Siem Reap

aw-​koon ch’ran for the happiness you brought our family during your too-​brief stay. You’d have been our Father’s Day choice. Sigh. Please consider reopening at a time and place that makes sense to you. In the meantime, be well and prosper.

I’m having all the feels right now, after experiencing the full gustatory experience of southeast Asian cooking at Siem Reap, only to find that they are closing in TWO DAYS. They plan to reopen in a new location, but until then, I’ll just have to remember this first meal.
Initially, our server warned us that there would be a bit of a wait, as there were only two chefs in the back and they were busy — four tables. I’d rather know ahead of time that service will be slow rather than sit down expecting to eat quickly, so we settled in. (Yes, four tables can be overwhelming if you only have two sets of hands and no microwave.) The menu is BIG, with Thai, Vietnamese, and Cambodian dishes, all with color photos of each dish. Nice! There are also a couple of Chinese-​style things on offer, but they are definitely buried in the menu. They offer a bit of everything — phở and other soups, pad Thai, bahn mi, Asian-​style salads, lemongrass chicken, curries, noodle dishes — so we asked what was good, what they had, and got hooked up.
We ordered the stuffed chicken wings, since so many Unilocalers wax poetic about them. They were right — I could eat those things morning, noon and night! A full wing with the top bone & meat removed; then filled back with ground chicken, spices, basil and lemongrass, then fried to a crispy brown. It was crunchy and meaty and spicy and aromatic and pretty much everything you’d want in an appetizer/​lover. The wings come with julienned and pickled veggies. We also had a spicy papaya salad, and it indeed came out «extra spicy,» crunchy and perfect.
For our entrees, we had pork feet stew and chicken crepes. The stew was amazing — deeply-​flavored broth, big chucks of bone-​in meat, a hard-​boiled egg. Be sure to ask for rice — that broth needs to hang on your taste buds for a second. The crepes were great, if a bit messy to eat. Thin egg crepes filled with the ground chicken mixture a la those stuffed wings, bean sprouts, with sides of fresh basil and cilantro, and lettuce leaves, then some fish sauce with peanuts for dipping. Quite messy to eat (we had to ask about how to get things all married together to eat). By the time we were finished, we were full to the brim and taking leftovers home.
Please, PLEASE Siem Reap, I hope you get your storefront and that you open again SOON!

I got the Chciken Spring Roll, the Chicken Pad Thai, the Tom Yum soup with Chicken, and the spicy papaya salad… It all smells so wonderful! I ate the Tom Yum soup, which was absolutely delicious and was full by the tim I was ½ way through it. I can’t wait to eat and try all of it!

Good food and decent service. I have been here 5 times or more. The place looks like a dump on the outside but is nice inside. A more upscale take on traditional Asian. The prices are good.

I ordered roasted duck and basil chicken before and wasn’t that impressed because their duck was old so it smelled and basil chicken was like spicy chicken soup (I’m a big fan of basil dish so this doesn’t look and taste like one). I decided to give it another shot since Unilocalers seem to like this place (thought maybe I didn’t order the right dish). I looked up website and called in to order for a pick up.
When I picked up, my bill for the 3 salads was $ 24.25 ((o_​O)) I thought I didn’t do the math right when I called in but my bill was $ 5 more than I expected. I’m not sure how I feel about that. 2 dishes, they are $ 2 more than what posted on their menu online and another one was $ 1. Maybe it doesn’t sound much to you but it does add up. I’m not sure how I feel about that… I asked for their printed menu hoping they will have updated prices but they don’t have printed menu to go. $ 5 plus tax that you didn’t expect. Ok…
Food is ok. Small portions for prices.

