Bangor is the hub for the entire northern half of Maine, and the good news for two people with $20 is that almost none of the value is where the guidebooks point. We checked roughly 130 restaurants across Bangor, Brewer, Orono, Old Town and Hampden; 21 made the page, 21 of them confirmed against a menu the business itself publishes. The downtown brewpubs did not make it — we priced them and two people run $26 to $28. What did: an Italian sandwich for $4.95 at a Hammond Street market, two complete Chinese lunch plates for $17.90, a large three-topping carryout pizza for $9.99, red snapper hot dogs with crinkle fries at a 1959 diner, poutine a block from the University of Maine, and Maine baked beans at a truck stop that has been serving them for five generations. Organised into Bangor proper and the Brewer–Orono–Old Town ring, which are separate towns — with every price before Maine's 8% tax.
💡 How to eat cheap here: Ignore the downtown lists. Bangor's published cheap-eats reputation rests on brewpubs, and we priced every one of them — the cheapest real food at Nocturnem is a $14 grilled cheese and two people at Paddy Murphy's run about $28. The actual value is out on Broadway, Hammond and Stillwater, and it comes in three forms. The Maine Italian sandwich: Fairmount Market on Hammond Street sells one for $4.95, Freshies for $6.99, Nanny's in Old Town for $6. Weekday Chinese lunch specials: Happy China on Stillwater does $8.95 plates that each come with roast pork fried rice, so two people eat for $17.90 and still clear $20 after tax. And the Franco-American set — red snapper hot dogs at Governor's with crinkle fries for $10.99, poutine at The Family Dog in Orono for $9.90, and Maine baked beans with coleslaw at Dysart's for $8.00. Two warnings: Maine adds 8% tax on prepared food, and several 04401 addresses are not Bangor at all — check the town before you drive.
Every price below was read off a source the restaurant controls — its own site or its own ordering page. No delivery-app pricing, no aggregators, no estimates.
Skip the downtown listicles — the brewpubs everyone recommends start at $14 a sandwich, and the genuinely cheap counters are out on Broadway, Hammond and Stillwater where people actually eat on a weeknight. A neighbourhood market on Hammond Street sells an Italian sandwich for $5.95, a Stillwater Avenue Chinese kitchen puts two full lunch plates on the table for $17.90, and Dysart's has been feeding truckers Maine baked beans off I-95 for five generations.
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Fairmount Market
Italian + Steak & Cheese Sub · $14.45 for two
The cheapest real food in Bangor, from a Hammond Street neighbourhood market with a fried-chicken and Italian-sandwich counter. A three-meat, three-cheese Italian is $7.50 and a steak and cheese sub $6.95, so two people eat for $14.45 — and the plain ham or salami Italian is $4.95, which puts two at $9.90. A ham and salami Italian is $5.95, a meatball sub $6.75, a chicken parmigiana $6.95, a cheese pizza slice $2.25 and a double crispy chicken dinner $5.19. Priced off its own live Slice ordering page, where the prices are the ones the register takes.
The best-value card in Bangor, and the trick is to ignore the buffet. The à-la-carte lunch specials are $8.95 and each one comes with roast pork fried rice — General Tso's, sweet and sour chicken, beef with broccoli, sesame chicken, chicken chow mein, garlic sauce — so two people get two complete plates for $17.90, which still clears $20 after tax. They run 10:30am to 3:30pm Monday to Saturday, not Sundays. The buffet itself is $15.99 at lunch and $18.99 at dinner per person, so two is $31.98 and misses badly. Chicken lo mein and pork fried rice are $8.50 all day, egg drop soup $3.50.
Four Bangor stores, all with a real hot deli counter rather than a warming cabinet. The Bulky Italian — ham, genoa, pepperoni, green peppers, red onions, pickles, oil and provolone on a bulky roll — is $6.99, so two people eat for $13.98; a spicy Italian sub is $9.99. A crispy or buffalo ranch chicken sandwich is $7.99, an Angus bacon cheeseburger $8.99 and a medium cheese pizza $9.99. Breakfast is cheaper still: a biscuit sausage sandwich is $4.99 and a breakfast burrito $6.99. Stores on Stillwater Ave, Broadway, Hammond St and Union St by the airport — the airport store is open 24 hours, though its deli closes at 9pm.
