By Kyle Martinez

Dining out can take a toll on your wallet, if you’re not careful. Drinks and appetizers quickly leverage your tab, and many Sacramento restaurants are raising the prices of their entrees. Here are some local eats guaranteed to satisfy your stomach and keep your wallet happy.

Hours: Mon to Wed 11am-10pm, Thur 11am-11pm, Fri 11am-12am, Sat 9am-12am, Sun 9am-
10pm
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At Ernesto’s Mexican Food, supplying satisfying Mexican-style dishes at a decent cost is the mainstay. Authentic food with good ambiance is the key here. Mid-Town Sacramento dining in the open air with Mariachi’s playing while you eat your dinner will make you feel as if you have taken a short vacation to Acapulco. With so many excellent items on the menu, it is hard to decide what to order. However, I would stick with Chips and “Guacamole Fresco.” for $5.99. The Guacamole is tantalizing here, and you can fill up with this and the chips alone. If you don’t go overboard and control your chip and guacamole addiction, then go onto the “Enchiladas Suiza” for the main course. At $10.99, yummy chicken enchiladas are coupled with green tomatillo sauce and Mexican cream. Do you want to include the spicy Jalapenos? That leap of
faith is up to you!

Total Cost of Meal: $16.98

Hours: Mon to Fri 11am-midnight, Sat to Sun 10am-midnight

Hoppy Brewing Company in Sacramento is known for its good selection of quality beer. In addition to the beer offered, it has a good menu that has items from steak and pasta to onion rings and calamari. Beer tends to fill you up, so why not try to go light from the menu while at the same time saving money to buy that last round of brews for you and your friends? I recommend the “Brewer’s Skins” filled with yummy jack and cheddar cheese, sour cream, bacon, olives, green onions, and tomatoes. At $3.25 for (2) big Potato skins, you can’t go wrong. For your entree, get the “”Three Brothers.” These brothers are made of meat and star: Chicken Apple Sausage, Spicy Andouille Sausage, and Smoked Bratwurst which co-star sauerkraut and
roasted red potatoes. How much? A reasonable $11.85.

Total Cost of Meal: $15.10

Hours: Mon to Thurs, Sun 11am-10pm; Fri to Sat 11am-11pm

To the locals of Sacramento, P.F. Chang’s has been serving gourmet Chinese food for years now. With locations in Downtown Sacramento and Roseville, the restaurant caters to individuals who want a tasty Chinese meal at a more than a reasonable price with decent portions and excellent ambiance. My suggestion is to cozy on up to the bar and order the “Chang’s Chicken in Soothing Lettuce Wraps” for an appetizer. It will only set you back $7.95. For your main meal, why not switch from Chicken to Noodles and Beef and try the “Cantonese Chow Fun”? The price for these gourmet noodles with beef is $9.95. Personally, I have never been able to finish my dinner at P.F. Changs because they give such generous portions. Take what’s not finished home and enjoy a glass of wine later with leftovers!

Total Cost of Meal: $17.90

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Surf’s up dudes and dudettes! That’s what Woody’s Bar and Grill says as you walk into their restaurant. It has a picture of a beach with a surfboard stuck into the sand. If you want to play the surfer role yourself, do as I do and order on up the “Big Kahuna Burger” with “bottomless piping hot steak fries” for $9.29. My goodness, will you be able to finish that Mr. Big Kahuna? If you can, maybe you can handle “Woody’s Mountain Mud Pie” for dessert that will put you back $7.29. My guess is you will take some of that mud pie home with you. If not, I salute you!

Total Cost of Meal: $16.58

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Original Pete’s Pizza and Grill has been in Sacramento for 18 years and is widely known in the area to have excellent pizza. This being the case, why not try one of their tasty salads and experience hearty BBQ Chicken flavor at the same time? For starters, get the calamari appetizer for $7.99. The calamari has a good texture to it, and the red sauce that goes with it is better than most I’ve had. Then, get the BBQ Chicken Salad which includes black beans, sweet corn, Roma tomatoes, tortilla strips, pepper jack cheese and ranch dressing. Mouth-watering chicken and tasty BBQ sauce works well with the mixture of Ranch dressing and Pepper jack Cheese. Cost? $8.49. Original Pete’s will keep you coming back for the salads as well as the pizza!

Total Cost of Meal: $16.48

As all of us know, most meals can set us back more than $20 at any good restaurant because of
drinks, tax, and tip. However, these 5 restaurants are a good start to getting a lot for under $20
in food meal cost. Enjoy!

Kyle Scot Martinez likes eating at restaurants that keep his own personal food cost under $20. As for buying drinks for himself and his friends, that is for another article. He lives in Rocklin with his girlfriend and a Pug.