Had their takeout and dined in. In both instances, the food is delicious (you gotta get the roti with curry!). The pad Thai is actually quite good. Service is very fast and ambience is nice. Good spot for a casual dinner or takeout. read more

Food: We ordered 10 courses that were served family-style for our big party. I particularly liked three dishes. First, the Kangkung Belacan which is a sautéed water spinach with Malaysian shrimp paste sauce was delicious. This was my favorite dish. Second, the Singapore Rice Noodles which came with a mild sauce with shrimp, bean sprouts, egg & Chinese cabbage was good. Lastly, we got a Tofu dish as well that I enjoyed! Service: Sadly, customer service is not a priority for this restaurant. They simply bring out your food all at once and leave. The servers rarely told you the name of the dish or what was in it to accommodate people who may have dietary restrictions. It was hard to get a hold of the servers to even ask for simple things like more napkins, or knives. I think if this restaurant invested more in improving its customer service, it would be more of a popular destination. read more

Banana Leaf - Tofu - Malaysian Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

See all

The food was pretty good for the price. Our favorite was the Thai basil noodles it was very flavorful and tasty! The roti canai was also good just wish the food was warmer. The chicken satay and the other chicken dish were okay. We also got the earl grey lavender tea which was aromatic and a great way to complete the meal. The ambiance and service were good. Nothing extraordinary but a nice lunch/dinner spot with a couple friends. read more

See all

I went here with 2 friends on a cold winter night looking with a goal of having some nice and hot savory dinner. We were not disappointed! Ambiance: Cozy place, wooden themed with more muted colors, and not too loud. Overall, a great time! Service: Honestly no complaints. We went on a less busy night, and I contemplated how they might have handled a fuller house. Food: As a vegetarian, I only had the curry rice with tofu, but my friends really enjoyed the red curry in clay pot as well as one of their noodle dishes. - Curry rice with tofu: Very flavorful coconut milk-based Malaysian curry with a good assortment of tofu and vegetables. It was a delicious combination of thick, salty, sweet, and not too spicy, and it reminded me a little bit of a penang curry. (I'm getting hungry again while writing this review.) It was also very reasonably priced at $10.50. The portion was a tad bit smaller than ideal, but also I might have just been particularly hungry that day. - A pot of Jasmine or black tea was available for $1 with a free refill, which was very welcoming on that cold evening. They had some additional tea options for a slightly higher price. A note for vegetarians here: None of the dishes under "Vegetables" appear to be vegetarian as they have some form of fish or fish sauce/paste. I also felt a bit wary about various of the noodle dishes that technically could be made vegetarian, but have some sort of seafood component as part of the dish. I hope to return soon! read more

Banana Leaf - Curry rice with tofu - Malaysian Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

They did not have any halal item. Had to order vegetarian. If they advertise malaysian they should carry halal items. read more

I think banana leaf is a cute restaurant to having lunch in. Service was okay, not bad nor super great. There doesn't seem like there is much traction so pretty quiet. I ordered the roti and chicken satay and really like the chicken satay. The roti was nice and warm and a good amount. For entree, I got the chow kueh teow. It came with seafood and the only complaint I have is that the shrimp was not deveined and too over cooked for my liking. read more

Great food and prices! The roti telur tasted very similar to Indian roti and egg burji. The sauce it came with was tasty. The noodles were really good too, I liked how the tofu was cooked and it had a good amount of spice. read more

Banana Leaf - Roti telur - Malaysian Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

See all

One of my fav spots in Chinatown! The food were all very delicious. My favorite was the curry. Served in the clay poor, it stayed warm till the very end. The chicken satay with the peanut sauce was good and only complaint is the oil was very heavy which was unnecessary imo. The noodles were very tasty and unique combo of proteins but again a tad bit oily. I was in between giving them 4 or 5 stars but what changed my mind was the lychee drink. For something that is not in season rn, it was absolute perfection with a strong lychee flavor and even 4 lychees in the drink itself! The service was great as well. The ambiance was very fitting for the restaurant. I would definitely recommend the place if you're ever in Chinatown in Philly! read more

See all

Been here twice and loved it both times. Great vegetarian options! So happy that we have a Malaysian spot in Chinatown.

