Joe K.
Yelp
Cambod-Ican Kitchen is the spot if you're looking for lots of cheap food, served at all hours of the night. However, if you prefer a restaurant where the tables aren't sticky to the touch, an owner who wears a clean shirt, or where you don't need a key for the bathroom, this isn't your spot.
I can appreciate a quality dive joint. There's a certain charm to an establishment that has great food and a lot of character (stemming from the food, the decor, or the staff). Cambod-Ican Kitchen is certainly a dive, but it doesn't really have the character I'm looking for now that I'm in my mid-thirties. When my girlfriend and I entered, we were greeted at the counter by the burly owner handing us menus and barking "Read" to each of us. I kind of figured that he was going for funny with this greeting, but he was gruff enough that it took some further interaction with him to confirm that he was just being a goofball.
After ordering, and sitting down at the table in the front of the restaurant where the owner recommended, we were surprised at how sticky the table (and everything else on it) was. The owner also proudly told us about the dried roasted red pepper topping that all tables had, which I found to be very tasty. The little jar they were in was very sticky- I tried not to think about how long it had been since it was probably cleaned.
We were pretty hungry, and ordered the appetizer sampler, as well as chicken thigh fried rice, and pork noodle soup. The appetizer sampler platter was huge, just a mountain of fried food. The egg rolls were average, and the grilled chicken was decent, although a bit on the dry side. A lot of the items on the platter were covered in their signature "moon sauce," which was way too sweet for my taste, but if sweet sauces are your thing, you'll probably love it.
The chicken thigh fried rice was solid as fried rices go, but not good enough for me to venture back. The pork noodle soup didn't have much flavor to it, and the noodles were very much overcooked.
Cambod-Ican Kitchen is an interesting cash-only place, that's open all night long, run by an irreverent, off-kilter owner. I enjoyed and admired his passion, but wasn't into his brand of humor (his diatribes were quite frequent when we were there). I suppose that working at a restaurant at odd hours of the night for years and dealing with drunk patrons can do that, though.
If you're looking for food that is authentic, healthy, or really tasty, I would keep looking. However, if you want a huge quantity of food that's ok, really sweet, cheap, and don't mind an owner who could be a wacky sitcom character, you have your spot.