What’s Moving Into Royal Oak’s Shuttered Onion Roll Deli?

Renovations appear well underway at Royal Oak's former Onion Roll Deli. The shuttered restaurant has been undergoing big transformation according to a tipster, though records of what exactly is happening with the space are scarce.

Eater recently visited the site on Woodward Avenue. The restaurant's façade sports a new coat of black paint, wood paneling under the awnings, and updated signage with an owl and the acronym "O.W.L." The former restaurant still appears to have a kitchen inside, though most of the windows are obscured by paper.

It seems Birmingham-based architecture firm Ron & Roman, Onion Roll Ventures, LLC, and contractor Sign Emporium, jumped through several hoops last summer in order to convince the City of Royal Oak that they should be allowed to preserve the retro Onion Roll sign. Those applications were filed for a restaurant called EAT, but the proposed designs look different from the current signage going up at the restaurant.

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