Phnom Penh

Our first family vacation dinner in Vancouver as a group of 7 did not disappoint! We came famished on a Saturday night after a long day of hiking and sight-seeing; really glad we were able to call a week or so before and make a reservation for our 6+ person group at 7:30PM, because the place was packed and there were definitely people waiting to get in when we arrived.

We got to the restaurant a little early so the staff set up our table quickly and called us inside right around 7:30. We'd done some research on this place, so we ended up ordering two bo luc lac (shaking beef), the butter beef (with the cilantro on the side, since I don't like cilantro), canh chua ca per my FIL's request (Vietnamese-style sweet and sour fish soup), black pepper squid, stir-fried rice cake, oyster pancake, and a large chicken wings for everyone to share. We were all too hungry to take pictures of anything past the first few dishes, so apologies for the half-eaten plates :P

The chicken wings were an unanimous favorite, but I also really enjoyed the garlicky flavor of the butter beef and the tender sauciness of the luc lac. My husband didn't love the short rib-y texture of the meat used in the shaking beef (he's more used to cubed steak in that dish), but most of the others at the table loved it too. The pepper squid was also excellent and went great with the rice we got with the luc lac, and most people at the table also really enjoyed the rice cakes. The oyster pancake wasn't bad but I think we prefer the Taiwanese version :) The Vietnamese version of the fish soup was also very unique for us, and most seemed to enjoy it - there was a bunch of cilantro inside this dish so I didn't end up trying it.

Staff was a little slow to bring water but totally understand since it was a Saturday night and they were pretty slammed. They were very attentive to the dietary restrictions at the table; we had two who are allergic to nuts. When we got the bill, we didn't love that they defaulted to us paying in USD instead of CAD (we all have fee-free credit cards, but we were not asked before the transaction was sent through in USD instead, so make sure to let them know if that's also the case for you). Overall, really enjoyed our meal here and it fed us super well!

I don't have Cambodian food often and was so pleased by the food and the atmosphere. It reminds me of neighborhood establishments back in NY where Chinese groups would gather for big celebratory meals. The soupy rice noodle dish had a lot of the same components as pho, but the broth was different and so the experience was fantastic. You've been warned, the chicken wings were extremely salty and the rub was a too sweet for my liking. The squid got the same rub and the same sauce, but had a better balance of flavor.

This place is popping though and though we got there at 5 pm, we waited for an hour and 15 minutes before we got seated.

Given all the great reviews, I had to visit and give it a try. We ordered the butter beef, fried chicken wings, fried pompet fish, spicy basil clams, fried calamari, stir fried water spinach, papaya salad and a soup.

The staff here are attentive and friendly. While we had to wait an hour to be seated, the food came out quickly and oh my.... I can understand why folks highly recommended both the butter beef and fried chicken wings. They were really good!! In facet, everything we ordered were really good. Great restaurant, great staff and great food! Would visit again!!

Like others have said, this is not going to be anywhere on the level of Long Beach nor Orange County. And also this restaurant doesn't really have Cambodian food. The latter is my top reason for this review. But this restaurant has non-stop takeout and walk-ins, so it is extremely popular regardless.
We ordered 3 dishes: the butter beef, fried chicken wings, and a dry noodle. The butter beef and dry noodles were actually okay but the chicken wings were served last and by that time the saltiness of the first two dishes were already too much that we couldn't finish the even saltier wings. I probably would've preferred Fat Mao, on the same street. Luckily there's also excellent drinks to be found, also on the same street, so this trip wasn't a waste.

This place for decades has been a Vancouver Chinatown institution for Cambodian & Vietnamese food! Expect a lineup, especially around dinner time, but it's well worth the long wait.

As a tradition, we always order the Phnom Penh Dry Rice Noodles - with prawns, pork, pork innards, ground pork, dried shrimp, all served dry with a mushroom soya sauce with soup on the side as per our request.
For a popular crowd-pleasing appetizer, try the delicious Deep-fried Calamari - or Chicken Wings if you're so inclined - with garlic, served with a lemon & pepper sauce.

My first time being at Vancouver and I saw that this place was recommended for must-trys. Owner of the restaurant saw that we didn't know how to eat the butter beef and decided to show and help us. If you come here, you must try the fried chicken and the butter beef with no doubt. Make sure you go early before they open or else there will be a long line and long wait. They only take reservations for big table (6+ people). If not, anyone with small party will have to wait in line to be seated. Just 10 minutes of opening, the wait list is as long as 1 hour 30 minutes.

I live in Los Angeles, California. I really want to visit Vancouver again to try this place. No regrets!

