Welcome to Banca Cafe

To start, the 4 of us shared a main sized Salt and Pepper Calamari which was cooked perfectly and was delicious. Our mains included Lamb Shanks, North African lamb fillets, the Sirloin & the Chicken Saltimbocca special. The meals came out in record time and were sensational. The best I've had in a long time.

Could not fault the service. The waitress was attentive and professional without being annoying.

Very impressed with everything. This is a hidden treasure and I thoroughly recommend visiting this fantastic place. We will definitely be back again soon!

My partner and I were invited along to Banca Cafe for the first time this past Saturday evening for a friend's birthday dinner. I had perused the menu and reviews on eatingWA after a brief Google search, so I had an idea of what to expect and what to pay.

The restaurant was already buzzing with customers at 7:15pm, and fully packed by 8pm. Simple decor, tealights on each table and lining the bar. Not sure if there was any music because I was unable to hear any over the buzz of conversation of about 85 other patrons. We were lucky enough to be seated at one of the booths, which were comfy and cozy enough for the 6 of us, but the vinyl seats were taped up in spots as they had been well worn and probably had seen better days. But surely a testament to the popularity of the cafe itself. :)

As we had arrived slightly later than the rest of the party, our friends had ordered their entrees, Bruschetta all around, which were just arriving at the table as we were seated. So my partner and I ordered the Bruschetta as well to share (2 large slices covered in a tomato, onion and garlic, drizzled with balsamic vinegar and EVO for $8.00), which was very tasty, very tangy, but not overbearing. However it seemed to have sat at the pass for a while as the bread was slightly soggy. (Eat it quick!)

As the entrees were cleared, we had to keep our cutlery to one side on a paper napkin, as it appeared we would not be given any clean cutlery to eat our mains with, which I found to be a bit of a faux pas. (Is it that hard to set a table with entree and main cutlery, or at least provide clean cutlery for the main if it's been used for the entree?)

The mains ordered that evening were as follows:
Sirloin steak, medium rare: Cooked to perfection, lovely mash, tasty jus. Well worth it!
Spaghetti Marinara (fish, prawns, mussels, squid): Deliciously thick marinara sauce, not watery or too "tomato-ey" (which usually puts me off from ordering marinara), a good portion of seafood.
2 x Crumbed Chicken breast: Tasty, light, nice presentation. As this had been ordered by my friend on a previous visit to the cafe, she said it was as good as expected. Consistency in the kitchen is always a plus!
Salt & pepper calimari (main size): Great portion or calimari, light batter, very tasty.

Originally as the orders were taken, I had ordered a small green salad with my main, but it never arrived. Upon checking the docket (it is added to with each drink/food order and left at the end of the table) the server hadn't written it down. Also, my partner and I ordered drinks on arrival (a Riccadonna Asti piccolo and a Crown Lager). I was told there was no more Riccadonna so the server suggested Seaview instead. She checked the fridge and found one last piccolo of Riccadonna, but neglected to bring the Crown Lager until asked about 20 minutes later. Our table was then pretty much ignored for 45 minutes until the mains came out, though our empty water bottles were spirited away and replaced quite frequently during our wait.

After our main meals were finished, we all decided to order desserts. Desserts ordered are as follows:

2 x Death By Chocolate: Beautifully presented, divinely decadent. Mudcake served in a pool of warm chocolate syrup with vanilla bean ice cream, whipped cream and a strawberry to garnish. Lovely!
2 x Trio of Desserts: a mini Death by Chocolate, citrus crepe, and a mini cheesecake? Cleverly presented. Happily devoured by those who ordered it.
Cheesecake (caramel, we think): a nice large slice served with whipped cream.
Donatella Ice cream (hazelnut): served in a large champagne glass.

Our desserts arrived in a bit of a muddle. The cheesecake arrived first, which our friend happily ploughed into, but it was a good 25 minutes before the other desserts arrived, sans the ice cream. :( I believe that the cheesecake should have been held back to allow the other desserts to be served up at and delivered at once. (Shouldn't desserts, and mains, be served together to prevent this situation of one person eating while the rest of the table has to watch and wait?)

On ordering, our server had been queried as to the types of ice cream available (vanilla bean, chocolate, and Ferrero Rocher), but as the rest of the desserts arrived, the ice cream was still missing, and the server who had delivered the desserts asked if there was an order missing. My friend said her Ferrero Rocher ice cream had not arrived, and the server queried "Who told you we had Ferrero Rocher ice cream?", and then proceeded to tell us the flavors available (vanilla bean, chocolate, lemon sorbet, strawberry, Donatella {hazelnut}). She then hurried off to bring out the hazelnut ice cream, which took all of 2 minutes to rectify.

