Tempe is the college town of the Valley, and college-town prices still survive here if you know where the locals and the broke students actually eat: a cash-only burger shack grilling over mesquite since 1972, a Middle Eastern grocery counter on the Apache streetcar line since 1984, Pakistani biryani and Ethiopian platters a mile from campus, and $2.99 street tacos on Mill. Every price on this page was read from the restaurant’s own menu or ordering system in July 2026, and every card sits inside Tempe city limits — the Town of Guadalupe, the square mile on Tempe’s border that incorporated in 1975 so its neighbors couldn’t annex it, is its own place. Two warnings: Valley summers shrink hours May through September, and ASU breaks shrink them again near campus. Check before you drive.
🔱 Local Tempe Meal Deals
🍔✓ verified
The Chuckbox
Two Big Ones + Fries — $19.44 · Since 1972
The ASU-district institution, grilling burgers over mesquite in front of you since 1972 — and per the menu photo on its own site (March 2026), prices haven’t moved: The Big One (1/3 lb) is $7.84, so two plus a shared order of Chuckbox Potatoes ($3.76) lands at $19.44. The half-pound Great Big One is $8.75 (a pair is $17.50), cheese adds 80¢. Still cash only — their words.
📍 Tempe, AZ (202 E University Dr) · ⏳ Mon–Sat 10:30a–10p, Sun 10:30a–9p — cash only
The Middle Eastern grocery on the Apache streetcar line has run its restaurant counter since 1984, and the sandwich board on its own menu is the best value in Tempe: chicken shawarma $7.49, gyros or beef shawarma $7.99, falafil $6.99 — any two under $16, and adding a shared hummus with pita keeps it at $19.97. The $14.99-plus plates are the trap; stay on sandwiches. Short Sunday hours.
📍 Tempe, AZ (1513 E Apache Blvd) · ⏳ Mon–Sat 11a–8p, Sun 11:30a–4:30p
The Apache Blvd Pakistani kitchen every ASU generation discovers — its own Tempe menu prices the vegetable wrap at $12 and samosas at $6, an $18 spread for two, with vegetable Sindhi biryani at $13 plus naan ($3) as the shared alternative. If you want meat instead, the $14 chicken wrap plus any $6 appetizer lands at $20.00 on the nose — right on the line, and menu prices here are plus tax. Open to 9:30 nightly.
📍 Tempe, AZ (1212 E Apache Blvd) · ⏳ Daily 11a–9:30p
Tempe’s Ethiopian mainstay on University Dr prices everything on its own menu: the Chef’s Favorite combination platter is $16.95 — one platter two people eat by hand, our stated shared-meal format — and two extra injera ($1.25 each) bring it to $19.45. À la carte, doro wat is $6.75 and the vegetarian stews $6.25, so a three-stew spread lands at $19.25. Single-item portions run small; the combos are the real format.
📍 Tempe, AZ (849 W University Dr) · ⏳ Mon–Thu 11a–8p, Fri 11a–9p, Sat 12–9p, Sun 12–8p
The Baja-style taqueria’s Mill Avenue room — its one store inside Tempe — prices street tacos at $2.99 (asada, pastor, pollo, cabeza, nopal) on the ordering system its own site links, so three each is $17.94. Burritos are $9.99 (two = $19.98, a two-cent margin we don’t recommend betting), and the nopal quesadilla at $8.99 pairs with a burrito at $18.98. Late Friday–Saturday nights; hours differ between the chain’s two pages, so confirm before a special trip.
📍 Tempe, AZ (414 S Mill Ave) · ⏳ Tue–Sun — confirm hours; late Fri–Sat
The Roosevelt Row favorite’s College Avenue room, with its own Tempe menu published in June 2026: chicken, carnitas, barbacoa and asada tacos $3.75 (al pastor on Wednesdays), the bean burrito $9.50 — a pair is $19.00 even — and $2 cheese quesadillas that stretch four tacos into a $19 spread. Happy hour 4–6pm daily and an all-day Taco Tuesday. Closes earlier than the Phoenix original.
