Wednesday, July 25, 2012

5 Cheap but Great Places to Eat in SA



Probably the worst part of being a college student is being continually broke.  While it’s true some of us have rich parents or particularly well paying jobs, the vast majority of us have to scrape by on whatever we can earn between classes.  This can be a real problem when the weekend comes around and you want to go somewhere nice.  Nobody wants to spend Friday evening eating McDonalds.  In order to help my fellow San Antonio undergrads, I’ve decided to list my top 5 favorite restaurants where you can get a great meal for $10 or less.  I hope someone can take advantage of it.

Let’s start with a Mexican restaurant because there are so few of those in San Antonio.  Mamma Margies is my favorite karaoke, Mexican restaurant in town.  It’s also number 5 on this list.  Being that I used to be a student at UTSA, I spent many hours at the one near Wurzbach and I10 eating great food and being entertained by tone deaf karaoke singers.  Here, you can find entire Mexican plates as cheap as $6.99.  If I may say so, their Carne Guisada plate is damn good for $8.49.  Pretty much anything you could order there is great for the low price.

Number four on my list is Flying Saucer.  It’s a trendy place near Huebner and I10 with a decent menu.  They’re also one of the only two places on my list that serves alcohol (with a really decent bar actually).  Their selection of food is pretty diverse.  You can find a number of meals under $10 on their menu, especially among their burgers and sandwiches.  Their saucer burger is especially good, and it’s only $8.49.

Number three is every insomniac’s favorite.  Chacho’s is number 5 on my list.  Entrees can be as cheap as $5.49, and it’s a pretty good deal considering how good it tastes.  Here in San Antonio, we have a lot of Mexican restaurants, but it’s rare to find one that’s so cheap and so good at the same time.  It also doesn’t hurt that they’re always open and serve alcohol.

Now we’re getting to the ethnic restaurants that I really have a passion for.  My second favorite, cheap restaurant is Thai Corner.  While they’re fairly expensive at dinner time with most of their meals tipping over the $10 mark, they rule when it comes to lunch.  They have what may be the best lunch special in the city.  For $7.95, you can get an appetizer, a soup, an entrée, and a drink.  Trust me when I say it’s more than worth it.  Even if Thai Corner didn’t have their lunch special, it would probably be my favorite Thai restaurant in San Antonio.  It’s insanely good Thai food, and the low price only makes it better.

My favorite cheap restaurant in San Antonio, last but not least, is Pasha’s.  It’s a little Mediterranean place near Wurzbach and I10.  Now, putting Pasha’s on here is cheating slightly.  With both tax and tip, many of their meals can put you above the $10 mark.  Being the cheap bastard that I am, I partly circumvent this by ordering their food to go.  With the cost of a meal being about $8.99 on average, you might end up getting a little above $10 by following this strategy.  Still, it’s highly worth it.  This place, hands down, has the best Mediterranean food in the city.  I have yet to encounter anything that comes even close.

Well, I hope my restaurant suggestions go a long way to helping impoverished college students out there.  Have a good one.

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