Crystal Angkor - Siem Reap

Very good music, excellent traditional dance. Delicious food. Good prices.

Show was great. Food was good, we had a set meal that came with the show. Show has moved outdoors, so expect a few bugs. Could have used better lighting for eating and reading the cultural handout about the dance.

Wonderful restaurant with authentic Cambodian food, lovely facility well landscaped with outside seating/dining areas. Our dinner included an exhibition of traditional Cambodian dancing. Our set menu included a morning glory salad, pumpkin soup, entree with both chicken and fish, and ice cream over fruit. Highly recommended.

My guide gave this option to see Cambodian traditional dancers. The performance was acceptable while the group eat dinner. It was okay but I was not impressed.

Simply Awful in Every Way – Food, Décor, Performances – Just a Big Catering Hall Going to see traditional Khmer dances, along with dinner, was an optional activity during our tour of Siem Reap – and, oh, how I wish I had opted NOT to go. There was nothing about the experience that was enjoyable. Imagine the largest, tackiest catering hall you’ve been to, and you’ll get an idea of Crystal Angkor. As an aside, a few in our group lived in or had lived in the New York area and referred to Crystal Angkor as “Cambodia’s Answer to Leonard’s of Great Neck,” a rather infamous catering hall on Long Island, known for its tacky décor and dreadful food. First of all, groups are herded into various large, rather plain rooms with long tables set up for each of the tour groups. The Crystal Angkor has several types of performances, including shadow puppets and traditional Khmer dances, so groups head into the various catering halls for the entertainment that they had reserved. There is a set menu, and I’m not sure why we were served Western foods, while other tables had Cambodian meals. Perhaps, our guide, for some unknown reason, thought we wanted a change of pace. I can’t speak to the Cambodian meal, but the Western one was virtually inedible. I took a bite of each course and pushed my plate away. The textures were mushy or hard as a rock (the mashed potatoes could have been used as mortar for brick-laying); the flavors were horrible; and the service was chaotic (most probably because the small staff had to serve everyone between the various dance performance). Thank goodness that there was a grocery store near our hotel that was open late so that I could get a snack later. The dance performers were just “going through the motions,” literally and figuratively. It was as though they didn’t want to be at the Crystal Angkor Restaurant as much as I didn’t want to be there. In conclusion, don’t waste your time or money to go to the Crystal Angkor Restaurant.