📍 Tempe, AZ (521 S College Ave) · ⏳ Sun–Thu 11a–9p, Fri–Sat 11a–10p
The Mill-and-Southern pizzeria cuts its slices from 24-inch pies — $3.25 for cheese on the owner menu, so four slices between two people is $13. A 12-inch cheese pie with two small drinks runs $16.87, and the two-slices-plus-drink specials land under $10 a head. There’s also a Pizza Presto counter inside ASU’s Sun Devil Marketplace — likeliest spot in town to keep break-season hours, so call first in summer.
📍 Tempe, AZ (27 E Southern Ave) · ⏳ Sun–Thu 10:30a–9p, Fri–Sat 10:30a–11p
Tempe’s all-vegan comfort-food pioneer prices everything on its own menu: the single burger is $8.50 (two for $17), po-boys $10.50, and mock-fish tacos $5.50 — a burger plus a po-boy is $19 even. Skip the $3.50 thyme fries if you’re at the line; they tip the burger pair to $20.50. Closed Sundays.
📍 Tempe, AZ (2240 N Scottsdale Rd) · ⏳ Mon–Sat 11a–9p, closed Sun
The Warner Road Greek counter — the chain’s one store inside Tempe — prices pitas on its own ordering menu: gyros, chicken gyros and falafel at $8.99, chicken shawarma $9.99. Two pitas run $17.98, and a $1.99 can of soda still fits at $19.97; the $3.49 fries do not, so choose. Prices have climbed about a dollar since our last check. Closed Sundays.
📍 Tempe, AZ (1342 W Warner Rd) · ⏳ Mon–Fri 10a–8p, Sat 11a–7p, closed Sun
💡 Pro tip: Prices and availability change — Valley summers shrink hours May through September, and ASU breaks shrink them again near campus, so always check before a special trip. Every card on this page is inside Tempe city limits; Mesa, Phoenix and Scottsdale have theirownpages, and the Town of Guadalupe on Tempe's border is its own municipality. If something's expired, flag it on our main directory.
📍 Regional Chains
Bigger than one storefront, smaller than the home-page national list — verified against each chain's own locator and menus for Tempe. One of them was born here.
🍕✓ verified
MOD Pizza
One 11" Pizza Split Two Ways — $14.19, Unlimited Toppings
MOD fast-fires an 11-inch build-your-own pizza in about three minutes, and the model is one price however many of the 40-plus toppings go on it — the chain's own words are "the price always stays the same." The 11-inch MOD-size with unlimited toppings reads $14.19 at the 2000 E Rio Salado Pkwy store on MOD's own ordering system, August 2026 — $7.10 a head when two people split it, which is the cheapest honest way through the door. MOD sizes a salad it labels "Mega (Feeds 2)" outright at $15.44, so one order is dinner for both of you without touching the pizza menu. Want your own pie each? Two 6-inch minis with cheese run $14.38. Worth knowing before you go: your first purchase as a MOD Rewards member earns a free MOD-size pizza or salad, which makes round one genuinely two for the price of one. The trap is drinks — two 16 oz fountains add $6.78 and put the loaded 11-inch at $20.97, past the line, so drink water or drop to the $10.99 cheese build. MOD prices by store, so confirm at yours — the spread across the cities we checked runs $11.89 to $16.59 for the same pizza.
📍 Tempe, AZ (2 city stores) · ⏳ Every day · one price, unlimited toppings
This is where the chain started: Isabel and George Vasquez opened the first Someburros at Mill and Baseline in 1986, per the company's own history page — and that original store is still serving, with a second Tempe room at Rural and Apache (plus a Sun Devil Stadium stand on game days). Chain-published menu, July 2026: green or red chili beef and shredded chicken burros $7.45 — two for $14.90 — bean-and-cheese $5.95, #1 combo $12.25.
📍 Tempe, AZ (101 E Baseline Rd — the original — + Rural & Apache) · ⏳ Daily 9a–9p · drive-thru from 7a
Two Tempe shops — Rural & Baseline and Kyrene & Warner — with prices confirmed on the menu their own store pages link: two slices and a small drink $6.75 at lunch (10:30am–3pm), so two people lunch for $13.50, and a large 14-inch cheese is $13.25 split two ways any hour.