Sausage Gravy + Maine Baked Beans · $18.00 for two
Five generations of truck-stop diner at I-95 Exit 185, and the menu tells you what it is: “you might be a Mainer if you grew up having beans every Saturday night.” A plate of Maine baked beans with coleslaw is $8.00 and the big biscuit with sausage gravy $10.00, so two people eat two full plates for $18.00. A BLT or a grilled ham and cheese is $11.00 and a cup of haddock chowder $10.00; the larger sausage gravy plate is $12.00, which paired with beans hits exactly $20.00 and crosses the line with tax. Breakfast runs all day. Note this is the Broadway restaurant — the original truck stop is in Hermon, a different town.
The Bangor branch of the Maine diner-and-bakery chain, on Broadway. The Governor's Breakfast Sandwich — a fried egg with American cheese and bacon, ham or a sausage patty on their own hamburger roll or an English muffin — is $6.49, so two people eat for $12.98. Step up and it still works: the Famous Breakfast Special is three silver dollar pancakes, an egg any style, bacon, a sausage link and a thick slice of toast for $9.50, so that plus a sandwich is $15.99. Two Famous Breakfast Specials is $19.00 and crosses $20 at the register. Off the breakfast board, two red hot dogs in their own rolls are $10.99 with crinkle-cut fries, a hamburger $11.79 and a BLT $10.99. Their prices differ by region and Bangor reads the Old Town/Bangor/Waterville tier.
A family fish market on outer Main Street since 1978 with a fried-seafood takeout window, and the baskets are the way in — every one comes with french fries or chips and a choice of coleslaw or potato salad. A hot dog plate is $9.95 and a tuna fish roll $9.95, so two full baskets come to $19.90. That is tight: $21.49 once Maine's 8% lands. Chicken fingers and a hamburger are $12.95, a cheeseburger $13.95, clam chowder $11.95 and a fried or grilled haddock burger $15.95. One warning — the takeout window keeps shorter hours than the fish market, and their own page gives two different versions of them, so call before you drive.
South Indian on Exchange Street, opened in March 2026 by the team behind Taj in South Portland — dosas, biryani and a clay oven. Dal curry is $13.99 and served with rice, so with a $3.99 chapathi to share two people eat for $17.98. The bhaji with puri or chapathi is $9.99 and cholle with puri $10.99–$11.99, so two bread-and-curry plates comes to $19.98 — inside the line but only just, and there is a 3% staff support charge on all checks that takes it past $20 at the register. A samosa chaat is $7.99. There is a lunch buffet seven days, 11am to 2:30pm.
🎓 Brewer, Orono & Old Town · separate towns · 8 spots
These are separate municipalities, not Bangor neighbourhoods — Brewer is across the Penobscot, Orono is eight miles north and is the University of Maine town, Old Town three miles past that. We list them because the whole region eats across those lines. Orono is where Maine pizza was invented, in 1931, and its campus pizza counter runs the cheapest day-specials in the region — $5.95 wraps on Wednesdays, buy-one-get-one calzones on Thursdays. Old Town has a diner selling Maine Italians at $6 with red snapper hot dogs on the same menu, and Brewer has a takeout-only Mexican kitchen whose à-la-carte counter feeds two for under $18.
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Nanny's
Two Small Italians · $12.00 for two
An Old Town diner with a breakfast buffet, an ice cream window, and the two Franco-American Maine staples on one menu. A small Italian — ham or turkey, American or provolone, lettuce, tomato, green pepper, onion, pickle and black olives on a sub roll — is $6, so two people eat for $12.00, and a large is $9. A BLT sandwich is also $6. The lunch baskets are the fuller move: two grilled cheese baskets are $20.00 and each includes a drink, fries and a choice of potato salad, coleslaw or baked beans, though that lands over the line with tax. Two red hot dogs as a basket is $12. Joan's Special — two eggs, toast and meat with coffee and a side — is $11. Hours shift; check before you go.
