Isekai Toma
One of the privileges of living in California is having easy access to authentic dishes from many different cultures. Even better, Los Angeles and Orange County have concentrated “food towns” that make exploring international cuisines an adventure—Koreatown, Japantown, Chinatown, Thai Town, Little Saigon (Vietnamese Town), Little Ethiopia, Filipinotown, and of course, Cambodia Town in Long Beach. Trying different restaurants in each area and comparing them has become one of my favorite food journeys.
This time, I stopped by Koh Ruessei in Cambodia Town. Unfortunately, my experience fell short of expectations.
What didn’t work for me:
Service: I was given a plastic water bottle instead of water in a glass, which felt odd for a dine-in experience. Service was inattentive—at one point, staff silently removed condiments from my table to give to another. When my soup arrived, I realized I didn’t even have a spoon.
Food experience: I ordered the sour shrimp soup. The shrimp were unpeeled, and there was no clear place to discard the shells. Flavor-wise, it leaned much more salty than sour. The broth tasted like it was made from powder rather than prepared fresh, leaving it one-dimensional and unbalanced.
Value: For the price, the portion was small, and I didn’t feel the quality justified the cost.
Overall impression:
I can’t speak to the dish’s authenticity, since I’m not deeply familiar with Cambodian cooking. However, compared to other Cambodian restaurants in the same neighborhood, this meal felt less fresh and less flavorful. Cambodia Town has plenty of fantastic spots serving hearty, well-prepared dishes that feel homemade—unfortunately, Koh Ruessei just didn’t live up to that standard for me.
Their nombanh chouk samlor khmer is average but it has a better more balance flavor so it’s better than the shrimp sour soup.
If you’re in Cambodia Town, I’d recommend exploring other restaurants in the area for a better taste of authentic, freshly made Khmer food.
… moreEllie Heng
Amazing food, friendly service
As a fellow Cambodian the meal was amazing and felt like my mom’s cooking.
The Tom Yum seafood soup was delicious, great flavor, big portion, definitely a share item
The Beef Lok Lak was seasoned perfectly, nice and tender, salt&pepper lime sauce compliments the dish perfectly
The Beef skewers have an amazing taste, nice and tender as well. No piece was hard to chew. Paired with their carrots and daikon pickles. Great pair.
Their Thai iced tea and taro smoothie to wash it all down made the whole meal.
… moreDavinn Em
I’m one of the usual customers here and I always at this place every weekend and week days sometime. The person who’s wrote review about TomYum soup below talking about shrimp didn’t come peel shall in the soup are clearly clueless of what soup they’re eating. Authentic TomYum soup never come pre-peeled shrimp it’s all for beneficial flavors. Clearly clearly a person who wrote reviews doesn’t even know anything deep down or properly themselves let’s alone talking about anything else and wrote negative reviews on a nice tasty place. Chefs at the back are pro at making any dishes so freshly delicious with balanced flavors. They have Karaoke here every Friday,Sat and Sun until around 3AM and sometime Holidays they do have Karaoke also. Ya can sing English songs or Khmers songs or even Spanish or any languages ya request. Owner is DJ and they welcome everyone.
… moreRinna nana
Usually we always enjoyed the food here. But this Togo order lol stir fry noodles without ANY MEAT?!!!!! We pay for almost $13 for meatless stir fry noodles and definitely one egg used cus barely any but flakes. So for sure one egg lol. Gosh and it’s too far of a drive to even go back.
… moreJabrie Lbw
We traveled an hour, and it was WORTH IT. The food was sooooooo YUMMY!!!! and the people there are so humble and welcoming. Food taste just like yiey’s( Grandmas) HOME cooked meals. Go support this establishment. Huge thanks to the owners. We will be back. I ordered 8 dishes it came out to $140, WOW CAN’T beat the price. So affordable. Make sure to tip big for this small business they deserve it.
… moreLizzy Keller
The food was delicious and the people are friendly!! I had the Phnom Penh Noodle Soup, my husband had beef Phad See-Ew, and we shared fried Egg Rolls. Love the spicy sauces to complement the food. Thanks for a lovely dinner!
… moreJulie Thach
I came down long beach decide to eat at koh Ruessei. Waitress no greeting took our order then brought out our food we say Thank you not even a word. Every item she bring out i say thank you she just walk away. But man when she sitting around her word nonstop to other customers. Don’t get me wrong food is very delicious but need to have better customer service.
… moreJared Cohee
CAMBODIA (via Eat the World Los Angeles) – Digging deeper into the cuisine, an order of the nombanh chouk samlor Khmer ($11.95) is especially satisfying. This has the ability to be the star of most meals here and reflects the skill of the kitchen best. The dish is always easy to screw up, make too fishy or too coconut-y, but the perfect balance is achieved here at Koh Ruessei.
… moreRinna Khut
Finally a Khmer restaurant that opens pretty late . And the food was home feel vibes. Salor machew kreung, Cha sach morn with ginger and beef stick was great.
… moreWendy Tsang
Amazing beef hot and sour soup Somlaw Ma-Ju Kreung Sach Ko- beef tripe, lemon grass, vegetable, garlic, kaffir lime leaves, tamarind, complex seasoning, just the right sourness and texture! Egg rolls was just okay. Spring roll ran out 🙁
Would like to try the beef lamb, eggplant Thai style, beef satay sticks and papaya salad next time. Close at 2:30 am which was a huge relief since we drove to Hyatt Regency Long Beach which was 7 minutes away.
… more