All in all, even though the service had it's hiccups (as can be expected on a busy Saturday night) the food was beautiful and well worth the price. I do find this menu highly affordable for most people, especially for a place that serves up such delicious food, I would have expected to pay slightly more. For two: 1 entree to share, 2 mains, 2 desserts, plus one beer and one Riccadonna piccolo, and it came to $88.00 for the 2 of us.

Tuart Hill is a bit out of the way for myself (and most), I found the food well worth it and would recommend Banca Cafe to friends and family. :)

Banca has the ambience and the service of a fine restaurant but the food is patchy. The entrees were tasty and the trio of deserts was excellent, well thought out and superbly executed. The mains however lacked spark. I had a "Surf & Turf" steak which, while adequate lacked any kind of flavour - only a decent sauce saved it from absolute mediocrity. I'd happily return, but it won't get my pulse going.

My husband and I trooped along to Banca Cafe, being in the neighbourhood and having the Entertainment Book voucher on hand!

We arrived on a weeknight at about 8pm and the restaurant was about half full so we were easily accommodated. We sat at a table for two (a wonky one!) near the open kitchen, which was a bit of fun to watch and a bit different from many other places we've been. I'm quite a fan of the open kitchen!

We shared the trio of dips and turkish bread to start - and I have to say it was one of the most unusual variety of dips I've had... a hommus style dip (to be expected) teamed with a sweet corn and onion/mint flavoured dip (?!) and another unusual concoction that was probably capsicum based but definitely not your traditional dip. Not that it was a bad thing - just not what I expected :)

For mains I ordered a Margherita pizza and my husband ordered the fettuccine with italian sausage, tomato and olives. We found the menu quite attractive, lots of options and a variety of traditional and modern dishes were on offer. The wine list was also great - lots of good WA wines listed which I always appreciate.

My pizza was delicious - one of the best pizza bases I've ever had - coated in a garlicky oil that was just divine! My husband was presented with spaghetti marinara (much to his dismay!!) - don't know what went wrong with the order there - but this was corrected immediately and his meal arrived soon after (I'd eaten about two slices of pizza). His pasta was gorgeous - fresh pasta, spicy and full of flavour.

No dessert - we were both far too stuffed and neither of us finished our meals (my pizza was huge - I had to take half of it home). Total bill ~$60 (one entree, two mains and two drinks) which came down to about $48 with the 25% discount.

Service was fine - apart from our waitress being a little timid and bringing us the wrong meal, we had our orders taken early and did not wait long for any of our food.

I have booked this restaurant for a party of 16 for dinner in the future as it seems to be a great group venue.

The first time i came to Banca i really enjoyed myself but this week when i went for lunch i felt it could have been a lot better.

On entering, instead of being seated we were told to sit anywhere, not very professional in my mind, it wasnt busy so i expected to be made felt more welcome.

The menus we were given were dirty with food smears but the meals sounded great and with a good price. We ordered the dips to start with and the turkish bread was very dry and it wasnt grilled enough to give it any warmth or refreshment, the dips seemed fresh and a couple were very tasty but too sloppy to spread.

For my main i ordered a chicken Caesar, a plentiful serve with fresh ingredients was tarnished with too much dressing so it was a bit on the sloppy side half way in. My friend ordered a veal parmigiana, she said it was great, tender, hot, tasty sauce and a large serve, she was very happy. My other friend ordered the crumbed chicken breast which looked massive and fresh but was a bit annoyed that it wasnt very hot when she got it, we also shared a bowl of wedges that were obviously not cooked in fresh oil.

For dessert we shared a baked cheesecake which was fresh and presented well, and the semi freddo which was the biggest serving of dessert i have ever seen. It was delicious but the semi-off berries ruined it.

The service seemed a bit too laid back and unprofessional in comparison to my experience the time before. But after paying the bill and realising they failed to charge us for any drinks made us laugh, nothing like getting six drinks for free.

Wet windy night for a bookclub dinner, 10 of us in all. Service- efficient, seated immediately and given water, topped up regularly. Waitress suggested several platters of starters and got it just right. Friendly and knew the menu.

