Highland’s Little India closing after five-year run

Little India has created a big presence in Denver since opening its flagship location on Easts Sixth Avenue in the Speer neighborhood back in 1998. 

Over the years, it’s been a regular winner of our Readers’ Choice Award for Best Indian Restaurant, and has expanded to three additional locations: one on South Downing near the University of Denver, another in Central Park on 29th Avenue, and a third in Highland. 

But after this weekend, one of those will be gone. According to an email from the owners, the Highlands restaurant will close for good at the end of service May 31. 

“After five incredible years in the neighborhood, Little India Highlands will be closing its doors,” it reads. “This weekend will be our final weekend of service. Five years may not sound like a lifetime, but in restaurant years it’s approximately 37 years, 14 emotional support cases of naan, one global pandemic, countless staff meetings, and enough Chicken Tikka Masala to keep Denver warm through at least two winters. We’ve had first dates, last dates, family celebrations, awkward family celebrations, birthday dinners, engagement dinners, ‘We’re just getting one appetizer’ dinners that somehow turned into a full feast, and more takeout orders than we can count.”

Little India Highlands opened in January 2021, taking over the distinctive, century-old brick building at 3496 W. 32nd Ave. just as restaurants were starting to reopen at limited capacity during the pandemic. Later that year, the family added the Central Park eatery. And in 2024, it made one of its boldest moves: turning the original Sixth Avenue flagship into a 24/7 service format. 

Rest assured, all other Little India locations will remain open, and the 24/7 schedule of the original space will stay, “because the city’s relationship with late-night butter chicken remains stronger than ever, the email notes.

Over the weekend, Little India hopes to lure regulars and first-timers alike into the shuttering Highland space for what sounds like a hell of a close-out bender to help finish off what appears to be a large stockpile of booze behind the bar. 

“We need your help,” reads the email. “The restaurant is closing, and frankly, we are trying to avoid moving a suspicious amount of liquor. So this weekend we’re asking Denver to do what Denver does best: Help us drain the bar. This is not financial advice. This is community service.”

The kitchen will be open as well, because you’ll need something to soak up all the “community service,” the note advises.

“The clock is ticking. The bar is full. The Tandoori ovens are hot. And we’d love to see you one more time.”

Little India Highlands is located at 3496 W. 32nd Ave., and will be open from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. through May 31. For more information on other locations, visit littleindiaofdenver.com.