There was a wait for this place even though we went on a weekday and fairly early. So just keep that in mind! They text you when the table is ready so you can walk around the area if you want.

I would recommend going with a bigger group. We went with just 2 of us and we wanted to try more dishes! Good portions, good food. Will come back if we are ever in Vancouver again!

This was literally one of my top places to eat while in Vancouver Canada since I've heard so many great things about the butter beef and the fried chicken!

The noodle dishes is very similar to our "Kim kee" in California but it definitely was lacking some flavor. Kim kee noodle house also has pickled jalapeños and satay sauce but this place didn't. It's the same concept as Kim kee since this is Cambodian & Vietnamese style food so you can choose to have dry noodles and soup on the side.

I was pretty disappointed in the noodles and the soup itself.. I thought it was lacking some msg nah saying?

The butter beef is a MUST GET!! I don't think I've ever had anything quite like it. What's crazy to me is I don't even know any places in California that has something similar to it and I've been looking! I really thought the combination worked super well together even though it's technically beef carpaccio. The sweet soy seasoning, fried garlic, cilantro and I believe ponzu worked out pretty dam well.. multiple textures, sweet, sour and salty. 5/5 would recommend.

The fried chicken wings omg.. I believe these wings are double fried and are honestly on par with Korean style fried chicken. This one tasted so light, the batter is something different or maybe the oil they fry it in is different. It was so crackling crispy and so juicy inside.. that lemon butter salt & pepper sauce on the side complimented the chicken so well even though the chicken was deep fat fken fried.

The fried rice was meh.. I'm solely giving this place a 5 start based off the butter beef and chicken wings. Remember there's a reason why this restaurant has won multiple awards from the butter beef and fried chicken wings. The service and ambiance is like any other typical Asian restaurant. Parking around kind of sucks and the wait could be a while but definitely worth it if you're visiting out of country.

Came here with my friends after a long day exploring Gastown and it did not disappoint! They don't take online reservations so we waited about 30 minutes for a table, but they were super efficient as soon as we got seated. We ordered the chicken wings, butter beef, and beef luc lac, which are their three most popular items on the menu.

The chicken wings were phenomenal and quite generously portioned. It was the perfect mix of savory and salty and I would highly highly recommend ordering them.

The butter beef was pretty good, but personally, I could go without it next time. It came in a soupy sauce so I would suggest getting a side of rice to go with it. The sauce is quite salty.

The beef luc lac was very good as well. I'd rate it an 8/10. It paired well with the fish sauce.

The food wasn't too expensive either. We ended up paying $90 CAD for all three dishes, so not a bad price!

Phnom Penh was on my list of places to eat in Vancouver and I'm so happy I finally got to try it. The portions are pretty large and it's not crazy expensive. The service is friendly and efficient and the only thing I can really say that's negative is that I wish I came with more people so I could try more dishes.

We came on a Sunday night at about 6:30. They said the wait would be an hour, but that they'd text me. Awesome. We walked down to the bar down the street to wait for our table. In almost exactly an hour, they texted us saying our table was ready and we walked back over.

I kind of wish the menu had pictures or maybe just more description. But I looked through Yelp photos and read reviews and chose the items people on Yelp liked. We got a small order of chicken wings, the Cambodian soup with rice noodles, the butter beef and the luc lac beef with rice. It was a lot of food. We took some leftovers home.

The fried chicken wings were delicious. They put sugar and other seasonings so it's crispy and so delicious, but it also comes with this lemon juice/ pepper sauce that just takes this over the top. I'd come back for these.

The soup noodles were good, like absolutely nothing wrong with them, but just a little on the boring side.... There's just so many other amazing things to try. I wanted to get a soup though because it was cold outside and I thought something to warm us up was necessary.

The butter beef was kind of like a raw beef salad without the salad. The seasonings were really good. It's pretty sour, but I liked it. It just grossed me out a tiny bit to eat so much raw beef, but I think I'd get this again especially if I was sharing with a bunch of other people.

The luc lac beef came with rice, some lettuce, a slice of tomato, two slices of cucumber and a bowl of broth. In hindsight, if I knew the beef dish was coming with a side of broth, I wouldn't have ordered the soup noodles, but it was fine, the noodles were good too. The beef was seasoned well, nothing bad to say about this dish. I think it would be better with a better cut of beef because the beef they use is like thin cut.

Next time I'd want to try a seafood dish, possibly other noodles and possibly the papaya salad.

The service was friendly and fast. It seems like most of the tables seat 4 or more so come with a big party, expect a wait and make sure you're hungry for delicious food.