Cheap eats in Bloomington: 6 restaurants where you can get something for $5 or less

Prices are going up everywhere and that includes at restaurants. If you want to grab something good to eat for $5 or less from a Bloomington restaurant, it's become more difficult — but there are still options.

Here's a list of six local restaurants where you can find something tasty to eat for $5 or less.

La Bodega Latin Market, at 1915 S. Walnut St., is a new southside business with a taqueria selling tacos for $5 each. Choose from vegetarian, carne asada, carnitas, adobada, de pollo, campechanos, al pastor, chorizo, de cabeza or de birria. For $1 more you can get the ribeye. Tamales — of chicken, pastor, pork or jalapeno and cheese — are $3.99 each. A bonus is you can do some grocery shopping while you're there.

King Gyros, at 2000 S. Walnut St., isn't far away and has plenty of options for hungry people low on cash. The hamburgers and cheeseburgers (both with mustard, ketchup, onion and pickle) are $3.99 each. A double cheeseburger with the same condiments is $4.49, as is the chili burger. A Chicago-style hot dog with mustard, relish, onion, tomato, hot peppers and a pickle costs $3.49. For a few pennies more you can order a chili dog or cheese hot dog, both are $3.99. Six chicken nugget pieces are $2.99, with no sauce included. A fish sandwich is $4.49 and comes with tartar sauce. A bowl of chili is $4.99. If you've ordered a sandwich, you can add either small fries or a drink for $2.99.

The Butcher's Block, at 115 S. Ind. 46 Bypass, Suite E, offers The OJ, a pulled pork sandwich for $5. That comes with barbecue sauce and is served on a Kaiser bun. It, along with the rest of the lunch menu, is available 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

Aver's Pizza offers pizza by the slice for lunch at its two locations, 1837 N. Kinser Pike and 317 E. Winslow Road. Customers can order a cheese slice for $3, pepperoni or sausage for $3.25 each or the rotating slice of the day selection for $4. The style offered can be found at averspizza.com/lunch-slices. The pizza by the slice offer is good for carryout only; no deliveries.

Goodfella's Pizzeria, at 427 E. Kirkwood Ave., also has pizza by the slice for lunch. A cheese slice is $4.50 with each additional topping costing 50 cents. The slices are available until 3 p.m.

Hoosier Seoulmate, at 1614 W. Third St., has a couple Asian fusion items that are tasty, possibly spicy, and don't cost too much. The beef bul-dog with marinated beef bulgogi, pepper jack cheese and house-made sweet Asian pickled radish served in a toasted hot dog bun that's drizzled with a sweet garlic sauce is $4.50. For $3.99, there are three options: the chicken bul-dog with marinated chicken bulgogi; the pork bul-dog with spicy marinated pork bulgogi; and spicy chicken bul-dog with spicy marinated chicken bulgogi. All three have house-made sweet Asian pickled radish, cheese and drizzles of sweet garlic sauce inside the buttery toasted hot dog bun. The street style egg dog is a popular Korean dish that has egg and veggie toast made on a buttery toasted hot dog bun and drizzled with ketchup for $4.29.

Contact Carol Kugler at [email protected]

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Inexpensive lunch in Bloomington: 6 restaurants offer items for $5 or less