🥔 Pontotoc, MS · 9 verified deals · Updated July 2026
Pontotoc is the county seat halfway between Oxford and Tupelo, and our July 2026 price check turned up an honest small-town finding: every sit-down restaurant in town has priced out of a $20 dinner for two. The places that still deliver are counter service, and they’re good — a stuffed-potato shop that’s a local institution, a family BBQ joint sliding $7.50 breakfast plates (drink included) across the counter at 6am, a $12.99 large cheese and a $19.99 specialty pie, an order-smart Mexican drive-thru, two pulled pork sandwiches for $19 even by the Tanglefoot Trail, and — ten minutes north — a grilled cheese with Ecru peach jelly served out of an actual trolley car. Every price below was pulled from the restaurant’s own menu or ordering channel in July 2026.
🥔 Local Pontotoc Deals
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Spud's
Burger + Stuffed Spud, $15.50 — Two Burgers, $16
The anchor of cheap eats in Pontotoc: a counter-service potato shop on Highway 15 that Nikki Williams has run since 2019, with a drive-thru and two patios. Their own Toast ordering page prices the cheeseburger at $8.00 and the classic stuffed spud — cheese, bacon, green onion — at $7.50, so a burger and a spud between you is $15.50 and two cheeseburgers are $16. The local move is the burger spud, and the loaded chicken spuds ($10) eat like a shared meal. They do pizzas and shakes too, because a small-town institution covers its bases.
📍 Pontotoc, MS (104 Hwy 15 N) · ⏳ Mon–Sat 10:30a–9p, Sun to 4p
The only breakfast card on the page, and the best math on it: this family-owned West Oxford Street BBQ joint opens at 6am Tuesday through Saturday, and Nana's Sunrise Plate — two eggs, your choice of meat, and the drink already included — runs $7.50 on their merchant-set menu. Two plates, $15.00, nothing left to add. Biscuits run $1–2.50 with the chicken biscuit at $2.50. Feeding four instead of two? Their $30 family meal blows past our cap but is one of the best family-meal deals in the county. Counter prices can run a touch different from the apps — worth an eyeball at the register.
📍 Pontotoc, MS (231 W Oxford St) · ⏳ Tue–Sat 6a–2p, closed Sun–Mon
The most literal 2-for-$20 in Mississippi: every 14-inch specialty pizza on Hometown's Slice ordering page is $19.99 — one penny under the theme. The everyday play is even better: a 14-inch large cheese at $12.99 feeds two with money left for drinks. The specialty list reads like a small-town crowd-pleaser reel — taco pizza with seasoned beef and sour cream, a BBQ base stacked with fajita chicken, onion and bacon. Order through Slice or their own site; both carry the shop's merchant-set prices.
📍 Pontotoc, MS (224 Hwy 15 N) · ⏳ Daily 10a–8p, Fri–Sat to 9p
The last Mexican spot in town where two people still clear $20 — but only if you order smart. Skip the combo plates and go a la carte at the Highway 15 drive-thru: their own online storefront lists quesadillas around $7 and grilled chicken nachos at $8.99, so a quesadilla plus a big plate of nachos lands near $16, and two orders of nachos are $17.98. The quesadilla fajitas ($11.49) split as a shareable, and the grilled chicken cheese-and-rice ($11.99) stretches with a side. There's a lunch buffet too, but the a la carte menu is the deal.
A former food truck gone brick-and-mortar on Highway 15, one block from the Tanglefoot Trail trailhead — this is the post-ride refuel. The BBQ pork sandwich is $9.50 on their merchant menu, so two are $19.00 even, the tightest fit on this page (menu photos show fries alongside — ask if they're included before you count on it). The BAPS nachos and the homemade onion rings are the shareables, and the 4.7-star Google rating is earned. One honest steer: the rib tip and plate route runs $20–30 for two, so stay on the sandwiches.
📍 Pontotoc, MS (253 Hwy 15 N) · ⏳ Mon–Tue 10:30a–2p, Wed–Sat to 8p, closed Sun
Ten minutes up the highway in Ecru, this counter serves sandwiches out of an old trolley car — carry-out plus a couple of outside tables. The headline is the Dirty Dano: a grilled cheese with bacon and local Ecru peach jelly, $6.50 on their merchant menu. The ribeye sandwich is also $6.50. So is the BLT. The Slaw Dawg is $5.50, a plain grilled cheese $5, and the chicken sandwich tops the board at $6.85 — two people eat for $12–13 with sides still fitting under $20. When the restaurant is a trolley, the card writes itself.
📍 Ecru, MS (222 Main St) · ⏳ Lunch · carry-out + patio tables
💡 Pro tip: All deals are community-verified but prices and availability change. Always check the restaurant's website or app before making a special trip — and if something's expired, flag it on our main directory so we can update it.
💸 Who Priced Out — the Honest List
We checked the sit-down spots too, and as of July 2026 every one of them has priced past a $20 dinner for two. Yamato Steak House’s entrees all run $12-plus on its own ordering page before the $3.49 sodas. Fiesta Grill lists everything but chips and queso at $10.49 and up. Montgomery’s buffet is $13–15 a head depending on the day — $26–30 for two. They’re all worth eating at; they just aren’t two-for-$20 anymore, whatever an old “cheap eats Pontotoc” list told you.
And it gets worse for the stale lists: two of the town’s most-recommended budget picks — Lep’s Bar-B-Q and Happy Day Cafe — are permanently closed, yet they still surface on aggregator sites and the local dining guides. Trust the restaurant’s own menu, or a page with a date on it. This one was checked in July 2026.
🇺🇸 Chains in Town
Pontotoc’s chain strip runs along Highway 15, and these three hold the line under $20 when the local counters are closed — Sunday especially, when most of the town’s independents go dark.
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Jack's Family Restaurants
Southern Biscuits & Burger Combos — Two Under $20
The Alabama-born biscuits-and-burgers chain holds down its stretch of Highway 15 with breakfast biscuits and burger combos that keep two people under $20 without trying. Their family meal deals — featured on the chain's own locations page — pair with Blacksmith's $30 spread if you're feeding four instead of two. Breakfast ends at 10:30 sharp; plan the biscuit run accordingly.
The reliable floor for the whole directory holds in Pontotoc too. Luxe Cravings Boxes run around $5–7 apiece at the Highway 15 drive-thru — a burrito, a taco, a side and a drink each — so two full boxes land well under $20 with room to add. Order in the app for the current box lineup; exact prices vary a little by store.
Pontotoc's Zaxby's (confirmed on the chain's own location finder) keeps the Big Zax Snak meal — chicken fingers, Texas toast, crinkle fries, Zax sauce — at roughly $9, so two meals come in around $18. The sandwich meals and wings-and-things tiers run over the cap; the Snak is the play. Open to 10pm daily, which makes it the late backup when the local counters have closed.