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Mon-Thu. 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 a.m.
Fri-Sat. 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 a.m.
Sun. 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 a.m.
"Once you step foot into Apo Apo, you immediately feel like you are dining in Taiwan. The pristine red, white, and black decor is reminiscent…" read more »
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oh the good times at banana bay!
who doesn't love happy hour? I know I do. And banana bay offers just that! After 10pm of course. The drinks are usually really good, and reasonably price as well.
***WARNING the place does get busy at night. Overwhelmed at the bar, but they do have a huge dinning room for table seats.
And BTW, the bartender with the jrock hair is hot.
2-for-1 specials on both alcoholic drinks AND non-alcoholic drinks?
Live band that does remixes of Black Eyed Peas songs and Motown classics on the weekends?
The most hilarious "nightlife" in all of Southern California! I walk into the restaurant and it's as if all the Chinese, Vietnamese, and Filipino kids in Rowland are partying under one roof! This place is a raging inferno of awesomeness- How can you NOT like it?
I'm a FAN!
People thought this was:
I love this place! Food's pretty good and very cheap! There's a live band on Fridays... not sure about other nights.
Cheap beer. Cheap drinks. Bobas are great!
Service tends to get slow on busy nights, so I tried going on a Monday night when we thought service would be quicker. Service was a lot quicker! Our waitress was very nice and helpful...
I'll keep on coming back.
Pros
Reasonably price food
Cheap beer/drinks
Menu selection
Great food (If you know what to order)
Band is pretty good
Cons
Parking can be a pain
Service tends to be slow on weekends
Banana Bay is overrated. I don't blame them because their food is actually pretty good and are one of the few Thai restaurants in this area that isn't a nine by ten square footage. The food, not fully authentic (listen to me, I'm Thai) but good nonetheless. Obviously, the service is horrible and my family has complained to the owner and staff many times, still no improvements in that field.
That is why me and my family have found a new haven for Thai food, Pair Thai!
People thought this was:
I ate here once but forgot how their food taste like. I tried their pad-sew-ew recently and thought it was okie, nothing special. $9bucks something for a dish of pad-sew-ew. Is that pricey for ya?
Other than that, this is a good place to come and chill after 10PM. Why? HAPPY HR. 40% off mixed drinks. Beers are like $2.50/each. Not bad right? And if you want food or something to munch on, order away...Just make sure to come here right at 10 or a little bit after that. It gets crowded after 11, esp on the weekend. Sometimes they have entertainment at night too, which is pretty cool.
Oh yea, they do add gratuity for 6 people or more.
I'M WRITING IN ALL CAPS BECAUSE THERE IS A LIVE BAND PLAYING AND IT IS HARD TO EVEN HAVE A DECENT CONVERSATION WITH THE PERSON NEXT TO YOU BECAUSE THE MUSIC IS PLAYING SO LOAD. THE PINEAPPLE FRIED RICE IS GOOD (rice, egg, curry spices, pineapples, green/white onion, cashews, and chicken), YOU GET A LARGE PORTION FOR $8.50. THE SERVICE SUCKS BUT IT'S AN ASIAN (THAI) PLACE SO WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM OVER WORKED EMPLOYEES/////
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I've been coming here for years and although I've tried several of their dishes including Pad Prik King, some steak dish involving the word Tiger, Chicken Fried Rice, and several of their appetizers...I've come to find that only 3 dishes really do the trick.
1) MOO YANG - This is a charbroiled pork (5 skewers) appetizer served with some great in house chili sauce and sticky rice wrapped in some kind of leaves. It is an absolute must. This dish is better than most of the menu in terms of taste and more often than not, the friends I bring to try Bbay end up liking this more than anything else. The best way I've found to eat this is to take a skewer, use your fork to break off a small piece, dip in chili sauce, put it in your mouth, then get some sticky rice with said fork and enjoy both together. The combination of the white sticky rice with the soft flavorful pork is to die for. *note* If your sticky rice is cold, too hard, or you can tell it's been left out. Ask for another. They will give it to you if you ask nicely and it will taste much better.
