Good Food, Bad Service at this Indian Restaurant

If I were to keep this review short and sweet, Banana Leaf Apolo’s Race Course Road Branch would be rated the following on a scale of 5:

 

Ambience: 1

Service: 0

Food: 3.5

 

… But I won’t. Although I am honestly tempted to, whenever I think back on yesterday’s horrid, disgusting, non-existent service, which we were charged for.

 

It started the moment we entered the restaurant – From being ignored for a few good minutes at the reception trying to check the reservation (and as detestful as it sounds, I had to be loudly vulgar before the female cashier attended to me), to being led to the table and not given a menu (I spent 10 minutes tying to get the attention of any waiter before I walked to the counter myself to get my own menu), spent another 10 minutes being ignored by waiters (either that, or being told to wait), and to think I was just trying to get a drink. Thankfully, my uncle and aunty arrived just in time; apparently they only respect stern-looking men?

 

The most oxymoronic thing I was a sign that read “Customer Service is our primary priority”. I’d bet.

 

Other than that, the food was not too shabby.

 

Fish Head Curry – This is the item on the menu that Banana Leaf Apolo is most famous for. The fish was fresh, the curry was tasty; not too salty, and it wasn’t watery at all.

 

Squid Curry – The curry was delicious with rice, but the squid wasn’t too fresh. This was probably the result of it being left to sit around because of it not being one of the more popular items.

 

Prawn Curry – The prawns were fresh and large. 

 

Chicken Curry – I can’t remember much of this curry; which meant that it wasn’t exceptional.

 

Pakora – Pakora is an Indian vegetable fritter. It’s a variety of vegetables dunked into a bean flour batter and deep fried. This dish arrived at our table freshly and perfectly-fried until golden brown. Although there wasn’t much space left in our stomachs after all that rice and meat, we still managed to squeeze in these bite-sized morsels.

 

A freshly-squeezed glass of Lime Juice will expel the burning sensation from your tongue in between mouthfuls of curry and more curry. It’s also a refreshing taste diversion from bite after bite of curry, meat and rice. Dairy works better for chilli-induced tongue burns though, so order a cup of Mango Lassi, which is a thick yogurt-based, mango-flavoured Indian drink. Very satisfying.

 

The ambience at this Banana Leaf Apolo branch is alright, that is if you don’t mind dining in a thoughtlessly-designed eatery. Loosely, the dining are a is just a big room with long rows of tables joined together. It felt very communal and impersonal. At least it was well air-conditioned.

 

I wouldn’t go back to Banana Leaf Apolo’s Race Course Road branch again, and it’s mostly because of the utter lack of service quality. I could find Indian food of the same standards elsewhere, and with better service too.

 

The only way our dampened spirits could be lightened up again was to treat ourselves to some traditional Indian desserts. We took a short walk through shophouses and across the street, to Komala’s Sweet and Savoury, and got ourselves some sugar-overloaded dessert like Jagiri and Jelabi.