Cheap Eats and Drinks!

By Heather Schuer

heather.schuer@gmail.com

There are well-known choices for saving some money when you go out eating and drinking, such as Buffalo Wild Wings, Sickies Garage, J.C. Chumley’s, and $1.00 tacos at Dempsey’s. But here are five places where I think you get more bang for your buck for either the quality, service, portion sizes, and/or drink specials. Here they are:

Vinyl Taco

The atmosphere in here is fun and loud with some good music to get your night going. Cheap and delicious tacos with some starting at $2.99, but most averaging around $3.69. These tacos include choices such as crispy chicken and mango, carne asada, and my favorite, shrimp a la parilla (for $4.49). Not to mention their absolutely tasty $2.00 margaritas on Friday and Saturday nights from 9-11pm (probably one of the best margaritas I’ve had!). But the only problem here is that they’re so good and drinkable that you might end up breaking the budget if you order too many, so be careful!

Mango’s

This is the best Mexican restaurant in town. There’s a meet-up Spanish conversation group here on Thursday nights, and you know the portions are generous when you see loads of construction workers pile in here. But this restaurant has daily food and drink specials that will accommodate a college budget very well. For example, on Mondays they have margaritas on special for $2.00 all day long. Go there on Tuesdays for all-you-can-eat tacos for $6.00 with UV Vodka Lemonade’s for $2.00. Other drink specials throughout the week include (all $2.00) vodka tonics on Wednesdays, tequila sunrises on Thursdays, and gin & tonics on Fridays.

Green Mill

Besides the deep dish pizza that’s insanely good, Green Mill has a lot of happy hour prices that are also insanely good. I worked at Green Mill, and the hardest part about learning their menu was keeping track of all of their happy hour specials. Happy hour is from 3:00 – 6:00PM and 9:00 – 11:00PM for food and 9:00 – midnight for drinks. They have appetizer prices ranging from $5.99 - $7.99 with a lot of choices. The spinach dip is $5.99 and is very, very dangerous. For $6.99 you can get a personal 2-topping pizza. And for $7.99 you can get classic and no-bones wings with a choice of one of their signature sauces. From 9:00 – 11:00PM, you can get $5.00 off any large pizzas. For drink specials, they’re never ending throughout the week.

Rustica

This place may seem like it’s a bit on the formal side, but there are two sides, actually, and one side serves amazing pizzas and select $3.00 beers from 4-6pm and 9-11pm Tuesday - Saturday. For $5.00, you can get one of their signature 10” pizzas. And these aren’t just your standard pepperoni pizzas. You can choose from any of their pizzas, which include: The Quixote, with house-made chorizo; the French Farmer, with béchamel, wild mushrooms and truffle oil; and The Decoy, topped with duck confit. And their $3.00 beer selections could be from a brewery you’ve never tried before or maybe something like the seasonal cacao bender of Surly’s, which I was very happy to enjoy the last time I was there. The atmosphere is also very chill and relaxed.

Mezzaluna

Mezzaluna, which is owned by the same people as Rustica, also has an amazing happy hour. Like Rustica, they also offer up select $3.00 beers during happy hour (same hours as Rustica). For food deals that you don’t want to miss, they offer their hamburger for $8.00, which is voted by most reviewers as best burger in town (yes, I would agree to that!). Not to mention you can order some of their standout appetizers, such as their prosciutto-wrapped shrimp, also for $8.00 And you wouldn’t think a petite dessert would be satisfying enough, but when they’re made so well, they are completely satisfying. They’re all delectable; but my favorites include the mascarpone panna cotta and the strawberry-rhubarb pie with lemon ice cream. Mezzaluna has been voted best restaurant by pretty much every publication in town—isn’t it about time you made your way in to treat yourself?

And don’t forget, some of your best late-night food options if you’re going to be downtown include the Taco Brothers food truck, on Roberts St. across from the Empire, and Sammy’s Pizza. Happy eating, drinking, and saving this fall semester, college student or not!