Eagle Bar

There is something wonderfully theatrical about entering a Phnom Penh hostess bar alone. The door opens, the music continues, and suddenly a group of beautiful women lines up to welcome a man they have never met. At Eagle Bar on Street 104, that welcome was especially warm. I asked whether anyone spoke a little English. One very sweet young lady stepped forward and answered in surprisingly good English. Then came the important question: did she drink wine? “Of course,” she said. “Of course” is a wonderful answer—especially when, halfway through the first glass, she admitted that she had never tasted wine before. The staff had to search for it, but eventually they found a real bottle—not one of the large plastic boxes seen in many bars. The wine was much better than expected. My new friend was still learning whether she liked it, but she was a very good sport. By the third glass, she was asking for another. Later, I invited the bartender to join us. She was warm, friendly and of course, beautiful. She became an important part of our little group. The music was excellent, with familiar songs from Beyoncé, Rihanna, DJ Snake and other pop and rap favorites. My companions knew nearly every song and happily sang along. Eagle Bar is a traditional Phnom Penh hostess bar, with comfortable sofas, many lovely women and apparently a pool table somewhere upstairs. But bars are rarely remembered because of their furniture. They are remembered because someone welcomes a stranger, shares a bottle, sings a familiar song and turns an ordinary night into a story worth telling. Eagle Bar did exactly that.

I'll was supposed to be 20 dollars and it came in as 41 dollars. Complained and I discovered they mislead me claiming lady drinks were 5 dollars when in fact they charged me 7 dollars for 3 drinks. I then found out for the first 2 rounds of lady drinks they actually billed me for 2 lots of drinks one at 7 and the other additional drinks at 5 dollars. Nobody explained this to me and I consider it to be deceptive. In the end after ole back and forth I left after agreeing to pay 25 dollars.