India Palace: What’s Vegetarian Editorial Review

India Palace has served North Indian food from the same Preston Road strip mall since 1990, and Dallas Observer readers still vote it the city’s best Indian restaurant most years. Order the Malai Kofta Kashmiri, vegetable and cheese dumplings in a mild almond cream sauce, or the Palak Paneer, cubes of housemade cheese in creamed spinach. Both run $20 to $21 on the dinner menu. Vegetable Biryani ($21, add paneer for $2) works as a full meal by itself, and Vegetable Samosas ($8) or Aloo Tikki ($10, crispy potato patties with tamarind chutney) make good starters. Vegetarians get real menu space here, not two options tacked onto the bottom of the card.

Owner Pardeep Sharma has run the place for decades and keeps tweaking the menu and decor while holding onto what regulars come back for. Zagat once called it the grande dame of Dallas’ Indian food scene, and the dining room still looks out on the tandoori oven. Dinner covers chicken, lamb, goat, beef, and seafood alongside a dedicated vegetable section with about twenty dishes: Aloo Gobi, Bhindi Do Pyaza, Mattar Paneer, Channa Balti, Saag Channa, Nawabi Kofta, Paneer Butter Masala, and more, mostly $20 to $21. Beyond that, India Palace runs a standalone Vegan menu built around dal, bhindi, aloo gobi, and vegetable biryani, plus a Jain menu that drops onion, garlic, potato, carrots, and ginger for guests who keep that stricter standard. Few Indian restaurants in Dallas bother printing a Jain section, and having one says the kitchen understands vegetarian dining goes beyond skipping meat.

Nothing on the site claims a separate vegetarian kitchen or dedicated cookware, so assume some shared equipment with the meat and seafood dishes, standard for a full-service kitchen this size. Ask your server if cross-contact is a concern. The restaurant’s own homepage already invites that question, noting many items are gluten-free and vegan and to ask for details.

Budget $$ for dinner. Appetizers run $3 to $16, vegetarian mains land at $20 to $21, and a thali-style plate called the Vegetable Bhojan ($28) bundles samosa, dal maharani, saag paneer, malai kofta, rice, raita, kheer, and naan into one order. Lunch is friendlier on the wallet. A weekday buffet runs 11am to 2:30pm, and a $14 vegetable lunch box pairs two vegetable dishes with rice and naan. Reservations go through OpenTable, and a full bar with a wine list and Indian malt beverages makes this work for a date night or a group dinner, not just a quick takeout run. India Palace also handles catering and delivery. Zagat and D Magazine have both written it up more than once, and it’s held onto Dallas Observer’s Best Indian Restaurant title for twelve years running.

Get the Palak Paneer with garlic naan, add Vegetable Samosas to start, and you’ll leave full without touching a single meat dish.