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Mon-Thu. 11:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Mon-Thu. 3:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Fri. 11:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Fri. 3:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Sat-Sun. 3:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
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love love this place. Learned about their food a couple years ago and have been back a few times now. recently just went back again for a friends birthday. It was the first time for a couple of people...one being the bf...and all positive reponses =). we had a group of about 20 and the bill was about $250 which was not bad and had a lot of left overs. The main dishes we got were the following:
*Loc Lac..salad section....but believe me this was yUMO
*ginger chicken
*Kabobs...chicken and beef
*Beef curry
Ive also have had their chicken curry in the past as well. and also yumo. Thats all you need to fall in love with the place. We plan to come back again.....see you soon....
I was with my boss and coworkers. I never had Cambodian dish before. Fortunately, they all know about Chez Sovan but they ordered conservatively (they ordered the lunch special for the day ..one with chicken curry, salad). I find Cambodian dish to be really a familiar flavor that agrees with my palate. The dishes that we ordered are very good. Although there were mix reviews about the Catfish Amok I really wanted to try it (I am adventurous =D)...and will definitely go back and try the rest of the menu hehehe. The service is excellent because they were able to substitute the soup (Lunch Special of the day came with a different soup). I definitely agree about the great price $7.95/person is not bad at all.
BTW: Thanks Jamil N Candice M for your Yelp review about the place
I've tried most Asian cuisines, but never Cambodian so I thought I'd give this place a try.
Anita, the owner was extremely nice. When asked what the food compares to she said it's a good cross between Chinese, Thai, & Indian. This was a good sign because I love all of these foods.
First glance at the menu was pretty over whelming... there are so many items. There was 4 of us for dinner so we thought we'd try a little of everything family style. We were trying to be adventurous, but safe at the same time so we ordered mostly names we recognized and some we've never heard before.
I don't remember everything we ordered, but I definately remember the beef kabobs!.. Super tender and probably a 1lb of meat on 2 skewers!
Overall,
Great service, decent prices, and excellent food! I would recommend this place for sure!
Great spot!!!!! Family owned restaurant and we are regulars! Been goin for about 8 years. They always have great service and whenever the owner knows we're there she comes out from the kitchen to talk and say hello!
We love the beef and chicken sticks, chicken curry with potatoes, hot and sour soup with shrimp, stir fry, spring rolls, salad, ginger beef, fried bananas with mango ice cream, the list goes on and on and on! Great people, great food, and great prices!
Chez Sovan...I'm in love with you!
I'm mixed after my first visit, today, to this restaurant. I had the catfish amok. It's wrapped in banana leaf and was very pungent. The odor wasn't bad, but it was tough getting used to, which means that I didn't find it particularly good either. The taste of the fish itself was good. I was neutral about the eggy outer layer.
Some of my buddies had the special of the day (Friday): which was chicken kabob, soup, and something else which I can't recall at this point. That looked good. There were many items on the menu that I'd wanna try.
The prices are low and the service was above average for what I've come to expect from an Asian restaurant. I doubt that I'd propose this as part of the regular lunch rotation, but I'd go if somebody in my group proposed it. I'm normally indifferent when it comes to eating anyway. Maybe after I return a few times, my opinion will change.
eh, it was okay.
I guess all the yelp reviews gave me higher expectations. I agree with some yelpers that some of the dishes were sweeter than my normal palate.
We tried the Curry Chicken, the Catfish Amok, Eggplant with tofu, and Cabbage soup.
Nothing was outstanding, expect probably the Catfish Amok.
I probably wouldn't come back. if you must try delicious Cambodian food, I would recommend the one in Oakland--Phnom Penh House
The prices are fairly inexpensive, anywhere from 7.95 - 11.95 or so per dish. I got the catfish amok which I initially found to be amazingly delicious, but towards the end, I was less and less pleased with it. Overall, I'd have to say it's quite good, but not amazing. The texture is sort of weird, probably because the fish is wrapped up in the banana leaf. I'm also not the biggest fan of catfish. Still, this was perhaps the best catfish I've ever had, and at $7.95, it's a pretty sweet deal. My friend and I went last night (a Tuesday) at 8pm or so, and the restaurant was mostly empty. They closed at 9pm, but let us finish our meal first. Service was quite good, although they did probably come a few too many times, probably since they wanted us to finish up before it closed. Anyhow, I'm a fan and would come back again.
#16 large ROCKS! The curry was awesome over rice and lotsa rice I had.
We had party of 12 and there were many dishes ordered so I only remembered my order. All in all the split came to be very cheap $13pp; I don't think we had a 1:1 dishes:person.
