. "2012-04-21T00:00:00"^^ . . "2"^^ . "Since I eat Cambodian food every week at home, I wasn't tempted to dine here, but my sis and mom have been wanting to check it out for a while. \n\nWe dined here a few weeks ago and left feeling...underwhelmed. Service provided by the brother and sister duo was friendly; however, the food, although decent, was a bit too Westernized for my taste. As another Yelper has mentioned, the portions are too small for the advertised prices. \n\nWe ordered the following (shared between five adults and one child): 1) beef noodle soup (similar to the Vietnamese pho / $6); 2) lok lac beef (marinated pan fried cubes of beef / $8); 3) chicken fried rice ($8); 4) pleah (beef salad $10); 5) bbq platter (shrimp & beef skewers, chicken wings / $14); and 6) pork/pate sandwich ($5). \n\nThe good:\n* entrees were presented beautifully on green plates reminiscent of banana leaves\n* with the exception of the pleah (beef salad), the food looked good and tempting\n* with the exception of the lok lac beef, food arrived in a fairly timely manner \n* the beef skewers were delicious (can really taste the flavor of the marinade, especially the lemongrass)\n* iced coffee I ordered was good (albeit a bit weaker than the Viet kind / $3)\n* basil seed drink was good (and interesting to look at / $2)\n* as previously mentioned, service was friendly\n* the restaurant is decorated appropriately with Cambodian items\n\nThe bad:\n* while the rest of the entrees arrived within 20 minutes after ordering, my lok lac beef was brought to the table an HOUR later\n* the portion size of the lok lac beef is more indicative of a lunch serving, not dinner \n* the flavor of the lok lac was decent, but not as robust as usual (perhaps the beef cubes weren't given enough time to marinate)\n* the pleah (beef salad) was TOO tart and had us thinking, \"where's the beef?\" (it did not look nor tasted like the traditional pleah we're used to - Cambodian beef ceviche) \n* bring your sunglasses because the lighting in the restaurant is bright!!!\n\nI know it makes sense to tone down some of the Cambodian flavors, but it's too toned down for my taste. With that said, if you've not had Cambodian food, Sekong would be a good introduction to the dishes of Cambodia. Sekong is to be commended for offering Cambodian food to valley residents. \n\nFor authentic Cambodian cuisine, you'll have to go to the LA area. They don't care about toning down the flavors there to suit Western tastes, because shoot, there are loads of Asians to fill up their restaurants.\n\n(In addition to the food pics from Sekong, I also posted a pic of lok lac beef I ordered from one of the LA restaurants...for comparison.)"^^ . "7"^^ . . "7"^^ . "8"^^ .