This place has downgraded themselves for years! It used to be a good restaurant, now...not so much. No air conditioning in the summer time but a fan. What?! My kids were sweating with me while we eating our lunch. My 4.7yo girl had to go stand in front of the fan to cool herself down. My 8mos old baby end up with wet tops cuz her back was all wet. Like they really cheap with running the cool air on. Price up but their dish portion and ingredients are cut down. This curry soup I used to love had onions, tofu, carrots, bean sprouts, etc. Now...just 3-5 sliced up fish balls and noodle for $12! At least the taste of the curry didn't get downgrade too much. Very disappointed! Now comes to their credit card fee charged on customers. If a restaurant don't want to pay that fee then don't accept credit card, period. Your place accepts credit card but not willing to fork out the transaction fee and instead put that charge on the customers. This is just a way to get less credit card payment and more cash payment so they can file less income and pay less tax on their business. Honestly, customers just going to tip less. So basically the restaurant is using the tip for the waiter to pay for that fee that they don't want to pay. Sad. read more

Banana Leaf - No air conditioning but a fan only - Malaysian Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

A family favorite. It was tradition to come here after getting picked up from the airport. The staff, food and decor are amazing. We've always received amazing service with even better food read more

Great restaurant with ample seating and good food. My favorite dishes that were ordered were the chicken wings, pineapple fried rice, and green curry. The mango salad was good but I would've liked more carrots or other veggies to give the dish more crunch/texture. Overall great place to check out if you're in Chinatown area! read more

Banana Leaf - Roti - Malaysian Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

See all

After Penang's price hike, I was searching for an alternative place for us to get Malaysian food. Friends and family eat at Banana Leaf all the time, so I thought it's time to check it out. For the most part, both places make the same dishes; however, Banana Leaf does have some items on their menu that Penang does not, such as the Prawn Mee, Bah Kut Teh, Captain Noodles, Hokkein Char Mee, etc. My husband and I ended up ordering our go to dishes - the Roti Canai, the Hainanese Chicken, the Chow Kueh Teow, and my current favorite the Malaysian Style Shrimp with long beans. The Chow Kueh Teow and the long beans were good. The Roti Canai was okay, definitely not as good as Penang's. The Hainanese Chicken was fine. No one makes it as good as the motherland anyway. Overall, I thought Banana Leaf was an okay alternative to Penang. It is definitely the cheaper option. I would still consider coming back the next time I crave Malaysian food. read more

Came back to banana leaf and had my bf try it out. He has the same opinion as me that the food wasn't bad, but our usual place is better. We ordered the roti telur, chicken satay, mee siam and beef rendang. After tip, everything was $50 which is a pretty incredible deal with the amount of food they give. They charge a little over 3% if you use a credit card. Our hill would've been slightly cheaper than $50 if we used cash. We wished the roti telur was crispier since it was a bit soft and mushy. Chicken satay was delicious, but this time it needed to be grilled a bit longer. Best thing we had was the mee Siam. 6.5/10 read more

See all

Mango salad with a spicy sauce gave it a unique kick, which was also quite refreshing on a random day of walking into Chinatown read more

Banana Leaf - Mango Salad - Malaysian Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Great food, and good service. We ordered the Pad Thai plate which was delicious. Not my first time having the Pad Thai rice and vegetables of any choices of meats. Our first time here, and it was a good experience. Food is cheap and not overpriced. I was a happy camper. read more

Just a regular lunch here. We came here since we've heard about other friends talking about this place. And also since we've been to Penang so many times, we wanna try a new place. The owner welcomed us and introduced the menu to us very friendly. She also checked on us several times to make sure our food was okay. Very nice lady! We ordered two fried noodle. I'm a big fan of Pad Thai, so I ordered that. It was just okay... we didn't even taste the flavor of the pad Thai sauce... just tasted like a regular noodle... didn't like it at all... My husband ordered the Chow Kueh Teow Noodle. It was the first time that he ordered it, and it turned out to be amazing! The noon for was so well cooked and it's very flavorful. The lunch portion was a bit small. For two people, I would recommend adding an appetizer or soup. There was not a lot of people and they closed every other table due to COVID. read more

Banana Leaf - Chow Kueh Teow Noodle - Malaysian Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

See all

Came here on a Sunday around 8 pm and it was not too crowded. I ordered the crispy noodles and my date ordered the tofu dish, along with a Roti Canai. I thought the crispy noodle was okay but the tofu dish and roti canai were good. Prices has gone up and I believe they charge a fee for credit card. The tofu dish didn't even come with rice and at other resturants it usually comes with rice. Food came out fast! read more

Banana Leaf - Malaysian Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Perfect restaurant for a celebration with large groups of people. You can make last minute reservations and never have any concerns of getting a table. I've come with huge groups (15+) and they were efficient with service and the food was great! One thing to note - at a certain point you have to get a set menu for the table with a minimum spend, but it still didn't end up being too much money per person. We also come here during the week - it's pretty quiet and reliably delicious. read more

I usually order delivery/pick-up, but a friend decided that we should sit in. It wasn't the most crowded, it was a Monday and hell cold out, but nonetheless the experience was pretty good. The Roti Canai has been a favorite ever since i first tried it years ago. The dipping sauce is amazingly delicious! I could eat their roti all dat every day. We had the pad thai, veggie soup, satay & fried ice cream. I was already planning my return before I left. read more

