For vegetarian options in Wayne County, the best bet are the Arabic restaurants in Dearborn, of course. But due to midterms and grading my student’s papers, I’m behind on my restaurant reviews— but I want to post this list now. If I’ve left off you favorite place, let me know in the comments!
I’ve indicated whether each restaurant is vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free. Restaurants with vegetarian only menus are in bold.
Wayne County
The Sprout House, Grosse Pointe Park (all vegetarian)
One part health food store, one part sandwich and soup shop. Vegetarian soups made daily, and freshly made veggie sandwiches and salads in their cooler.
Steve’s Back Room, Harper Woods (vegetarian, vegan)
Wide selection of vegetarian Arabic food.
Red Star Chinese Restaurant, Dearborn (vegetarian)
Are we still arguing about if faux-meats are a good idea or not? Visiting this place will put that argument to rest— wide selection of Chinese dishes, with various seitan substitutes available.
Zerbo’s Health, Livonia (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free)
This is a fantastic health food store—and after you’ve spent some time admiring the produce and prowling the aisles, you’ll stumble on the sandwich shop in back. They sell fresh salads and smoothies as well, with gluten-free bread and wraps available.
Indian Flavors, Westland (vegetarian)
All-vegetarian Indian menu.
Addis Ababa Ethiopian Restaurant, Plymouth (vegetarian)
This place is very much on my “must check out” list. I still need to find out if their bread is made with just teff flour (making it traditionally Ethiopian, as well as gluten-free.)
Simple Sandwiches, Plymouth (vegetarian, gluten-free)
Good, fresh ingredients, tasty sandwich list, and best of all— on gluten-free bread.
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Nee Hee’s Chole Bhature.
Nee Hee’s, Canton (all vegetarian, vegan)
Don’t let the huge menu or the flat-screen TVs playing Bollywood movies and cricket matches distract you. If you like spicy food, there’s a ton of delicious options. The menu is almost overwhelming in its variety (I keep track of what I’ve had in the past on a take-out menu.) Try one of their dosas— tall, thin and crepes served with vegetables and chutney. Don’t forget the sugar cane juice to wash it down.
The Chopstick House, Canton (vegetarian)
Large vegetarian menu, with faux meats and a wide variety of tasty vegetable and tofu dishes.
Lei Ting, Milford (vegetarian)
Vegetarian-friendly Chinese restaurant, with faux meats.
Macomb County
The Clean Plate, Shelby Township (all vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free)
A great selection of salads and sandwiches, daily soups and hot entrees make this the best— and only!— vegetarian eatery in Macomb. Plus, they feature the same tempting desserts as the Cacao Tree in Royal Oak (both restaurants have the same owners.)
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The Clean Plate’s spinach salad.
Detroiter in Poland 
Totally agree, when I haven’t been able to check out an area beforehand or when the place I was counting on in unavailable for some reason ‘ethnic’ restaurants are my best bet with Turkish/Middle/ Eastern/Western Asian being my fave, particularly Lebanese and Anatolian. Their ranges of salads are something in itself, for a vegan like me I barely have to ask about the things I can’t have in comparison to other places. I love South and South East Asian food too but I find it much harder finding places I like since restaurant and home food are massively different whereas with Turkish food the restaurants are awesome too. When I tend to want Indian outside for example I actually prefer Kenyan and Ethiopian restaurants as I believe they do Indian and Indian style food better in restaurants.
As a vegetarian, Arabic/Lebanese have been my go-to restaurants, along with Thai and Korean. Turkish food is great— and I’ll have to compare Indian with Ethiopian the next time I eat out.