Banyan Bar + Refuge

Banyan has a beautiful, cozy atmosphere with warm wood-toned décor and a clean, modern feel. Although it was surprisingly quiet during our visit, reservations seemed limited, so I’d recommend booking ahead just in case. Definitely a cute spot for a lowkey lunch or dinner date. 🍽️ Food & Drinks We started with the Bento Box, which was a great deal at $15. It came with a nice variety: crispy spring rolls, pan-fried dumplings, scallion pancakes, a small cucumber salad, and more — all with bold flavors and great texture. The crunchy elements were a perfect intro to the meal. For my main, I ordered a noodle dish that had a beautiful presentation and a great chewy texture. However, the saltiness was a bit overpowering for my taste. Still, it’s clear they take pride in plating and ingredients. 👨‍🍳 Service & Hospitality Service was a bit all over the place — we were checked on by multiple servers, which made it feel slightly disorganized. That said, they got our order right and were attentive overall. 💡 Unique Selling Point The fusion bento box is a fantastic starter option for first-timers or sharers. It’s flavorful, well-portioned, and a solid way to sample a bit of everything without breaking the bank.

The Dan Dan Noodles with chicken were amazing!! We also had the Korean Sticky Chicken, which was del too! The white sauce paired perfectly with it. fried bao bun felt pretty mediocre. We didn’t try any drinks this time, but the cocktail and mocktail menu was huge. We’re definitely coming back for that. The ambiance was summery and had a fairytale vibe. A must-try spot for the summer!

Just had a phenomenal meal here with my family! We tried a ton of different dishes and I think we’d order almost everything again. The pork buns were great, the tuna crispy rice was great, the k-fries were probably our favorite appetizer, and I LOVED the short ribs. We also had great drinks (one of the best painkillers I’ve had!). Our server Ceili was super attentive and friendly, checking in on us to see if we needed anything and refilling our waters frequently. The only thing I wouldn’t recommend are the Brussels sprouts and I didn’t love the chocolate desserts.

Charges like a fancy restaurant, feels like a fast food place. Food came extremely fast - too fast. I felt like I was rushed as dishes would appear so quickly. At an average of $20+ per dish, you want to be able to enjoy it but because food came so fast and the portions where bite size, we all felt rushed. All the flavors where on - Dan Dan was odd without the spicy oil but it was spicy (as I asked). I added one star for flavor otherwise I would have given it 2 stars

Service and atmosphere were great, but the food was very average especially for how expensive it was. Everything we ordered had hoisin sauce on it (scallion pancakes, pork bao, octopus) to the point where it all had the same flavor. The octopus was also oversalted. We also ordered the lettuce wraps, but the lettuce was cooked for some reason, resulting in a soggy and disappointing wrap. Beautiful presentation and atmosphere, but the food just wasn’t up to par.

Banyan has unique takes on fusion with dishes like fried chicken bao. I thought that all the food tasted pretty good. I liked how the crispy rice with the tuna was crispy on the outside but gooey on the inside. The pork noodles were wayyy too salty though and you were just overwhelmed by salty ground pork. The cabbage wraps were flavorful but hard to eat given their size, however, the pork ribs came right off the bone and were delicious. As for desserts, the chocolate cake was interesting but not bad and the crème Brielle was also decent. All in all I had a good experience here and it’s a pretty cool spot with some dishes shining brighter than others.

Got their famous everything donut sandwich cause I just had to try it. Was salty but good. I would not get it again. The drinks were my fave and refreshing. I got the cucumber mint gin drink. Husband got the house made bloody. So good. The lobster buns were the best I’ve ever had. Loads of lobster and you get two. Ask them to heat the lobster because it comes cold.