Saturday 7pm, yes the place was empty, and based on reviews I was looking at a ⁵⁰⁄₅₀. The place is far from being a 5 star as far as ambience, it is a hole in the wall, which in many cases is where surprises are. The service was good, some people said it wasn’t fast, but our server was, and he was on top of things.
Sapporo, fresh spring rolls and stuffed wings to start. The spring rolls were delicious and HUGE! I have to say the servings at this place are very generous and I love it. The stuffed wings are amazing, a blend of spices stuffed into a wing, unique to say the least. I am huge into spicy flavors and the spicy in these wings were great.
At this point I want sure I could fit anything else in my belly, but then a bunch of plates started to come and it looked so good I opened more space. Curry broth in a fondue like presentation, beef, shrimp, calamari, noodles and vegetables. Then you mix them all to your like. The end result is a delicious soup, not too heavy on the curry, just enough, and light. We all loved the experience of cooking it ourselves. After a while 3 happy people.
The place is far from where we live, it is not a fancy place, but it is worth the drive for the food, the uniqueness and the service. Support this people! Just go and try it.

Nice foods and awesome service!
The waiter didn’t see us when we walked in, but after we told him, he apologized and became incredible nice. Besides, we asked him to recommend some popular foods, and his recommendations were delicious. I’d like to go to this restaurant again!

I visited twice and each time, the place was dead which is okay but more business would have improve the availability of some things. They were out of soup and both time did not have offal. Probably a good thing on the offal.
We ordered the roast duck, fish cakes, shrimp roll, beef phở, and spring rolls. Our service started with pickled cabbage– some julienne cabbage, carrots, daikon sprinkled with roasted peanuts. The flavor is okay but not like what I’m used to. It has an aftertaste that I don’t care for.
The roast duck was a little dry, meatless, and extra bony. My friend really struggled. Personally I like the flavor a lot. Glad it was not overly fatty. The fish cake was too fishy. Needed a lot less fish and more lemongrass. Substituting a different fish like talapia might improve the taste. Love the cucumber on the side. Fresh and crunchy.
The phở and shrimp roll made up for everything else. You have to order the shrimp egg roll. It’s shrimp wrapped in an egg roll shell and deep fried. Delicious!
Phở was full flavored. Loved that they gave me extra chili peppers and shrimp paste.
The phở here can hang with the best of Columbus.
I hope more people find the place.

Two friends and myself had a major hankering for some Thai yesterday. And, if you know us at all, we will only eat the real deal. Unfortunately, most of the good Thai places in Columbus are either 1.) closed on Sunday or 2.) close way too effing early on Sunday. This left us with just a couple options after a long, exhausting weekend. We settled on Siem Reap not out of convenience (we drove 20 minutes out of our way, actually), but because it was recommended by a trusted Unilocaler friend and the reviews were all fairly positive, as well. I do recall also reading a tip that the workers are always friendly, but this was definitely not the case last night.
Onto the food…
I truly wish I could give you my honest to goodness opinion on what I thought was going to be some mighty tasty fare, but my hangry friends and I were barred from trying even one bite! Apparently, Siem Reap isn’t open until 10pm on Sunday like their listed hours reflect. Instead, at 9:38pm, they’ll turn you away from their unlocked, brightly lit restaurant sporting an «open» sign and insist it’s already 10pm.
Worker’s exact words: «We closed at 10pm.»
Me: «It’s…not 10pm yet.»
Worker: *blank stare*
Me to my friends: «I think it’s time to write my first Unilocal review.»

My husband and I have been impatiently waiting for our schedules to allow time for us to make this visit. We had tried some of their food from their food cart at the Asian Festival. They had excellent Chicken Empanadas and Cocount Corn.
We ordered the appetizer sampler, beef phở, and ribs.
The appetizer was good, and very big. The coconut shrimp were the highlight for me. The fried/​tempura vegetables were ok, but tasted and had the texture that they were made first — which made them taste old.
The phở was ok. The broth was quite oily, and the noodles where much wider than what I am used to. It was edible, but not very appealing for me personally.
My husband told me that his ribs were borderline inedible.
The whole experience including the wait staff was underwhelming and disappointing.
Maybe our expectations were too high? But we were excited to enjoy more from what we had at the festival, which weren’t even on the menu.
This isn’t the place for us.

