You cannot go wrong with The Banana Leaf. Constantly, I have friends come from all over who say that this is hands down the best, most authentic Pad Thai they've ever had.
It helps that one of the owners hails from Thailand originally, and they continue to go back each year.
Best bets (ie what I order regularly): fresh rolls, spring rolls, mango salad and chicken pad thai. The kids love the sweet and sour chicken.
You will not be disappointed!!
Seriously what a joke!
We ordered the crispy calamari for an appetizer – you can save your money because I am telling you now it’s not worth it! Seven plus dollars for five rings of calamari (that’s more than a dollar per piece of calamari!!!!) it contained mostly slices of carrots, a few itty bitty pieces of onion and three pieces of beans. The pad thai was so bland in taste and equally bland in appearance! I ordered the chicken and shrimp version and it only had two shrimps in the entire dish. I have made more flavourful pad thai in my own kitchen. Truly a pitiful dish and pretty small for the cost! When the waiter came to ask how our meal was we tried to reply but the waiter didn’t really care, he didn’t stay to let us actually tell him what we really thought he was gone so fast!
Overall it was a waste of money and we will not be back!
A little pricey for the amount of food, but it is soooo good. A gem of a restaurant in Woodstock -- not what you would expect to find in small town Ontario. When we feel like going out for supper - this one is always on our list.
I was driving through Woodstock and saw this restaurant downtown. I almost didn't notice it there. Anyway, I was surprised to find such a high quality Thai restaurant in Woodstock, which is not known for sophisticated international cuisine. The place is quite small. I arrived in the late afternoon, so the place wasn't busy yet and service was not a problem. I ordered a calamari appetizer, and the glass noodles with seafood. The appetizer was enough to fill me, as it was bigger than my main dish. The calamari was deep-fried, but not too oily. It was tasty, very nicely made, and very filling. The glass noodles were also tasty. They were spicy, but not too hot. I must admit that I was a bit disappointed with the size. Had I ordered it alone, it would not have been very satisfying, particularly as there was almost as much carrot slices as seafood in it. Lastly, this place is not entirely cheap, but not out of line with other such Thai restaurants in southwestern Ontario. I would not hesitate to return.
Well I see a great deal of rambling among the culinary ignorant of Woodstock, surprise, surprise. It really is a shame that whenever someone has a bad experience at a restaurant they rush to their computer to write a negative review, and whenever someone enjoys their meal, typically nothing is heard. Well I think as someone who has dined at many fine dining places in Toronto, and having attended culinary school, I am going to give Banana Leaf my fair and honest opinion. The service is absolutely wonderful, for what you expect. The girl that I usually see at the front of house seems very charming and nice, and probably does a much better job then most local chain restaurants -which is exactly what you should expect.
The atmosphere is like a breathe of fresh air for Woodstock, its slightly understated, clean, crisp and new. The fun little food facts on the chalkboard adds a nice touch, and is a good way to educate the public on Thai food.
This brings me on to the next point. I think the chef in the back, is holding back a bit on the spice and flavour. Thai food is about balancing heat, acidity, sweetness, savory, etc. That said, I dont think that they do this because they are unskilled, I think they do it to accommodate the majority of Woodstock's palates. The hardest thing to do is to please everyone, so by trying to your not giving the true tasters quite what they need, and your giving everyone else exactly what they can handle. The only complaint I would have about the food is the inconsistencies, and believe me, those are minor.
I must admit my favourite Asian restaurant was Jed Lau's Mosaics by the train station until it closed a few years back (which is a crying shame, that Woodstock cant support anyone slightly out of the way.) I am slightly bias because the previous tenant of Banana Leaf's was a charming older Italian man who ran Italian Chef Express, which was some unbelievably amazing cooking, and I will dearly miss him. I hope that Woodstock is ready for Banana Leaf, and continue to support them, I know I will.
I have to laugh. I noticed a review on this site...