Where Maine pizza was invented: Pat Farnsworth put it on the menu of his Orono ice-cream café in the 1930s and the University of Maine has been eating it ever since. Spaghetti with meatballs, sausage or mushrooms is $8.50 and comes with garlic bread, so two people eat a full sit-down dinner for $17.00. A 14-inch plain cheese pizza is $13.75 and feeds two on one order; a 9-inch is $9.00. Ham, salami, turkey and BLT subs are $7.50, and the baskets — grilled cheese $4.75, hot dog $6.50, cheeseburger $8.25 — all include french fries. Their weekly specials block contradicts itself on price, so we have not printed those; the à-la-carte board above is unambiguous.
A Vienna-beef hot dog and poutine counter a block off the UMaine campus, and one of the few places in Maine with poutine on the owner's own menu under its own name. The FamDog Famous Poutine is $9.90 and homemade mac and cheese $7.45, so two people eat for $17.35. Every hot dog on the board — Chicago, Detroit Coney Island, mac and cheese, chili cheese, West Virginia, street — is $7.80, so two is $15.60. A steak and cheese sub is $9.45 and a sweet Italian sausage sub $9.75, though two subs at $19.20 crosses $20 with tax. Brunch runs 9am to 2pm at weekends: a breakfast sandwich is $9.25 and a stack of three pancakes $9.90.
A takeout-only Mexican kitchen on the Wilson Street strip in Brewer, where the à-la-carte counter — not the combination plates — is the budget route. A burrito is $5.99 and a taco $2.99, so a burrito and a taco each comes to $17.96 for two. Quesadillas are $5.99, a chimichanga $4.99, a tostada $4.75, enchiladas $3.50, a pork tamal $4.50 and a chile relleno $5.25. Spanish rice is $5.50 and refried beans $4.75, so add only one side or you cross the line. The full plates run $13.50–$22.75, which is why the à-la-carte page is the one to order from. Listed in the City of Brewer's own business directory.
Red Hot Dogs + Breakfast Sandwich · $17.48 for two
The 1959 original of the chain, and still the flagship. Two red hot dogs in their own signature rolls — “a Maine staple”, in the menu's own words — are $10.99 and come with crinkle-cut fries, so with a $6.49 breakfast sandwich two people eat for $17.48. The cheapest route is two breakfast sandwiches at $12.98. A hamburger is $11.79, a BLT $10.99, the State House french-toast plate $9.99 and corned beef hash and eggs $12.99. There is a breakfast buffet on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Their own site gives two different closing times for this store, so treat the evening hours as approximate.
A Stillwater Avenue takeout counter in Old Town with a 231-item menu and its own ordering storefront. Small fried rices — vegetable, roast pork or chicken — are $6.95, so two of them with two roast pork egg rolls at $2.25 comes to $18.40 for two. Lo mein is $12.50 and pairs with a small fried rice at $19.45, which is over the line once tax lands. Note the lunch menu does not work for a pair: those specials are $10.95 each, so two is $21.90. Fried dumplings are $6.95 for six and a small wonton soup $4.50. Closed Tuesdays. Their separate marketing site is a year stale — the ordering page is the live one.
The UMaine campus pizza counter on Park Street, and it runs the two best day-specials in the region. Wednesday: ham, turkey or chicken caesar wraps are $5.95 each, so two people eat for $11.90 — the ham and turkey come with provolone, tomato, cucumber, onion, green pepper and lettuce, and the caesar with grilled chicken, romaine, romano and croutons. Thursday is buy-one-get-one calzones at $13.95, which is two calzones, one each, for under fourteen dollars. Any other day the pizza works: a large 16-inch cheese is $14.95 shared two ways and a small 10-inch $10.95. Priced off OHOP's own site — its ordering page renders client-side, so these were read in a browser rather than fetched.
