Restaurants in Kentwood with vegetarian menus

Mithu Srilankan & Indian Cuisine

Sri Lankan and Indian cooking out of a small strip-mall room on Kalamazoo Ave, a block over the Kentwood line in Grand Rapids, and by a clear margin the highest-rated restaurant in this table. The menu carries a full vegetarian curry section: eggplant, potato and peas, lentil, sambar, channa and paneer, most of them built on coconut milk and priced around $13. Reviewers describe a mom-and-pop room where the person who cooked your food may also be the one who brings it out, and a heat scale you pick from 1 to 10. Hours are short (closed Mondays, evenings only midweek), so check before you drive over.

Pal's Indian Cuisine

A family-run Indian kitchen open since 2010, on the stretch of 28th Street just west of the Kentwood line, though the restaurant gives its own address as Kentwood. It cooks a long list of vegetable, paneer and lentil curries alongside the meat dishes, and every dish description says whether it is vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free; anything marked with an asterisk can be made vegan if you say so when you order. The dietary page is unusually thorough for a small restaurant, spelling out which dishes contain bell peppers, cashews, egg or soy, and noting they do not serve tofu. Reviewers single out the samosas, palak paneer and garlic naan; a few say the dining room could be cleaner.

Desi Spice

Indian and Nepalese cooking (the business is Himalayan Feast) in the strip next to Horrock's on Breton Road, with a menu section given over to Indian vegetarian entrees plus vegetarian momos, chowmein and biryani. Palak paneer, navratan korma and steamed veg momos all sit at $13.99, so a full meat-free dinner here stays under fifteen dollars. Regulars call out the coconut tofu curry and the momos; the room itself is plain, better suited to a weeknight dinner than an occasion. It is one of only two places in this table where dumplings, noodles and curries all come vegetarian.

Le Kabob

A Lebanese kitchen on 28th Street where almost everything is made in house, and one of the few places here with a vegetarian plate built as a full meal rather than a side: the Veggie Combo puts hummus and tabouli in front of falafel, a stuffed grape leaf and spinach pie. Falafel is what reviewers keep coming back for, and a six-piece plate runs $14. Baba ghanooj, mujadara, batata harra, fattoush and lentil soup mean a vegan diner has real choices. It is a casual room with outdoor seating in season, and they do not take reservations.

The Pita House

A Grand Rapids Mediterranean mainstay since 1995 with a second dining room on 28th Street, best known for the beef-and-lamb Sami's Gyro but well set up for meat-free eating. The Veggie Pita builds a wrap on tzatziki, hummus or baba ghanooj for $10.99, the cheapest vegetarian plate in this table, and there is also a falafel wrap, falafel sliders and a vegetarian platter of grape leaves and falafel. The menu notes that the hummus and baba ghanooj are both vegan, though the pita served with them is not gluten free. Reviewers describe a clean, welcoming room and fresh-made pita; a few say portions have shrunk as prices rose.

Thai Express

A small Thai kitchen in the Kalamazoo Ave strip, just outside Kentwood's border but listed at a Kentwood address, holding a 4.7 average across 226 ratings. Several entrees are entirely vegetable: stir-fried mixed vegetables, a five-vegetable blend and broccoli and snow peas in peanut sauce, all in the $14 to $16 range, and tofu is a protein choice on the green mango salad. There is no separate vegetarian section, so it helps to know which dishes are meat-free before you order, and the kitchen sets spice level on request. Lunch runs late morning to mid-afternoon and they are closed Sundays.

Tokyo Grill & Sushi

A Japanese restaurant on Breton Road whose ordering menu keeps an entire vegetarian maki section: eleven rolls running from a $3.75 asparagus maki to the $11.50 veggie futomaki of cucumber, gourd, yellow radish, avocado and inari. Vegetable tempura, edamame and salads fill out the meat-free side, and the hibachi kitchen will cook vegetables. It is the most family-ready room in this set, with high chairs, a kids' menu and chopstick helpers for small hands. Service slows when the dining room fills up, which reviewers mention more than anything about the food.

China 1

A no-frills Chinese takeout counter on 52nd Street with a vegetables section of its own: broccoli with snow peas, Chinese mixed vegetables, bean curd in garlic sauce, ma po tofu and mixed vegetables with tofu, most between $11 and $13 and served with rice. Portions are large enough that reviewers routinely split one order into two meals. Its 3.7 average is the lowest score in this table, and the room is a counter with a few tables rather than a place to settle in. Treat it as the cheap weeknight takeout option rather than a night out.

Broad Leaf Brewery + Spirits

A full brewery and restaurant off Lake Eastbrook with indoor pickleball courts, and the only place in this table that flags vegan dishes on the menu itself. The falafel plate and the roasted red pepper hummus both carry a vegan mark, and the Thai Pea(Not) Noodles are built on a nut-free tahini sauce instead of peanut. The kitchen rotates its menu, so the meat-free options change through the year and what is here today may not be in three months. It is the one room in this set you would pick for a group that wants beer, food and something to do in the same visit.

PJ's Pizza & Slice

A neighborhood pizza shop on 52nd Street that carries non-dairy mozzarella along with plant-based pepperoni and sausage, so a whole pizza can be built meat-free and dairy-free on any crust, including the gluten-friendly and cauliflower ones. The straightforward vegetarian order is the $15.99 Veggie Pizza with mushroom, red onion, black and green olives, green pepper and roasted red pepper. Garlic knots, salads and Chocolate Shoppe ice cream round out a family stop, and it is the only place here with a drive-through. Hours are short and it is closed Sundays, so it works better for an early dinner than a late one.