Phnom Penh

Just go for the chicken wings. Don’t take out they arent as amazing when you do. Im telling you their wings are to die for!

The wait is worth it! Or even better. go at lunch time as the wait isn’t so bad!
Things you need to order:
— chicken wings
— beef luc lac
— butter beef
— fried rice
— deep fried squid.
They’re famous for their chicken wings. The seasoning is just delicious. you will get addicted!
I suggest going with a big group and ordering a variety of dishes. They take reservations for big groups too!

Service is eh, ambiance is eh, but the food is what earns this longtime establishment its stars.
The wings of course are the star, but the beef Luc lac and butter beef (basically a beef tartare with a citrusy dressing, a la ceviche) also shine. My husband was hankering for some phở as well, and they do a decent job here: the rare beef was tender and delicious, not grainy or gristly like some other places.
If you are small party and eat fast, don’t be shy in sharing a table… after all you could make a friend! (You know you already have one common interest foodwise).
Do they use MSG? I don’t know. I don’t care, and I’ll take my glutamate in all its forms, be they through tomatoes, mushrooms, or whatever is coating those delicious wings.

My bf did a little research of places to eat in Vancouver and this place was one of the places on the list to try.
As soon as you enter the restaurant, it was crowded of people. Great sign for delicious food. Another great sign was all the food awards they have on the wall. Another great sign of great food. After waiting impatiently for 30 minutes we were seated.
Service: good and fast service considering how crazy busy they were
FOOD: We ordered the butter beef, which was so soft and delicious. The meat just melt in your mouth. I think we devour that within seconds. The fried chicken wings were cooked well, not greasy even though it was deep fried. The wings was good but not out of this world good like how everyone else put it. The salt and pepper lemon sauce helped. The snow peas were a little bland. Hot and sour soup was okay, taste home-​made but the fish didn’t taste very fresh.

the number of positive reviews should tell you how awesome this place is
must tries are chicken wings, luc lac beef on rice and butter beef (for those who like raw)

Three times in six months… I want to come here once a every month though.
I just need more patience till getting my table. (serving time is so quick!)
Chicken wings and garlic prawns are my favorite. I hope people don’t see me when I lick my fingers. Can’t resist!

I was on my way home after a couple dance classes, still feeling the remnants of some sort of cold BS in my lungs and craving phở. After a quick scan of a few different places on my route, I decided that Phnom Penh sounded so good I couldn’t resist.
When I went in, the place was absolutely packed, with a huge lineup to the door on a Tuesday night, and people waiting outside. The line seemed to be moving rather quickly, though, and I intended on getting take out anyways so I decided to go for it. And from what I had heard, it’s worth it.
The smell in the place is amazing. Spices, herbs, garlic, lemongrass… ahhh! So good!
I did order phở, and it comes with steak, beef balls, and beef tendon… it was my first time trying tendon and while I was visually weirded out, the taste was amazing. Good to know for the future, I will try it again!
I also got their sautéed Water Spinach, and they did it in a small size for me as a single eater.
My god was it good. I’m a big fan of leafy greens, and have no problem with tougher greens either, and the spice level was just perfect. There were a few tiny peppers in there for extra bonus kicks of fiery goodness, too.
Everyone in the place seemed to be completely enjoying their food, many people sharing dishes and sitting at the round tables in larger groups. The atmosphere in there felt really good. I found the staff were friendly, efficient, and helpful, too.
I’m definitely looking forward to going back again, I must enlist a group of hungry showgirls so we can try many many more items on the menu together.

