Bill’s Bar and Bites

I’ve always held divided opinions about the Leederville Hotel. Built in 1897, the structure has always been an established landmark in the town’s entertainment precinct. However, over the years its ‘Seedy Leedy’ reputation largely eliminated any desire I had to visit. All that changed with the arrival of Bills Bar and Bites.
The new renovations create a beautifully relaxed, rustic aesthetic. Warm exposed brick sits comfortably beside pared-​back plaster, greenery and timber furnishings. It’s old-​meets-​new in the best of ways.
I first visited Bill’s back in early 2014 when it first opened, at which point the menu was definitely small plates/​bar food created by Exec. Chef Damien Young (ex Butterworth bar fame). Since that time, it’s transitioned more into a mash-​up of tapas snacks and more substantial pub fare to soak up a few drinks, such as sliders and the daily pizza. This is definitely not a bad thing; evolution to meet consumer demand is a strength in any establishment. But I will miss the duck and manchego cigars!
In terms of the current Bill’s menu, I’m yet to try most of it (I’m eyeing the corned beef and cauliflower cheese jaffle) but the piquant salsa roja and corn chips was a delicious option to accompany a cold Saturday beer. I’m glad Bill’s is sticking around. Leederville’s better for it.

Awesome place to catch up with friends for a quiet drink or a date. Even better on a Friday or Saturday night! Lacks atmosphere on a Sunday but still nice. Drinks are great with a wide variety including $ 7 house wine and beer. Beautiful food. Beautiful décor as well — not over done or confused. Great place all round.

Situated in the old Leedy Hotel, Bill’s Bar and Bites has transformed a venue which I blearily remember from my late teens as a hangover inducing Wednesday night hot spot. It’s bright, airy and offers a great exposed brick look that we all wish we could get away with in our houses.
For me, the duck and manchego cigars ($ 6.00 each) are one of the best things on Bill’s menu. Crunchy, shattering spring roll pastry encases shredded duck meat and flavoursome manchego cheese. They’re so moorish, so salty and addictive. They teeter on the line of being over seasoned but for my palate they’re on the money — they keep me coming back for bite after bite. Simple. And delicious.

Great quiet place to relax and enjoy a drink (on a weekday that is; Haven’t been there on the weekend).
I’ve been there a decent amount of times now and really enjoy the atmosphere there. The staff are great too :) they have great wine list… We love the reds! If you like spicy ginger beer try the Jamaican ginger beer they have… I love it.

Drinks with the girls after dinner, great atmosphere. Really enjoying this place in Leederville. Think it’s becoming quite the local. They have a good wine and sprite list. Cocktails are expensive $ 16 average (I suppose quite normal for perth though).

The staff here are always awesome! Can always find a seat, and the prices are not ridiculous for this standard of venue. good work guys!

Popped in for a quick dinner and drink before our Unilocal movie première with some awesome fellow Unilocalers.
I wasn’t really impressed with the food, the duck cigars were very greasy and didn’t have much taste. I also had the cheese and ham toastie which was ok, but only one piece of bread, come on!!! I like my toasted sandwiches with two decent sized pieces of bread and cooked for longer so the cheese is all gooey! Lucky I had a huge cookie at the movies which tied me over till I got home.
The service was very slow and it looked like one staff member was new and needed assistance with drinks and orders.
I did however enjoy my glass of SSB, so next time I go I think it will just be for drinks before or after a meal. I really like the set up inside, very spacious and lots of seating in the different areas.

So much better than the seedy Leedy!
This bar has recently taken over the old Leederville Hotel.
Came here recently for a friends Birthday and it immediately made a good first impression.
Drinks are cheap, food is delicious, inside is vibrant and buzzing and it has a cute little courtyard out the back with ample seating.
Staff are also very friendly. They by accident took away our bottle of wine that wasn’t finished yet and when we complained they replaced for a whole new bottle!

I’ve only been once and it was on a Saturday night from about 7:30 — 10:30pm so bear that in mind when reading this review.
Ehhhhhhhhhh I’m not excited by this place. Its another attempt at a hipster bar in Perth with ridiculous drink prices ($ 14 for a stubby of Brooklyn Lager) and finger food. There’s nothing special about it, sorry to say. They have wasted a lot of space in the front bar area with tacky plastic large planter boxes of plants in the middle of these big square tables. The bar is quite big and it takes a long time to get served, the bar staff are doing the best they can, there just isn’t enough of them. They also aren’t helped by the extremely loud nature of the place, standing in a group of 4, good luck hearing anyone but the person next to you shouting into your ear. The music is extremely loud, its a BAR (well so it says in the name) not a club guys turn it down so people can do what they go to a bar for eat, drink and chat!
Positives the food I tried was tasty and they do have 1 reasonably priced drinks — coopers long necks — $ 14.

