Where to Eat Cheap in New York

Many guests arriving complain about the exorbitant cost and, quite mocking tips, for which New York is famous all over the world – some New York restaurants offer guests to pay 25% of the check “on top” as a tip for service. As a result, going to a café or restaurant rarely costs less than $50 to $60 per person.

Stay away from touristy places

The first rule of saving money on food in New York City is to stay away from the tourist areas of the city! Because naturally, these are the places where restaurants unreasonably inflate prices due to high foot traffic. This applies first and foremost to Times Square!

Last but not least, these restaurants are not oriented on the fact that people come back here again, because tomorrow a lot of new people will come, and this flow often affects the quality of both food and service, but at the same time, due to high prices and daily changing audience – allows the institution to exist and earn good money.

Chinatown is the answer

As with the area where you live, the most inexpensive restaurants and cafes in the city are concentrated in the Chinatown area.

This is where you can still find coffee shops with good coffee for $0.99 and bakeries with lots of goodies that cost just over a dollar. A full breakfast at these places will cost you between $6 and $8.

There are also a lot of more serious cafes and restaurants for lunch and dinner with a group of friends – of course with the classic Peking duck.

By the way, New York’s Chinese restaurants are world-famous for their authentic cuisine – one of the Russian diplomats who lived in Beijing for 11 years confirmed it to me!

Naturally, there are many Chinese cafes and restaurants outside of New York’s Chinatown – as a rule, they offer the most reasonable prices for a full and, importantly, delicious lunch or dinner. The check in such a place will rarely be higher than $15 to $20 per person.

Lifehacks of the Americans themselves

New York City is very often visited by Americans from the interior, as a rule, they are frugal people who know how to count their money.

And here I will tell you their trick, which you can use during your stay not only in New York, but also in any other major city in the United States.

The thing is that in the States there is the most popular and widespread chain of grocery stores – Whole Foods Market – in New York there are a lot of these stores, and they are often located in quite tourist places of the city.

At the same time, each of these stores has a huge-sized culinary shop with ready-to-eat food sold by weight. The culinary department of each store is led by a young chef hired specifically for this purpose.

That being said, the output is exceptionally delicious restaurant-quality food at completely non-restaurant prices. Here, for example, a plate including 200 grams of roast beef and any two side dishes of choice costs only $12. Americans, knowing all this, often look for a hotel near Whole Foods Market so that the question of quality and not expensive food during their stay in New York did not bother them.