I ate here with a group of 10. We doubled and tripled up on quite a few dishes and gorged ourselves with plenty to spare for about $ 26 each (after tax and tip). We could have eaten very well for less. Everything was really tasty.
Favorites *** starred *** below:
* Phnom Penh dry rice noodles — $ 10.95 ***
Favorite! Similar to dry phở. Rice noodles with sauce, pork, pork innards, shrimp, bean sprouts. Mix well and enjoy.
* Butter beef — $ 13.95 ***
Similar to carpaccio. Thinly sliced and rare. Served with lots of cilantro and marinade.
* Beef luc lac — $ 15.50
A little salty but very tasty. Very large portion.
* Beef luc lac with egg over rice — $ 10.95
Same as the above but with other ingredients to balance out the strong flavors.
* Phnom Penh deep fried chicken wings — $ 13.50 (large) ***
I almost always enjoy chicken wings, but these were extra good. Nicely battered and fried. Greasy but not too greasy.
* Phnom Penh hot and sour soup with chicken, melon, tomato, pineapple, bean sprouts — $ 25.90 (large) ***
The spongy melon was delicious, and the acidity in the soup was well-​balanced. I don’t care for pineapple, but I was able to eat around it.
* Sauteed clams with Thai basil — $ 15.50
* Sauteed pea tips — $ 13.95

Two things; chicken wings and butter beef.
So being from a densely populated Cambodian city, I was so excited to try Cambodian food in Canada. Unfortunately i was so disappointed!
First, the place was super packed which is usually a good sign.
Second, I ordered speaking Khmer and the waiter said, «Oh no I don’t speak Vietnamese”-_– and gave me the strangest stare. Which I should have been the one to look at him weird…
Anyways, clearly if you didn’t grow up eating Cambodian food you would say the place was okay. But the papaya was like literally an American salad, no fish sauce, no crab paste, no shrimp paste and not a hint of lime. i was so disappointed. Besides not being an authentic place, the chicken wings and butter beef is pretty good. One Star for the Chicken wings and another for the butter beef.
But I mean good to see a «Cambodian» restaurant in Canada but it doesn’t do any justice, sorry.

Finally got to try the most raved about Vietnamese places in Vancouver. No reservations and the wait time is usually longer than 30 mins, my friend said. We came on a Friday night at around 7pm and jotted our names down for a party of 5. Surprisingly, we only had to wait 30 mins. Shocking to her but it was still a long wait for me.
My friend whose a regular already knew at the top of her head what she’s going to order. The butter beef, the wings, the beef lu lac, clams and the oyster pancakes. We each ordered the durian moo moo shake and an extra jackfruit moo moo shake to try/​share.
I honestly don’t think this place is as good as everyone says. The butter beef was good. I liked the wings (without the dip). Half of our table enjoyed it with and other didn’t. Now we won’t have to fit for the dip. My friend said the beef lu lac was supposed to be mixed before it’s eaten. To me, as with all mixed rice dishes, it enhances the flavor of the rice but looses all the initial flavors from each of the ingredients. The clams were ok. I’ve had better at some hole in the wall Chinese restaurant. Lastly… the oyster pancake. It was a no no for me at its first bite. But then I got to like the chewy texture with the crispier edges. Still too greasy for me to have more than one slice (by the way, you’d have to slice it up yourself).
Durian shake was the bomb. Can’t give less than 5 stars for that! The jackfruit alternative was less impressive but mixed with the durian, it’s also 5 stars for me. I wished they’d make one with both so I don’t have to order two shakes and do it on my own.

Like all the other reviews below, I loved the chicken wings here. We came at 1ish on a rainy monday thinking there wouldn’t be any wait time but man were we wrong! This restaurant has wait times of at least 20 minutes even on a rainy Monday post lunch hour, so you can only assume that evenings or weekends you’re looking at a least 1 hour wait time, but it’ll still be totally worth it. The butter beef didn’t live up to the hype for us, but it was good and interesting nonetheless. Highly recommend but beware of long wait times. And a super duper plus is that they take credit cards!

