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Judging Re-Opened Restaurants – Banana Leaves


2020 Florida Ave, NW

Banana Leaves was closed for over a year after suffering a devastating fire in March 2011. They reopened in April 2012. Is the food just as good as it was before? You can see their menu here.

Category: Dupont Circle, Restaurants

By: | 19 July 2012 12:00 PM | 16 Comments

  • Chris

    I’ve been a bunch since it reopened. Their food is just as amazing and their website is just as frustratingly bad as it was.

    So it’s the exact same restaurant.

  • Dup

    Well, one good thing about Banana Leaves is that they pretty much cover all Asian cuisines. Unfortunately, they fail to actually produce any good food. Same as before, just as bad. There are better options around.

  • Irving Streete

    Utterly and fantastically mediocre.

  • Much better food before the fire. High hopes after the fire but was very let down. We have moved on and don’t plan to return to Banana Leaves

  • tterrag

    The Malaysian Mee Goreng is quite good.

  • Otberbur

    I ate there for the first time Monday. Perhaps not the most amazing Asian food I’ve ever eaten but it was well prepared and a very good value for the price. Staff was friendliest I’ve ever encountered at a local Asian restaurant. Will definitely return.

  • The food isn’t bad, just a bit forgetable… which is what I thought about it before the fire. I have to agree about the very friendly staff.

  • I have not tried the cooked Asian fare but the sushi is completely inedible. Worst sushi I’ve ever eaten EXCEPT for Zabb Modern Asian cuisine which is about a block away. Both of those places are downright terrible. Dupont badly needs a quality, reasonably priced (or even moderately expensive) sushi place — like old Sushi Taro. But of all the mediocre ones, Banana Leaves and Zabb are the only ones that serve sushi I wouldn’t feed my cat.

  • anonymous

    The drunken noodles got greasy :(

  • Went there for dinner after the Pride Parade. I thought it was perfectly acceptable, though I can’t compare to the previous version as I’d never been there before. The food tasted good enough and the service was attentive enough that I’d go back. In fact I did order for take out a few weeks ago.

  • RLM

    Mediocre for sure. I’ve ordered from here twice since they reopened and the food is fine (somewhat overpriced for the portion size IMO) but definitely not memorable.

    Good to know about Zabb.

  • randomduck

    I’ve been a few times since the reopening. Food is still good, but cost cutting has crept in, especially in their vegetarian dishes: now they throw in an excess of onion (cheap) and fewer beans, eggplant chunks, etc. I’ve mentioned it to their staff.

  • Dan

    Banana Leaves is great! Hot and sour soup and singapore noodles are top notch. A go-to for delivery if you’re in the area.



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