatively new business with limited visibility. If you're thinking about trying...