See all

Left to right: Singapore Rice Noodles, Malaysian Ice Tea, Banana Leaf Pad Thai To start off, this was a first time I've been here. With the Singapore Rice Noodles (lettuce on top), it was delicious! You can request this dish gluten free, and the flavor was PACKING!! 9/10, only because I added chicken but wasn't added in there - my fault because I didn't speak up on it. Onto the iced tea, it was delicious in its own way, had some condensed milk and that was new to me. Overall, 7.5/10. The Banana Leaf Pad Thai was also packed with flavor and you could also request this gluten free. 8/10!! Both my boyfriend and I enjoyed this restaurant, so I'd definitely recommend, but if you're GF, they have a pretty limited selection, but count on these two dishes for sure!! read more

Banana Leaf - Left to right: Singapore Rice Noodles, Malaysian Ice Tea, Banana Leaf Pad Thai - Malaysian Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

A solid Malay restaurant to order take out or delivery from. Food always arrives fresh and hot. The portions are good for the price as well. Dishes that we order on repeat are the Roti Canai, Hokkien Char Mee, and the Haianese Chicken Rice. I do wish some of the dishes were a bit spicier, like the dipping sauce for the Roti Canai. We also recently tried the the satay tofu, and the sauce was lacking flavor. read more

Fantastic food and service and real authentic toast of home! Recommend this restaurant to all!!

Randomly search for Malaysian food while I was in Philly. It was the best decision. The food was excellent, affordable and authentic. The service was outstanding. I can't wait to return again very soon! read more

Banana Leaf - Homemade Roti Canai - Malaysian Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Very much like a family place, chill sit down! The first time I went I got the pineapple fried rice which was really good! The second time I got the green curry, and it was alright more liquidy than I expected! The portion size was definitely worth it though. read more

See all

Overall was a fine takeout experience. The beef randang was very average and not a great amount of beef compared to the rice portion. The roti canai was worth trying, always love a good roti and the soup was flavorful. The captain's noodle was the best dish we got but could use a bit more flavor. read more

10/10 recommended!!! * Nice service/ welcoming people. * Food was delicious! * The restaurant was decorated with cool details. read more

See all

The Banana Leaf is one of my favorite restaurants. I've been eating here for the last 10 years or more. This is located in the Chinatown section of Philadelphia. It's tough to find street parking if you find one opposite to restaurant its your lucky day. If you go around circles on the parallel streets, you might find spots to park and walk to this place, probably a couple of minutes to a 5-minute walk. There are paid parking options available next to the restaurant and somewhere charge between $5.15 based on the time of visit. About the restaurant as you enter will be greeted and seated and get a chance to look at the menu. My favorite items in this restaurant are roti kanai, Roti telur, pineapple fried rice, Singapore Street noodles, and Nasi Lemak. The Roti canaI is the best of everything, and it comes with a vegetarian sauce or a chicken sauce. Both of them taste wonderful I normally are the vegetarian sauce and the entire family loved it sometimes I just ordered roti canai and go for three or four of them and still came very satisfied out of the restaurant, point is that that's a must try dish. The next one I like here is the pineapple fried rice, except this time they sell it cold otherwise normally they serve it in a pineapple, which looks appetizing as well as test wonderful. The restaurant is well maintained, and the ambiance is good. The restroom is maintained well as well . Coming to the deserts, we always order fried ice cream, which is a wonderful dish to try. There are several other dishes that are fantastic in this place, but try Roti canai, and you will love it. The food is cooked and brought to you very fast not much waiting time and some days it could be it could be crowded but the food still turns out faster than what you would expect in a normal restaurant if that is an option to give me more than five stars this restaurant deserves that try this place you will love it read more

See all

Food was decent, I will give them a 7/10. Service was quick. The place was not crowded. Overall it was good read more

Banana Leaf is going to be my new go-to spot! Malaysian cuisine is basically Indian and Chinese fusion foods and Banana Leaf does a great job at displaying that. The price of each dish is cheaper than almost restaurants in Philly. The quantity is the right amount of food that makes you feel stuffed. The quality is better than expectations. Appetizer: Homemade Roti Canai This is an Indian styled pancake dipped in a creamy spicy sauce (like a curry). The roti is on the sweeter side and it gets dipped into the sauce. The sauce contains bits of chicken and potato too. This is a must appetizer and only $5 Entrees: Captain's Noodle It's a thick flat rice noodle stir fried in soy sauce (without being too salty) mixed with chicken, shrimp, and pork. The texture of the sauce goes very well with the rice noodles. They just soak up the sauce. The prices of shrimp are also larger and they'll give you a good amount as well. This dish was my favorite! Banana Leaf Kari Ayam is lemon grass flavored coconut curry with red onions and chicken. The chicken was high quality, cooked to perfection. Not only was cooked very well but it retained all the moisture of the curry sauce. The flavor of the curry was light and creamy. The lemon grass and red onion gave the curry a taste of freshness. It's different than any other curries I've had. Malaysian food may be a novelty experience, but banana leaf goes above and beyond expectorations. I hope this business does well because more people need to know about Banana Leaf! read more