2) PAD SEE EW - This is a traditional Thai dish that you can find pretty much at any Thai restaurant. You have a choice of getting it with typical meats (beef, chicken, etc.) or adding shrimp for more $. The fat noodles are done just right and it comes with just enough egg and Chinese broccoli to balance. I usually get this with beef and have found that the Pad See Ew at Bbay is the perfect blend of slight sweetness and salty, which makes for some great Pad See Ew. Some places it's too sweet or too salty, but here at Bbay, they usually get it just right. Add some of the chili sauce that is at your table (set of 4 - red, peppers, smaller peppers?, and some powder) and you're set. I usually use the small green peppers and some red chili to bring out the sweetness.
3) CHICKEN MINT LEAVES/LEAF? - This dish is spicy. It comes with ground chicken? that's been stir fried with peppers and chili peppers. The sauce is great for eating with rice - which it comes with (1 bowl) and is topped with a sunny side up egg that should be runny. Add those together and you get one amazing dish.
4) COFFEE FLOAT - This is some type of coffee drink with a dollop of ice cream. It is awesome. And it is the perfect way to quell the spiciness that you're bound to experience. Try it out if you like sweets. Best way to enjoy is to take a sip of the coffee and then scoop a little ice cream into your mouth and enjoy together. Really good stuff.
COST: All in all the above combination costs around $25-30 after tax and tip and can feed 2 hungry people or 3 people eating casually.
ATMOSPHERE: Fun, dim lighting for the most part, big screen tvs all around usually with sports entertainment. Nice booth seating around the edges and tables in the middle. Live band on the weekends and maybe some nights. The surrounding plaza is a great place to get dessert or hang out in afterwards. And Life Plaza is just down the street and offers tons of places to hang out with friends or a date.
PARKING: Difficult to find in Yes Plaza on a weekend night, but not impossible. So arrive early or come later. No real tips here - as I struggle with this too even after eating here for 7 years.
Other dishes I've had in the past...
PAD THAI - The other staple of Thai food, but here? It's just ok. Not anything special that you wouldn't be able to get elsewhere.
PAD PRIK KING - Was not really down my alley. Didn't like the taste and it was hard to eat. You may like it if you like fighting with small chunks of meat with bones and interesting sauces.
PINEAPPLE FRIED RICE - Not bad, but not great.
FRIED CALAMARI - Nothing special. Something you could buy from the supermarket.
CHICKEN CASHEW NUT - Not as good as it used to be. Now just seems very bland.
CONCLUSION: Great place to bring your friends or a date. I don't believe all the food is great, but the above dishes I recommend have never failed to be eaten by any guests I bring. Also, the atmosphere and central location to Rowland Heights/Diamond Bar hang out nightlife makes it a good place to stop and eat for a fair price.
*Note* I'm new to reviewing, but love good food. Hence, I'm here. I'd appreciate any feedback on what helped and what didn't in this review. So if you have a moment, please shoot me a message and let me know, thanks =)
I first went here with a group of friends to celebrate a birthday and ever since then we've made this a regular hang out. They have a happy hour drink menu every night from 10 to close. And the drinks are huge and inexpensive. I recommend the sex on the pool table with a splash of bacardi 151. Bruce makes it the best! He's great.
Food is pretty good. They have tons of different dishes.
The only downside to this place is good luck trying to get seated on the weekends. It gets SO croweded and the service is slow. You're better off going on the weekdays.
Ok I have friends who work here, so im gonna be nice, but actually i like this place, they offer a few things on they're menu that are unheard of, or hard to find at your typical thai restaurant, such as the shrimp cake, my family's favorite thing to order by the way, it's moist and plump very tasty, but the best thing about banana bay is is is is................................................ .................................................. .........................THE DRINK SPECIALS, they're insane, buy one get one free, or 50% off, i dont know the exact details, but it's cheap, alway's a great place to hang out with friends and family.
