Banana Leaf Buffet Restaraunt

Very cheap, but you do get what you pay for!
I’m a lover of meat, but I have a few veggie friends, and there isn’t much variety here. Drinks are cheap too as Middlesbrough tend to be, but I won’t go back after they tried to charge me for tap water, which I had the understanding is a little bit illegal.
But… If you need a quick cheap Chinese fix, this’ll do you!

Cheap but for a reason. Last time me and my wife went we felt like walking out. Some stuff is ok but i wuld never recommend this place.

First time I visited the Banana Leaf was last year and I really enjoyed the food and atmosphere — great value for money.
Second time was last week — suffered horrendous vomiting and diarrhoea later in the day. Whilst we were there, my friend noticed a waiter setting out cutlery on the table — he dropped some on the floor then instead of discarding them, he used them to set up places on the tables! My friend questiioned this with him later on when the opportunity arose. The waiter was most apologetic for what he had done, giving the reason that it was his first day! FFS, do you need to be trained not to do this? On second thoughts, yes — my ex lived with some Chinese students and they are not the cleanest of races …

The buffet deal here is quite good value if you eat anything! However, as a vegetarian it was very difficult to tell which dishes were suitable and even when we were told I wasn’t 100% certain that they hadn’t been contaminated by the nearby meat dishes.
The food I had tasted ok but it wasn’t anything special.
We went with a very large group of friends (10+) and they were happy to make room for us all to sit together.
Everyone had a great time although the large amounts of alcohol might’ve had something to do with that!

This is a fantastic buffet style restaraunt with an open plan table layout. There is a huge range of different dishes to choose from with a range of starters and salads, various different rice dishes including egg fried rice, boiled rice and chicken fried rice, various noodle dishes, a range of meat dishes including chicken, pork and beef and a wide range of desserts which include ice cream, cakes, fruit and frittas. The dishes are all delicious and enjoyable. The prices are very good. However the tables are fairly squashed together making your meal slightly uncomfortable and the drinks are a little bit expensive as well but they do offer a large bottle of water for £2 which can be easily shared between 2 people.

Food was cold and repetative. OK for somewhere quick and handy to eat but does not provide a restaurant style feel inside. décor is dated and seating uncomfy. Food ok but some had been stading there a long time-​better places to eat.

We have visited the Banana Leaf many times and have found it to be great for a family lunch or tea, but not so good if you’re looking for a romantic intimate evening as it is set out like a school dinner hall! The restaurant is located in an old building just outside the town centre, and the dining area is downstairs while the toilets are upstairs (quite a lot of stairs!) There is however a disabled toilet downstairs which i must confess to using when we visited when i was 8 months pregnant! We have always found the food at the Banana Leaf to be of a very good standard, with a huge selection of meat dishes and also a reasonable selection of vegetarian dishes for me. The only issue I personally have with the food is that they do chicken nuggets and chips; which apart from the fact that it is hardly authentic Chineses cuisine, makes it fat too easy for my daughter to just eat them and not try some of the other lovely dishes on offer. The staff are very friendly and the place is very clean, especially when you consider the quick turnover between customers. I must say that the dessert selction is not fantastic; I personally think the cheap ice cream they have is awful, but my daughter seems to like it. The fruit in batter is so delicious though, and it’s very tempting to stuff your face with it as it’s all in the price! I would recommend this restaurant, it’s great for a quick meal after shopping or visiting the nearby cineworld cinema.

I have mixed emotions about Banana leaf becuase it really does depends on what day you go on and what time you get there. It’s a pretty standard chines all you can eat buffet and although the food is okay, choice can be low some days and they seems to be a lot of fillers put in (potato croquettes, wedges, gralic mushrooms etc). You can eat as much as you want though so it is good value for money if you find things on offer you really like. The desert selcetion (also inc in the price) is very basic too with ice cream, some fruit and cupcakes buts it is always nice to have something sweet after a meal all the same. You have to pay for tap water too so be wary of that.

Banana Leaf is a good quality Chinese buffet restaurant. The food is alot fresher than other similar restaurant I’ve been to and the prices are really competitive especially if you go earlier in the day.
Drinks here are really cheap for a restaurant too, and they usually have offers on bottles of beer or alcopops.
The only downside to the Banana Leaf are the desserts, which usually comprise of icecream, jellies or fruit fritters. There is never anything as nice as the main courses that they offer.
However, I think the quick and usually efficient service and the great value for money that the Banana Leaf offers, more than makes up for this.

A really great qulaity ‘all you can eat’ Chinese buffet.
There are lots of selections, including Mcdonalds style chicken nuggets and chips for kids and the food tastes just like from the local takeaway.
the prices are reasonable, as are the drinks and the food is always being repleneshed.
There is also a dessert selection included.

Banana Leaf can be quite difficult to find being located just outside the main shopping area onroute to the cineworld cinema.
Inside is a large, clean vicinity with plenty of seating. The staff are polite and helpful though can cast a wary eye towards younger people.
You can’t fault the all you can eat buffet part of it which has a huge array of chinese main meals and desserts on offer (I would defenitely recommend the bananas covered in abatter for dessert, they are gorgeous!).
However eating here can be quite expensive, escecially for students with it reaching about a tenner a person excluding drinks. It’s a well known restaurant in Middlesbrough and you’ll find the vast majority of locals love it, though personally I can’t say it’s my favourite chinese of the area.

An all you can eat Chinese Buffet, what else can you say really?
It’s not overly expensive and they have a really good range of food, both Chinese and British, for you to choose from and this changes depending upon what time of the day and week you go (crab claws and duck pancakes on a Friday night, it was good!).
The tables are set out in a regimented fashion, but I guess that is to fit in more people so you can’t really complain.
It is always clean, no matter how busy they are, with fresh food constantly coming out.

The first time i went to Banana Leaf was with some of my friends from university as we saw an advertisement showing that the restaurant only charged £5.50 for an all you can eat buffet which includes everything from starters to ice cream! It depends on what time of day you go, but usually the earlier you eat, the less you have to pay, so i usually go fairly early as it suits a student budget very well, and you never go away hungry. The only drawback about the Banana eaf is that you cannot book a table, so it is sometimes difficult to get seated during busy periods.
Overall it is a good place to eat, especially if you have a tight budget.

the food was plentyful and tasted nice, but i found the service for drinks to be quite slow.

The Banana Leaf is located in the heart of the town centre. This is ideal for shoppers as the food is undoubtedly great value for money. The restaurant itself is a Chinese buffet and for a small price you can eat as much as you like. The set up is quite simple and just consists of rows of tables, almost similar to a school canteen, every time I have been in this restaurant it has been packed full. The Banana Leaf has a good local reputation and I don’t know anyone that lives in Middlesbrough that has not eaten there once. Food wise they offer just about every Chinese dish you can think of and quite a selection of British food also. They do offered deserts but they tend to be pretty basic foods like jelly and ice cream. If you have never been here before I would definitely give it a go, especially if you can make it during the day for happy hour

I often visited here in my student days. Its your average all you can eat chinese buffet but I must say I have always enjoyed it everytime I have been. Wide choice and good service.