All the entrees we had ordered were yummy.
Plenty of parking if they're not busy.
They've been around since 1987.
The service is friendly and helpful. The menu is pretty impressive.
Great food! I used to go to the Chez Sovan in San Jose (open for lunch only), but that location gets a little scary after 3pm. I love that this Chez Sovan is open late with the same types of food.
It might not be comparable to the old Chez Sovan, but for the availability, its great.
Amok at Chez Sovan Can Lead to MURDER...
Why am I perpetually disappointed by Southeast Asian restaurants that aren't Thai? It's not just Cambodian like Chez Sovan either - I've also been burned by Burmese and maligned by Malaysian. (One exception: Battambang, the Cambodian restaurant in Downtown Oakland).
I'd heard a lot of good things about Chez Sovan, despite it's location in a rough patch on the edge of downtown. Well that location isn't open for dinner (plus, I want to live), so we checked out their location in Campbell.
We started with Sach Ang (Shish Kabob). For $2 you get a very substantial stick o' meat. The beef was chewy but was nicely flavored and much better than the chicken which was dark meat and had texture issues.
There are two portion sizes for almost all entrees, with small entrees priced at $7.95 and large at $10.95. Small is still huge. We ordered one app (everyone had one huge skewer) and three entrees for four people and we still had leftovers. (Mostly that was the Amok but I'll get to that.) We shared three entrees:
Samlaw Curry Moin. This reminded us of Thai yellow curry chicken since it included coconut milk, potatoes, and carrots.
Cha Kroeng Moin. This was a stir fried chicken dish with bell peppers, onions, and carrots. Both this and the yellow curry were fine but not special. Also, the chicken was dark meat.
Amok with Chicken. Huge mistake. HUGE MISTAKE. People on Yelp rave about this dish (the catfish version), which is also Chez Sovan's specialty. It must be an acquired taste. Basically chicken, spinach, coconut milk, and spices are steamed in a banana leaf until it's one big pyramid-shaped pile of mush. I wouldn't even know the ingredients (because who can see through a pyramid of slop?) except that I looked them up on their menu. You could taste the spices and see a couple pieces of chicken here and there among the Amok mush, but it was for the most part Amok run amok.
I just looked up Amok in the dictionary, and I shit you not, this was the definition: 1. (among members of certain Southeast Asian cultures) a psychic disturbance characterized by depression followed by a manic urge to murder.
That's right - A MANIC URGE TO MURDER. That's probably because they just ate Amok.
Seriously, apparently "running amok" is derived from the Malay/Indonesian/Filipino word amuk, meaning "mad with rage" (uncontrollable rage).
We also decided that although foods steamed in a banana leaf always sound good, they ALWAYS turn out disappointing. ALWAYS.
We were some of the last diners there and after we ordered dessert we discovered that the chefs had already left.
When we arrived, Chez Sovan was practically empty but the parking lot was full. We discovered that was because the Coach Lounge shared the lot. That must be SOME bar, because the scariest dude ever passed us on the way to our car. He had a long greyish beard and long stringy tails of hair on each side of his head. We each sketched him after the fact - doesn't everyone do that? If you combine all our drawings he apparently was sporting an anchor tattoo, Rambo style headband, and the hot look of overalls and no shirt, all the while encircled by flies and an everpresent booze smell. Also, according to one person he was a hobo and Coach Lounge was offering half price hobo night. Doesn't this make you want to check out Coach Lounge?
P.S. Kari S. just wrote to me that they thought the amok tasted like curried cat food. I thought that was the PURRRRRFECT description.
Friday night, dinner with one of my girls, decided to head over to this place after hearing so much about it!
Headed over to the restaurant and it was pretty crowded, which I always take as a good sign. We were seated and immediately looked over the menus. We decided that she and I would just get a few things and then just share a la family style! :)
We decided on a small order of the Lhord aka; Cambodian spring rolls (a small order is 6 rolls for $4.75), the catfish Amok for $7.95, and the Papaya salad for $8.95.
FYI: my friend had asked if the chicken in any of the dishes were white or dark meat, and our server told us that because of the origin of the food, all the meat was dark; no white!
The food kinda took awhile to get to us, but when it did it was definitely worth the wait! Spring rolls, crispy and hot served with a hot and sour sauce. Not greasy at all and the combination of taro and jicama with the chicken, carrots, and shallots was delish!
The papaya salad was a perfect summer dish (in my humble opinion!), very light and a special sauce with a definite kick to it! Our mouths were on fire, but I love food that makes my mouth burn and tingle!
