Royal Orchid Best Thai Food

Good news people! I just saw a sign up in the window «opening soon». It took a while but it should be the same great Thai food ! It is on the west side of Central NE around 39^th or 40^th. I live nearby, and will post as soon as I see it open.

I miss Royal Orchid SO MUCH. Anyone have their new address (more specific than Central & 40^th)???

WHERE ARE THEY? Their phone is disconnected. I want Pad Thai, and not just any Pad Thai. :(

They’re moving. Make sure you have the right address.
This was the first stop on my list as a business traveler. I wanted AUTHENTIC Thai, not Thainese or fusion. I ordered chicken satay, green curry and pad Thai. The food is royal style, which means it won’t be too hot.
Best pad Thai I’ve ever had.
The menu also had som tum and laab, as well as sticky rice.

Why this place isn’t *packed* all hours of the day is anyone’s guess — it just means there’s more pad thai for ME when I call.
Oh man.
I’ve had more than my share of this to-​go-​container staple over the years (almost always w/​shrimp) and have to give this the All-​Time Fave badge. I like mine with lots of spice, and when I ask for it «extra spicy» here … know how it comes?
Yep — «extra spicy.» And if you’re a fan of the outstanding smoky taste of toasted chilies — which they do in-​house, by the way — you’ll never be disappointed.
Sorry to see them closing up shop in Roseville, but if the move means they keep making this crazy noodle goodness, we’ll GLADLY make the drive.
Best flavor by a mile.

They are moving to Central and 40^th in August, so be aware! Also, they have lunch specials M-​F from 11a to 2p, the sign said upwards of $ 4.95.
The pad thai was exceptional! I say when you don’t have to add lemon or extra peanuts or some siracha to a dish and it can stand on its own… it is spectacular. It was sooooooooo tasty.
Also had rad na which I didn’t see on the menu but asked the wairess (and I’m guessing owner) about it and she had it made for me. It was a little on the sweet side so she brought me a pepper-​soaked-​in-​some-​mystery-​sauce-​thing to balance out the sweetness. I was skeptical at first because I usually use siracha to do the trick. This mystery sauce actually added some sourness to the dish to offset the sweetness and was GOOD. She followed up by asking if I’d like to spice up the dish and brought me dried chili powder, saying, «Thai people don’t use siracha.» I loved the authenticity of the place.
The Thai tea surprised me because it was so authentic. I’m used to the sweetened and creamy version, so this condensed milk version didn’t wow me as much. But I’m sure it is how they make it in Thailand!
The mango with sticky rice was great, too. What more could you ask for but sweet mangos and sticky rice topped with coconut milk? Definitely go try it! I can’t wait to go back.

Terrific Thai food — you can tell they using real oils and not ready-​made mixes for their sauces. It only gets three stars because of the owner, a weird dude who insists on chatting you up and pushing his other businesses, including a duct-​cleaning business (no joke). Here’s a general rule, at least by my book: Leave your patrons alone. They want to eat, not listen to a sales pitch.

i came here for lunch, on saturday, january 23^rd. I really liked the fact, that they have plenty of free parking. inside, the décor was spare, but nice. There was a framed thai painting on the wall, and a nice thai mural, on the opposite side. I was kind of dissapointed, with the menu… only a 2-​sided menu sheet. I ordered the panaeng curry with chicken, for $
was very good, but very SPICY!.It was more like a soup, than a meal, although it did come with a side dish of
server’s name was nida, and she was also the cook, for my food order. I have to say, that the food was authentic thai, and not the watered-​down americanized asian fare, that you so often encounter, in some asian restaurants. overall though, i give royal orchid thai, a solid 3 stars.

I adore this restaurant. I love how original it is, and family owned. My kids were fighting over my tofu pad thai, my 4-​year-​old son was actually asking for tofu for several days afterwards. Once again, my husband wasn’t as impressed with his choice (mossman curry) in relation to the price, but once again, I’m okay with that and still give Royal Orchid 4 stars.

