Banksia

Made my first trip to Banksia's new location on 12th street!Place your order at the bar, and they will give you a number and bring your food to your table. The new space feels much larger so there seems to be more seating! This should be helpful on the weekends if this location is as busy as the last! Highly recommend ordering some sweet pastries and sausage rolls to enjoy while you wait for the rest of your food. My favorite is still the lamb and harissa roll! The corn and zucchini fritters make an absolutely delicious breakfast. Super balanced plate, and it tastes delicious! The homemade bread using on the mushroom and beet toast is so tasty and sturdy under the delicious toppings. I appreciate how many vegetarian options they have. Street parking or paid garages/lots in this area of downtown, but Banksia is located exactly at the Metro Center streetcar stop, so it's very accessible from anywhere downtown.

Not sure what to think of this place (downtown location). The counter servers are pleasant. The menu is interesting though kind of pricey. The first time I came (not during Restaurant Week, this was about a month ago), I got Eggs Benedict with gluten-free toast. It was a very generous portion of ham and eggs on the bread, with, um, unusual hollandaise. But tasty. The second time I came (prior to Restaurant Week), I got the corn and zucchini fritters, which were not hot when they arrived and the texture was gummy. Not appealing at all. They were topped with a hard fried egg that was really unattractive (it looked like it was stomped on) - who wants an egg cooked liked that when there are SO many other options (and why not give the diner a choice)? The avocado and grilled (?) tomatoes didn't add much. The only thing that saved the dish was some delicious crispy bacon. The first time I got a perfectly decent coffee, but the second time I got a chai latte that tested like slightly spiced milk. Yuck. And no, I don't own a business, I just SUPPORT local businesses with my hard-earned money, and share my actual experiences on this site, which is designed for that purpose. There are MANY other local establishments offering GF options, I'll be trying some of those next time.

Some friend and I always get together for KC Restaurant week, When we stumbled across Banksia we were immediately interested in the ability to try kangaroo. Upon being sat our waitress was Erika was super helpful in explaining what our options were and giving suggestions. I split a bottle of Wither Hill Sauvignon Blanc this was a great choice with the food options that were available for the restaurant week menu. Half of our table ordered the Kangaroo loin and the other half ordered Polpette Meat Balls. The kangaroo was very tasty and was a good size, all of the components of the dish worked really well to showcase the kangaroo. I tried on of the meat balls and I will say I almost wished I would have gotten that. The flavors of the meat balls was amazing. For my main dish I got the Australian Lamb Cutlets. EVERYTHING about this dish was a YES!!! Everything played really well in meshing together as one amazing dish. The Lamb was cooked to perfection, I left nothing on the bone. For Dessert I ordered the Spiced Orange Cake, this was a large portion and was moist with really good flavor from start to finish. I can't wait to go back and try this place again.

Cute place. I love the walls with the plants on them. You order at the counter and then they bring the food to you. It wasn't very busy so it came pretty fast. I ordered a sugar-free vanilla latte and eggs Benedict. Both were very good. The eggs Benedict wasn't quite what I'm used to. It was a little different maybe because it's an Australian place. It came with arugula salad which was fresh and very good as well. Note to self: always put your finger on the top of the bottle when you shake it because I didn't do that and the hot sauce went everywhere. Oops

We came here to try and eat before a show at T-Mobile Center. I thought this place was supposed to have Australian food, but instead had overpriced typical American fare bar and grille food. The waitress that seated us was having an attitude about something, so we decided we wanted no part of it.

This fabulous scratch kitchen was everything I hoped for and more for a weekday lunch. The cashier was extremely helpful, providing recommendations that we ordered and were outstanding. We ordered the Moroccan salad, adding Jerk chicken as recommended. We also got the Cuban confit pork sandwich. Both were so flavorful, very well crafted and so delicious. We also ordered a slice of orange poppy seed cake from their bakery display. It was moist and the citrus flavor cut through beautifully. Lastly, we wanted to try a hand pie and nibbled on the lamb and harrisa pie. Not to sound like a broken record, but it was flavorful and the pasty dough was so flakey and buttery. The hand pie price felt a bit steep for me, but worth a try. The prices of their sandwiches and salads felt reasonable for everyday lunch. The restaurant itself was nicely decorated, beautiful full-alcohol bar and also a barista stand for made to order coffee. They had a patio outside that would be great for nice-weather dining. Their front door is not handicapped accessible HOWEVER they have a back entrance through the connected office building that is accessible.

I came here on a Friday evening and had several of their happy hour specials! Everything tasted incredible and with ordering multiple plates it was easily shared amongst three people. The place had a good ambiance and the service was excellent! Our waitress was very kind and offered suggestions. The owner came around and chatted with us, too! Super cool place. They have two parking garages they validate tickets for; both just around the corner from the bistro.

Loved the old location in the Library District, so we were excited to try the new space at 12th and Main. Impressed with the expanded seating and bar. But what was improved in space was left lacking in product. Cinnamon roll was cold and hard and even after a warm up was still a hockey puck. Overnight oats had so much yogurt, every bite tasted sour. Breakfast sandwich was a huge disappointment. The bread was burned and hard on the edges. It was supposed to come with spinach, which meant 6 leaves. You order at the counter and food is brought to your table. Staff was kind and when they asked if everything was ok, offered a pastry replacement for the sad cinnamon roll. Definitely tried to make up for the disappointing roll. Would have given this location 3 stars had it not been for the staff. Will give it another chance for lunch sometime and hope the disappointment is contained with breakfast selections.

Wow! First time here and we were amazed. Came for Kansas City Restaurant week. They have a kangaroo tenderloin. That was a first. And delicious. So tender full of flavor. Lamb chops were up next. This babies melted in your mouth and was served so an awesome spicy chickpea cous cous and sweet potato mix. I finished with the Pavlova. So far, they have the best I've ever had. I'll be back to try their brunch menu.

First off, the signage (or lack of) is not good. What a shame because more people need to know about Banksia. But follow Google maps and you will find this hidden gem!I had the pleasure of devouring an order of Corn & Zucchini Fritters , which were accompanied by an egg, bacon, avocado, tomatoes and refried beans. The entire dish was delectable! The fritters had a heavy garlic flavor with a nice amount of cayenne pepper. The refried beans were reminiscent of a macrobiotic meal (@Casa De Luz in Austin).Not to mention their Coffee was hot, fresh and tasty.