Finally got to try this place after hearing about it for a while now. The décor isn’t much, and it felt pretty dirty to me for some odd reason. It was also a bit humid/​hot in there since I don’t think the AC was on. I did kill a bug that was scampering across my menu when I opened it. That freaked me out a little. I ordered a lemonade, and it tasted mostly like water. I should’ve asked for another one (maybe they just needed to refill the machine), but I was too lazy.
The stuffed chicken wings were delicious! I wasn’t impressed by the amount of food with the hotpot along with the price tag, but it was overall ok. I probably wouldn’t go back for the hotpot though. It’s something that could be done at home for a much much cheaper price. The curry broth tastes more like hotpot sacha sauce than curry. It also took a really really long time for the food to come out. Service is alright as well. At this point, I’m not sure if I’d go back. It might be to try other dishes since there seem to be good reviews on those.

Wow, I am getting crazy with these five star reviews. But I can’t find anything to dislike about this place, and there is a lot to like.
Okay, it’s sitting in kind of a wasteland. It’s right across from the casino, and everyone’s hoping this area will take off but it hasn’t quite yet. I don’t care about that anyway– I care about food and service. The building itself is nice outside, and inside. There’s a lone table outside. Inside, it’s clean and comfortable.
Service was efficient but not intrusive– he was there when I needed him to be. Friendly but not obsequious. Prices seem a bit high, but it’s good quality and portions size is plenty for a growing boy.
The food was simply outstanding. The flavors were subtle, but perfectly balanced. I started with a little cabbage salad; apparently it just comes with the meal. Very nice, fresh, vinegary, with a bit of carrot and some peanuts. Then my appetizer, crab Rangoon. This was a surprise– such a perfect combination of fillings. Nothing overwhelmed anything else. Crab, green onions, cream cheese, all balancing each other. Perhaps the best I’ve had.
Then the house soup, just a clear broth with veggies, but nice. And my entrée, pad see ew. Wide noodles, Chinese broccoli, and I had the combo meats– chicken, beef, shrimp. Superfresh veggies, excellent flavors, but again, subtle and finely matched. So, so good.
They have a coupon for discounts when you come back, and apparently they grow a lot of the veggies. I will be back– I’d have everything again, and there is plenty more to choose from on the menu.

Idk why this has 4 stars
The food is not fresh
Tom Yum was salty and calamari was tough
Very tough
2 stars at best

My two boys and I were craving the beef satay from Siem Reap that we had at Asian Festival. This was our first trip to the actual restaurant. First impressions were that it looks like a nice clean establishment and all of the patrons appeared to be regulars.
The menu was thick and includes a color picture of most items. There are so many interesting and delicious things to choose from. We of course had the beef skewers which were even better than we had at the festival. I had the pork feet stew that’s also served with a pork belly sticky roll. Growing up I’ve had Vietnamese versions of both of these. It’s not quite as good as grandma’s, but still something I haven’t had in years and very good. The boys (3 and 7) love their phở so they split a bowl. I personally didn’t care for their phở, but this isn’t a Vietnamese restaurant and it wasn’t my meal so no stars deducted.
The wife ordered non-​spicy pad thai, but it was still too hot for her. She can’t take much heat at all. I’m really desensitized to heat, but I could pick up on a little spiciness too. We confirmed the spice level with the waiter who said it’s was the lowest they offered, but there were obvious dry chilis and cut up thai chilis throughout. This knocked it down a star for us.
Service was great other than the pad Thai fiasco, and beer was only $ 1/​bottle. I can’t wait to return with a group to try the hot pots.