The catfish amok (which my friend had heard about), was not the prettiest dish we'd ever seen. Okay, I'll be honest, it was the fugliest food dish I had ever laid my eyes on, disguised in a steamed banana leaf. When you open the leaf up, you're kinda like, WTF. What is this? And you almost don't want to try it....
But then you do....
and it's really good! Like, you sit there and think it's so disgusting to look at, but in mouth it's so good and when you combine that with the papaya salad, it's a great combo!
The servers all very sweet and nice (it was little slow that nite, only because they had a huge party to wait on!), our bill was under $30.00 and they had no problems splitting our bill onto 2 credit cards.
Will definitely be back, especially for some amok and papaya salad! :)
My girl Sue Ann pretty much summed up the experience, but since this is a small business I still felt I should write a review.
I live around the corner from this place, and have wondered about it for awhile.We were in the mood to to try a somewhere, so off we went on Fri. night.
Although there were lots of available tables when we got there, by the time we left the place was pretty full. They seemed to only have two servers, which could explain the slow service.
I was very disappointed to find out they only have dark meat chicken, (but very happy to know before ordering!) There were several chicken dishes I would have liked to try, but alas...there will be no chicken eating for me here.
I had heard good things about the papaya salad, and catfish amok, so we went for it and ordered those. Other reviews had warned that the amok is seriously nasty looking, and it might possibly be the ugliest thing I've ever eaten.
If you can get past the appearance of this dish, I'd highly recommend it. It was very tasty.
I especially loved it with the spicy papaya salad. On it 's own it may be a little too sweet, but the mixture of heat and crunch (papaya salad) and soft and sweet (amok) was a winner for me.
As most of my friends know, I can't eat many raw veggies, (salad is mostly off-limits) so I really loved that the papaya salad didn't have much lettuce.
It was interesting, and very light while still being VERY flavorful. It's an ideal dish for hot summer evenings.
Even though the food took awhile, it was pretty good, and the prices were incredibly reasonable. There are a few other dishes I'd like to try, and look forward to returning!
I use to love eating here but I haven't been here for 3 years. We decided to have a dinner, we got the egg rolls that was OK, chicken salad used to be so yummy this time the chicken was so dry. The chicken soup was yummy had a special flavor (grass-lime) we also got a beef dish that come in a soup was very sweet. I was very disappointed this time, I think I will never return!!!
Good Cambodian cuisine, attentive service. Family atmosphere. Very reasonably priced. We have enjoyed many meals here for the past 10 years and keep going back for more. Only negative is the car park is tiny for the number of customers who throng this place.
I've been dining at both restaurants (this one and the original on Old Oakland) for nearly 20 years....maybe since they opened in 1987...and the food has never been better. We did some shopping at Valley Fair and needed a dinner break so there was only one choice for my family...Chez Sovan.
As usual, we order way too much food, but we do that intentionally. If there aren't leftovers, I'd be disappointed. We ordered 10 chicken sach ang....a large order of Cambodian Egg Rolls, a large samlaw korko, large samlaw curry, large chicken stirfry and large chicken salad....yeah....a whole lot of food....great as always.
A while back when it first opened the food was more spicier and had less sugar. Now the food is the opposite more sugar less spicier.
So 4 stars. Try the catfish, rice crackers with ground chicken & $2 chicken satay. Friendly staff. (last time I've been there was more than a year ago)
Another day another dinner. Let's start off by saying... There are only two workers in-front and who knows how many chef there are in the back. The waitresses are very nice and they'll try to get to you as fast as they can depending on how the amount of people in the restaurant at the time.
My boyfriend wanted to try this place out because from what he said there's not that many cambodian restaurant around here. The place was in a building of it's own. parking space seem a little tight and dark, there are not much parking but enough to fill the place up.
As it seem the tables are set for big family dinner or family in general. The decorations are very cambodian or at least they put whatever there is of cambodian up.
let's get to the food.
we ordered a total of 5 dishes. we got the vegie tofu the grill beef, the chicken stir fried noodles, the chicken spicy curry and their special bamboo chicken.
The curry was good with a rich curry lemon flavor,not very thick but just right. The other 4 dishes were all very similar in taste even though they were all different, i was kind of disappointed. But don't get me wrong they were all very tasteful. I did mention to them that I wanted the dishes to be spicy but it turned out they weren't very spicy at all in my taste.
In the end I did enjoy the food so did my Cambodian boyfriend. They were all very good but not memorable, they only thing that they got me thinking about was thai food. I guess i went in having high expectation for them to blow me away and give me something new to look forward to, i was wrong.