A Hampden pizza-and-sub counter with a deep sub board and Greek-leaning salads. Meatball, chicken parmesan, BLT and sausage hot subs are $8.35 each, so two people eat for $16.70; a ham and cheese cold sub is the same price and a vegetarian $7.80. A steak and cheese is $9.80, a steak bomb $11.45 and a gyro $10.10. Their headline deal — two small one-topping pizzas for $19.55 — is a perfect two-person order on paper but lands at $21.11 with tax, so the subs are the safer build. A cheese pizza is $10.65; ignore the aggregator listings still quoting $6.95, which are years out of date.
Bangor is a far better-served chain market than most of Maine, and the regionals are the interesting half — Harvest Moon and Portland Pie are Maine brands, and Pat's Pizza was invented up the road in Orono in 1931. Note the addresses: Pizza Hut, KFC, Taco Bell and Five Guys all have real Bangor stores and none publishes a per-store price readable from its own site, so none is carded. There is no Pat's Pizza in Bangor proper — the nearest is Hampden.
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Harvest Moon Deli
Two Grilled Cheeses · $15.00 for two
A Bangor-region sandwich chain with classic-rock puns for menu names, and a perennial local “best sandwich shop” winner. Take It Cheesy — melted cheddar and mozzarella — is $7.50, so two people eat for $15.00. Be clear-eyed about the rest of the board: a salad sandwich is $11.50, a BLT or a chicken caesar wrap $12.25, so an ordinary two-person order is $24.50 and misses. The grilled cheese is the card. Stores in Bangor on Columbia St, Griffin Rd and Stillwater Ave, plus Orono and Brewer. Their menu carries a dated monthly special, which is how we know the pricing is current.
The Maine chain built around flavoured dough — basil, beer, garlic and wheat — now occupying the old Verve space on Main Street. A 14-inch thin-crust build-your-own is $15.99 and feeds two on one order; a 10-inch is $10.49. The 16-inch at $18.99 also fits but lands at $20.51 at the register. Baked penne marinara is $10.99, a cheese calzone $11.99 and cheesy breadsticks $9.99. Order the beer dough; it is the reason to pick them. One note on their site: the seasonal section was still headed “spring” in August, so treat the specials as approximate — the standing pizza pricing is what we carded.
The nearest Pat's to Bangor proper — there is no Pat's in Bangor itself, whatever the search results say. Same 1931 dough recipe, provolone on everything. Small meatball and sausage hot subs are $6.85, so two people eat for $13.70; a 14-inch cheese pizza is $13.75 and a 9-inch $9.00. The grill board is the cheapest in the region: a hamburger is $5.75, a cheeseburger $6.45, a hot dog $4.25 and a grilled cheese $4.25. Small cold subs run $7.00–$7.25. Their 2026 menu images are dated in the filename, which is more than most pizza shops manage.
The cheapest card on this page and the best-evidenced. Domino's own ordering system shows the Bangor stores carrying a large three-topping carryout pizza at $9.99 with no expiry date attached — one order, two people, under ten dollars. The standing Mix & Match is $6.99 each on two or more medium two-topping pizzas, breads, loaded tots, boneless chicken, pastas, sandwiches, salads or desserts, so two mediums is $13.98. Two stores in Bangor — downtown on Clinton St and by the Walmart on Stillwater Ave — both showing open and taking orders. The Stillwater store at 496 is Old Town, a different town.
The Stillwater Avenue store publishes its own “$6.99 each” offer on two medium two-topping pizzas, so two people eat for $13.98, and the same page carries a standing 50% off all regular-price pizzas when you carry out. Open to 1am on weeknights and 2am at weekends, which makes it one of the later options on the strip. No end date is published on the offer.
Four Bangor stores — Stillwater Ave, Main St, Broadway and the Irving on Odlin Rd — and the Sub of the Day rail is the one to order from: $4.99 for a six-inch, so two people eat for $9.98, with $5.99 and $6.99 tiers above it and a Meal of the Day from $6.99. Do not default to the standard board: regular six-inch subs are $9.99 at these stores, so two of those is $19.98 and crosses $20 at the register. Four items on this store's menu are badged limited-time; none of them is a Sub of the Day.