Food- Extensive menu. Shared platters of olives, fetta, sausage, bread and dips. All fresh and tasty. Love lemon squeezed on grilled chorizo. Mains were good- I had pork with two types of mushrooms on polenta, tender pork with great flavour. Most everyone else had beef- "fantastic", or fish- "good flavour but not hot enough". We didn't order any extra salads as enough veges with meal. Desserts were fantastic, we shared 5 tasting plates between us, major highlight of the meal, generous serves too, we should have only got 4.

Coffee was hot and strong.

Cost $35 each!!!!!!!!!! after using 2 vouchers ($70 disc) and including corkage.

Loved it, my new favourite north of the river spot.

The four of us went for a family meal last Tuesday evening.

We started with the garlic bread to share which was very good. We then went straight to main courses:
I had the lamb shanks which were beautifully cooked. The vegetables accompanying this dish were delicious (especially the green beans). My husband had a pizza, which was enormous and according to him, the best he'd ever had! My daughter tried the pork scallopine dish which was excellent. My son ordered the veal parmigiana which he enjoyed.

The servings were large so we shared desserts. The kids had the death by chocholate which was very good. We were a bit disappointed with the sticky date, which was more of a muffin than a pudding and the sauce was disappointing. Coffee was very good, but could have been a bit hotter!

Overall, we all enjoyed this cafe and will definitely be returning.

This cafe has a nice atmosphere and the type of menu that sounds very yummy and makes it difficult to choose! My caramel Thai chicken salad was quite good, not the best salad I've had but I enjoyed it and the sauce the chicken was cooked in was delicious. The spicey West African lamb fillets were okay, nothing fantastic. The stir-fry on the specials menu had the same chicken in it as in my salad so was quite nice as well. The desserts were extremely disappointing. We shared a trio of desserts (this changes nightly) which included strawberry sorbet (very strange tasting, no one at the table liked), sticky date pudding (the sauce was overly sweet and seemed to be comprised mainly of blobs of sugar granules, quite disgusting) and the fig & berry tart was very disappointing (we actually left some on the plate, which is extremely rare with a dessert!) The death by chocolate which I also shared half of was the best of the lot, but very average.

We will probably come back here to sample a few more of the main meals but will be avoiding desserts at all costs. I'm interested to see if anyone else has had similar experiences.

We went to Banca last night with friends to celebrate a promotion and a new niece.

We started with the salt and pepper calamari, marinated olives, marinated feta, grilled sausage and garlic bread. This has become our staple starter because it's light and easy to nibble on before mains. We've never had bad calamari here either.

For mains I chose the fish of the day: Atlantic Salmon on a lemon risotto cake with French mussels cooked in white wine, cream and tarragon. The salmon was cooked superbly (it looked like medium rare) and all the ingredients were so fresh. When I commented on this to the waitress she said that the salmon had just arrived fresh that day.

My husband had the pasta of the day which was pumpkin and walnut ravioli in a mushroom, sage and brown butter sauce. The flavours melded perfectly together and the dish didn't seem too heavy on the stomach.

Our friends had the hoi sin duck and the chilli mussels and both of them were very happy with the meals, especially the duck.

For dessert I ordered the trio of desserts - I have trouble going past it. The trio consisted of warm mudcake with chocolate sauce, nougat semifreddo and a type of lemon syrup cake. The servings were small enough so the richness was not overpowering and I was still able to enjoy a coffee. My husband ordered a slice from the desserts display and he was very disappointed because it appeared to be rock hard and rather stale. He alerted the waitress who apologised and replaced it with a biscuit promptly.

We had one waitress for the entire evening, which was nice, and she was very quick and able to answer our questions about food. Her name was Jasmine, but we got on so well that she became known as Jaz.

Overall, it was an extremely pleasant evening and it was nice to be able to take our time and enjoy the meal without feeling rushed.

My friend & I had a catch up lunch here a few Saturdays ago. It was pretty quiet except for about 5 other tables.

We had a lovely waiter, he was an older gentleman who provided us with beautiful service.

My friend and I both ordered chilli mussels which were very tasty. They cam with plenty of nice thick sauce. My only complaint is that the bread that came with the mussels didn't seem overly fresh. maybe from the day before??

This came to about $40 for 2 serves of chilli mussels, 2 glasses of red, and a serve of garlic bread.

I will definitely be going back. :)

Overall I quite enjoyed dining at Banca, which is not your ultra traditional Italian cafe.

Our entrees were served very quickly however the mains took awhile to come out, which is difficult when you are dining with small children.