I would go back there and maybe try all their curries because that was the only thing that gave me a good impression. Other than that. I will probably just eat my Boyfriend's cambodian food that is cooked right at home.
enjoy.
then again... we all have different taste. feel free to try it. maybe you'll have a better experience than me.
Hmmm...I really badly wanted to like this place more. It's got all the right elements to be a fav...family run business, been around forever, tucked away off the beaten path...but sadly...they fell short. I remember going here with my mom and one of my friends just over ten years ago and I've never forgotten that they serve stuff in banana leaves. I've always wanted to go back but somehow with the sign pointed in one direction down Bascom, I was never able to find it. Even with the address it was a little hard to find. And now for the details - we got the catfish amok (#23) and one of the chicken curries (#15). The bottle of wine we ordered was brought out opened already and just placed on the table. Not sure if that's customary in Cambodia, but I've never ordered a bottle that was brought to the table opened. I've also never poured my own first glass. Not that I'm incapable - it just seemed a little weird. (Oh they also brought the wrong bottle first - opened - and they had to switch it...no big deal but they could have avoided wasting that bottle by serving like everyone else...) The food I'm sure tasted exactly how it was supposed to...lots of lemongrass and ginger and kaffir lime flavors. The amok was steamed in the banana leaf which made the edges a little gelatinous but the fish was pretty tasty. The curry was called a curry but was really a soup with lots of big pieces of vegetables. The broth was pretty thin - not what I was expecting. I found out this morning (yum...leftovers...) that it was a lot better with a ton of hot pepper sauce. So all in all, if you like Cambodian - this is the place for you. But I really think they could step it up a bit. They have a ton of space in that building and on a Friday night, there were maybe four or five tables filled. Kind of sad really...
Dropped in for a quick lunch after my lesson with Josh Zander and walked away quite disappointed. When I used to consult at The Terraces of Los Gatos, I came here quite a bit.
It is unfortunate that the food quality and flavor isn't what it was.
=(
I LOVE this place, and always come back for TWO things:
1) They have absolutely the BEST yellow curry chicken! The chicken is always extremely tender... it's better than any other thai curry chicken I've ever had.
2) Cabbage soup.. their cabbage soup HITS the SPOT! I crave this soup.
Soooo good, I could eat it everyday!
If you love these two dishes as much as I do, then Tuesdays is the best time to come here.. because they have daily lunch specials, and every Tuesday they have their cabbage soup and curry chicken as part of the lunch special!
I'm surprised this place is never super crowded.. the food is just awesome... and they have good service too. In terms of the decor, it's not fancy.. even a little bleh. There are these orange curtains with some kind of pattern on them.. and if you're lucky, there will be a waiter who always wears the same shirt that matches the curtains! hahaha. I used to see him there all the time, but I haven't seen him for a while. anyway, I thought that was funny and it reminded me of the movie garden state, where zach braff's character had a shirt that matched the wallpaper =P
There is nothing like great food with good friends, or in this case one great friend. This night, we had the HONOR of dining with our wedding photographer, Mr. Junshien Lau.
He is a great person because (a) me and my wife are on the front of his website (though my face is covered) and (b) when he can't go to your parties, he has great excuses like "Oh, I have to go to Cancun to take wedding pictures." I never thought I could get jealous from an evite reply.
Anyway, it was his suggestion to try this place out. We made reservations for a Friday night (you don't need to make reservations btw, as we were the only ones that did) and showed up about 15 minutes late, but it was ok. Also, it is a good place for kids as the tables are very spaced apart (room for strollers, etc).
Being adventurous, we decided to try the grilled meats on a stick as appetizers (chicken, pork and beef) , the tamarind pad-thai-ish noodles, the catfish wrapped in banana leaf, and grilled veggies with beef. *Note, I did not write down the names of these plates, so you'll just have to go by description, or read other people's reviews and figure it out.
All the plates came out fairly quickly, and they looked great. The noodles had a nice texture and taste to them. If you're a pad thai fan, you'll like these. The grilled veggies and beef tasted as I expected it to. The catfish in banana leaf was great. It has some soft yet firm texture and whatever it was made out all came together.
Peeking at other reviews, I'm guessing we ordered the Amok. As Junshien put it "it's like vomit wrapped up and steamed". Ok, it tasted much better than it looked. That statement also explains why he's a great wedding photographer and not a food critic.
This was a lovely place for dinner, the interior has nice decorations on the wall, spacious for kids, and overall great service. Come here with family, friends, or your jet setting wedding photographer!
First time trying cambodian food and it was SURE an experience.
