Best Cheap Eats in Rapid City Two People, Under $20
🗻 Rapid City · 10 verified deals · Updated August 10, 2026
Rapid City is the front door to Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills, and its food gets priced accordingly — the breakfast institution downtown charges $19.00 for two eggs, and every burger in South Dakota's first brewpub starts at $16.95. So we did the math the hard way: 10 spots where two people genuinely eat under $20, every price read off the restaurant's own menu and linked so you can check it. Momo for $15 in an 1886 building, two full Chinese lunch specials for $16.80, and the near misses printed with their real totals instead of quietly dropped.
🏙️ Downtown — Main Street Square & St Joseph · 5 spots
The six walkable blocks between Main Street Square and the Hotel Alex Johnson, where the Presidents statues stand on every corner. Momo in an 1886 building, beer-cheese soup in a converted 1915 firehouse, and the bargain end of the best breakfast menu in the Black Hills.
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Kathmandu Bistro
Nepalese & Indian · $15.00 for two
Ten-piece momo dumplings ($11.00) + garlic naan ($4.00) = $15.00 — the cheapest full meal for two downtown, served under the original brick and hardwood of an 1886 Main Street building.
Two bowls of their Gorgonzola Ale beer cheese soup — brewed with their own ale — at $8.95 each = $17.90, in South Dakota's first brewpub. Worth knowing before you order: every burger on the menu is $16.95–20.95, so two of those is $34 and up. Also worth knowing: the printed prices are cash prices, and they add a convenience fee to card payments.
📍 610 Main St, Rapid City, SD 57701 · ⏳ Mon–Sat 11a–10p · Sun 11a–9p
The Special Breakfast ($10.00) + Two Pancakes ($9.00) = $19.00. Tally's is the breakfast institution downtown and most of its menu knows it — the Two Egg Breakfast alone is $19.00 and the Meat Lovers is $24.00 — but the bargain corner of the same menu still feeds two under the line.
An Americana pizza ($12.00) + Andy's Focaccia Bread ($7.00) = $19.00, with 15–20 local taps to pick from. Friday and Saturday 9pm–midnight the Late Nite Bites board is cheaper still — pizza by the slice at $6.00–7.00.
📍 625 St Joseph St, Rapid City, SD 57701 · ⏳ Late Nite Bites Fri–Sat 9p–12a
The Classic burger ($13.00, comes with a side) + a bowl of beer cheese soup ($6.00) = $19.00. Cheaper still: two bowls of soup is $12.00, and Dirty Chips with buffalo sauce and blue cheese is $8.00. Note the menu's own fine print — card payments add 3%, debit cards don't.
🛣️ West Main Street & Mount Rushmore Road · 3 spots
The old highway spine running southwest out of downtown toward the monument. This is where Rapid City keeps its weekday lunch specials — the three cheapest full meals for two on this page are all within a mile of each other here.
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Golden Phoenix
Chinese · $16.80 for two
Two Lunch Specials of the Day at $8.40 each = $16.80, and each one arrives with an egg roll, a fried wonton and fried rice alongside the entrée — the most food per dollar on this page. Monday sesame chicken, Tuesday General's, Wednesday garlic shrimp, Thursday teriyaki, Friday orange chicken.
📍 2421 W Main St, Rapid City, SD 57702 · ⏳ Lunch specials daily 11a–3:30p
Chicken momo dumplings ($12.99) + a vegetable samosa ($5.00) = $17.99 at Rapid City's oldest Indian and Nepalese kitchen. If you'd rather have curry, Daal Makhani ($13.99) plus plain naan ($3.00) is $16.99 and feeds two the same way.
📍 2328 W Main St, Rapid City, SD 57702 · ⏳ Closed Tuesdays
Two of Bob's Bargain Breakfast #7 at $9.99 each = $19.98 — two eggs, two slices of toast and your choice of bacon or a sausage link, twice over. The whole Bargain board runs $7.49–13.49, so cheaper builds are easy. Come at lunch instead and nothing is under $16.49.
Two spots worth the drive off the core: a family Mexican kitchen up 5th Street toward Rushmore Crossing, and a coffee-and-beer room on the west side that makes the nachos locals vote best in town.
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Ma Cualli
Mexican · $18.00 for two
Tres Doraditos ($12.00) — three deep-fried tacos with avocado sauce, crema, curtido and cotija — plus a queso dip ($6.00) = $18.00. Their weekday lunch board (11am–2pm) runs $11.00–13.00 a plate, so one lunch special plus a $4.00 tamal also clears.
Campfire Pulled Pork Nachos ($15.00) — voted best nachos in Rapid City — plus avocado toast on sourdough from The Sour downtown ($4.50) = $19.50. In the morning, two of their breakfast burritos at $8.50 each is $17.00.
📍 5734 Sheridan Lake Rd, Ste 207, Rapid City, SD 57702
Pro tip: Rapid City's cheapest food is on the clock. Golden Phoenix's $8.40 lunch specials stop at 3:30pm, Colonial House's Bargain Breakfasts end at 11:30am, Ma Cualli's lunch board runs 11am–2pm and Independent Ale House's slice-priced Late Nite Bites only appear Friday and Saturday after 9pm. Eat between 11am and 2pm and nearly every spot on this page gets cheaper.
💸 Near Misses — What It Actually Costs
The cheapest two-person build we could assemble on each of these owner menus, and what it comes to. Closest miss first. Nobody else prints these numbers.
Sickies Garage Burgers & Brews
$21.98
Two orders of six boneless wings with fries at $10.99 each. The burgers are the reason to go and they run $17.99–20.99 apiece, which puts two at $35.98 and up. Menu →
Delmonico Grill
$25.00
The Smash Burger ($13.00) + Nashville Hot Chicken ($12.00), the two cheapest plates on the lunch menu. Downtown's dry-aging steakhouse is not trying to be cheap and the dinner filet is $34.00. Menu →
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