TEMPE, AZ — A beloved Indian restaurant has reopened at a new location after a fire forced it to close two years ago.
Delhi Palace recently welcomed customers into a renovated building on the corner of Apache Boulevard and Rural Road--formerly home to Vine Tavern & Eatery--for a grand opening.
Owner PJ Singh began working at the original location in 1995 and bought the restaurant in 2008. Over the decades, he has watched generations of families walk through the door.
"[Some customers] are like 3rd generation," Singh said. "They came when they were students, [then] their kids came, and their kids come now."
When an electrical fire tore through the roof in 2024, shutting down the restaurant he had owned for 16 years, the loss was deeply personal.
"My heart broke," Singh said.
But Singh never considered walking away. He got help from his business partner, Gill Singh, to open the new location. And the same loyal customers have already flocked back in.
"It's like they're all my family now," PJ said. "[Like meeting] with family after a long time."
For longtime regulars like Ezra Johnson, who has been eating at Delhi Palace since he was 5 years old, the reopening is a welcome return.
"I'll be coming here, at least once a month, probably for the next 50 years," Johnson said.
New customers are already becoming regulars. Ban Faris visited for the first time Thursday and returned the very next day.
"The food: amazing. The bread: amazing," Faris said. "And I will come back again."
