I’m hanging in there as one of only two people in the “less then $30” category. Despite many posts to the contrary it’s quite easy to have a nice meal well under $30 here in the greater Cleveland area. My preferred steak is a choice top sirloin and they are less then $20 at Outback, Longhorn, Texas Roadhouse, Cracker Barrel and Girves Brown Derby. The chef at my local Cracker Barrel has never disappointed with flawless medium rare steaks. And the offering at Brown Derby is a T-bone for $19.99 on Monday and Tuesday. One time last year we both got T-bones with a huge filet section, they were really Porterhouse cuts.
I now recall my highest priced meal. It was several months ago at Outback when they had a filet and lobster tail for $27.99. I was taking a bunch of the grand-kids out and most of us had that meal. It was excellent.
No drinks? No apps? No tax? No tip? I mean, I can think of countless meals where the entree was $15 or even less, but all things added in, I still probably walked out spending more than $30. Maybe $25 if I was skipping apps and drinking non-alcoholic.
I was just listing the main price. But I drink water and we generally don’t buy appetizers. Tax and tip would put the cost over $30 but I didn’t think we were counting them.
I don’t know why you have never had a more expensive meal. Your reasons are yours and they will be perfectly valid for you. If you went to a truly great steakhouse it might change your life. I enjoy a trip to Longhorn or Outback. The meals are fine. They just simply don’t have to same quality of meat that a high end steakhouse does and that’s before a highly trained chef gets ahold of it. I can’t even get a good aged prime steak to cook myself for under $20. It does make a huge difference. And then add to that the experience of being served by a professional staff and it’s very worth it. I recommend doing it at least once.
mid 90ies … I studied as exchange student at a U. in Illinois (Urb/Cham)…
A single Whopper was $1 regular … but every Wednesday they had a “Get 2 Whoppers for $0.99”
…this got me good lunch for 0.99 and good dinner with 1.5 Whoppers for wed and a decent breakfast for thu w/ the remaining 1/2 one … for the grand total of $1.98 for 4 burgers
Then on Thu McD had the BigMac meal for one $ … and off to the races I was, again …
after a couple of weeks I had completely optimized my food-spend, based on promotios … and even at sit-down bars there were slow nights (tue?) where you would get a ridiculously large bucket of Buffalo chicken wings for like 2.99 … that doggybag was at least another day´’s worth of food …
I swear there were weeks where I could live on $10.00 for a whole week, getting really good caloric food … (health is not so much on your radar when you are 22 )
this was before the omnipresence of ramen noodles …
reminds me of a sale for Levi’s 501 jeans for $9.99 … I bought probably 10-15 pairs … and wore out the last one of those about 5 years ago (25 years later)…
I guess we all have those crazy “poor student” stories somewhere …
A fellow college dormie was a very skilled hacker, not such a common thing back then when most people did not even know what e-mail was. He skipped all his classes except for music (they took attendance and it involved playing his saxophone; he knew everything there was to know about jazz) but otherwise spent most of the semester in his room.
However, he would emerge every Tuesday to buy a couple dozen Big Macs when they were on special. Something like two for two bucks, but I don’t really remember the exact price. It didn’t seem like a very nutritious diet, but it probably tasted better than Soylent Green, at least in the parts of the week close to Tuesday…
Oddly enough, I’ve never had a bad steak at an Outback. I don’t eat there that often (maybe half a dozen times over ten years) and I don’t mean to say that the best steaks I’ve had were at Outback, but I do view them as my go to for a casual low cost steak.
Once I graduated and started earning real money, it took a few years to train myself away from starving student mode (best meal = the most food for the least cost).
There currently isn’t an Outback anywhere near me otherwise I would go more often. There is a Longhorn nearby. Although I usually enjoy their steak, I can’t say I’ve never had a bad steak there. I had a couple of bad experiences that put me off of it for awhile. I’ve since gone back and it’s been good again.
Texas Roadhouse is our go-to for that. Outback is available too but their staff is a little too Stepford for me – or maybe I’m more used to the Texas Howdy, y’all vibe. They’re not the best but are certainly adequate at less then 40% of a top-shelf steakhouse, and head and shoulders above Sizzler.
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