I have to laugh. I noticed a review on this site from people who were sitting across the aisle and down a few tables from us on the same night as we were there. I know it was them because everyone in the restaurant heard this guy complaining about the service and the fact that their food went to the wrong table.
This review was from " insulted" . I hope that the staff and the owners of Banana Leaf will not take this review to heart or feel bad. This "ladies' husband " was so obnoxious my wife and I felt very bad for the abuse you had to take. Yes a mistake was made and corrected. But no matter what you did this guy would not have been happy. Some people are just like that. After they left the rest of us in the restaurant commented on their bad behaviour and you told us you felt bad that you had made a mistake. You also told us you discounted their bill. Did you notice they didn't mention that in their review?
It was our first time there that night and we had to wait 15 minutes to get a table, but we didn't mind because it was busy and we didn't know that you took reservations. You should think about putting that into the phone book. The food and service was great. Yes we had to wait, but that is to be expected when a restaurant is busy. I did not think our wait was unreasonable and couldn't believe that guys' attitude. I know that you couldn't ask them to leave but this idiot even made your other customers uncomfortable especially the ones at the table who got the food they had ordered. I don't know what they ordered but I thought it was funny that they said your food was bad when the people who got it thought it was so good that they said they would just keep it. It must have tasted pretty bad. How funny.
Just so you know our food was really good and we were told about this place from our friends that just rave about your food. I thought our waitress was really nice and took the time to help us pick out our food. She seemed very experienced.
I am not a waitress but a business owner and deal with people all the time and what I know for a fact is no matter how hard you try you can not please someone who does not want to be pleased. It was obvious to us as we sat there that this guy was that type.
Next time we will make a reservation, but we will definitely be back.
Definately beats all the chinese food here in Woodstock. The food was fantastic. I found it a little pricey compared to a Thai place I am used to in St. Catharines. Thank-you for FINALLY opening a great place to eat!
If any of you are considering going to the new Thai Cuisine restaurant in Woodstock let me tell you about our experience there last night. My husband and I went with a couple of friends to try it out. When we first got there there were about 12 people at 5 different tables of which about half of them had been served. After about 10 minutes the waitress finally took our drink and appetizer order. Meanwhile 4 people came in and were seated at the table next to us and two more seated across from us. After about 15 minutes our drinks and appetizers were served. After about 30 minutes the people who came in after us were served their food. We found this strange but o.k. Maybe our meal was a little more comlicated. Then the people across from us were served. (starting to get annoyed). Then the waitress came to the people next to us and we heard her tell them that they had made a mistake and had served them our food. It was these peoples first time at a Thai restaurant and they obviously didn’t know what they had ordered. She did not bother to come to our table and tell us. When I finally got the attention of one of them I asked to see the manager. The manager never showed up. A bit later my husband went to the register where the waitress was and asked what the problem was. She told him there had been a mistake but our food was on the way. Good thing the one who got my seafood meal didn't have allergies! They then brought one meal and two plates of rice to the table. It was another 10 minutes before everyone else’s meals were served. The waitress then took away the cold rice (which wasn’t the kind that we had ordered). My husband then spotted what we figured to be the manager at the register so he approached her and politely voiced his dissatisfaction with the place. Her response was “sorry about that” and that was it. he bit his tongue and went back to my table. By now none of the staff would come near our table or even look our way. As my husband was going back to the register to get our bill the manager saw him coming and turned and scurried to the kitchen like a little mouse (or big rat). To top it off the food was mediocre at best. I have been in restaurants with bad service but this one by far tops them all. I can say with all confidence that I have never been so poorly treated in a restaurant. The waitresses ( yes, 2 of them) didn’t come to our table to see if we needed anything, if our meal was finally okay or if our drinks needed refilling. They acted like we had done something wrong. When I approached the waitress who gave away our meals and asked her why she didn’t come to our table and explain the situation, her answer was “I told him” pointing at my husband. (She told him only when he went up and inquired.) I asked if she was aware that she had a whole table of people. By now, she wouldn't even look at me or answer. I asked her why she bothered to apologize to the table that received our food but not to us. No answer. No apology. No offer to make it right with us. I whole heartedly recommend that you avoid this restaurant like the plague and tell all your friends how bad it is.