We had the the grilled whole fish (I think it was tilapia) and the chicken wings. These were amazing! I agree with everyone’s sentiments on the chickens wings
Other things we ended up ordering: the hot and sour fish soup, which was just ok
However, don’t get the phở. It was 2.5 stars at best. But the fish and wings cover up all the sins of that phở…

Their butter beef is rare (super rare almost blue rare) pieces of beef that has been very lightly seared around the edges then sliced into thin pieces. It’s covered in a ponzu like sauce and topped with cilantro and fried garlic. Definitely like a beef carpaccio. I also liked their salt and pepper wings, which were not overwhelming. They are fried well and are served with a lime and salt and pepper — it’s good but it’s nothing that I’d put in the list of best wings I’ve ever had. Be prepared for a wait!

yooo this place is amazing. We’re visiting Vancouver for a few days and went here the other night with a friend who highly recommended it. We ordered the butter beef, the chicken wings, the chicken hot pot, fried prawns, fried squid and idk some other stuff but hell yes. We shut it down. Amazing food. The sauce that the chicken wings are served with is incredible. The butter beef dish is so delicious. I was like «lol byeeeeee» to my diet for that night, for sure.
The food came out fast and every bite was flavorful. Minus one star only because we came there later in the evening when they were getting close to closing so we felt kind of rushed out by the wait staff, but other than that it was amazing.

Came here on a rainy day and we luckily found curb parking right outside — phew! We were greeted right away and put on the wait list (duh!). Ain’t nobody dining here even on off peak times without waiting at least 20 minutes haha! The person who sat us and took our order were both very friendly.
1. Grilled Beef Spring Roll: BOMB! The meat was very flavorful and the wrapper was chewy like it’s supposed to be and it didn’t fall apart when you bit into it.
2. Chicken Wings: If you come here and you don’t order this, then… well there’s just no excuse for this. Order these!!! They’re hot, crispy, juicy, yummy… the only thing I’d say is that these actually tasted better when we dipped then into the fish sauce rather than the lime pepper dipping sauce that it came with.
3. Two Kind (dry) Noodles with Soup on the side: I have no words for this dish. This was a combination of rice noodles, egg noodles, pork, pork inners, shrink, veggies, fried shallots, fried garlic, and whatever magic sauce is in there. You mix it all together and just chew slowly so you can savor every amazing bite of this.
4. Slushy: I forgot which flavor we ordered but it doesn’t actually matter because it never arrived at our table. We asked one of the servers to check on it for us because 15 minutes had passed by and I’m pretty sure it doesn’t take more than 5 minutes TOPS to make this. The female server was super rude and said «SLUSHY coming!!!». Umm… so did you personally see someone making it or are you going back to make it yourself? Because it never came, so thanks for nothing.
Anyhow, Food I give it 4.5 stars and Service I give 3.5 stars. Not gonna lie… I’ll be back though! Don’t care if the service isn’t on point. Yes, the food is THAT good!

As last review mentioned, gave up the dining in and did take out instead. No regrets on not dining in.
Got a large order of the chicken wings to take home as I’d had some out of town visitors and they asked what they should be trying. Needless to say, five star ratings from the out of towners and me as well! :)
Would give this a five star review since it’s pretty much only about the chicken wings, however, did have one issue in the whole take out thing. When I placed the order, I was told that food would be ready in 15 minutes. Showed up in 15 minutes, waited another 30 minutes. Good thing I brought reading material!

This place is always crazy busy. Waited in line for over an 1 hour. By the time I sat down, I was famish. Yes seriously I was famish. When waiting, I did noticed people tend to order more then you would expect they can finish but they do manage to finish what they order or at least most. I am guess most people are like me by the time they sat down they were all starving and their eyes are bigger than their stomach. That is probably what it was! Yup hmm mmm.
I don’t mind waiting for good food because at the same time I did get to gossip about people eating so much. Yup one extreme one was 2 small skinny girls ordered and ate so much that I can see it in their belly after finishing or halfway through. Another thing I find is that the server are all very skinny. Guess its from running and working non-​stop. Can be entertaining waiting for a table.
We ordered their famous fried chicken, pan fried fish and a rice dish which had pork, Vietnamese meat and pork shredded. Everything was delicious but not too long after we sat down and ordered we were told it was last call. We were like Huh??? Like I said food was delicious but not yet a 5 star yet. This is because I am not a hyped up Cambodian food craver. You know what I mean probably from my profile you can tell, I would prefer Sushi or Japanese. Another thing I find is that their rice is too mushy. I prefer rice that are in tiny pieces or at least have the texture of pieces.
This place can be quite loud as well. Also, please note they do not take reservation unless you have a party of 8 or more. Another thing to note is that this restaurant is not located in the greatest location either. At night it can be scary.