People thought this was:
What's the hype with this place again? The food is mediocre and the service sucks horribly. I would never want to come back here again!
There really isn't a need for me to elaborate on the slow service, and the where did my service go for the last 15 minutes experience.
People thought this was:
Wow ~ what an experience!
The King Noodles rocked my world.
The service was a little slow, and it was super crowded and super noisy (even the live band gave up at some point) but the food - oh the food.
We ordered King Noodles and Pad See Ew. Large portions, very yummy pad see ew (with lots of shrimp), DELICIOUS AND YUMMY King Noddles, and GREAT prices.
I will definitely come back for more!
People thought this was:
Not bad, cheap, I like the chicken mint leaves
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I guess I'm very low-maintenance.
I don't like servers stopping by my table and asking me how I'm doing every 5 min of my meal.
I ask for everything I need at one time so my meal doesn't get interrupted.
I ate here alot when I was younger and poorer.
It's cheap and the food is decent, some yummier than others.
Garlic chicken, Hainam chicken, pad see ew, tom yum, and some other slimy noodles are good.
I always ordered my thai iced tea with less cream and they always get it right.
There's also this stage with an asian jazz band that used to perform every time I was here.
Always sang the same songs and the girl really isn't even that good.
I thought it was funny.
Haven't visited this place for a while now, so things might changed.
This plaza now has too many other joints that distract me from eating here...like Yuchon and Kyochon. hehe
I live pretty close to here.
Needless to say, there's a LOT of asians like me here!!
Personally I don't really like the restaurant. Not really because its dirty but because the waiters are not at all attentive. I think the food is decent for their decent price. I've only been here twice and I probably wouldn't be going back for a while.
People thought this was:
came here around 8:30pm friday night with a few friend to just chill at the bar and watch lakers/chat away. parking is CRAZY... so be prepared to drive around in circles for at LEAST 5-10mins. happy hour starts from 10pm, fyi. last time i was here, they gave us some thai mudslide to try out and it was amazing and i've been wanting to try it since then but failed once again b/c they didnt have all the ingredients. but i DID get me a lychee martini~ i must say they make their drinks STRONG. big plus!! other drinks that were ordered = amf, long island, mojito, singhao (sp?). o yea and their fried calamari was suuuuper good too~
i hear they get their alc shipment on mondays... so maybe go on early during the week if theres a specific drink u want. ^^
the bar is really small, and although it was pretty empty when we got there around 8:30 it was pretty crowded when it became happy hour.
Expect to be ignored if you come here with less than half a dozen people. They cater to large parties, and will shamelessly ignore the table for 2.
2 stars for the food.
0 star for the slow/no service experience.
People thought this was:
Came here for the first time on a Friday night...and it was quite busy! The wait was't too bad...maybe 10 mins. My fav part of the night was the LIVE band that they had playing a variety of songs...hip hop, slow, old school, Michael Jackson, etc... This would be a good place to have a birthday party or a night out with your girls... Although service may not be the best, but I didnt mind since I was grooving to the music & eating.
Food was ok, not too bad! Honestly, I had better Thai food elsewhere. Price was decent. They have happy hour after 10pm at the bar...buy one get one free!
Parking was a mad house! It took a few drive around the lot for a spot...so expect to circle around many times.
Would I come here again?!? Definitely....esp with the LIVE band there. Im not sure if they're only there on certain days...I just happened to come in on the night they were there.
People thought this was:
First word of advice, do not come here if you are already starving. And try not to worry too much about that B rating. It's not bad.
This place is always packed! And getting the attention of your server is difficult. The orders also take a while to make their way onto your table and into your stomachs. I've seen a group of people order, and walk out before their food even came. True story.
But, while their food is tasty, I must recommend their happy hour. It's not necessarily for the quality of the drinks. But you can't beat the price (40% one drink, or buy one get one free.. sweet!) or the time which is a late night deal being from 10pm- 2am. And with selections on the specials menu with names like Sex on the Pool Table and Silly and Sexy, how can you not enjoy yourself? lol.