Words can’t even express how I feel about Bill’s Bar and Bites! Oh wait, «Good». «Good» is about right. Not great, and I wouldn’t really rave about it to anyone.
The ambiance is nice, it’s spacious, dimly lit and quite funky (yeah, people still say ‘funky’), however; the draught beer selection is limited at best and the food/​tapas is… Not «Good» (e.g. one item we ordered was the pulled pork, which was served room temperature and tasted like what I expect leftovers that have been left on the bench over night to taste like)
I would recommend this place to people as somewhere to go after work for a few glasses of wine if you’re in the area (don’t go too far out of your way).
One major plus is that they had a live jazz band when I went for lunch on a Sunday, which is deffs a plus.
Work on the food guys and you’ll be so much better.

First of all, thanks to the wonderful Just A. for organizing the UYE last week! It was a great night hanging out with the Unilocalies :0)
So why the 3 stars? Well, things were going smoothly with our drink orders and the bartender made mocktails for a couple of us. He told us to come back in 5 minutes and he’d have our drinks ready. We found a table in a corner next to a fireplace, which was perfect for a chilly night. After a group consensus on what to try, I went back up to the bar to place our orders. After giving the bartender the list of items, he read them back out to me as he scribbled on a metal can, which held our utensils. He walked to the cash register to ring up the bill and it was $ 64 so I handed him two fiddys. He gave me back my change and walked away and I realized he short-​changed me by 10 bucks! Oh hell no! By then he was gone so had to let another staff member know. She informed him and he went back to the register to get my other $ 10.
The food started to arrive shortly and I noticed practically every dish had coriander (cilantro). Not just a few sprinkles but chopped up in tiny bits and cooked into everything! I hate coriander. It’s the bane of my existence so I literally picked out every single little, evil, leafy crap. The Unilocalies will verify this. And then the cheeky girls tried to convince me it was continental parsley. LIES!!!
Anyway, we had ordered the Jamón Serrano & Kipfler Potatoes and somehow ended up with the Ham & Cheese Toastie instead. The bartender had read out «Jamón» (I’m 100% positive of this) so not sure what happened. But he was nice enough to bring us the Jamón later and not charge us for the mistake.
All in all, the dishes we chose were really quite different and had unexpected flavors (which worked) but the little errors here and there, plus all that coriander left me no choice but to dock off a couple of stars. I’d be more than happy to go back again and order everything WITHOUT coriander.

Had a little get together with my homies here last night. I had been meaning to get here for some time but hadn’t quite made it. Well, good things are worth waiting for. We shared a bunch of the boards including the duck and Manchego ‘cigars’ (that looked like spring rolls), the chilli con carne, the baby camembert (served warm and gooey) and the jamon. What I really liked about the place (apart from the company, which was my number one fave thing) was the fact that all the dishes contained a surprise. And I don’t mean of the creepy crawly variety. Nothing was standard or expected. I mean duck and cheese? Yep. The chilli con carne had your standard mince meat and kidney beans but the flavours were totally unexpected and a delight. Think cinnamon, clove, star anise with a sweet chilli kick in the back end. Add a dollop of thick natural yoghurt and that’s what I am talking about. The ‘transport’ was sliced toasted baguette with a slightly chewy consistency — terrific! Together with mood lighting, heated nooks, mixed seating, very reasonable pricing (eg: house wine @ $ 5 /​glass) and attentive service, I really like this place and will definitely be back.

Wow they have really done a great thing with the leedervile hotel! I read an article a couple of weeks ago about them reinventing the ‘seedy leedy’ and I doubted it could
Be done but I was wrong!
I popped into here for a drink and small bite on as Saturday night and loved the new layout of the place! They have blocked off the dirty dancing cages and replaced the dj booth with some lovely plants and made this more into a bar rather than a seedy nightclub.
There were still big areas for seating and really reasonable prices! My partner loved the fact that there was $ 4.50 emu export cans on the menu haha. It had cheap wines at $ 5.50 a glass which you hardly ever see in Perth now but also higher range wines and beers if you don’t mind spending a bit more for quality.
I had a small bite of chorizo with lemon which was tasty and definitely want to come back here for more!
I think it would be a great place for drinks with a group of friends !

Went here last night, this is the new renovated Leederville Hotel and it does not disappoint! Such a nice vibe when you enter love the décor and seems like a much better crowd than the «seedy leery». I didn’t have a bite to eat but had a cocktail and was delish! Good place to come, will try the food next time :)

I’ve been here twice now and like what they’ve done with the space, which isn’t a whole lot, but it’s attracted an older, more sophisticated crowd. I went on a Friday night and it was packed and perhaps a little understaffed. A big plus is that you can get a bottle of wine for $ 25! A con is the amount of parsley on all the food! Seriously, of the four dishes, all were covered in parsley. The ham and cheese toastie was simple, but delicious. But the potatoes were sooo disappointing… tasteless and for $ 12 you only got three half potatoes. Overall, a nice edition to Leederville.

