Roat Osha is one of the newest Thai additions to the Minneapolis Uptown scene, but strongly resembles its sister restaurant Tum Rup Thai. Tum Rup has had a pretty successful life so far on the opposite side of Uptown near Calhoun Square. Guess the owners thought they would take advantage of a good thing and open another Thai restaurant that is almost identical to the first.

There is little that distinguishes the Roat and Tum Rup menus from each other. In fact, I’m pretty sure they are the same. Good amounts of food, decent variety, but still a little on the bland side and rather generic. However, it seems that the sister are living in harmony along with the half dozen other Thai restaurants that are scattered through Uptown. I will say that Tum Rup is near the top of my list for places to go when I’m craving pad thai or wonton soup and thus Roat Osha is up there as well.

Roat Osha does have some qualities that would lead me to choose it over Tum Rup. The ambiance is nice and open. I enjoy the large windows in front where you can see out onto the street. There is also ample free parking in back and a larger ‘lobby’ area in the front entrance. Roat has a larger bar and an outdoor patio as well. The one negative thing I will point out about Roat Osha is the horrible music they play. I’m not sure if they are trying to be funny or trendy or what, but it’s god awful. And if you’re reading this Roat, CUT IT OUT! I think I heard ‘Safety Dance’ and something by U2, I tried to ignore the rest. Some people at my table started singing the fillet o’ fish commercial music just so we’d have something better to listen to.

The food here isn’t bad, but like I said it’s exactly the same as Tum Rup. Last visit I had spring rolls and pad thai…how original, I know. But in my defense I had a bad day and really just went for the beer. Food was just preventing me from getting totally plastered on a Wednesday evening. Oh, Roat also has a better selection of beer than Tum Rup. Sapporo on tap? COUNT ME IN! The rest of the party did a lot of the same. Some lemon grass chicken here, some curry there. Every thing was good, nothing to officially complain about in the food department, but not a lot to write home about either.

I would have to say the service here was also better than Tum Rup. I’ve read numerous reviews complaining about the service at Tum Rup and I’d have to agree. Also, I’ve never got a carry out order from Tum Rup that was 100% correct. But anyways…our server at Roat Osha was a little on the loud side, but definitely friendly and helpful. If you are looking for some decent Thai food for an affordable price in Uptown I would suggest Roat Osha over Tum Rup Thai.