The live music is definitely a plus.
People thought this was:
After trying about 10 different dishes, Banana Bay food is just mediocre. Not terrible but not memorable.
Thai Specialty II in Hacienda Heights and Baimon Thai in Rowland Heights are slightly better. Phuket Thai in Long Beach is very good but, unfortunately, kinda far from me.
People thought this was:
The Banana Bay Restaurant is a great late night eatery. The food is generally good. The portions are generous. As for the service... a bit lacking -- as we were not checked on (nor was my water refilled). However, to be fair, the waitresses were overworked.
I am a big fan of the Pad Thai wrapped in egg. The Boba at this restaurant is excellent -- perhaps the best Boba that I have ever had.
For dessert, the fried bananas in rolls were great!
As for the ambiance -- everyone seems to say not good things. However, I found the ambiance rather lively... especially with a live band playing -- who were very talented, I must add.
The prices are very reasonable, as most plates are less than $10.
This restaurant deserves an inflated rating for being open late. I will return.
People thought this was:
My first time going, I was already impressed by the swarms of people waiting to eat here.
Ambiance: Warm, friendly, band's music is great and not too loud while you're talking.
Food: I had the Continential friend rice, and the crying tiger with a thai ice tea float... THREE THUMBS UP!
Service: Since I went with a group of about 12 people, I thought the service was pretty prompt and attentive.
Overall: Come check it out, it's worth it if you're in the area! I want to go back to try more stuff and also drink another thai ice tea float! INGENIOUS!
It was a squelching HOT noon day. Stepping out onto the plaza was blinding because the paved cement was close to a white color. My friend led to me a restaurant and as I read the name, I remembered that my friend said banana bay was one of his favorite restaurants.
I was pretty shocked at how big this restaurant was (more so than the decor). There were seas of tables for 4 and longer tables to accompany big parties. In the middle front was a stage equipped with instruments for a band. My friend told me on certain nights, there would be a live band. We were seated immediately and quickly started making out way through the menu.
We promptly decided on the pad thai (i had the special in mind, but we accidentally ordered just the regular), pineapple fried rice, and a thai tea float for the each of us.
Our floats came in a beer style mug, topped off with a chunk of ice cream with crushed ice. I was so excited to stir the tea up. The float was delicious, but half way in, it was simply too heavy for me. I actually felt more thirsty afterward, but it cooled me down well.
The pad thai was delicious. My friend squeezed some lime in, mixed it in with the sprouts and crushed peanuts. There was a good beef to noodle portion and the flavoring was well done.
We ate so much of the pad thai, we couldnt really touch the pineapple fried rice, which was unfortunate because it was delicious as well. I loved that it came with chinese sausage (or similar, i dont remember having it in there in past dishes i've had), and a side of cashew. Since we couldnt finish a lot of the food, we had two large boxes of left overs for my 6 hour trip back up to The Bay. I left at 6p and devoured everything, alone, by 9p. It was still good, IMO.
The thing I didnt like was that they started clearing our dishes away while we were still sitting there--a subtle "get the eff out of here." Though the restaurant was pretty occupied, there were still a lot of open tables. Maybe they didnt have enough staff? Who knows, but I didnt appreciate that. They're lucky this was after we paid and tipped.
Over all, great portions, good food, lots of seating and large TVs for the soccer game (in which US lost to Brazil :\) I'd come back if I was in town.
People thought this was:
I have a secret love affair with pad thai, so this place is a good place for me to go. Last time I came I had the regular pad thai, but this time tried the Banana Bay pad thai. It's better. If you love anything with peanuts, peanut sauce, or peanut butter sauce - this place if for you.
I think next time I'm going to order a side of the peanut butter sauce and slather right on top of my pad thai. Can't get enough! Yums.
xxx C
People thought this was:
Oh freaking holy crap!
Fried bananas in egg roll wrappers a la mode with whipped cream and chocolate syrup! Soooo stinking good!