And the food, when it finally arrived, as basic at best. The cashew chicken looks and tastes just like the lemongrass chicken and the sweet and sour chicken.
Don't go!
When I heard that Woodstock finally had a Thai food restaraunt I nearly cried. I finally got myself to order take out, but I ended up being dissapointed.
The thing is, I feel really really sorry for the people who thought the food was good. They obviously had never had good thai food before, so I pitty them. Sure, for Woodstock, this might be the best asian food restaraunt, but that is not saying very much. I feel that the people who say this is good Thai food have some kind of mental disorder that prevents them from making logical decisions.
Overall, I may have been a little harsh. More then anything, I was dissapointed since I wanted more then anything in the world for the Thai food to be on the same level I was used to.
Good:
- looks nice inside, especially for Woodstock
- fair prices
Bad:
- spice level of -9000
- shrimp had tails on still
- tasted very greesey.. MSG??
Ugly:
- how badly I wanted the food to be good
- when will woodstock ever get a good thai and sushi restaraunt?
I love this place & the food is always amazing!! The cashew chicken and pad thai are excellent and I've also had some of their curry dishes as well as the sweet & sour chicken. I have never had anything that I didn't enjoy from Banana Leaf and the service is great too! Just remember that any dish can be ordered as spicy as you want. It's great to have such an excellent Thai place finally open in Woodstock...now I'm just waiting for a good sushi place!
We thoroughly enjoyed our meal even though my boyfriend and I don't usually eat international foods.
We told our server this and they tailored the food to be less spicy and left out some ingredients as we requested.
The cashew chicken was delicious, very good flavour, good variety of vegetables and a LOT more meat than I was expecting. Waterfall beef is a good dish to share because it is simply beef that is cooked to perfection and thinly sliced with a chile sauce.
I highly recommend the pineapple fried rice! Rice, Chicken, Pineapple and sweet/sour flavour, what more could you want?
The restaurant is beautiful and the service was great. If you're feeling adventurous definately give this place a chance!!!
the shrimp was crisp, the mok was flavouring, the sticky rice was sticky and very well blended in the sauce of the mok, pad thai is an easy eat and mixes well with everything. the noodles are small and easy to eat
Wow great food, and customer service, everyone was so polite and kind. I'm definitley coming back soon!
The atmosphere was very nice. Our server was a young good-looking thai boy. He was very nice, polite and helpful; he explained the foods that we were unsure about and was very attentive to our needs. The food was amazing and it exceeded my expectations, simply delicious, especially the fresh rolls. The prices were reasonable. A all around good experience, I will definately return again.
Being lovers of Thai food we decided to try out the new Banana Leaf. A little worried about its location in town we were not to sure how the food would be, but we were very impressed. The food came quick and tasted amazing! We found the server to be shy but friendly and helpful with the choices in meals. The decor is calm and delightful with a thai feel.
I would definitely eat here again and again, no second thoughts about it. I have recommended Banana Leaf to all of my friends and would suggest to anyone that reads this, if you're into Thai food check it out, you won't be disappointed.
My husband and I wanted to try this restaurant last night but we got such poor treatment we left without ordering. When we went in at 6pm the place was empty but for 1 couple finishing up. We stood at the door while what appeared to be 3 employees and 1 take out customer chatted for about 5 minutes. We were taken to a table and given menus but no offer of a drink. Another couple came in that were in their late 20's after us. One of the waiters promptly went over and had a catch up/chat about their lives etc for about 10 minutes and then went to get them a drink. We are in our 50's and it was evident they did not care about folks our age in their restaurant. No comment while we walked by the 3 employees on the way out. POOR impression. I will be sure to tell my OLD friends.
