Banana Leaf — Restaurant in West Des Moines

Please don't be fooled by the cool decor and ambiance of this restaurant. The food is very subpar and the prices are way to high for the quality of the food that is served. My girlfriend and I ordered the tofu delight appetizer expecting the typical pan fried crispy tofu. Instead we were greeted with deep fried flavorless tofu and a sauce with sweet and sour sauce straight from the bottle with some peanuts on it. My girlfriend ordered Rad na noodles. What she received is something I would expect my mom to cook if she was trying to 'branch out." The noodles were under cooked. The sauce was runny and tasted of just soy sauce and sugar lacking any other flavor or complexity of the traditional thai rad na dish. The beef was overcooked and flavorless. Like I feel bad comparing my mothers cooking to this because at least she could look up an authentic recipe and follow it. I wanted some sushi and ordered the relatively safe salmon roll. The roll tasted fine, but was packed to the brim with rice compared to other salmon rolls I have had in the area. I was expecting authentic asian/thai food based off of the menu and reviews and was extremely disappointed.

If you are looking for quality thai food there are much better options in the des moines area. I suggest Eat Thai, Thai flavors or...

Quick Summary - Good food, TERRIBLE service. Really not a good choice if you intend to try and get in and out for lunch within an hour.

The only reason for the two stars is while the food is not the best (given other Thai options in the area), it is still good.

We were asked to seat ourselves at a table of our choice. Off the 15 odd tables, three were empty and each one was dirty and had not been cleaned. We choose the "least" dirty one, while one of us walked back to the host to request the table be cleaned, which they came and took care off.

Then waited about 10 odd minutes for our server to show up with water and then another 10 minutes before she came back to take our lunch order. The food was served after another 10 minutes. The soup was stone cold. When the entree came out, the lunch order was wrong and it took them another 10 minutes to correct the mistake.

Given that there only ONE server for the 15 odd tables, I am not sure I can completely blame her for the mistakes.

We asked for the check midway through our lunch while the server was passing by out of fear that we would be stuck there for a while if we waited to request that after lunch.

Overall, definitely disappointing. At the very minimum, my recommendation would be ramping up the staff during...

Went with my wife at about 5:30 on a Friday. Was pretty empty when we arrived but filled up shortly after. It has a casual atmosphere, dim lighting, and doesnt echo too much so it's not too loud when it's full.

There wasn't anyone to greet us when we arrived but as we moved toward the sushi counter we were told to sit anywhere.

Service was fine. Food came out in a reasonable time and it was correct. The server made sure we always had water in our glasses.

We had fried spring rolls and an eel roll to start. The spring rolls were pretty standard. They were good but not standout. I really like eel and order it often at sushi places but my wife and I had slightly different opinions on the eel here. She said it was really good. I think it was good but I've had better eel rolls at other places in the Des Moines metro.

My wife had fried rice with shrimp. She said it was good but not worth the $4 upcharge for the shrimp.

I had duck curry. It was good but, again, I've had better in the area (specifically EatThai) for about the same price.

Entree portion sizes were big enough to have lunch the next day.

Overall, it was good but based on what I had it wouldn't be my first choice for Thai or sushi. We will probably go again at some point and try some...