My husband ordered the margherita pizza which was ok, but very oily and thin.
I had the special chicken saltimbocca which was delicious and a very generous serving. The only bad point was the broccolini which were cold, almost like they had been frozen.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the grilled chicken and mash on the kids menu, usually kids menus only consist of nuggets and the like so it was really good to see real food offered for the kids. My 6 year old loved it.

It was a little more costly than our usual cafes but the service and food were quite good. The decor is also very tasteful, and a little tip - call ahead and book a booth if you can.

This is always going to be one of my favourite places to eat at in Perth, because they are consistently good.

On this particular evening, we shared some salt and pepper squid with lime aioli for entree and some marinated olives. For mains I had the hoi sin duck (again) and my husband had the pizza special of the day (potato, prosciutto, broccolini, pesto and rocket). For dessert I shared the trio of desserts (chocolate pudding, mango sorbet with fruit salad, tiramisu) with my sister.

All the food was perfect. Everyone really enjoyed their meals and the highlight for my husband was the coffee, which was probably the best he's ever had. I really loved the squid and the sorbet the most.

The service was also very good. The waitress came by to take our order several times before we were ready - which to me shows attentiveness - and all the service staff were friendly and approachable. They get big brownie points for allowing my mum to take the rest of her pizza home. Not many places do it these days and I know it's for health reasons (and covering their arse reasons) but it really irks me.

The restaurant was fairly busy on the night we went, but we didn't have any trouble hearing our conversation so it didn't bother us.

This place has recently changed hands - the head chef and his wife now own it. I think they should do quite well as standards have not dropped at all and it's still very affordable for the high quality food you receive.

It's the second time I've been to Banca and the food gets better. I had the chilli mussels last time (they were really yummy) and luckily they were off the menu cos it made me choose something different.

We started with the Turkish bread and dips as our dining companions were running late as usual. The dips were nice, nothing special though, and there was adequate Turkish bread, which was good as you normally have dips left over!

I had Moroccan lamb fillets with roasted vegetables which was fantastic and full of flavour. I wasn't too keen on the Harissa sauce which I think was one of the dips that came with the Turkish bread, but the rest of it was great. One dining companion also had the lamb which he really enjoyed too; one had a fish of the day - big slab of barramundi - perfectly cooked. The serving sizes are huge - you won't go away hungry!

If you've read any other of my reviews, they tend to rate restaurants on how well they can adjust the menu to suit. My mother is vegetarian, highly allergic to seafood, dairy intolerant and doesn't like capsicum or filled pasta - a chef's nightmare! To Banca's credit - the waitress was willing to offer suggestions and mum ended up with fettuccine in tomato sauce with roasted vegetables which she really enjoyed. So many people have allergies and intolerances now days, it's nice to see a restaurant going out of their way to please.

We probably didn't need it but shared a couple of slices of country lemon tarts for dessert. It was lovely and the rest of the desserts on display were also impressive.

The service was great to start off with - very attentive. Unfortunately, we were never offered dessert menus (we had to get one off the other tables) and found it difficult to attract attention to order desserts. I certainly agree with the previous reviews about the tables being too small for all the food and drinks.

But the best bit of the night was the bill - they wanted to charge us $20 - for dinner for 4!! We thought about just signing the credit card slip but decided that would be very bad karma, especially when we enjoyed ourselves so much - so we pointed out they'd missed a 1 - it should have been $120! But $30 a head (using the Ent Card) was very reasonable. We shall be returning - lots of other dishes I want to try!

My partner and I took his parents here for dinner last night and we all really enjoyed it. While this is quite a noisy place when it’s full, the food is delicious and their large menu offers something for everyone. The number of large groups seated around us suggest this is a great venue for a dinner out with friends and family.

Our one major complaint was that the tables are too small (our large round plates were hanging a third of the way off the edge and we had to keep shuffling dishes to make room for everything on the table).

But I digress...we started the meal with the Chilli Garlic Prawns and Italian sausage, both tasty with generous portions. Be sure to order the large sizes of mains and salads here if more than two people are sharing. Our mains were the Pork Scallopine with creamy mushroom sauce and polenta for Mum and Dad and pizzas for my partner and I: Funghi and Mexican. The pizzas were great, the thin crust just the way a thin crust should be. The Mexican pizza was really spicy, as you'd expect, but tasty just the same. I did not try the pork but it looked wonderful (all the main dishes and pastas we saw go by, looked piled-high and well-presented). We also shared a Greek salad and a side of bread, both good as well.

