[REVIEW] PINE COURT CHINESE BISTRO, LITTLE NECK

On December 23rd, the Quest ended up at Pine Court Chinese Bistro located at 249-32 Horace Harding Expressway, in Little Neck for our 26th restaurant review. I have to say this was our most convenient dinner with our “Happy Hour” meeting place, liquor store (BYOB), Pine Court, and Carvel all within one half block. Although the place looked like it could use a good scrubbing, Pine Court had an A rating posted at the door. Walking into the place, you get the sense that this could be the “Real Deal”. The room is no frills, with not a tribe member in sight.

As usual, we asked the waiter to order for us. Not feeling that he was up to the task, I meandered over to the next table. Sitting at the table was a very gracious Chinese woman named Charlene. Charlene told us that she is a frequent diner at Pine Court, and volunteered to order for us a truly authentic Chinese dinner.  Pine Court’s menu is mostly Cantonese style.

We started off with dumplings. The Pork Shiu Mai, and Shrimp Crystal Dumplings were fine starters. Although dumplings can really vary between places, you usually cannot  go wrong by ordering them.

Our entrees consisted of House Special T-Bone Steak, Pan Fried Rack of Lamb w. Honey Pepper Sauce, Lobster w. Ginger & Scallions, Sauteed Chicken-Szechuan Style, and House Walnut Shrimp.

House Special T-Bone Steak– a nice porterhouse steak that is pan fried, causing it to be slightly over cooked. It was a good dish, that looked better than it tasted. The way to eat this steak is to dip the meat back into the sauce in the bottom of the plate.

Lobster w. Ginger & Scallions – By now we must have had this dish in 5 + restaurants. It almost never disappoints. On this night, the lobster pieces were quite small and scarce. The ginger & scallion sauce was tasty enough, but you could not  help but feel cheated by the lack of seafood.

Pan Fried Rack of Lamb w. Honey Pepper Sauce – If you come to PC, and just order this lamb, your night will be a winner. This is one fabulous dish!. It looks beautiful and tastes even better. The lamb is cooked to perfection, and the Honey Pepper Sauce is the perfect balance between sweet and spicy. It is served with broccoli.

Sauteed Chicken-Szechuan Style – When you can actually find a piece of chicken, it was really tasty. The waiter warned us that this is a spicy dish. It came out with a ton of peppers, but oddly enough, it was not that hot. The chicken was quite good, but once again they were skimpy with the protein.

House Walnut Shrimp – The menu describes this dish as crispy jumbo shrimp served w. home made rich sweet cream sauce & glazed walnut. We have had this mayo based sauce in a few other restaurants. Not a big fan. It is way too sweet for my liking.

Pine Court is an authentic Chinese restaurant that is real close to Nassau & Suffolk counties. If you would like to experience a real Chinese meal without the traveling, it’s a pretty good place.

Until we MEET again,

Mee Tsu Yan