I’m not sure what to make of my lunch at Royal Orchid. In my 12 years living nearby in St. Paul, I’ve heard that this is *the* place for Thai food, but just never made the time for it. I’ll admit, the strip mall it’s housed in didn’t inspire confidence.
But today I was right next door at lunch time. Paused briefly at the door to scan the menu and was patronizingly charmed by the broken English and spelling errors (a laser-​printed ad for Royal Orchid gift certificates (they make great Christmas gifts) misspelled «Orchid»).
Opted for beef Panang Curry from the lunch menu of 10 or so items (with an endless selection of chicken, beef, shrimp, or tofu within that list).
First, it looked not so hot – like chipped beef – but lots of deliciousness comes in homely packages, so no biggy.
Second, the curry sauce was perfect! A perfect balance of coconut sweetness with peanutiness and red curry spices. I’ve often had this type of dish tip so heavily toward the coconut as to wind up more of a rice pudding, but this was sublime.
Third – and this is what is still unsettling to me – the vegetables were very obviously from frozen, and included peas, carrot cubes, corn, and lima beans. On the side sat two «real» broccoli florets, a «real» slice of carrot, and some cabbage leaves. No matter how I look at it, I can’t wrap my mind around this one. The flavor of the beef and the sauce (and the rice) were fabulous, but I left with a happy tummy and a puzzled mind. Knowing that Royal Orchid is so well-​loved, I wonder if the frozen veggies just fill in when the fresh have run out or aren’t looking so hot?
Regardless, I enjoyed the food, enjoyed my meal, and truly truly enjoyed the heat index levels listed on the menu:
Mild: No hot peppers added (Wimpy)
Medium: a quarter tea spoon added (Moderate)
Hot: a half tea spoon added (Sweaty)
Very: one table spoon added (Intense Heat)
Super: two table spoons added (Spitting Fire)
Oh – and they serve Guinness, naturally.

Since moving to the cities I have been searching for good Thai food. Sadly I only got OK Thai food here. From reading other reviews maybe I got it on a bad day. I only tried the Basil Fried Rice maybe I need to try more.
Here was my problem with the Basil fried rice… it did not taste one bit like basil. Even eating the pieces of basil alone did not lead me to get basil flavor at all. I even asked for extra basil because I do love it. I also asked for it to be spicy and it had no spice to it.
I ended up trying the basil fried rice because the restaurant did not have my two usual dishes.
I do think no matter what the other reviews say I probably will not venture here again.

OK here is why I am giving it 5 stars: taste, value, service.
Having been all over Asia and through Thailand a couple times… this Thai place was fantastic. Here is another bold statement, not something in my reviews but «these were the best pot stickers I have ever had!» they were huge, the meat was perfectly cooked, and the dumplings were intense. I had the Pad Thai with chicken which was very good, hosting fresh ingredients. I struck up a conversation with the little old lady who was running the place, she grew up and lived most of her life in Thailand, hence the almost as good as being there taste. If you like Thai you have to check this place out. I will be back every time I come up here.

This place is a gem hidden in a nondescript strip mall in Roseville. The Pad Thai is easily the best in the Twin Cities!

I give Royal Orchid a 4-​star rating, though with a tiny bit of hesitation.
Having grown disgusted by the «we want to be a chic bistro”-style Thai restaurants in Minneapolis, I decided to venture out into the suburbs to see what was available. I thought to myself, maybe outside of the city center one can find honest, simple Thai food that isn’t dumbed-​down or industrialized for co-​ed taste buds in Uptown.
Royal Orchid, cozily tucked away in the corner of a strip mall in Roseville, offers an effective antidote to the mediocre, standardized Thai food in Minneapolis.
My green curry was hearty and had a good, strong flavor that suggested a personalized touch — this was home-​cooked Thai food, carefully prepared, by someone with a welcoming idiosyncratic preparation sytle. That’s the way Thai food should be.
The restaurant, most importantly, accommodates vegans and doesn’t screw around with furtive fish/​oyster sauce or other unsavory ingredients. The statement on the menu about «strict vegetarians» was reassuring. This restaurant, like most in Thailand, respects vegan and vegetarian diets and doesn’t make it a guessing game for patrons.
My only reasons for hesitation on the 4-​star rating: the curry, however tasty, had corn and carrots in it, which is strange and completely irregular; oddly enough, the curry DID NOT contain eggplant, which is the one staple of green curries. While the food tasted good I have to disagree with some of their ingredient choices. On the other hand, it does show the sign of an independent cook willing to do his/​her own thing. Also, the service was fairly friendly, but a little bit inattentive. I could have used some more water fill-​ups, for example.
Now I just wish that Royal Orchid were actually in Minneapolis. But at least whenever I have to go the big-​box stores at Rosedale Center I’ll have a great restaurant to eat at.

