KeenTraveller21
Google
We have been staying at The Aviary Hotel for 3 weeks and would recommend it. In summary it is a really lovely hotel, centrally located, spotlessly clean, with really caring staff who treat you like family, with 2 pools and an excellent Japanese restaurant and great breakfast. Walking distance from the hotel are also excellent diverse food choices such as Mamma Shop Italian, The Village Bakery & Cafe and New Leaf Eatery. It is a smaller place vs the chain hotels, so the service is so much more personable. |I have to do a special shout out to Sophie, the Guest Relations manager, from the time we arrived, she went out of her way to help us with bookings, made great recommendations and always had a welcoming smile when we arrived and left. ||Detailed:|Rooms:|I stayed in the Sambok Twin Deluxe Plus room. It was a really large room, super clean, with a desk and seating area with TV, shower and bath. There was a good air conditioner and fan, which kept the room cool, with lots of lighting for different areas, as well as multi plug points so I didn’t need to use my converters. The room also has a safe and good storage for clothes. The beds are pretty comfortable but over the course of the stay, they did feel worn. There was an outside seating area but I didn’t use it to avoid bugs in the room. The toilet and bathroom are in separate rooms, so you do need to run through the living room to the bathroom to wash your hands :-D ||Hotel Amenties:|The hotel has a very small gym and 2 pools. The rooftop pool is lovely with a fairly good length for lane swimming. The one on the ground floor is smaller but more shaded. Plenty of towels and sun loungers, with the Glide Bar on the top floor if you wanted drinks or lunch. There are also call buttons on the loungers if you want drinks etc |The gym is super small with 1 treadmill, 1 bike and some weights. The treadmill was unfortunately not working, as under maintenance.|There is WiFi but it’s patchy. There are quite a few power cuts, but as the hotel has a generator it had minimal impact. |There is a resident cat at the hotel, which is a bit strange if you aren’t used to cats in food places, but we didn’t notice it after the initial few days (except in the main areas) |The hotel also organises tours which we did with Mr Sokhoeun-Bout in an air conditioned vehicle with driver Mr Chem. Mr S did a really good job on the tour with interesting facts and a real passion for Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples. Mr Chem kept us stocked up with cold towels and cold water which was much needed as it’s very hot and humid. Although it is pricier, the air conditioned car provided much needed respite along the tour to manage the heat. ||Staff: |Huge thanks to all the staff, from the flock cafe breakfast team to the glide bar and Japanese restaurant - everyone was so friendly and welcoming. Special thanks to Mr Smey who kindly approved a room change and who recommended we avoid the sunrise tour as the clouds meant we will not see anything - he was right and we were grateful||Food:|Breakfast - The breakfast is pretty much what you would eat at home: excellent quality bread/toast, jams, yoghurt with granola and honey, fruits, small pastries and hot food which is made to order: eggs of all types, bacon, sausages, hash browns and asian food such as noodles/fried rice/congee |Although the selection is not as large as some other hotels, the quality of each item is excellent. However, after a week it did get repetitive||There is a Japanese restaurant Fumizen on site, which is excellent. The BEST Katsu Curry I have had as well as excellent sets, good veg options. We ate there for over 1/3 of our stay! |The Glide Bar/Flock Cafe menu is shared and it is ok - I do think there could be more veg options and some flexibility to create amendments (especially as the hotel is very empty). Everything we ate was ok, but of course, there are other places outside the hotel which are much better. ||Spa: |The spa is extremely affordable but the quality is excellent. The ladies in the spa are very talented, especially Mei Mei.||Location|The hotel is very centrally located, close to pub street and the markets and Kandal Village (Hap Guan Street). Highly recommend Mamma Shop Italian, The Village Bakery & Cafe and Maybe Later Mexican - all on Hap Guan Street for excellent food, albeit pricier than other places. Mamma’s Italian food reminded me of our visits to Italy. As well as New Leaf Eatery which is a 10 min walk away for lots of veg options and other foods like pies, burgers, breakfasts etc. For a very special (and more pricey by Siem Reap standards) Italian I would recommend Fellini - truly exceptional Italian food with high quality ingredients from the house made sausage to the rocket. The food quality and diversity in Siem Reap was excellent compared to other places in Asia, so you definitely won’t starve here :-D