Staff was great with service and recommendations. No complaints there. I liked the silver noodles and tom yum soup. I was at a YUM YUM level at that point. Then last thing came out was catfish and it kinda freaked me out a little by the looks of it. It was pretty questionable. My friend ordered the catfish due many great reviews on it. It looked almost like cat food and had a unique taste to it. I don't know if I can say unique in a good way. It sorta had the pate feel to it. My friend got food poisoning after eating at the restaurant. I won't blame it on the catfish, but it could possibly be that she may just be allergic to anything with the word cat to it or similar to cat per se CAT FOOD like. The rest of us were fine and dandy.
But besides that, if you want to go exotic give Chez a shot. I suggest some alcohol or yogurt to kill some bacteria before the catfish takes over your stomach.
I had been looking for a good Cambodian place in the area (just relocated from Seattle) and based off of everyone's reviews thought I'd give this place a try.
Now, I only gave it 3 stars because I only had 2 things, but I will rate again once I stop in a couple more times.
The Good: The beef skewers. Well cooked and great flavor no probs there.
The Good: The staff. Granted I went in while it was slow (only 2 other parties were there in the early part of the evening) I found them to be very friendly. Food came out rather quickly as well.
The Okay: The Amok. I had the amok (again b/c of everyone's reviews) and I hate to admit, I was disappointed. For those that are not familiar, amok is very similar to Lau Lau (a Hawaiian dish of meat wrapped in Taro leaves).
I enjoyed the first several bites of my amok, but that eventually dissipated as I felt it to be too sweet after some time.
Again, this is my first time trying this place, but plan to try it several more times in the future so my rating could change. This initial visit wasn't anything to overly tantalize my taste buds, but because I am a big fan of Cambodian food, I will try again.
This is the first time I've ever had Cambodian food and I definitely left the night very full & satisfied. As other yelpers may have mentioned, Cambodian food has the similiarities of Thai food, although I feel it's a bit sweeter (perhaps more coconut or sugar??)
I came here tonight for a work-related dinner -- with a large group of 20, this place can EASILY accommodate any large party. We were able to get the private back room which was great for our loud party but didn't disturb the rest of the restaurant.
We ordered 4 main dishes (yellow curry, fish w/green mango, "pad thai", shimp string beans) 3 smaller items ("chicken satay", chicken lemongrass soup & beef salad) and fried banana w/ice cream for a SHOCKINGLY inexpensive price! Everything was wonderful -- very flavorful and tasty. I also really liked the service. The owners & waitresses were very attentive & catered to all of our needs.
I know they've been hurt badly by the recent economic situation, so hopefully I can return again or help spread the word about them so they can keep their business. It would be a shame to see such a good place go b/c good things should not happen to people like them... that's just unfair.
My friend read about this place on this website, so he decided that we should go there and give Cambodian food a try. Yes, the food was on the sweet side and the amuk was a weird/interesting tasting dish but for some odd reason we still crave for the taste of the amuk...
when we have the time, we'll definitely come back for that amuk.
This is the only Cambodian restaurant in South Bay area that I know of. (I think that there is another one in San Jose under the same management, though.) Because of my rather limited knowledge base of South/South East Asian cuisines, I am still unsure about the clear-cut differences between Cambodian and Thai food. (I guess Thai includes some curry dishes while Cambodian doesn't(?).)
Anyway, I come to eat here because of one unique dish that I like the most -- Amok, either Chicken or catfish. Last time when my wife and I came here for dinner, we also tried jackfruit with vanilla ice cream and sticky rice as dessert. Without knowing what jackfruit was, based on the description that our waiter gave us, I, for a moment, thought it was just another name for durian (yup, that stinky fruit!). Later, I found out that they were indeed two different fruits. The combination of the fruit, vanilla ice cream, and sticky rice was rather unique, but we actually enjoyed this dessert.
I think that the service at this restaurant is a bit on the slow side, albeit helpful if you need some explanations as to how the food is prepared.
The only other time I had been here, Myvan brought me after our trip through southeast Asia. I did not make it to Cambodia with her, which is the only part of that summer I regret, so I guess this was as close as I was going to get. She told me the food in Siem Riep sucked but that just didn't make missing Ankor Wat any less painful (thanks for trying).
I don't recall what we had the first time but when we returned recently for book club, I remembered why I thought it was good. We had a variety of vegetarian and meaty dishes. My favorite was the catfish in banana leaf because it was the least sweet but the noodle with tofu and the beef with pineapple and tomatoes were satisfying too.
Lunch on Saturdays appear to be slow so if you need someplace to chat for hours without any problems, this is the place to be. I'll be back the next time I'm in Campbell.
