You don't have to spend a lot at these restaurants to come away satisfied.
LessYour Order: California Roll. Grocery store sushi for under $10 isn’t exactly a groundbreaking discovery, but Maruta Shoten’s version has us rethinking what you can get for the price. That’s because they have one of the best California rolls we have ever had the pleasure of inhaling in our car. The rice is seasoned and fluffy, the avocado is perfectly ripe, and the imitation crab is extra creamy. To make the deal even sweeter, all leftover sushi is half off after 4:30pm.
Your Order: Grilled Pork Bánh Mì. This International District spot sells one of the best (and cheapest) bánh mì in Seattle at $5.75. For that money, you’ll get a grilled pork sandwich on crusty bread with tender meat, a generous spread of bơ, and a heavy sprinkling of coarse black pepper. It’s quality is consistently high no matter the economic turbulence.
Your Order: Cheese, Pepperoni, Or Burrata Slice. A piece of pizza under $4 in this town? Before Swing cropped up, we’d snap back with a belly-laugh and a “good luck, naive scallywag.” But this Queen Anne slice counter serves some of the cheapest cheese-spackled triangles around. They happen to be great, too, with abundant semolina-dusted crunch, bruleed cheese, and the optional-but-not-really-optional-at-all addition of burrata, torn basil, and glugs of good olive oil.
Your Order: Smashburger. While Local Tide is best known for their seafood, their smashburger is $10 and just as fantastic. Approach it by accepting the fact that meat drippings will land on your shirt, while enjoying the juicy patty with a tasty mess of caramelized onions and salty slice of american cheese. It’s so good, you may never need to eat a high-priced restaurant burger again.
Your Order: Fried Chicken Wings. This mini-mart located between Seward Park and Rainier Beach serves fried chicken that we’re choosing over Ranch Corn Nuts and Yodels any day. The golden wings are constantly served right out of the fryer perfectly blistered and taste even better doused in Frank’s Red Hot. Depending on how many wings you decide to get, a few crispy jojos could be in the cards while still staying under the $10 threshold.
Your Order: Egg Sandwich. The toasty, stuffed english muffin at B-Side Foods has it all. There’s sharpness from crumbled Beecher’s, tang and crunch from pickled daikon, spice from hot sauce-doctored mayo, and tender scrambled eggs with green onion folded in like grassy confetti. Adding thinly shaved country ham or slow-cooked mushrooms still keeps it under 10 bucks, and you have Seattle’s very best breakfast sandwich.
Your Order: Beef Curry Pan. After dusting off the crumbs from the wings at Seward Park Market, it can’t hurt to grab another budget-friendly meal next door. Umami Kushi makes light and fluffy okazu pan stuffed with fillings like citrusy lentils and kimchi pork—all $8 or less. The beef curry pan is our favorite, but seasonal flavors like coconut curry chicken and a five-spiced short rib keep us coming back, too.
Your Order: Anything On The Menu. Dim Sum King is really a choose-your-own-adventure kind of meal where everything is priced a la carte from $1 to $5. Fill up a to-go container of shui mai, potstickers, and red bean-stuffed sesame balls to bring with you to the office for lunch. Or better yet, enjoy them on a day off.
Your Order: Lugano Empanada. Honestly, you could just close your eyes and point to any one of the many empanadas at this Ballard joint and land on a great one. But the spinach version in particular would make a certain jacked cartoon sailor smile (like it does us). It’s bursting with creamy bechamel, mozzarella, and a boatload of soft spinach. Give it a heavy pour over of their zesty chimichurri and leave smiling ear to ear.
Your Order: Zaatar And Cheese Manna’eesh Or Sujuk Manna’eesh. Alongside great snacks like crispy falafel sandwiches and chicken shwarma, this North End counter makes a manna’eesh that deserves some kind of special award for flatbreads. It’s the size of a personal pizza and topped with ingredients like tender lamb or grilled peppers. But we particularly love the one covered in a thick sprinkling of salty cheese with a layer of nutty zaatar underneath.