A good edition to Leedy, a funky establishment, with good music, well decked out and that serves an actual choice of alcoholic beverages unlike it’s neighbour The Garden. They have an excelled selection of cocktails that are very reasonably priced at $ 15 especially considering the amount of alcohol in them… potent springs to mind, and they were more than happy when I asked them to make a different cocktail for me. The menu is a selection of tapas, and the food is tasty and well presented… and again reasonably priced. They also have bar games, which after a couple of cocktails were more difficult than usual! All in all a very decent place, would recommend.

Have been here twice since Bill underwent his makeover. Great job guys! No more stripper cages, dim lighting and loud music! … Actually the lighting is still quite dim and the music a tad loud, but hey, now they have a great tapas menu and a very extensive beer list, offering local and imported beers. The seating is spread out so gives you more room so people aren’t bumping into you every 5secs. They have lots of different seating; high tables, regular tables, a cool outdoor area and couches next to the pool table.
My favourite tapas dish was the pulled pork. Sooo good! Minus the onions. Others I was with had the duck cigars and they couldn’t get enough. Went back to order seconds. I’d give the swordfish ceviche a miss, it lacked flavor and took a very long time to come out. The chorizo and cherry tomatoes were also yum, would go back again for them.
If you’ve ever walked past in its previous days when it was seedy leedy and shook your head in shame. Go around again and give it a try now, they only have good things to offer! :)

Bill’s Bar and Bites is getting it Right!
So when I was told that the old «Seedy Leedy» Leederville Hotel had been bought out and converted to a trendy bar I wasn’t about to get my expectations too high. Boy was I off the mark on this one! — after numerous visits under different circumstances over the past few weeks, I can safely say that this place is doing «it» right.
Opening hours have changed recently and now you can get in the doors a little earlier from Friday to Sunday at 2 pm. For the rest of the work week you will have to wait until 4. On all the occasions I have had the please of frequenting this establishment it has always been to my complete surprise that we are able to waltz on in and grab a large table without a booking. I have no idea how this place isn’t booked out by now.
The décor has been redone and is minimalistic yet chilled out. The service is awesome and the food and drinks? Lets just say I felt the need to Unilocal about this place in a positive light so that should let you know what to expect. Pricing is also awesome and you can expect to pay as little as $ 5.50 for a glass of house wine, $ 15 for a cocktail and just over $ 10 for each tapas style dish (your meant to share).
An interesting side note, When you step «outside» to where they serve pizza’s from the oven if you look past the edge of the «garden» you will notice that there are still many remnants of the old Leederville Hotel in the darkness. Upon asking about this we were informed the owners weren’t too sure about what they want to do with that area just yet.
Having been here on several occasions I have been fortunate to have tried almost everything on the food menu and found these to be standouts (not to say the rest are bad, but the menu just changed and I haven’t been able to try all the new offerings): The Duck and Manchego Cheese Cigars (even at $ 6 a pop these are WELL worth it), The pig and chook terrine (its decent terrine) and The Swordfish Ceviche (very refreshing and the chilli gives the dish a great kick), .
Bills Chocolate Marquis (the only desert offering) managed to fulfill the most picky desert cravings. Drinks wise we found the house wines were decent and for cocktails the two standouts were the Femme Fetale and the Smoking Cigar.
If there is one place NOT doing this place a justice, its the crowds. Don’t get me wrong its «busy» but not packed. A place with this kind of atmosphere, customer service and food/​drinks should be packed out every night of the week.

There have been a few times now where I slip into Bill’s unassuming and unannounced — after attending their opening night a few weeks back, I was in awe of the menu BUT, I’ve always found that the quality of the food could diminish in future visits. This was not the case after returning to Bill’s.
I think that the pricing of the menu is extremely reasonable; none of the food exceeds the $ 15 price mark, as well as the majority of their beers, wines and cocktails. My favourite cocktail, the Femme Fantale is a refreshing combination of belvedere, lillet, apples, peach liqueur and elderflower, coming in at only $ 15. The Duck Cigars are not to be missed and well worth it at $ 5 a piece; they’re filling and very meaty, unlike most tapas cigars that I’ve had around Australia. The swordish ceviche ($ 12) and finishing off with the daily dessert ($ 6) are also musts.
I just love the fact that the place has such an easy going vibe and how the space is so spacious and versatile. The outdoor garden area is beautiful, there is also a pool table and I enjoy sitting around the bar as much as I like tucking myself away into a quiet corner on one of the more private tables.
I brought friends here one night and we ended up staying for almost 4 hours. The service is always friendly and the open spaced bar/​kitchen allows for great staff and customer interaction. It’s a definitely an inexpensive option for a bar in Leederville that does great food and drinks.

This new-​look Leedy is a welcome addition to the buzz in Leederville.
Cool and tasty food menu, my friend and I tried the pulled pork.
With a huge range of drinks ranging from cheap and cheerful to fancy and glam.
Great place for groups if you come around 4 – 5 on a week day. The only bad thing I have to say about Bill’s Bar and Bites are that these are only sharable for 2 people, no more.
It also gets very stuffy and hot inside which made me feel a bit sweaty and gross. In winter this place will be very cool to hang out at, but in summer I would maybe not stick around.