People thought this was:
Seriously, I don't know if the msg they probably put in their food is addicting but I freegin love… Read more »
This will be a quickie. The food is good across the board. The service is not great, but it's been good or bad on different occasions. The waiters seem to be aloof, or just over worked sometimes. Maybe mischevious if my BS meter seems to be working. The prices are pretty good compared to other places around.
Food good, service bleh.
My favorite dish here now is the Crying Tiger: Season beef with a spicy hot dipping sauce (order it with a side of rice). YUM YUM YUM! It's like a cut up steak with an asian flair. The light spicy dipping sauce seals the deal.
I'm also a fan of their Pineapple Fried Rice and Pad Sew Eew.
Banana Bay is a popular Thai restaurant, good for families, big groups, and casual dinners. The food is good, the portions leave you with some left overs, and there's a bar so you can order alcohol if you so wish.
If you order an entree + drink (thai iced tea for example) , the bill comes out to around $12 per person. It's inexpensive, great food!
Bathroom sucks though.. they need more stalls!!
People thought this was:
i will write a review after i am done throwing up all the foods i had here from earlier. :(
People thought this was:
The only reason why I am writing a review about this place is to tell you about how much I dislike it. Honestly, the only reason why people would come here is because of alcohol and 1AM closing time. The food is made like crap, any Asian can cook that up (although I don't think the cooks are even Asian). You can tell they don't use any fresh ingredients.They did not have a lot of the drinks they had listed on their menu. The service was unprofessional...the server decided to rest herself on our table while taking our order and the was the last time we saw her the whole night. If you want to come here to have good conversation good luck, because its going to be hard talking over a bunch of loud Asians.
People thought this was:
I forgot how good this place actually was.
I went here for a friend's birthday dinner, and the place was packed by 7pm, with an additional bunch of people waiting outside too. Note to self, arrive EARLY or make reservations ahead of time if you wanna go on a Friday or Saturday night.
service is slightly slow, and quite frankly, a little inexperienced (we ordered 2 bottles of wine and the server/waiter really didn't open them efficiently enough or quick enough).
live band on weekends, plenty of ceiling mounted tv's for watching the game, whatever is on i suppose.. and decent food.
really great food, but the service sucks a lot. Also, they have recently started jacking up their prices a lot. NOT COOL.
People thought this was:
I ordered the pad see ew, but it wasn't all that. I tried my friend's pad thai and realized that a time machine would've came in pretty handy at that moment. it was bombbb!
but omg, the thai iced tea was pretty much heavenly!
People thought this was:
After we were seated for less than 5 minutes, one of the servers came to ask us for our order. She asked us if we were ready to order food yet and after we said no, she rolled her eyes and walked away. HOW RUDE!
Anyways, the pad thai came in a really small portion. The pad see ew was too sweet, imo. The cocktail drinks (though it was buy 1 get one free) came at the end of the meal. We reminded the waiter but the bartender took a long time. We watched as he made each drink individually. Drinks were inconsistent; one glass was filled with ice, two tasted watered down, and another was stronger.
I ordered the fresh coconut juice and my drink came first. The coconut was good except there was a chunk of the outer shell floating inside of the juice. Guess the person who cut open the coconut was not careful enough.
Front yelp review is misleading. The sign said they got 3.5/4; they didn't show the extra star that yelp has.
Since it was late, I guess it is understandable but there were so many smokers loitering outside of the main entrance. Don't those people have anywhere to go or work the next day?
Drives up to the Diamond plaza in Rowland Heights, wanting to eat some good Thai food at The Boat. ***Closed**** WHAT!!!! But how? Ohhh....well I guess I will go to Banana Bay which was down the street from The Boat.
So I walked in, looks nice from the outside, I had also got a glimpse of the Yelp rating of 3.5 certificate, so already I was getting excited and hoping to have a great meal.
The waiter in the front was too busy yapping to the girls in the front and just took us to our table still laughing with the girls, threw out menus on the table and just walked away! Wow, that just made me feel a little uneasy.