As other people have said, this place is busy. We were told that we had to wait for 40 minutes but since some people left when they were called, we were ushered in around 20 minutes after we arrived.
We ordered the infamous chicken wings, beef luc lac and beef house noodle. The chicken wings were crispy and addictive. The beef luc lac was tender and perfectly seasoned. I love wrapping the beef in the lettuce leaf and eating that way.
Unfortunately, the beef house noodle was a flop. The soup was just ok. The beef was tender but I was really disappointed with the noodles. It just broke apart when you tried to eat it.
Overall, a good experience and fast service. You go here for the food though, not the ambience or décor.

I must be the only person who was not blown away by Phnom Penh judging by the reviews.
I am a wings person and everyone told me I HAD to try the wings here. Meh! I am convinced I went on a bad day because everyone has to be raving about the wings for a reason. We also tried the butter beef and beef luc lac– not impressed. Everyone around seemed to be enjoying their food though. I need to give Phnom Penh a second chance because perhaps my taste buds were off that day.
When we got to the restaurant on a rainy Saturday afternoon, we waited for about 15 minutes. We were prepared for this though. This is a busy place and the line just kept getting longer.
The service was very poor. We waited awhile just to order drinks and even longer to order food.
The bathrooms were not the cleanest which always sketches me out a little.
My friend had been here before and he had a good experience the previous time. I will therefore try this restaurant again!

We thought we would beat the lineup if we came at an odd time. not the case at all. We came in around 4pm and we had to wait. This place is BUSY! We waited for 25 minutes and were shown to our table.
It has been many years since we have been here so we decided to order the items that other Unilocalers recommended plus our favorite.
We ordered:
Unilocalers Recommendation
Butter Beef — This is one of the best dish I have ever tried. If you like rare beef Sashimi, this is similar but the beef is rare but warm with the special sweet sauce and cover with garlic flakes and cilantro. I ate it by spread the sauce around and rolled the garlic and cilantro inside the beef. After we ate the dish, we saved the sauce.
Deep Fried Garlic Wings with Lemon Pepper Sauce — sorry Unilocalers, these are not the best wings I have ever had. It is really good and the lemon pepper sauce does enhance the taste but I find the meat itself is lacking in flavor. I like that they serve the whole wing in the dish, drummette, wing and the tips.
Our Favorite
Deep Fried Shrimp — on the description, it is the same as the wings but what came out was gorgeous and so tasty, lightly fried with shell on, the shrimp is split and served with prawn chip.
Papaya Salad with Shrimp and Beef Jerky — we had the Butter Beef first with the strong garlic sweet sauce and thought we might not taste this at all. Totally not the case, this salad stands up on its own with the fresh flavor of Mint, Fresh Bay leaf and Cilantro, the shrimp is more a decoration and tasted ok, the kicker is the beef jerky, these are salty, soft jerky that gives a different texture of the green papaya. I love this salad, so fresh and healthy especially with all the fried food we were eating.
Chicken Claypot Rice — years ago where we came to this restaurant, it was my favorite, Not so anymore, this dish does take 30 minutes as stated in the menu. What came out is a huge Claypot big enough to feed a family of eight, it was full of Chinese Black Fungus and Veggie, what is lacking is chicken, we counted 8 thumb size pieces with bone in. We had to asked for the Fish sauce to pour in and it was still so bland. Luckily we saved the sauce from the Butter Beef so we poured that in and it tasted better. I was really disappointed my old favorite is so lacking in flavor. I guess I won’t be ordering this dish anymore.
The service is good. The décor is typical Asian eatery.
The only thing I find disturbing is that they have industrial carpet on the floor, while a waiter was dropping off the takeout box, he was carrying a dish with veggie and he was tilting the dish so much that the sauce was leaking on the floor. He just looked at it and moved on even after I told him he is dropping the liquid all over the floor. No attempt to clean it or even use some paper to soak up the sauce. I wonder if they ever clean that floor other than a light vacuum, yuck!