Cheap Austin Restaurants

Maria's is one of the most popular cheap austin restaurants for quick food. The dining area is packed on the weekends, and they have specials every day. The gorditas are hearty and they have horchata and other sweet Mexican drinks.

2 ingredient tacos start at $1.50 and extra ingredients are 40cents each. There are 25 ingredients to choose from and you can also add three kinds of cheese. Lunch specials are also available.

A staple for cheap East Austin restaurants, Cisco's is only open til 2pm every day, but is always busy. Their breakfast migas have won local awards, the food is cheap and their service is always quick.

Their mission: "to make Japanese-inspired cuisine affordable, healthy and fun." Sushi rolls start at $2.59 and their bowls start at $4.25 for veggies and $5.25 for meat. You can build the bowls with noodles or rice, an assortment of sauces, and lots of veggies.

One of the more popular places to get breakfast in Austin. Breakfast taco's start at $1.95 and the "Don Juan" El Taco Grande is enough to feed two for only $3.80. Juan, the owner, can be seen working the floor and greeting customers. Man vs. Food's Adam Richman was recently defeated by the Don Juan Breakfast Taco Challenge. A good idea to ask for extra tortilla's.

Every day is a special at The Screaming Goat. Sunday's and Thursday's are 75cent flautas, other days include $1.50 tacos and 2 for 1 burrito's. There are also $2 beer specials every night.

If you're looking for a good atmosphere, Paggi House has great happy hour deals. Between 5-7pm cocktails start at $4 and use only midlevel or high end liquors. Their bar snacks range from $2.50-7.

After grabbing a Mighty Cone, stop at Hey Cupcake! (a neighboring trailer) for a sweet dessert. They offer chocolate, vanilla, velvet, or carrot cake with many flavors of buttercream or cream cheese frosting. Cupcakes are $2.75 and you get one free when you buy 11.

Austin is well known for their trailer park eateries. The Mighty Cone is one of the most popular and centrally located. Their 'Hot & Crunchy' cones come in chicken, avocado, shrimp or even a venison dog. They start at $4.95 and go great with their chili dusted fries for $1.25.

Happy Hour is from 4-7pm and offers $2.25 domestic beers and $3.50 house margaritas. With the purchase of a drink you get access to a fully loaded nacho car with unlimited tortilla chips, beans, salsa, queso, and taco meat. The swirl margarita is a mix of two different frozen flavors and is a local favorite.

The Jackalope is in the heart of downtown Austin, and is a staple for Austinites. There are usually old movies on the TV's and they play weird horror/foreign movies on the back porch. Wednesday's are half price bugers, and Tuesday's their gigantic pizza's are half off. Don't be afraid of the bartenders, they look tough, but appreciate good manners.

Burgers at Hut's are never frozen and are purchased locally from Johnny G's in South Austin. A normal beef burger starts at $5.25 and can be replaced with Buffalo, Boneless Chicken, Longhorn Grassfed Beef or a 100% fat free veggie burger for an extra charge. The peppered onion rings are huge and you can get 2 for 1 veggie burgers on Monday's, and 2 for 1 burgers on Wednesday's.

If you like BBQ, this is a cheap Austin restaurant staple. It's located near Barton Springs and just south of downtown. Their specials include $8.99 for a three meat plate with two side orders on Wednesday's and chicken BBQ plate with two sides for $6.99 on Thursday's. They have silly slogans like "Horrifying vegetarians since 1988".

Bouldin is a South Austin staple for breakfast and coffee. Their menu is vegetarian and vegan with menu items like "Wanna-BLT" which is made with tofu 'bacon'. Breakfast taco's start at $1.75 and eggs can be replaced with tofu scrambles for 50 cents. Their large bar is a popular place to sit, and their coffee is locally roasted, organic and fair trade. Try the iced coffee with Nutella and a vegan cream sandwich.

Torchy's Trailer is one of the the Cheapest Austin Restaurants you'll find within a few miles of downtown. Breakfast tacos start at $2 for 3 ingredients like potato, egg and cheese. Specialty tacos are large and range $3-4. They have monthly specials and have ingredients like fried avocados, chicken fried steak, and Jamaican jerk chicken. The poblano ranch salsa goes great with any taco.