Billy's Pine and Bamboo Restaurant — Restaurant in Brisbane City

Caught up with some high school friends and the guest of honour (in town from overseas) chose the venue upon a recommendation he received. I didn't mind going back as it's been a while since my last visit, and I was keen for some Peking duck action.

Another friend more familiar with the menu (and some of the staff?) took care of ordering, so I just sat back and waited for the food to hit the table 😄

We had 2 serves of Peking duck, both as 2 courses ($88 per serve). The first course was duck skin wraps, and the second we had san choy bao for one and shredded duck with handmade noodle for the other. I say 2 serves rather than 2 ducks because you're not technically getting the whole duck. And I'm not sure why/how but we got our second course within about 2 minutes of the first course so that was probably meat from different ducks.

The rest of our food (as best I can determine): sizzling Mongolian beef, $26.80 battered fish fillet in creamy corn sauce, $40.80 sweet & sour pork, $24.80 ginger & shallot New Zealand oysters, $46/dozen steamed egg white with seafood, $40.80 stir fry vegetables with garlic, $22.80

There was also some duck soup at $3/person which I didn't capture.

I didn't get much of a look at our bill before 2 of the guys decided to settle it between them, but I was pretty sure I saw the Peking duck listed as 2x 3-figure number. Not sure why, maybe we got extra pancakes. Anyway all up works out to about $40+ per head for a pretty satisfying feed featuring some pricier...

We're usually loyal weekend regulars here, but decided to pop in on a weekday since we had friends visiting from abroad. Normally, we're really happy with the food, which keeps us coming back. However, our last visit was disappointing, especially since it happened when Billy wasn't there. First off, the Peking duck three-course meal we ordered looked dry and unappealing, far from its usual juicy and tasty self. Plus, they couldn't make 10 duck with cabbage rolls for us like they typically do for our group of 10 and insisted on only making 8, which we were fine with but just added to the oddness. After waiting an hour and eating other dishes, including a fish with scales not cleaned off properly, we asked about the duck soup we were expecting. They claimed we hadn't ordered it, despite us always getting the “one duck three eat” set that includes the soup. Overall, it was quite embarrassing to have friends visiting and...

Updated review: We have been visiting Pine and Bamboo for 30 years, but as they say all good things must come to an end. We've decided that we won't be returning again. The restaurant was oppressively and unpleasantly loud. It seems like they have added more tables pushing everyone closer together and raising noise levels at the same time. The Peking duck was excellent, however the pancakes supplied were half the number needed (more cost to get more)and even the shallots provide were insufficient ($4.50 extra for a few extra pieces of chopped shallots). The extra pancakes took 15 minutes to arrive by which time the duck was cold. The salt and pepper prawns are no where near as good as they used to be.

Perhaps since Billy stepped away things have gone downhill.

Old review: The Peking duck is fantastic..although a little pricey. We have been back many many times. The salt and pepper prawns are a...