Reviews & Ratings for Banana Bean Cafe

02/15/09

Great Food, Great Service

by auntb22 at Citysearch

Visited the BBC on Greenlawn for the first time today....I have eaten at the location on Whittier several times and I was NOT dissappointed with the new location. I usually have the corned beef, cole slaw, dressing and swiss on marble rye bread which is to die for but I decided to have something new today. After debating over a couple of things, I decided on the #2 blue crab burger with deep fried sweet potato fries....Another great choice!!!!!! Not sure what the problems might have been on some of the other reviews about poor service but I have to disagree!!!! I could not have asked for a more attentive and friendly staff!!!!

Keep up the good work.....it was definitely worth the 2 hour drive to give them a try!!

Continued blessings on you and your business:p

• Pros: clean dining, great food and equally great service
• Cons: can not think of a thing!!!!

01/28/09

Happy Hour at the New Banana Bean

by sheltiebreeder at Citysearch

My wife and I stopped in the cafe last night to check out their happy hour. The place was not busy but that could have been due to the weather. Which it turned out to be good for us, we met the owner, she asked if this was the first time to the cafe which was for us at the new location but had eaten at the cafe on Whittier for a couple of years. She took us on a small tour explaining the set up she said they had just moved some things around hoping that it would help the flow of the restaurant. It surprised my wife and I when she led us into the kitchen ( have never done that before in any other restaurant and we thought that was really nice) we had the pleasure of meeting the Chef he asked if we had a favorite dish and when I told him I was fond of the shrimp and grits and banana foster he in some what of detail explained each dish. Thanks Chef we really in joyed that. Back to the happy hour $2 buck really good margarita's, in house made free chips and peach salsa (really good) and half off the apps. We had a couple margarita's with the pub menu they offer, we split the cubano which I love and some sweet potato fries. We ended up with a tab of under $30 bucks and had a great hour of good converstation and more knowledge of the restaurant. I asked about their brunch I know on Whittier is was hard to get a table, she said that the weekends for Brunch was still very busy (sometimes to busy) but Saturdays are not as busy as Sundays. We still go to the one on Whittier for the brunch but will be trying the new location soon. Thanks again Banana Bean we left there feeling more like a friend then a customer.

• Pros: Great food and location
• Cons: felt a little cold down stairs

01/26/09

Horrible Service Outweighs Quality of Food

by pambeesly at Citysearch

I went to the Banana Bean Cafe on a Sunday afternoon around 12:30. When we walked in, we were informed that you usually need a reservation on the weekend. But, they were able to get the 5 of us seated right away. The waiter informed us that they were "out of menus" and "out of silverware" and my two friends had to wait for their coffee until "cups were available." What kind of restaurant does not have enough cups?? It wasn't THAT busy... get a dishwasher people! Once we perused the two menus he could scrounge up, he informed us that at least 3 menu items were "sold out" or "out of stock." We ordered our food within about 10-15 minutes of first sitting down. At 1:30 we still had no food, and the server had not been by to even refill our waters or coffee cups! Finally, we asked if our food was coming, because if it was not, we were going to leave. He said he would check in the kitchen and came back about 10 minutes later with our food. Now, the food was delicious! I will not deny that. But 1 hour and 10 minutes for brunch is completely ridiculous and bad customer service. We ate and hoped to get our check quickly before dinner time rolled around. Well the server took FOREVER to even bring us our check! 30 minutes after our food had been brought out, we still did not have our check and the server was nowhere to be seen. One member of our table finally caught up with another server (not ours, mind you) and asked to speak to a manager. Tack 10 more minutes on to wait for the manager. She informed us that they INTENDED for their service to be so pitiful and lackadaisical. As she said, "we have a lazy atmosphere on Sundays. We encourage you to drink a mimosa and relax while you wait for your food. That's why we play jazz music." What a joke! What kind of business makes it their goal to serve as few people as possible as slowly as possible?!?! Needless to say, despite the good food, I won't go back to this restaurant unless I have a full day to waste.

• Pros: Good food
• Cons: Worst customer service I have ever experienced

01/26/09

LOVE THE BEAN!

by racheldeem at Citysearch

We were at the Banana Bean on Greenlawn Sunday, January 26th. They were "jammin"! They were so busy, and my server was still smiling! My absolute favorite restaurant in Columbus! They have awsome food, very friendly staff, and the new location is perfect! My fav's include the Cuban Sandwich & Banana's Foster. They never make me feel like I'm not dressed right, or anything. Great food, great service, great location! ps....their in Columbus....614 area code

• Pros: Great staff and Awsome Food
• Cons: can't think of any

01/26/09

If You've a Couple Hours to sit in a Cold, Dirty, Make-shift -- By All Means!

by highbrow004 at Citysearch

Yesterday, we visited the Banana Bean Cafe. Poor Decision.

