What a Cambodia Town Lunch Really Costs in Long Beach in 2026

Long Beach's other food capital

Long Beach doesn't get the same headlines as the San Gabriel Valley or Little Saigon in Westminster, but a two-mile stretch of Anaheim Street between Junipero and Temple Avenues holds one of the largest Cambodian communities in the United States, sitting shoulder to shoulder with Vietnamese kitchens, ramen counters, boba shops, and family-run Asian markets. This corridor is usually called Cambodia Town, and it's the reason Long Beach shows up so often on "where do I actually eat well for cheap" lists. If you're planning a meal here in 2026, the real question isn't whether the food is good — it clearly is — it's what a realistic lunch or dinner actually costs once you add it all up.

This guide walks through what you'll find on and around Anaheim Street, what a few of those meals cost according to restaurants' own posted menus, and how to stretch a visit into a full afternoon of eating without guessing at prices.

It's a good trip for a few different kinds of visitors. Families splitting several dishes will get the most value per person, since Cambodian and Vietnamese noodle houses are built around shared plates rather than individual entrees. Groups of friends doing a food crawl can realistically hit three or four stops in an afternoon given how close everything sits along Anaheim Street and Pacific Coast Highway. Solo diners looking for a quick, cheap lunch counter will find plenty of options too, though the lunch-focused hours mean planning around a midday visit rather than a late dinner.

What's actually on Anaheim Street

The Cambodian side of the corridor is anchored by a handful of long-running noodle houses. Phnom Penh Noodle Shack at 1644 Cherry Ave has been serving its "Phnom Penh Cambodian noodle soup" as a signature dish, alongside a numbered menu of house specials, beef and ground pork noodles, and stew noodles; it's open 7 AM to 3 PM every day except Monday, which tells you this is very much a lunch-and-early-afternoon spot, not a dinner destination.

Phnom Penh Noodle Shack

Pan-Asian Restaurants · Long Beach, California

1644 Cherry Ave, Long Beach, CA 90813

★★★★★ 4.6 (964)

A few blocks over, Sophy's Cambodia Town Food at 3240 E Pacific Coast Hwy publishes a full menu online, which makes it one of the few spots in the neighborhood where you can price a meal before you walk in.

Sophy's: Cambodia Town Food

Pan-Asian Restaurants · Long Beach, California

3240 E Pacific Coast Hwy, Long Beach, CA 90804

★★★★☆ 4.5 (548)

Monorom Cambodian Restaurant and Udom Khmer Restaurant round out the strip, both rated 4.5 stars with hundreds of reviews between them, and both worth checking for hours before a visit since Cambodian restaurants here tend to keep tighter, lunch-focused windows than typical American dinner-hour expectations.

Monorom Cambodian Restaurant

Pan-Asian Restaurants · Long Beach, California

2150 E Anaheim St, Long Beach, CA 90804

★★★★☆ 4.5 (456)

Ordering like a regular

Phnom Penh Noodle Shack runs its menu the way a lot of long-established noodle houses do: by number rather than by full name. The posted menu lists items like "#1) Phnom Penh Noodle House Special," "#2) Mo's Special Noodles," "#4) Beef & Ground Pork Noodles," "#5) Chluy Bowl Noodle," "#10) Beef Stew Noodle," and "#11) Fit Bowl Noodle." Regulars just call out the number, so it's worth glancing at the menu online before you arrive if you want to skip the "what's good here" conversation at the counter and order with confidence.

Sophy's menu is organized differently, by course rather than by number: noodle stir-fries, specialties, salads, appetizers, soups, and a short dessert list. If you're eating with a group, splitting a stir-fried noodle plate and a specialty like the house special BBQ chicken, then adding a soup each, is a reasonable way to sample several styles of Cambodian cooking in one sitting without over-ordering.

What a bowl actually costs

Sophy's posts prices directly on its menu, and they're a useful benchmark for the neighborhood: Phnom Penh noodle soup runs $13, other noodle soups like Pho or Thai boat noodles sit at $14–15, and stir-fried noodle plates such as Pad Thai or Chow Mein are $15 each. Larger specialty plates — whole fish, beef jerky, salt and pepper shrimp — climb into the $17–23 range, with the priciest item on the menu, deep-fried Rex sole, at $40. Salads run $15–20 and appetizers like chicken satay or beef skewers are $18.

Not every restaurant on the strip publishes prices online the way Sophy's does, so for Phnom Penh Noodle Shack, Monorom, and Udom Khmer, treat those numbers as a rough guide rather than gospel and check current prices in person or by phone before you go.

A few of these small, family-run counters are cash-friendly rather than cash-only, but it's still worth carrying some cash for tipping and in case a card reader is down — not unusual at strip-mall storefronts this size. California sales tax applies on top of every menu price, and standard restaurant tipping norms (15–20% for table service, less expected at counter-order spots) apply here the same as anywhere else in the state.