See all

So good for a cold day. Beef is tender and the sauce is tasty. Make sure to partner it with yellow rice/hainanese rice. read more

Banana Leaf - Beef Rendang - Malaysian Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Might be my favorite restaurant in Philly! Such a hidden gem. The staff are super friendly and the food is fantastic. My favorite is the Mee Siam but everything is great. Very reasonably priced as well. I recommend it to everyone that visits the city! read more

This is my SE Asian/Malaysian go-to and it is still as good as it was over a decade ago! It's still managed by the same owners and the food is still the best in the city. We came on Christmas Day for lunch and got an amazing roti teleur with that iconic curry dip, beef rendang, oktra with Malaysian shrimp paste, and chicken curry. 1. The oktra was fantastic - perfectly cooked and the seasoing was bursting with flavor. 2. The chicken curry was so good (creamy, spicy, and savory) that I ate every grain of rice just so I would not waste a single drop. 3. The roti telur was the perfect crispiness and fluffliness (it has egg and onion). Try it crepe style by stuffing it was a spoonful of rice and beef rendang! We saw them making it in the front and it's definitely amazing to watch. 4. Beef rendang: Bursting with flavor and made with juicy, tender beef (not dry like most places). It's not a light dish but it's so good that you cannot put it down! Will be back to get more of the roti and curries! read more

The first time I came here was over 10 years ago when I was in college. I've been dreaming about this place ever since, and I'm glad I finally found my way back. I will say it's not as hustling and bustling as I remember it, but the food never lost its quality. And the Malayasian iced coffee was to die for! read more

Banana Leaf - Iced Malaysian Ice Coffee - Malaysian Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

See all

Great find in the Chinatown area of Philadelphia. My friend and I enjoyed a late afternoon meal and shared three appetizers: homemade Roti Canai, Banana Leaf Satay, Satay Tofu and a noodle dish. I am a big fan of peanut sauce. We enjoyed a lychee drink and pineapple juice. The highlight of the meal was the Banana Leaf Satay Mixed (Chicken and Beef). It was crispy and the combination with the sweet peanut sauce was delicious. The portion sizes were enough for us to share and walk away full and happy. The place was quiet because of the time of day, the service was quick and friendly. read more

See all

Been here enough times that I can't believe I haven't written a review yet. We ordered malaysian buddhist mixed vegetables, malaysian lo mee noodles: egg noodles served in homemade soy sauce, with mushrooms and shredded chicken, roti canai: crispy style pancake with curry chicken and potatoes, banana leaf chicken satay and bah kut teh: Chinese herbs soup. Perfect amount of food for three people. Love the variety in the mixed vegetables, can never go wrong with any kind of noodles and I loved the addition of the mushrooms, I will order roti whenever I see it, the curry could I been a little hotter (temperature wise) but not like it was cold or anything, satay is always a crowd pleaser (dipping sauce was tasty) and I have never had bah kut teh - broth has its own unique flavor and after taste but it's good, would definitely order again. Staff is friendly (was a bit of a wait for them to come by and take the order) and they were excited we were ordering bah kut teh. Will be back! read more

See all

All of the food here was absolutely delicious! We picked items off the favorites menu. And it's also BYOB. 11/10 recommend! read more

See all

Excellent in every way! Food, service, atmosphere! Quite reasonable price. Next time in area, will go extra distance to visit this cafe!!! read more

Went in on a Thursday evening for dinner, pretty empty. Decent service. - noodles lacked salt but were very flavorful. -chicken tasted like sesame chicken with a hint of chilli oil. NOTE: They charge you like 3% extra if you pay by credit card vs cash. Overall 3.6/5. read more

Banana Leaf - Chow Kueh Teow Noodle - Malaysian Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

See all

Gone downhill. Over the past decade or so, I would come here to get some food and it was usually great. I recall they used to do some authentic dishes in the past such as Laksa that were good enough for Chinatown in Philadelphia. I popped in one night since i was starving and wanted to see how it was. i didn't see many of the dishes that i used to love and the menu had drastically been redone to remove most of the Malaysian influences that i loved. I ordered a Nasi Lamek since that's usually the standard bearer of Malaysian food. It lacked flavor, the chicken was not cooked well, the coconut rice tasted like normal rice. I asked for hot sauce expecting some sambal and instead got some Sricha bottle. Unfortunately it was not edible and ate half and paid and left. Won't be going back. read more