I heard of the Banan Bean though a friend. Thinking that it'd be a great spot for a brunch, I decided to make the trip down south to the former strip joint turned eatery. Surprised by the number of cars in the lot when we pulled up, we thought that we'd be walking into a pleasantly busy but managable brunch atmosphere. While promptly seated, it took a while before a server approached our table. Her excuse of being busy was fine - we weren't in any real rush. Unfortunately for the Banana Bean, the downtime between speaking to the server and looking over the menu allowed us to look and how dirty the place really is. Spotty floors, and food under the booths is sub-par for where I'd like to be dining. When our drinks were finally brought to our table (spots on glasses, and all!), we were informed that the food we'd decided on had "ran out" for the day. We dismissed her to re-look at the menu, and decide on our second choices for food. (Why put something on the menu if it's not going to be available?!?)

It took 45 minutes to recieve our appetizer. APPETIZER. 45 minutes of listening to that god aful music and watching the servers run around like chickens with their heads cut off. there were dirty dishes all over the bar, dishes left on tables for 20 minutes+. not a good place to eat food, in my opinion.

the food was good, everything else considered, but the management may want to consider a take out menu. lord knows that would be the only to actually enjoy the food being served there.

• Pros: Food, Friendly Service
• Cons: Dirty, Overpriced, Cold

01/25/09

Worst service I have ever received

by cfcampbell at Citysearch

Ok so this was my second time to Banana Bean Cafe. I really like their food, its actually really good and unique. However, and this is a big however, we waited one hour for our food, at breakfast. I mean really it was ridiculous an hour for breakfast. Then we waited around for another hour for our bill. We complained to the management and they told us that "Sundays are our lazy day, thats why we have jazz music playing" (and there was really latin music not jazz). REALLY, LAZY DAY, REALLY. If that is what your are going for, LAZY, you should at least warn your customers that we would be waiting around for two hours to dine. This is the food business, any where else this would not be expectable. I have worked in food service for years and this was the most outrageous and worst service I have ever hand. Despicable. On top of that they were out of several things on the menu. And the table service was intolerable. I won't be back, which is unfortunate because the food and concept could be great : (

• Pros: great food
• Cons: worst service

11/26/08

Hidden Treasures Still Exist

by tonyledwin at Citysearch

The review in the Alive is what brought my wife and I to the Banana Bean Cafe. It is the unique dishes, competent wine list, and stellar service offered that will bring us back again and again. We have lived in Columbus for over 20 years and thought we had tried all the best restaurants up and coming. It is, however, nice to know that originality and the unexpected treasure can still be found. Great article and stellar performance Banana Bean! Thanks for a great evening.

• Pros: great space, patio during wam weather, full bar
• Cons: chilly

11/21/08

Soft shell crab - yummy!

by vvvvkkkk at Citysearch

I did a random search for soft shell crab, and in came banana bean cafe.. name sounded interesting and the driving was even more interesting - I'm sure the location would surprise most people.. a tiny hotel, gives a sense of home owned restaurant and I felt like home already.. my Fiance had a fried plantain, tasted excellent, tho' a little too sweet.. and, I had my surprise soft shell crab, the best I have ever had, even more surprising was that they freeze it, so it's availabel throughout the year.. there were other first timers int he restaurants and they all were praising the quality and taste of the food.. though the location, size, price and other amenities were limited, the varied menu, the taste, the quality of the food just trumped them all.. If you are looking for something different, then this retaurant would give you that difference, along with a sense of satisfaction..

07/20/08

Banana Bean Exceeded Our Expectations!

by Janelle25 at Citysearch

My husband and I went to the Banana Bean Cafe today, it has been highly recommended by friends of ours. We didn't have reservations for inside seating so we opted to set outside. After taking sometime reviewing the menu we started with the sweet potato fries, this is the first time we have had sweet potato fries.....AMAZING! My husband chose the Banana's Foster French Toast and I went with the Eggs Del Mar. The french toast had a perfect balance of sweetness and my crab cake dish was a pleasant combination of spinach, poached eggs and a unique hollendaise that I have never had before. Our server was pleasant and helped us through the menu. Fortunately, we didn't have to wait long on our meals, the temperature in Columbus today was almost unbearable, we will know next time to make reservations. Overall, our experience exceeded our expectations; reasonably priced (2 coffees that just kept coming, appetizer, 2 entrees - $31 + tip), friendly service, and amazing food. Now I know why my friends highly recommended the Banana Bean, and I will too!

07/20/08

Not worth what it costs

by onlythebest1 at Citysearch

OK, so the food was good. Here are the downsides: The space is small and cramped, typical for a place of its type. The inside is hot and smokey from the kitchen so be sure to wear your outfit from the night before anyway. We sat outside which in the summer was even hotter and you have to put up with pesky flys and little bees getting in your drinks. The service was slow because it was so busy and had to remind the server to bring water, salt, ketchup, to refill the coffee, and more. We had the bananas foster and the crab cakes benedict which were both good but our bill was $40.00 by the time it finally came. Funny no one has mentioned how overpriced the menu is for Columbus, OH - average service and not worth what it costs, avarage plate is $10-$14 for breakfast, if they had worse food I'd feel like I really was in the Keys!

• Pros: Food
• Cons: Price, Service, Atmosphere