Pizza Offerings in Siem Reap

For some reason, Siem Reap is full of restaurants that have pizzas on their menus. Some full-scale restaurants loudly advertise owning a wood-fire oven where their pizzas are baked, but others are totally quiet about having such equipment. We have found that in most cases such equipment does make better pizzas. Here is our impression of those pizza eateries with which we are familiar.

Le Tigre de Papier****: With a French owner, it is easy to select excellent cheeses that are considered so important for baking good pizzas. This restaurant boasts the use of a wood-fire oven that seems to create good results. After ordering your pizza, you may have to wait a bit, but rest assured that your pizza will be excellent.

Shadow of Angkor****: Although this eatery is not a pizza house, their pizzas are very impressive due to the use of a wood-fire oven. Not only are their toppings tasty but also their crusts are fairly thick and delicious. We particularly like their vegetable, spicy beef (thin beef slices though the menu says ground beef), four seasons pizzas, and meat lovers pizza. A small size is more than enough for an average appetite.

Lucky Burger Pizza***: The new lucky burger restaurant is located on the second floor of the new Lucky Building, close to the Angkor market on the Sivatha Boulevard, where the largest supermarket in Siem Reap has now opened. This restaurant has three types of pizza: chicken and garlic, pepperoni, and combination with lots of vegetables. Each costs $1.40, is a fair size, and is very tasty with a thick crisp crust and with a good amount of delicious cheese. If you order a value meal at $1.90, you also get a medium size coke. If you happen to be shopping at the Lucky Supermarket and feel a bit hungry, this is a perfect place for filling your stomach.

Ecstatic Pizza**: This pizza house is very ordinary, with thin-crust pizzas with toppings that are not particularly impressive, compared to better pizza restaurants. We think their mozzarella cheese is more rubbery than tasty.

Pizza Company**: This new pizza restaurant located inside the new Angkor Trade Center, right next to Shadow of Angkor, has a very clean dining area and the salad bar in the center seems new to Siem Reap, but its offering are not impressive at all. Perhaps we are comparing it with some huge salad bars found in the U.S. and other countries.

As far as their pizzas are concerned, they are way overpriced and their taste is not impressive either. They are too elaborate for true pizza lovers as the rim of a pizza is sewn in with hot dogs, which are not quality sausages.

Another impression we received is that the whole dining area is too office-like and has no atmosphere.

Red Pizza*: This pizza restaurant, situated close to the Common Grounds, should be avoided. For one thing, they must give a huge commission to tour operators for bringing their tour people from China, Vietnam, Korea, and Singapore, as there are lots of groups eating there. Their pizzas are way overpriced and do not taste good at all.