Delhi Palace Returns to Tempe, Setting Up Shop in the Vine's Beloved A-Frame
For nearly four decades, Delhi Palace served curry and biryani to generations of Tempe diners, becoming one of the East Valley's most dependable Indian restaurants. When a fire destroyed its original home near Rural Road and University Drive two years ago, owners Parmjit Singh and his father Tajinder Gill faced a deeply uncertain future. Their comeback arrived through an unexpected opportunity: the Vine, a bar that had occupied an iconic A-frame building at Apache Boulevard and Rural Road for 36 years, had relocated to a new address. Delhi Palace moved into the storied structure, preserving its staff, its family recipes, and its bond with a neighborhood it had served since 1986.
Delhi Palace Finds a New Home in the Vine's Iconic Tempe Building
Delhi Palace, an Indian restaurant that had operated near Rural Road and University Drive in Tempe since 1986, officially reopened this summer in the A-frame building long associated with The Vine bar at Apache Boulevard and Rural Road. Co-owner Parmjit Singh told Axios the original restaurant could not be salvaged after the fire that forced its closure two years ago, but the new location offered ample parking, a familiar layout, and proximity to its original site — making it a natural fit. The staff that served customers for years returned in full, and the menu continues to feature the family recipes that built Delhi Palace's reputation. The A-frame building itself carries decades of Tempe history: The Vine operated there for 36 years before relocating to Rural and Elliot roads in 2022. For Singh and his father, Tajinder Gill, the reopening represents both a homecoming and a chance to build a new chapter at a building with its own loyal following. "The last two years were very tough," Singh said. "I just want people to support us, to grow again, to serve people good food." [2]
From Fire to Rebirth: The Two-Year Road Back for a Tempe Indian Institution
The closure of Delhi Palace in the wake of a fire was a significant loss for the Tempe dining community that had supported the restaurant since Ronald Reagan's first term. For Parmjit Singh and his father Tajinder Gill, the intervening two years meant navigating insurance, searching for a new space, and keeping a staff together through an extended shutdown. The serendipitous availability of the Vine's A-frame building changed the calculus entirely. What might have been a permanent closure became a relocation that keeps the restaurant anchored in the same east Tempe neighborhood it has always called home. The building's distinctive profile — a single-story brown-shingled structure with a sloping A-frame section visible from Apache Boulevard — now flies a "NOW OPEN" banner for Delhi Palace, signaling continuity as much as novelty. For longtime customers, the return of the same recipes and the same kitchen team makes the new address feel like a reunion rather than a restart. [2]
🍛 Delhi Palace Joins a Competitive and Growing Indian Dining Scene in the Phoenix Metro
The reopening of Delhi Palace comes as the Phoenix metropolitan area — which includes Tempe, Scottsdale, and Chandler — has seen its Indian restaurant landscape grow and diversify. Phoenix New Times' roundup of the ten best Indian restaurants in the region reflects a culinary scene that now encompasses North Indian and South Indian traditions, regional specialties, and fast-casual formats alongside sit-down establishments. Delhi Palace has long occupied a distinctive position in that ecosystem: a family-owned, recipe-driven restaurant in a university-adjacent neighborhood with a built-in audience of students, faculty, and longtime residents. Its return gives the East Valley a familiar anchor at a time when Indian food options continue to expand across the metro. For diners who remember Delhi Palace from its original location, the new address on Apache Boulevard is close enough to feel like coming home — which is precisely the feeling its owners are counting on as they rebuild their customer base and settle into a building with a distinctly different but equally storied past. [3]
Sources: [2] Axios · [3] Phoenix New Times