I went over lunch today and it was alright. I had the Pad Thai lunch special with chicken for 7.95. Decent portion for the price. I asked for spicy cause I’m a glutton for punishment with spicy foods but it didn’t deliver. A bit of a bite but but no raging inferno in my tummy. My favorite Pad Thai is definitely still from Krua Thailand in St. Paul which I recommend to everybody, but this hit the spot.

Years ago, the Royal Orchid was located on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis in a drafty, funky building and was instrumental in generating the ethnic restaurant traffic that has come to be marketed as «Eat Street.»
Since moving to St. Paul, Pat & Nita haven’t missed a beat, and continue to be without peer in producing supurb Thai dishes.
Don’t let the suburban strip mall location fool you, this is serious food, very well prepared.
I live in foodie paradise San Francisco and love Thai, but to my continuing disappointment I have yet to find Thai cooking anywhere else in the United States, including SF, comparable to Royal Orchid.

Trying to find AUTHENTIC Asian food in MN is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Its HARD! So when my girlfriend and I find a decent place to eat, we usually hit it… HARD. On our quest to find that ideal Asian restaurant, we did what any other hungry fellow would do in search of Asian food in MN. We google’d it. And since the mood called for something Thai-​related, we started our search.
Now, the criteria for the restaurant we were about to dine at had to be similar to our expectations of Thai food over at our native home of California. That is: taste, price and service. So, if the restaurant is satisfactory in those respects, all I can say is…“lets eat!” And we found such a place.
Royal Orchid boasts an authentic Thai experience, not only in food, but also in its décor and atmosphere. Upon entering the restaurant, I really felt as if we had left MN for that little time of dining.
All I can say is this: the food is good. I recommend trying the Pineapple Fried Rice and the Pad Thai. The portions. Hearty. And you GOT to get it spicy. Go spicy or go home. «Much mochi» to you if you are able to finish your dish
As far as service is concerned: an occasional check-​in if we could handle the spicy, and water refills were all we needed to enjoy ourselves. Royal Orchid is a good eats. And if you love a bargain, and if you enjoy good food at reasonable prices, then this is the place for you.

Pad Thai is the most common dish in Thai restaurants. I have had it many times in many places. I have yet to taste anything as good as the Royal Orchid pad thai. I used to work nearby and would eat here often. Now I am willing to drive the distance to eat this luxury.

After a day or two in Minnesota, I start to crave the food of my people — that is, Californian food. A friend brought me here for a taste of home. I ordered the coconut noodles and the tofu lemongrass soup. Super-​hot, I told the nice lady I’m from California, I can handle it.
It wasn’t hot at all, but it was *flavorful*. Any idiot can dump in more chilis, or hand me that bottle of liquid happiness known as Sriracha sauce, but it takes a real cook to make flavor.
Another nice thing about this restaurant is how customizable everything is. You can order any dish with any type of meat or tofu, at any level of spicy. A good place for picky eaters, or a good place to bring people who are trying Thai for the first time.
If you’re an expat living in the Midwest, definitely give this place a try.

Best. Pad. Thai. EVER. The restaurant itself looks pretty nondescript from the outside, but the inside is simple yet classy with nice Thai décor. I love things with elephants on them! The food was delicious (they claim to have the best pad thai in the cities, and I will agree with them) It’s reasonably priced, not any more or less expensive than Thai restaurants usually are.