Your least expensive restaurant bill?

[Septavius]

I was at a fairly nice restaurant once with my friend, and while we were waiting for our food, the waiter came and told us our dinners would be on the house, as an apology for their taking too long. Oddly, my friend and I didn't think we were waiting all that long, nor did we make any complaints to that effect.

 

[johnny_flapjack]

Roast at the Book Cadillac hotel in Detroit is one of Iron Chef Michael Symon's restaurants. During their coctail hour every weekday from 4:30 to 6:30 you can get one of their regular menu burgers with bacon and a fried egg on it for $3.

 

[steviecakes]

The good ol' days when the lamb and rice platter on 53rd and 6th was $5. Now it's $6. And for some reason it just doesn't taste as good as it used to.

There's a good gyro cart in Astoria on Steinway street by all the hookah bars that I go to when I'm in the area. $6 a platter. But they give you the option of spicy rice, and throw in a **** ton more vegetables than other carts: tomatoes, onions, peppers instead of just lettuce.

Another good cart is right in front of LIU Brooklyn, $6 gets you a can of soda or a bottle of water with your meal. And the rice is the tastiest out of all the halal street meat places I've tried.

 

[drbaw]

In rural China I've had a huge plates of dumplings for 3 kuai (about .40 cents at the time). I would usually throw in a large beer for another 2 kuai.

In California you can still occasionally find dollar tacos.

 

[ChicagoRon]

I know you said "no specials" but ... Dime a Dog night at the old Columbus Clippers stadium was mine.

 

[gamelan]

in the States, yeah, it's hard to beat a banh mi at $2.50 a pop or tacos at the local taco truck going for a $1 or $1.25 a piece

in China, i've had multiple meals that cost than a dollar. recently, two bowls of laghmen at a street vendor in Lhasa for 6RMBs (~88 cents).

-Jeff

 

[Pilot]

Taqueria close to my house has tacos for $1.37 comes with meat, cilantro, and onions. 2 of them are good for a light meal.

Some chinese places around here have lunch menu that is about 2.99 for chicken or beef fried rice and a drink.

 

[acidboy]

being dirt poor back in school drove me to buying a couple of dinner rolls, a cup of free gravy and a small pepsi for lunch for a few weeks

 

[PeterMetro]

Originally Posted by steviecakes

The good ol' days when the lamb and rice platter on 53rd and 6th was $5. Now it's $6. And for some reason it just doesn't taste as good as it used to.

A block over on 7th it's still $5. People claim it's not as good, but I don't really see the difference. I'm dousing the whole thing in hot sauce and white sauce (which I'm pretty sure is thinned out mayo) anyway.

I live in China, so it's not really fair, but my favorite cheap meal is at the DongBei Dumpling King: 18 boiled dumplings, a small plate of pickles or salad, and a liter of beer: 21 RMB, roughly $3 USD.

 

[Xericx]

I bought a big dinner for all of my cousins at a sit down restaurant in Manila. It was a bunch of traditional foods, bought everyone drinks, etc....12 of them. The bill was like $35.

 

[cptjeff]

6.5 zloty for kebab in poland. At least, I think that's what it ran in the cheapest place I got it. About $2.50, and you have a choice of lamb or chicken. And it's wonderful.

 

[Krish the Fish]

Bar in columbus has $1 grilled cheeses every monday. 2 of those, especially during happy hour (1/2 price on pints of all of their 50 draft beers) will get you good for ~$5, beer included.

 

[CDFS]

Originally Posted by MetroStyles

One time in New Delhi I got a full meal for 20 rupees. That comes out to about 44 cents.
One time in Calangute beach I got a full meal for 15 rupees. That came out for one guilder, then. Thali, something like below, only with ten kinds of sauce:

yeah, I know I'm childishly trying to one-up you.

 

[Listi]

This doesn't ACTUALLY count, but one time I was at a shady Korean "bar" in Toronto which was actually just a restaurant that stayed open late. Since they didn't have a proper bar license, they served food (quite generously) complementary with the purchase of a drink. If only one person was there it would be enough for a lunch: fried rice, chicken, some nuts and vegetables. However, it was all very bland and mediocre. And if you so chose, you could have gotten it for whatever their cheapest drink was (which I believe was $2.50.)

Of course, they served this (one platter) to 7 of us, and we had 4-5 drinks each, so it wasn't really a "cheap meal."

 

[impolyt_one]

Originally Posted by pebblegrain

KRW 3000 in s. korea for a very hearty bowl of hand-delivered black bean noodles. about $2.50

you can still do this here, except the price may have risen to about 4000 won in recent times. I eat on the regular here for about $3-5/head.
Basic jjigae and rice with side dishes for under $4, K-BBQ for two runs about $20, including a couple half-liter beers or two bottles of soju, in my neighborhood, and it's decent. You don't get 20 different banchan side dishes for that price (more like 3 or 4 - though they're refilled upon asking) but it's enough.

Price-conditioning-wise, Koreans don't like breaching $5/head for a meal, so it's been that way for awhile and will remain so.