It's been a while that I wanted to try out this place, so when my visiting London buddy wanted to have dinner somewhere "different" I knew just where to take him. Cambodian food!
Cute restaurant, looks pretty upscale. I pulled into the parking lot at 8 pm on a Tuesday and had trouble finding parking.
We tried:
- Amok - catfish in banana leaf, yummy and Bruce's favorite
- Stir fried bamboo with chicken (its on the Specials Menu) - my personal favorite
- Beef and eggplant soup (because it was different) - it was good, took me a sec to get used to it. You'll need rice to go with that.
All around, with tax, our bill was $27, so we were pretty happy about that, and the service was excellent.
Their lunch specials look phenominal (and change daily) for $7.99. I need to get my co-workers to come check it out.
Only downside - it shares the parking lot with a bar with kind of a sketchy crowd (at least last night).
This is a favorite place of mine after working just down the street from it for a long time. Similar to Thai food, but with enough of a deviation to call it a unique taste, it's a great change of pace from typical asian choices.
Pretty much every item that I've tried here I have enjoyed, but there are some that I always come back to:
They have a great pineapple and tomato dish that comes with your choice of meat (I prefer it with beef). The sauce is tasty and the contrast of beef, tomato and pineapple flavors (you have to include a chunk of each in each bite for the full effect) work really well together.
The amok (sort of a casserole looking thing with catfish or chicken - go with the fish) looks pretty awful when you open it up from the banana leaf it comes wrapped in, but actually tastes really good and is a unique Cambodian item. Always popular.
Last but not least, my favorite item. The chicken curry. Yeah, I know chicken curry doesn't seem like anything special, but it's just different here. A unique curry flavor, with nothing but chicken, potatoes and carrots stewed to a perfect tenderness without being mushy. I order it EVERY TIME, and always get a large so that I can heat it up as leftovers (just as good the second time around!). If you like your curry spicy, make sure to ask for it spicy. The default flavor is pretty mild, and they don't ask how you would like it, but they will spice it up on request.
I have never been here when it was crowded, which I like. Despite that, service can still be fairly slow. Overall, easily a 5 star for me based on the great quality of the food.
I eat Thai and Vietnamese food all the time, but I've never had Cambodian food before, so I've been keen to try this place since I moved (back) here to San Ho.
I'm not sure if this is authentic, but another reviewer nailed it when they said that it was "like Thai cuisine but less spicy and REALLY sweet." I would add to that that it is not even remotely spicy and is actually completely and totally bland aside from the sweetness.
Everything we had was either dissapointing (frozen springrolls right off the Sysco truck) or mediocre at best. No flavor except sweet. This felt like the Mr. Chow's of Cambodian food, except without the seasoning. The only exception was the Catfish in Chicken Sauce. A tempura-like catfish fillet smothered in a less-sweet galangal and nam pla sauce with ground chicken. It was absolutely delicious after adding some sambal (which I had to ask for).
I might go back for the catfish someday, but since everything else we had (salad, noodles, appetizer, etc) was definitely not worth repeating, I don't know how soon that will be.
I am a fan.
I took the recommendations of eating the catfish Amok.
The flavors that flourished inside my mouth were ones that I had never tasted. Not bad not necessarily amazing, but different. It tasted like the after taste of fruit loops mixed with curry. But don't take my word for it go try it. The spring rolls were fresh hot and delicious.
Thanks for broadening my horizons Chez Sovan.
Best part about this place is that I went with a group of 16 people and the waitress had the foresight to split the check up into pairs. Brilliant.
Great place!
The kitchen staff is authentic, the wall decorations are breathtaking and the food was yum!
I recommend this Cambodian hidden treasure to anyone who is feel tired of the hamburger!
Soup, Beef Skewers, and Fish Moose were all to die for!
So if Cambodian food tastes a little like Thai and Vietnamese food, that would make sense since it's geographically between those countries.
Chez Sovan offered my first Cambodian experience. And I loved it. We ordered the Catfish Amok that was wrapped in a banana leaf harboring intense lemongrass flavors. Unwrapping it at first may give you some disappointment, as it looks like cat food shaped into a house. The Tofu Kuy Tiew Cha reminded me of Pad Thai and just as delicious in its own way. I found the pineapple tomato fish soup to be just ho hum and would much rather eat pineapple if that's all I'm tasting.
But with so many vegetarian/seafood options for such reasonable prices and a really sweet staff, I can't wait to come back to try the rest of the menu!
Note: Parking can be hard to find in the lot and since the restaurant wasn't busy, I can't imagine where everyone went.
Three and one-half star.