The Vietnamese side of the same corridor

Anaheim Street doesn't stop being Cambodian and start being Vietnamese at a clean line — the two overlap for several blocks, which is part of what makes this stretch worth a dedicated trip. Pho Hong Phat and Pho 881 Restaurant both sit directly on Anaheim Street and post morning-to-early-evening hours geared toward the lunch crowd, similar to their Cambodian neighbors.

Pho Hong Phat

Vietnamese & Pho · Long Beach, California

3243 E Anaheim St, Long Beach, CA 90804

★★★★☆ 4.5 (523)

A little further out, Pickle Banh Mi Co has built a 4.8-star reputation on its banh mi and Vietnamese beef stew, and Cyclo Noodles pulls nearly 730 reviews at a 4.5 rating for its noodle bowls along Pacific Coast Highway. We Love Pho 2 and Benley Vietnamese Kitchen both hold 4.7-star averages nearby, giving you four or five well-rated pho options within a short drive of Cambodia Town alone.

Pickle Banh Mi Co- Long Beach

Vietnamese & Pho · Long Beach, California

1171 E Anaheim St, Long Beach, CA 90813

★★★★★ 4.8 (307)

If pho is what you're after specifically, Long Beach's full Vietnamese Pho listings page has a dozen options, so there's no shortage of bowls to compare beyond what's covered here.

Rounding out the meal: ramen, boba, and the pantry stop

Not every appetite in this part of Long Beach runs Southeast Asian. A cluster of well-reviewed ramen shops sits a short drive north of Anaheim Street — Hironori Craft Ramen has over 1,100 reviews at 4.5 stars, and Hinata Ramen holds a 4.6-star average, both worth a stop if you want a change of pace from noodle soup with fish sauce and lime.

HiroNori Craft Ramen

Ramen · Long Beach, California

610 E Carson St, Long Beach, CA 90807

★★★★☆ 4.5 (1,118)

Since most of the Cambodia Town restaurants wind down by mid-afternoon, it's worth checking hours carefully if you want to extend the trip into the evening — some nearby ramen spots, like Gu Ramen Taps and Tapas, list a similarly early close on the days shown in their listing, while others such as Jinya Ramen Bar's 2nd and PCH location post evening hours to 10 PM. Confirming a specific location's hours before you drive over saves a wasted trip.

For dessert or a mid-afternoon break, Cha for Tea and Teatopia both post 4.4- and 4.7-star ratings respectively, with Cha for Tea open until 11:30 PM most nights, making it a reasonable stop after a Cambodia Town lunch runs long. Boba Tea House and Krak Boba both sit above 4.5 stars as well, so there's no shortage of options if your first stop has a line out the door. Neither site lists exact drink prices publicly, so budget accordingly and check current prices in-store.

Cha For Tea - Long Beach

Bubble Tea · Long Beach, California

5720 E 7th St, Long Beach, CA 90803

★★★★☆ 4.4 (615)

If you'd rather cook Cambodian or Vietnamese flavors at home instead of eating out for every meal, Long Beach's Asian Grocery listings include 23 markets, with Ma 'n Pa Grocery and Eddie's Market both holding 4.8-star averages for produce and pantry staples, and R and G Grocery and Jed's Market close behind at 4.7 stars.

Ma N' Pa Grocery

Asian Grocery Stores · Long Beach, California

346 Roycroft Ave, Long Beach, CA 90814

★★★★★ 4.8 (315)

Planning an actual visit

The practical way to eat through this neighborhood is to treat it as a lunch crawl rather than a single sit-down meal, since several of the best-known Cambodian spots close by mid-afternoon. Phnom Penh Noodle Shack, for example, closes at 3 PM daily and is closed entirely on Mondays — arriving at 4 PM means driving to the Vietnamese or ramen options instead. Parking along Anaheim Street is mostly metered street parking with some small lots behind the storefronts; it's tighter around lunch on weekends, so a weekday visit or an early Saturday arrival makes the search easier.

None of these restaurants are large chains with valet or reservation systems — they're mostly small, family-run rooms, so groups larger than four or five should call ahead, especially at the noodle shops that only seat a dozen or so tables. Wheelchair access varies by storefront; older strip-mall units on Anaheim Street sometimes have a single step at the entrance, so if mobility access matters, it's worth a quick call to the specific restaurant before you go.

For a broader view of what's in the area beyond this corridor, the Long Beach city page lists every category the directory tracks there, from hot pot to Chinese barbecue, so you can build out a second visit around whatever this guide didn't cover.

The takeaway

A realistic Cambodia Town lunch in Long Beach — a bowl of noodle soup, maybe a shared appetizer — lands close to Sophy's posted $13–20 range per person before tax and tip, and a heavier specialty-plate dinner can run higher. The neighborhood rewards going in with a plan: know which spots close early, bring cash or a card for small family-run counters that may not take every payment method, and treat any price not listed on an official menu as an estimate to confirm on arrival rather than a fixed number. Anaheim Street is dense enough that a single afternoon of walking it — noodle soup for lunch, a banh mi to go, boba to finish — covers three cuisines without ever getting back in the car.