Do you struggle to find decently priced food around town?
Bloomington Normal has an abundance of restaurants to choose from, but eating cheap isn’t always easy. Below you are examples of places and menu items you can get at different restaurants around town for less than ten dollars. It is broken down by cost, for example $5 deals, areas like Uptown Normal, and specials, which include various restaurants that have deals. Hopefully this information can be useful and you can get a good meal without breaking your wallet.
Uptown Normal
Wendy City Wieners has everyday specials for $6.75. These specials range can include hotdogs, Italian sausage, gyros, pizza puffs, chicken pita, and bratwurst, the special also comes with fries. Also in Uptown The Rock has an everyday daily special for $7 that varies from gyros, to Greek salads, to a ½ lb cheeseburger. The majority of these daily specials come with fries and a drink so you are getting a lot of food for what you are paying. DP Dough has great day to day deals, you can find them here. DP dough is more on the expensive side, but there are ways around that. For example on Wednesdays the special is 3 calzones for 15 dollars. If you split that with two friends you each only pay 5 dollars instead of the original price of $6.59. The Garlic Press is a locally owned business that has various types of delicious food. Garlic Press has soups for 4.99 a bowl and 3.25 a cup, hot and cold sandwiches that are usually under 8 dollars, bakery items, and coffee drinks. For example if you purchase a Vermont, which is a grilled cheese with onions and tomato for $4.99 and get a can of soda for another dollar. Menu Here. Coffee House is mainly a coffee shop, but you can also get great prices on food and this is nice for a snack while studying. Some suggest that when you are at the Coffee House to try the vegan oven fries which cost $2.50 for a small and $3.50 for a large. This plate is pretty large and can be shared with a few friends. Menu Here.
Uptown normal also has great bakery options. Sugar Mama’s Bakery is located here. You can get regular sized or mini cupcakes at a decent price. That’s So Sweet cheesecake shop is located on the same street as Sugar Mama’s. You can buy sample sizes of the cheesecake they serve, and also order whole cheesecakes if needed. Insomnia Cookie recently opened up in Uptown as well. You can get regular cookies, deluxe cookies, brownies, and ice cream here. Insomnia cookie also delivers and stays open until 3am.
ISU Campus
ISU campus restaurants are not far from Uptown Normal. The only difference is that the restaurants located on ISU campus are more chain restaurants than locally owned. Moe’s has very special deals on Monday, and Tuesday. Moe’s Monday includes a burrito, chips and dip, and a drink all for $5. And Taco Tuesday is also at Moe’s and includes two tacos chips, dip, and a drink. Subway is also located on ISU campus and subway has its usual 5 dollar foot long deals, each type of foot long depends on the month, and the simple $6 menu. Subway also came out with “Flatizzas” which are flat bread pizzas that cost about $3.50 at the most. Pizza Hut is another chain restaurant on ISU campus that offers various deals weekly, monthly, or at any time. You can see these deals at thePizza Hut Menu. Noodles, Chipotle, Meatheads and Potbelly’s are all located within feet of each other on campus. All four of these restaurants offers different types of food, but for around the same price. It seems that most people spend about $7-8 dollars at these restaurants. A lot of times they do not have many deals, but if you are a student, you can get student discounts. It’s always nice to get free or discounted things when living on a student budget. Avanti’s is a local business with another location off E. Empire Street. It is take out of dine it, and either way it is very well priced. Almost everything on the menu is under $10. The only thing over are the pizza’s, and if you split that between friends you will be paying a lot less than $10. Avanti’s has various types of Italian foods, and is mostly known for the gondola sandwich. Zobras is also a locally owned restaurant here in town. Zorbas has wonderfully cheap food for a dine in restaurant. Like 5-6 dollars cheap. It also serves breakfast, and gives good portion sizes. But Zorbas does close very early, like 3 pm. Inside the Bone student Center is McAlister’s Deli. It can be a little pricey at times but there are ways to get around that, for example only buying sides. If you’re looking for mac and cheese but don’t want to pay the price for an entire bowl, you can ask to get two sides of mac and cheese in one bowl. They only charge you for the two sides, and it’s about the size of the regular cup or bowl that you would purchase. So instead of paying $4 you could be paying $2. There is also a Buffalo Wild Wings that they recently added on Main St. You have a vast variety of foods here, like wings, sandwiches, salads, wraps, etc. You can get this all for a fairly cheap price too.
Traditional:
Sometimes you can spend a lot less money at a traditional sit down restaurant. At Olive Garden, there are ways to spend less if you aren’t that hungry or don’t want to have left overs. If you are out with friends during Lunch and you aren’t looking to each that much, order an appetizer only. Appetizers are always under $10 dollars, that way you aren’t overeating, dealing with leftovers, or spending all of your money. If you still want a little more after that, servers always bring salad and breadsticks to the table, and no one ever finishes them so you could have some of that as well. At Wild Berries Restaurant you can dine in or get take out. The amount of food they give you with the price is a very good deal. The majority of their menu items are under $10 and a good size. Another plus to this restaurant is that they serve breakfast all day. And Wild Berries has daily dinner specials. You can check out the takeout menu here. Some traditional restaurants like these are places you wouldn’t always expect to get cheap food.
Coupons:
It’s almost like people forget that these are still printed. Another way to save money on food is using coupons. Coupons can be found everywhere. The number one places to find coupons are in newspapers. The Pantagraph always gives a bunch of coupons that go to different fast food restaurants. You can also find coupons online HERE Its definitely worth looking for coupons because every penny you can save is worth it.
It is always assumed that you can get food for less than 10 dollars at any type of fast food restaurant. And when you live in Bloomington Normal you know that more and more restaurants will pop up soon enough. Here is a list of restaurants where cheap food is expected, these are not all of the fast food restaurants in Bloomington Normal, but it is the majority. Locations are included below. *means dollar menu **means coupons are available in newspaper
*McDonalds: Bloomington Normal has many different locations some including college av, and multiple on Main street
*Taco Bell: Located on W Market, E College, and S Veterans
Subway: Located on South Main Street, W Jefferson Street and E Oakland Av.
Popeye’s: Located on W. Market Street and E. Empire Street
Jimmy Johns: multiple locations. On ISU Campus and Uptown Normal
**Steak n Shake: Located on South Veterans, Raab Road, and
Dairy Queen: Located on South Main and East College Av.
**Culvers: 1807 West Market Street, Hershey Road
**Arby’s: W Market St, E Empire St, W Raab Road
Panera: South Veterans Bloomington, and Greenbrair Dr Normal
*Wendy’s: Located on W Market St, E College St, and Bradford Ln
Panda Express: Shoppes at College Hills, Veterans Pkwy
Denny's: N Main St, 701 Eldorado