We went there for Z's birthday on Friday night. The place was pretty empty and the interior has a sparse and odd layout. There were only 2 waitresses and so service was a bit slow.
The food is different. Like other reviewers said, it is similar to Thai cuisine. Every dish has a slight hint of sweetness to it. I've never had Cambodian food before so I don't know if Cambodian should be sweet. I'm not fond of sweetness in savory dishes but everything tasted good and homemade.
Portions are a bit larger than average but then it comes with a larger than average price per dish at around $10.95 for almost all "Large" dishes.
Noteworthy Dishes:
-Papaya Salad; good with rice
-Amok: catfish wrapped in banana leaf
Okay Dishes:
-Fried Rice: used frozen veggies. argggh
-Chicken Curry: eeeh too sweet for me
-Spicy Chicken: similar to kung pao chicken
-Catfish Tomato-Pineapple Soup; it was okay
-Amok: chicken wrapped in banana leaf; Order the catfish instead
A good place to visit once for curiosity's sake.
I went with 2 other people for dinner last night at Chez Sovan. It was our first time trying Cambodian food which reminded me a lot like Thai or Indonesian cuisine.
We ordered the following:
1. Papaya Salad - mixed with green beans, tomatoes, carrots, chili, peanuts, dry shrimp
2. Amok Catfish - coconut milk, spinach, lemongrass, lemon herb, galanga, fish sauce wrapped and steamed in a banana leaf.
3. Cha Eark - chicken, lemongrass, spices, peanuts
4. Sandak Kroeng Samoth - stir fried shrimp and squid with string beans
The papaya salad was the only thing that I thought was slightly too salty and drenched in sauce in my opinion. However, if you eat it with the cabbage on the side, it offsets the strong flavor of the sauce. I prefer the Thai style salad over this one.
The catfish was good. I'm not usually a fan of coconut milk but this fish was good. Somehow, the flavors of the banana leaf infused with all the other spices made this dish complex. It is definitely a strong dish and you should eat with rice...and on the sweet more than salty side. The chicken was really good as I can probably compare it with the Thai basil chicken dish you usually can find at Thai restaurants. It was marinated really well and had great texture and balance with the crunchy peanuts. The seafood stir-fry was good and a more saltier dish with perfectly cooked green beans (with a snap). Overall the food was good quality and very tasty!
As for service, well the restaurant was pretty empty when we went and so it was hard to see it in action. I'll definitely try this place again in the near future.
I've seen the sign for Chez Sovan literally hundreds of times while driving by. Cambodian food isn't the first thing that comes to my mind when I have a unique food craving, but today, I'm glad I had a chance to stop by.
The strangely shaped parking lot was completely full and despite two other stores next to Chez Sovan, the crowds were clearly headed to Chez Sovan. A good sign.
Inside, the place is decorated simply, but was bustling with the lunchtime corporate crowds. I was seated quickly and in short order had decided my choices:
Catfish Amok - universally recommended, this authentic Cambodian dish consists of catfish, lemongrass, and a coconut milk infused wrapped with a banana leaf.
Lunch special - 1) hot and sour chicken soup
2) chicken salad
3) chicken satay
4) fried rice noodles with chicken
Perusing the menu quickly, I was struck by how much many items reminded me of Thai food, rather than of Vietnamese food which I had expected. In short, many curries, fried rice noodle and fried rice dishes.
So how was the food? Overall, a mixed bag that I'd rank as ok.
It started off quite strong with the hot and sour soup which looked and tasted exactly like the Thai Tom Yum Goong soup, except with chicken. Hot, spicy, and delicious, it really hit the spot.
The catfish amok arrived next and while beautifully wrapped in banana leaf, I found the sweet and savory flavors to be a very acquired taste. The catfish was also a bit soft and the flavor of the lemon grass overpowered me. I realized after that I must HATE lemon grass. The only other item that can make me dislike a dish so is water chestnuts (ie: Chinese food filler).
The chicken salad was largely made of shredded salad and cabbage and reminded me of other tart and tangy salads like those at PPQ Dungeness Crab (SF) or Vung Tau (SJ) with shrimp. It was nice and refreshing.
The chicken satay was awesome and I'm sorry I only got one. Like the soup, I can imagine this being a very popular item. The chicken was perfectly grilled and had a great flavor.
My final item was the chicken fried rice noodles and like the catfish amok is quite a popular dish here. Several patrons at other tables were educating other first time Chez Sovan diners that this fried rice noodles was like Pad Thai but so much better.
