Just because food has a cheap price doesn’t mean it’s lackluster. Of course, there are some pretty terrible things to eat that are cheap, but thankfully, there are good eats for low prices. In this list, I’m highlighting five menu items that cost less than $10 — all from places that offer a variety of affordable bites. These budget foods have a comforting level of carbs, sure to satisfy hungry bellies.
$8.99 Speedy Gonzales ︱Casa Margaritas
This speedy Gonzales lunch special ($8.99) at Casa Margaritas Mexican Grill came with a taco and an enchilada plus a side of rice or beans. The food was quick, and the flavors were great. My pastor taco had crumbly, flavorful pork with some pineapple, and the enchilada filled with pulled chicken and smothered with red sauce was really tasty. The lunch taco can be a different protein if preferred, and likewise, the enchilada could instead have a ground beef filling or be smothered with white cheese in lieu of red enchilada sauce.
Opened in November, the new restaurant has other lunch specials under $10 besides this one: chimichanga, taco salad, three taco lunch, and the titular Casa Margaritas, which is a flour tortilla filled with seasoned ground beef or shredded chicken and covered with red sauce, lettuce, sour cream, and shredded cheese. For more about the lunches and lime margaritas here, check out my review of Casa Margaritas that published last week.
Casa Margaritas Mexican Grill
2506 Village Green Place
Champaign
Su-Th 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
F+Sa 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
$8.75 Extra Crispy, Extra Spicy General Tso’s Chicken Lunch ︱ iWok
The Chinese restaurant iWok has 26 different weekday specials priced at $8.75. At the little plaza restaurant, I ordered General Tso’s chicken, served with two steamed broccoli, fried rice, and a choice of egg roll or soda. Because iWok makes entrees to order, they are cool about modifications. I asked for the chicken extra crispy and extra spicy, and they delivered. The bite-sized chicken had a thick, golden batter that was mostly covered in red glaze, but the few boneless bites without sauce retained a crackly, deep-fried crunch. Basically, the dish was hot chicken nuggets in a zingy sauce, and it was awesome. The fried rice had chopped smoky pork plus peas, wok-fried onions, and sprouts, and I loved how the General Tso sauce seeped into the side of rice, soaking the mild rice with peppery sweet flavor.
Extra spicy here is not all that spicy, but it does layer that sticky sauce with more red pepper heat. All of iWok’s lunch specials are available starting at 10:30 a.m. through 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, for dine in or takeout.
iWok Chinese Restaurant
113 Calvin St
Savoy
T-Sa 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Su 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
$9.66 Philly Steak Meal︱ Niro’s Gyros
On the regular, I crave a Philly steak sando. Specifically, Niro’s Gyros on Springfield‘s Philly steak — and I will drive out of my way for this sandwich. It’s that delicious. This is my customized version (no peppers, no mayo); read about it with no mods here. Without any hot gushing mayo, the wonderfully melted cheese had its moment, attaching to the bread underneath the sliced beef, serving an epic cheese pull on every bite. A web of grated cheese held the sliced beef on top of soft, crinkly bread, and I loved how flavorful the slow-cooked beef and griddled onions were. The sandwich alone is $6.98, but I order the meal ($9.66) because I want fries with that. The gyro joint’s fries were awesome: hot, crunchy-coated, and way too good to share.
Niro’s offers a lot that costs less than $10 from gyros to sandwiches to hot dogs to burgers and salads, but I can’t stop (won’t stop) ordering this Philly steak. Open since 1999, the Springfield Avenue location has a drive-through with an old speaker, but it works.
Niro’s Gyros
2001 W Springfield Ave
Champaign
9 a.m. to 11 p.m., daily
$8.97 Three Arancini ︱ Dee Dee’s Beef
While three fried balls of risotto are not what most would think of for a “traditional” meal, these arancini were filling enough to be and tasted absolutely delicious. Arancini is on the menu a few places in town, but nobody else sells arancini this cheap. At $2.99, each arancini had warm risotto, Boursin, and mozzarella plus choice of meat or roasted vegetable in crisp Italian breadcrumbs. I ordered three: two meat and one vegetable ($8.97), served with tomato sauce. The spheres of rice held shape until cut, and then the delicate arancini deflated into a river of soft, creamy rice with a melty mozzarella middle. Meat arancini had crumbly beef and gooey cheese; the veggie had chopped roasted red pepper with Boursin and mozz. The lightly fried exterior was like bread crumbs on risotto, and a dip in the thin tomato sauce added acidity to the meaty, cheesy bite.
Dee Dee’s menu offers arancini, sandwiches, and tiramisu, and most everything costs less than ten bucks. During the daytime, the restaurant space is Cracked! on Green, but three nights a week, it’s a cool casual Italian restaurant.
Dee Dee’s Beef
619 E Green St
Champaign
Th-Sa 5 to 9 p.m.
$9.79 Brisket Sandwich Meal ︱ Sooie Bros
Finally, the fifth affordable eat in this list is Sooie Bros’ barbecue brisket sandwich meal ($9.79), fries and sauce included. On a soft seeded bun, the smoky beef was sliced thick and so tender that it flaked and pulled into delicious strings of beef. I loved the smoked barbecue flavor, but what was the best part of this brisket was the texture: ultra tender and practically melt-in-mouth. The meat was good on its own, but that mixed sauce took the sandwich to the next level. The sauce had a stinging, tasty heat that had me grateful I went for the medium sauce and not the hot. Sooie Bros’ fresh-cut fries were seasoned with JAPatt spice mix, which is made in Champaign-Urbana. The fries were thick; there was a lot of them, and the fries tasted yummy in that spicy barbecue sauce.
Sooie Bros Bar B Que first opened in 2022 in Champaign on North Market Street, but now the barbecue restaurant is close to campus with plenty of seating that has a bird’s eye view of the Kirby and Neil Street intersection. On the menu, there’s a variety of meals for less than $10 including the Sooie burger, beef Polish, pulled pork sandwich, and a sloppy Sooie. For more about the food here, check out Carl’s review of dinner and my lunch of saucy ribs.
Sooie Bros Bar B Que Joint
103 W Kirby Ave
Champaign
Tu-Th 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
F+Sa 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
For more cheap eats in C-U, read my other lists here, here, here, and here.
