Cambodia Town Noodle Bar Near Me: Phnom Penh Noodle Shack Since 1985

Phnom Penh Noodle Shack opens at 7am Tuesday through Sunday at 1644 Cherry Ave in Long Beach's Cambodia Town, and its best-known bowl, the Phnom Penh Noodle House Special, is $15 on the restaurant's own menu. If you are searching noodle bar near me on a weekend morning, know two things first: the dining room is tiny, and The Infatuation warns that weekend waits can run well over an hour. It closes at 3pm and stays shut on Mondays.

The name is literal. According to the restaurant's Our Story page, the founders' parents took over a run-down restaurant in the early 1980s that had only five tables, and people started calling it The Shack. In the mid-1990s the oldest brother took over, expanded the room and renamed it Phnom Penh Noodle. In October 2012 the interior was redesigned and the sign changed again, to Phnom Penh Noodle Shack. The page is signed by the Tan Family and says the kitchen has been serving since 1985.

Visit Long Beach now calls it a Cambodia Town landmark and names the House Special as its most popular dish, while Eat the World LA describes it as the place to go for Cambodian breakfast since the 1980s. That breakfast framing matters. Cambodian noodle soup here is morning food, eaten before work or after Sunday errands, which is why the shop keeps 7am to 3pm hours rather than staying open for dinner like most noodle bars in Los Angeles.

Start with the #1, the Phnom Penh Noodle House Special at $15. The menu lists sliced pork, ground pork, pork stomach, liver and shrimp in the bowl,. If organ meats are not for you, the #2, Mo's Special Noodles from $15, swaps in ground pork, sliced pork and beef balls for a milder bowl.

The dish The Infatuation singled out is not a noodle at all. Mo's Special Rice Porridge, $15, comes with ground pork, chicken and beef meatballs, and critic Brant Cox called it one of LA's great dishes, adding that the team drives 90 minutes to eat it. If you are splitting plates, order one bowl of porridge for the table alongside the noodle soups so everyone gets a few spoonfuls.

Two $17 bowls show how wide the noodle list goes. The Loat Cha Noodle uses short, teardrop-shaped pin noodles cooked with bean sprouts, chives, fried garlic, peanuts and egg, which makes it the pick if you want something chewy and not soupy. The Student Noodle tosses small rice noodles with your choice of meat, bean sprouts, peanuts and pickled cabbage in the house garlic fish sauce. The Beef Stew Noodle is also $17 for anyone who wants a heavier, richer broth.

Do not skip the bread. The Long Bread, or cha quai, is $3.50, a long fried dough stick meant for tearing into your soup, and Eat the World LA called it unbelievably soft and fluffy. Meat Bread, or knom sakieu, is $4.50. An extra side of Soup with Pork Bone is $6, and condensed milk for coffee is 75 cents. There is no alcohol on the menu, so this is a coffee-and-soup stop, not a place for a beer with your bowl.

Our honest take: skip the Beef Stew Noodle on a first visit. It is a fine bowl, but you can find beef stew noodles all over Los Angeles, and with a waitlist outside, the House Special and the rice porridge are the two dishes that explain why people make the drive to Cherry Avenue. Save the stew for a third or fourth trip, when you already know the room and the routine.

Timing is everything at a five-table-sized dining room. The Infatuation's review says weekend mornings can bring waits of well over an hour, that the shop runs a waitlist, and that weekdays are quieter. The simplest plan is to come on a Tuesday through Friday morning, ideally close to the 7am opening, before the late-breakfast crowd arrives. The kitchen closes at 3pm, so a late lunch is possible on weekdays, but there is no evening service to fall back on.

If the list is already long when you arrive on a Saturday or Sunday, do not stand on the sidewalk for 90 minutes. The restaurant's website takes online orders for pickup and delivery, so you can put in an order for the House Special and the cha quai and eat at MacArthur Park nearby instead. The site also runs a rewards program and an app, useful if this turns into a regular breakfast stop rather than a one-time visit.

This is a full-service restaurant, not a counter, and the service is part of the appeal. The Infatuation described servers who may pull up a chair to chat with regulars That warmth is one reason Eat the World LA treats it as the default Cambodian breakfast in town. The same publication's Cambodian food guide calls the space tiny and says it does not really suit large groups, so if you are planning a breakfast for eight, split up or order pickup and find a park table.

For a short walk after eating, head to the Mark Twain Neighborhood Library at 1401 E. Anaheim St., across the street from MacArthur Park. The city library page notes that the branch holds a Khmer Collection of Cambodian-language books, which fits the neighborhood, and that it opened in 2007 as Long Beach's first LEED Silver building. It is open Tuesday and Thursday from noon to 7pm, Wednesday from noon to 6pm, and Friday and Saturday from 10am to 5pm.

MacArthur Park itself is the easiest place to eat a pickup order if the dining room is full, and heading west on Anaheim Street from Cherry Avenue takes you along the main commercial strip of Cambodia Town. Keep in mind the library is closed Sunday and Monday, so a Sunday breakfast pairs better with the park than with the reading room.

Phnom Penh Noodle Shack is at 1644 Cherry Ave, Long Beach, CA 90813. The phone is (562) 433-0032. Hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 7am to 3pm, and the restaurant is closed on Mondays, so a Monday plan will not work. Parking is limited to the street, according to Eat the World LA, so allow a few extra minutes to circle the block. By bus, Long Beach Transit routes 21 and 22 run from downtown toward Cherry Avenue.

Prices on the restaurant's 2026 online menu include the $15 House Special, $15 Mo's Special Rice Porridge, $17 Loat Cha Noodle and $3.50 Long Bread. Ask Karpo in the Karpo APP to plan a Cambodia Town morning around this bowl, or to find another Long Beach breakfast spot when the weekend list is too long.