It definitely is almost a carbon copy of Pad Thai, but I'm going to have to disagree about it being better. The main difference being Chez Sovan's version is much wetter and drenched with tamarind sauce. In increments, I love tamarind sauce, but I found the amount used with their noodles to be too sweet and tangy. As well, unlike Pad Thai, which has plentiful bean sprouts to balance the sauce, Chez Sovan's rice noodles lacked bean sprouts or vegetables.
It was nice to finally try Chez Sovan and experience Cambodian cuisine. In all honesty, while I loved the hot and sour soup and meat skewers, the nearby Krung Thai(s) has an excellent Pad Thai, Pad See Ew, and Tom Yom Goong that, for me, fills almost the same niche.
Food: 4 stars
Service: 4 stars
Ambiance: 4 stars
Overall: 4 stars
Went there to celebrate our monthsary. Food was delish. We've been to the Oakland location as well. The Campbell location is twice as large and decorated. Cost was decent as all our dishes was $8. Monday nite, only 4 tables occupied.
Catfish Amok flavor was great & texture was soft. Husband thought it was a little too gingery.
Kwai Tui - the pad thai wannabee had great flavor. sweet like everyone else has been mentioning.
Laap - Ground beef dish with shallot & red chili - too dry. flavor was good.
Just came here for some Cambodian food lunch with coworkers. We ordered Catfish Amok, Beef with Bamboo shoots, and a tofu dish. All were delicious! I also ordered the Mango sticky rice. OMG it was heavan in my mouth. They put a tad bit too much coconut milk on it for my friend, but to me it was perfect!
It was a little bit uncomfortable when the staff in the kitchen started talking really really loud that it sounded like they were yelling at each other. But since I understood them, I informed my companions that they were just gossiping about their husband(s). Hellooooo! I think you need a door to your kitchen! lol.
Go here for the food, it is so worth it!
The service is just ok.
I've always wanted to try this place since it's the only Cambodian restaurant in the whole SJ area. (There's another Chez Sovan on North 13th Street.) So I decided to take my mom here for dinner since this location is so close to our home. I grew up eating Cambodian food and also speak the language so I was very excited and looked forward to this place very much.
We came around 4:30 so dinner was very early. The parking lot was full but we were the only patrons in the whole restaurant. The exterior of the building looks like a huge office. The interior is clean & simple with burgundy clothed glass tables and black chairs. We were immediately seated and menus were placed in front of us. Water was brought out and our order were placed promptly once we were ready to order. I ordered the famous Amok with Catfish instead of Chicken. It's #23 on the menu. I also ordered #20 called Kuy Tiew Cha (Fried rice noodles). All the dishes have either a large or small to choose from.
The wait wasn't too long and soon our two dishes were brought out along with a bowl of rice. The fried rice noodles was like a Phad Thai but much too sweet. Although I was very impressed with the size of the dish, since it was a small, I wasn't too keen about the taste. On the other hand, the Amok was pretty good. Like other Yelpers have said, there was no fishy smell at all. The fish is wrapped in a banana leaf and steamed. It's mixed with coconut milk, spinach, lemon grass, lemon herb, and galanga. The flavor of this dish is very unique. Some people might love it while others may be repulse by the texture and taste of it. To each his own, I guess.
The prices were more than reasonable. Dinner for two came down to almost $20.00!! AND I had to ask for a doggy bag to go! The only complaint I have is the lack of customer service, hence the minus two stars. I was not too impressed with it. The waitress was very short and curt with us. There was no greeting when we came in. Not much eye contact, smiles, or thank you's. A simple "Hi, how are you?" would of been nice. She quietly took our orders, took the menus and walked away. Then later on, dropped off the food and quickly walk away again! She never came by to check up on us until I had to go find her to get my check and a to go box. The only time I got a small smile and a quiet thank you from her was at the moment we walked out the door. I guess this is how it is at a true Asian restaurant. lol....
Overall, since I know what to expect next time, I'll swing by this place again only if I really crave affordable and abundant of Cambodian food or if a friend is adventurous in trying out a new cuisine.
Food - 4.5
Service - 3
Ambience - 2.5
I love their Catfish Amok - chunky pieces of catfish cooked in coconut milk wrapped in a banana leaf. Divine. Also really like the watercress salad, which we always get with beef, but I believe you can choose chicken or pork as well. Some other notable faves include tamarind green beans and the satay skewers.
The service is pretty slow here like a lot of people have said, which is odd because it's never particularly full whenever we've been here for lunch. The decor is minimalist, that is to say, it is bland.
San Jose, CA
Category: Cambodian
San Jose, CA
Category: Vietnamese
Campbell, CA
Category: Thai
Campbell, CA
Category: Thai
San Jose, CA
Category: Vietnamese
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