What stood out for me at Banca Cafe was the freshness of the ingredients in the food - something so important to the finished product. Service here is neither the best nor the worst I've encountered...all the servers wait on all the tables so you don't have one person watching out for your table. This only became a problem when ordering second rounds of drinks or if you needed to get your waiter's attention. Maybe they could have used a couple more waiters on a busy night but this did not ruin our experience. Definitely a great neighborhood restaurant to try on a night out with friends.

Went to Banca for Lunch today. The restaurant has an almost industrial feel with polished concrete flooring and metal stairs. This is softened by curtains texturing one of the main walls.

We ordered garlic bread for starters, and after much deliberating over mains I decided on the fish of the day for my main course. Unfortunately we weren’t told about the specials menu before we were asked what we wanted to order, this would have saved some time because my favourite dish was on the specials menu!

This being grilled fish (it was barramundi) with creamy mash, asparagus and beans, which is exactly what I ordered, and I must say it was delicious.

Everyone enjoyed their meals immensely, the service was good, but not great (my meal was brought out a while after everyone else’s, and people waited for drinks etc) but it was friendly and fairly fast.

A most enjoyable experience. Thumbs up for Banca!

What a hidden gem tucked away unobtrusively in the little bank of shops on the corner of Wanneroo Road & Cape Street. Went there for Friday lunch and I was really impressed.

I had the salt and pepper squid with lime aioli, which was light, fresh and really delicious. Servings were very generous and the other meals looked yummy (Thai Caramel Chicken, Barramundi, Parmigana). Nice atmosphere, wait staff good. I'd definitely go again.

Given the positive reviews on this website to date, I was keen to give it a try. Four of us took the plunge, assisted by the Entertainment Book's 25% off voucher.

The four of us shared two entrees, a 'Turkish bread & dips' plate and a tapas plate. The tapas plate was well constructed with some tasty morsels (polenta cake, salsiccia, roasted capsicum) and the dips were identical to those served at Mille in Inglewood (not surprising given that they allegedly share ownership).

Main courses were very good without being outstanding. Perhaps the serving sizes (large) affected the overall impression of the diners. None of us quite managed to 'clean the plates' although all of us agreed the quality was good. Needless to say, any chance of sampling desserts fell by the wayside. Please also be aware that this is not the 'standard' Italian cafe menu - it has a few interesting variations, including hoisin duck (which if I remember from my Italian classes, means 'foreign' :))

The reason for 3 stars only for service was the variability of the service. We had two different waitresses over the evening - one a little older (i.e. 30-ish - young by my standards!) and with a good approach to customers, and the other obviously much younger, and not comfortable with or interested in her role. A shame, because this slightly detracted from the experience.

I started this review with a 'keenness to try' this place. I'd consider returning, but I wasn't as overwhelmed with the experience as I was perhaps hoping for - the expectations being based both on my experiences at Mille and the reviews on this site. There's a number of other places I feel more certain or enthusiastic about returning to.

However, if it's your first time, and you don't have my preconceptions - give it a go!

We had a fantastic meal at this cafe and will definitely eat there again.

We started out with the Grilled Italian Sausage which was pretty good, and the Chilli Mussels which were just great.

I had the Black and White Linguini and have to agree that it is sensational. My partner had the Mexican Pizza, which although a little spicy for me was really good too!!

The staff were friendly and helpful, and although we did have to wait 40 minutes between entree and mains (we were even offered coffee before our main course which I found unusual) I still found it to be a great night out.

Would definitely recommend!

Friendly service definitely sticks in my mind about this place as there are too many occasions when you encounter rude wait staff at other cafes so this is one reason why I liked this place.

Secondly for the price you pay and the size of the serve you get is good value for money and the red curry risotto was perfect. Not over cooked or dry and had plenty of seafood! Will definitely go back there.

Banca is hands down my favourite place to eat in Perth. My husband and I go there regularly because the food is a cut above the rest, the service is very good and it is very affordable. The prices may look a little on the high side to some, but the quality of food cancels that out. A couple of favourites are the hoi sin duck and the surf and turf. They used to do a mean tiramisu too.

Despite the review of Banca in "Paul eats Perth" I think Banca is great!! I have been there several times and have always been impressed by the food. Even though there is a mish mash of dishes to choose from, Banca pulls it off and all are delish!!

My fave is the black and white pasta, inventive and unusual. The best time to go is on a Saturday night when the huge venue fills up and the atmosphere is bustling and exciting.