But good thing our waiter was another guy and he was very helpful and asking us if we needed anything to drink. One of my water had grease in it. Man, what was going on here today?
So we order our food and it wasn't all that great compare to other Thai places I have eaten at. I had the BBQ chicken and Paul had the spicy spaghetti, he enjoyed his food but I was kind of turned off with the chicken. The rice portion of my BBQ chicken meal was good.
Would I ever go back? Probably not, I guess other people experience differently, but when I see something posted on yelp I would think it was going to be a pleasant experience. As I walked out I check the date of the certificate and it was in 2007, hmmm...maybe outdated I guess.
People thought this was:
Personally I dislike this place because it's packed with crazy young people late night. Maybe I'm just old enough not to like this type of atmosphere anymore. Hmm...nothing good to say about the food, man...who the hell is cooking back there dude? I know authentic Thai food taste to me and I wouldn't go back to this place again with my wife and kid. This is a good place for group of guys/gals for meeting/hangout or to get sober up after partying!
Yah so a lot has come along way from what I once reviewed it. So it is no longer a C grade which is great so now I can walk in there knowing everything is up to standards. But definitely I have to give it just one more star from my previous post. The food was good and definitely great sized portions for what you pay for.
Still not quite a 4 because the service here is a little on the slower slide. Since my GF has moved to the chino hills area I am sure I will be visiting this location a little more. I think the only thing I see a positive about this place is that its opened late. But really I feel Thai Bbq in chino hills always serves this place up any day.
when i went here the grade it had outside the door was a C. And honestly the food here is not all… Read more »
I've made a visit to this restaurant less than a handful of times, but the food quality remains pretty good! If you're looking for a good meal without giving an overkill to your wallet, this place is it!
Their soups and the traditional pad thai, fish cakes and pineapple fried rice are quite tasty. The staff was nice and adequate with taking orders. I had ordered the House Tom Yum soup without liver and the ground pork and they actually got it right! Most Asian restaurants are not crazy about "substituting" ingredients in dishes, but they did a good job! The broth was so rich and creamy and the shrimp was boiled just perfect!
I would come here again!
Oh and another note, when you walk inside, there's a mini candy shop by the registers and they have a pretty neat and cheap selection of them, so check that out, too!
People thought this was:
This place is pretty popular. My friends from everywhere as far as LA and Riverside have heard of this place. If they don't know where rowland heights is located, just mention banana bay. Yeah that's how big they are.
Anyways, i've ate here many many times. The service consist of mostly people who don't speak much english. They like to hire thai people? But overall they are very nice and helpful. Good service. Though serving time is wayyyyy too long. Order right away when you get here because it takes forever before the food comes out.
The place is pretty nice for a date, good atmosphere. Though I've noticed the last few time that the place was kinda going down hill. I saw ants sometimes.... But the pros are the music during some nights where there are live bands.
good plates are, continental fried rice. pineapple fried rice. portions are pretty big. pad thai is decent. price is about 6-7 bucks. pretty cheap. if you don't like this place, try coconut bay. same owner, long story, same food.
give it a four stars for BANANA BAY for the food is great and mouth watering. minus one star for a bit slow in service. I fully understand for even it's a Tuesday night the place is packed.
we got a CALAMARI, GRILLED BEEF, WANTON and RASPBERRY. can't complain for I came out as a satisfied customer.
Parking space is many. Restroom is clean. Waiters are attentive.
Yay! I'm a fan.
Service kind of sucks. The waiters always lag on your orders or they completely forget about you.
Gets really loud and crowded at night. On the plus side, most of the dishes here are delicious. The price is perfect whether you are going by yourself or with a large group. Last time I went, the tab was around $90 for a group of 10.
I'm a big fan of their King Noodles and Pad Thai.
I am a fan only because I love their pineapple fried rice. Yes it may be true that I can make that stuff if I wanted to. And yes maybe the service is horrible at times. The place is crowded and very loud. But here's the thing, this place satisfies you when your hungry late at night (big portions) when no other place is open.
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