Banana Bay Restaurant #2 — Restaurant in Temple City

I've had Banana Bay at their Rowland Heights location and always found the food to be just okay. It wasn't until recently, when I was on the prowl for a late night restaurant that was still open, did I become reacquainted with the food at Banana Bay. Wow, have I been missing out!

When they were still doing outdoor dining, my friend and I stopped by for a quick late-night meal right before they closed. Food was tasty, service was good, and we were in and out in under thirty minutes.

Tried the House Tom Yum noodle soup ($8.99) which came in a pretty large bowl with a ton of ingredients. Besides the fried wonton chip, there was ground pork, peanuts, fish balls, fish cake, etc. with enough rice noodle to feed two people. Flavor of the soup was on point and had a good acidity to it.

And of course, had to try their mango sweet sticky rice ($7.99). This is a seasonal dessert, and if you're able to order it while it's in season, definitely do because it was super delicious! I'm not a big sticky rice fan, but I thought the flavors were good and not too sweet. Pair that with the super ripe and sweet mango and you'll have magic in your mouth!

After that visit, we came back a few weeks later to order take-out. Had to try the popular Crispy Hainan Chicken rice ($9.49). Wow, I can see why so many people like this dish! The chicken was not only tasty, but super crispy and flavorful. While there were a few parts of the chicken that were a little fat, I was able to easily cut that off and continue eating. If you're a fan of crispy chicken (fried chicken for that matter), you'll likely enjoy this dish as well. The sauce that comes with it is the perfect match with the rice and chicken. And it's offered as one of the lunch specials on weekdays if you want to pair it with soup and salad.

They're located in the TJ Maxx plaza - plenty of parking but some days you might have to drive around or park at a further spot. Sauces are available upon request. They get a ton of orders on weekends, so be prepared for a wait.

tl;dr - Really enjoyed all of the dishes that we tried here at Banana Bay. Highly recommend the Crispy Hainan Chicken Rice if you're not sure...

Came around 8:30pm for Dinner. Wait was about 21 min. with about 8 Parties ahead of us, after Signing In on the Wait List pad.

It was pretty cool. Enter your name into the Pad and Phone Number and they send you a text when your table is ready. It also connects to your YELP App but, there's sometimes a delay on letting one know each time a Party who came before you gets a seat on the App. Sometimes the notification chimed with a sound, not always.

So the place is very clean and has a cool Asian/ Japanese/ Chinese/ South East Asian/ Modern decor.

Staff was very busy. I believe it the pretty Host even came to Bus, Clean and Bring Drinks to Tables. Servers always busy and trying to do their jobs. If they weren't busy, I'm sure they would have been more attentive than they were and worked for their Tips and we tipped them handsomely.

Prices are very reasonable for the quality and deliciousness of their amazing food. This place is definitely a gem of a place for Thai Food. You ain't going to find anything better in the area that won't cost you an arm & a leg in prices. I was Satisfied with what I paid for such a great Dinner.

Our Food came out rather quickly and tasted superb! Everything was Fresh, Appealing and very much Tasty!!!

I started with a Papaya Salad My Friends and I shared with one another. We got the Crispy Hainan Chicken which I believe is a Northern Thai Style rendition of the Normal Hainan Chicken. We got the Kai Yang which was very Crispy as well and flowing with Juiciness. And we rounded our Dinner out with some Thai Teas and rounds of Water.

I'm coming back for sure in the near...

I was so disappointed with the quality & authenticity of Thai food here! This site rated this restaurant 4 star 1/2 but to me it was only worth 2 stars! I have been traveling to Thailand twice (4/2019 & 3/2023 recently. For these 2 trips, I stayed at Bangkok total 9 nights, Phuket 3 nights & Koh Samui 2 nights & also traveled to Ayutthaya for one day. I ate Thai foods at many well-known night markets, good Thai restaurants & stayed at resort in Karon Beach, Phuket and Phuket historic town. The Thai foods served here today were not flavorful, very bland, & didn’t seem to be authentic to me!!! I ordered Tom Yum, Pineapple Fried Rice & Sticky Rice with mango, all for me & my husband. The soup didn’t have Tom Yum flavor, very bland (good that it was not salty though) & kind of not hot enough to be good! Pineapple Fried Rice was not good either! And sticky rice was not good in the rice, not flavored by natural coconut condensed milk. Only positive things were portions were pretty generous, & prices were affordable. Probably that was why this place might be satisfying to diners who would like their stomach to be full with affordable price but a total disappointment to people who expect some quality food and authentic Thai. Service was not attentive & servers & waitresses were...