Love love love this place. Food is spot on every time!
At least once a week I get a craving for the stuffed chicken wings. They are huge chicken wings with the bone removed, stuffed with meat and spices then deep fried. Tell me that doesn’t sound like heaven? I get them to-​go on my short lunch break from work.
Orange chicken is tasty. Portions are perfect, there’s enough to take home with you for a snack later.
Chicken and shrimp Fried rice — fresh shrimp flavor, tasty rice and egg. love it!
Chicken Pad Thai– I get mine extra spicy. I get chilis in it, mixed with the peanuts, spicy noodles and chicken– fresh lime juice squeezed on top.
The thai iced tea is great too. Its so sweet and is a well bodied drink. Not watered down or anything.
Phở– I cannot remember the name of the phở we all got. I brought 3 people with me and told Nina (our waitress, who was very helpful with the menu) to surprise us wuth phở for 4 people. It had chunky vegetables, shrimp, squid, pieces of steak and eggs. We had 3 bowls each and took a huge container of left overs home! I would have more pictures but we inhaled the plate before we finished!
The atmosphere is nice, theres a full bar and tv’s. Large area for seating.
Outside there’s plenty of parking. (I asked, yes it’s in a former Captain D’s building)
All in all, get over here and try some of this stuff! Its fresh and tasty, hits the spot when you’re craving Asian cuisine.

THIS place!!! Ohhhhhhhhh, what a WONDERFUL dinner I just had at this hidden jewel of the West (side)!! I came over to Columbus to meet up with friends at a Mexican place around the corner, and hate to admit how ummm, HAPPY I am that they ditched me/weren’t able to make it!!! I saw this place out of the corner of my eye and I knew I had to give it a shot. Ayyyyyy caramba, sorry Mexican restaurant around the corner, THIS place is where my culinary destiny was tonight!!!
Super attentive service, crazy reasonable prices… Wonderful apps., you can make a meal of just a few plates of the more interesting ones (jalapeño calamari… golden quail, fish cakes… or try a variety w/​the appetizer delight). I tried the perfectly prepared veggie spring rolls (four HUGE rolls!!) and took amazingly great smelling beef skewers for Mr. M & P, who ALMOST didn’t get a chance to try them on my trip back to Springfield! Couldn’t pass up the Phở, as this place claims theirs is best, quite rightly, I’d add! Super delicate blend of flavors… I didn’t want it to end!
I want to go back again SOON (tomorrow?!?) and spend all the $$$ I plan to win at the casino across the street and order one (or more!!) of EVERYTHING on the menu!!! Tom YUM!
(Can you tell I don’t get out of Armpit… ummm… Springfield, OH very often?!?)

Going with 2 stars since that means «Meh. I’ve experienced better.» I am neither blown away by this place or dispise it.
We’ve had a few different dishes here:
The seafood pasta was fantastic. Very fresh and lots of good stuff in it. A little on the watery side, but still great flavor.
The duck was disgusting. It was SUPER greasy. I realize duck is a fattier meat, but this was so fatty, you could literally ring the grease out of it. Most of the dish was bone. Some of the pieces had no meat on them at all, including the part that looked to be the neck. It was also not very flavorful.
Egg rolls: Pretty tasty, more of like a spring roll. They’re like $ 5, but you get 4 smaller rolls.
The Orange Chicken. OK, so I also realize this is not really a «Cambodian» dish… we were in the mood for orange chicken one night late, and this place happens to be open very late. It was very bland.
We also did carry-​out once from here and were told upon our arrival that something we ordered was not available. There was «no meat for that is ready and it would take a long time to prepare it», and were given the rest of our order and kind of pushed out of the way. Whatever I guess, but I kind of would have appreciated a call and the opportunity to have ordered something else instead of waiting 30 minutes, driving there only to then recieve half our order.
So the restaurant itself… Which appears to be like an old Captain D’s or something? It’s pretty dark and dingy and a tad grimy looking. And the bathroom «hallway» is pitch black and creepy. I would like to see this place cleaned up and brightened up a little.

I was craving phở and ended up here. The phở was delicious… Loaded with beef and meatballs (super good meatballs) and shrimp and octopus (I think… that’s what it looked like… Maybe big calamari tentacles?). The broth was flavorful and rich. The noodles were scrumptious. Very good phở!
The interior is a surprise from the outside… Decorated very nice… Really warm feeling!
I’ve never had Cambodian food so I wouldn’t know what to recommend but I do want to go back and try a few things since I had my phở fix!

I gave Siem Reap a five star for being brave and reintroducing Cambodian cuisine back into the Columbus scene! And for opening up on the west side which hasn’t been known to host a lot of authentic restaurants. I’m excited for this place to take off. They represent Cambodian cuisine and I’m proud of them. I hope they stay consistent and humble.
First, lets start with the inside. Lets just say you’ll be surprised at the touches and pieces of art, candles, and color scheme they choose. It’s quite appealing.
Second, FOOD is everything! So, first just try the ya-​houn curry option and if you’re not into curry try the clear broth ya-​houn same complimentary sides, assortment of vegetables, and meat but with a side dish of pra-​hok dipping sauce. The Phở claims to be the best in town. I beg to differ I give it an above average rating. But still good. Spring rolls, and eggs roll both good and presentation good. Stuff chicken wings are my favorite, not a lot of places I know offer them. So it’s a must try! One thing that sticks out to me is that they offer complimentary appetizers, roasted peanuts, and a cabbage, carrot, ginger salad for FREE! Name an Asian restaurant that offers anything free beside an fortune cookie! So I applaud them for doing something different and free. It just shows there kindness and warm welcomes which is apart of the Cambodian culture.
Three things I tried that I didn’t like and tried more than once was the ice coffee, Thai tea, and hot coffee. Each visit I gave it an shot to see if improvements were going to be made and each time I was very disappointed. I hope they read this review and make the necessary corrections. Because I want it to be good and fulfilling :-)
Also, they doubled up the menu and I’m excited to dine in and try all the other things they offer. And I was told that a liquor license is going to be granted. So that would make for more frequent visits:-) Great people and family, give them a try it won’t disappoint you.

Siem Reap is the only Cambodian restaurant in town (C’bus has lacked a Cambodian place ever since the rather improbable Lindo’s Mexican & Cambodian Restaurant closed some years ago), so that fact in itself would be a good reason to check out Siem Reap. That, and the fact that the food here is seriously good.
Like many restaurants in town, Siem Reap is trying to cover their bases with the menu; hence the inclusion of dishes such as phở and pad thai, which aren’t really Cambodian in origin. Happily, there is a solid selection of Khmer-​style cooking, if you know what to look for. If you have any doubts you’ve come to a Cambodian restaurant, the 8-​foot long painting of Angkor Wat should remove them.
Our first trip here, we got a selection of dishes: mango salad, pamelo salad, stuffed chicken wings, chicken curry. The salads are a nice change from the more commonly available papaya salad that anyone familiar with Thai and/​or Vietnamese food knows; the mango salad uses slivers of green mango, the pamelo salad wedges of pomelo (similar to a mild-​flavored grapefruit). Both are relatively dry, with small dried shrimp and seriously potent minced chili peppers for flavoring. The curry is a good Khmer-​style curry, a mix of spices, fish sauce, coconut milk, shrimp paste, and chili peppers that gives it a complexity completely distinctive from Thai curries. And the stuffed chicken wings? I’ve been searching for them ever since I ran across them twenty years ago in an (apparently Cambodian) restaurant in France, of all places. The chicken wing is deboned, the meat is minced and mixed with herbs and spices, and then stuffed back in the wing and deep-​fried. Ah, heaven.
Our second trip back, we got smart and brought three other friends so we could get the curry hot pot, which involved copius amounts of vegetables (won bok, choi sum, Chinese broccoli), proteins (squid, beef, pork rinds), and rice noodles. A friend who has lived in China declared it the best hot pot she has ever had, no small compliment given the Chinese know how to make a damn fine hot pot (Sichuan-​style, anyone?). And to top that? Our total bill, factoring in the hot pot, various appetizers, and dessert, was $ 12/​person, generous tip included.
Suffice it to say I will be back, a lot.