📍 Tempe, AZ (2 locations) · ⏳ Lunch slices 10:30a–3p · confirm store hours
Two Tempe stores per the chain's own locator — W Baseline Rd (on the north side of Baseline, just across from the Town of Guadalupe) and S McClintock Dr. From our July 2026 read of the chain's own menu: à la carte chicken quesadillas $7.99 — two for $15.98 — and the just-cheese quesadilla $2.49. Store-level menus live in the ordering app, so prices can vary — confirm on yours.
📍 Tempe, AZ (2 locations) · ⏳ Daily · hours vary by store
Breakfast Whatameals 2 for $12.78 · Burger Whatameals 2 for $17.98
One Tempe store — 1800 W Elliot Rd, open 24 hours, per the chain's own locator. From our July 2026 read of the chain's store-selected menu: the Taquito with Cheese Whatameal at $6.39 makes two breakfasts $12.78 (11pm–11am), and two Whataburger Whatameals land at $17.98 any hour. Prices vary by market — confirm on this store's menu in the app.
📍 Tempe, AZ (1800 W Elliot Rd) · ⏳ 24/7 · breakfast 11pm–11am
Six Tempe stores per the Mesa-born chain's own locator feed — including 1270 E Apache Blvd and 1250 W Broadway Rd — the deepest Filiberto's coverage of any city on this site after its hometown. Arizona prices from the chain's own menu feed: Jr. bean-and-cheese $6.18, Jr. chicken or green chile $7.29 — two for $14.58 — and three rolled tacos with cheese $5.72. Mind the trap: two Country breakfast burritos hit $20.04 and miss by a nickel.
📍 Tempe, AZ (6 locations) · ⏳ Drive-thru · many stores 24h — confirm yours
$5 Off Any Specialty Pizza Online — Medium All Meaty $17.87
The Detroit-style original — Sterling Heights, Michigan, 1978, the chain that made the buttery, caramel-crusted square a national thing — keeps its Tempe store on E Guadalupe Rd. The play is the $5 Off Any Specialty Pizzas deal built into the chain's online ordering menu: a medium All Meaty (pepperoni, ham, Italian sausage, bacon, hamburger) listed at $22.87 on our August 2026 read at the chain's Denver store and rang up $17.87 with the deal applied — under the line with room for tax, and a medium is eight big slices, plenty for two. It's a deals-menu item so it can rotate out — and if it does, texting your order to your store takes 15% off menu-priced pizza. Prices vary by store, so run the math at yours before checkout.
📍 Tempe, AZ (1835 E Guadalupe Rd) · ⏳ Online ordering deal · limited time
This page launched in July 2026 from a bench of thirty-plus Tempe leads, every published price read from a source the restaurant itself controls. Verified but over the line:Cornish Pasty Co — the Tempe-born original can't put two pasties under $20 anymore ($15.50 + $16.00 = $31), and while one giant pasty split two ways passes on paper, its owner menus are dated 2023 and the ordering system is bot-walled, so it waits for a fresh read; Yupha's Thai Kitchen (two cheapest lunches $28 on its own ordering), and Ethiopian Famous (two cheapest stews $33.98). No owner-posted price:Pete's Fish & Chips — the 1947 chain's Tempe stand at 1017 E Apache Blvd is open and cash-only, but the owner site publishes no prices at all, same story as its Mesa page entry. Bench corrections: Birrieria Tijuana has no Tempe location on any owner source (Phoenix only), Tacos Huicho is Phoenix through and through, and no Salvadoran pupuseria on Apache could be verified owner-side — a Tempe outlet of Salvadoreño Restaurant appears on a delivery storefront but not on the owner's own locations page, so it stays off. Closed since the folklore was written:Restaurant Mexico (August 2019, after four decades on Mill), Slices on Mill (gone, and its old domain now serves gambling spam — the fourth hijacked restaurant domain this project has found), Los Favoritos' Tempe store, and eegee's has no Tempe stand (nearest: Mesa). And the geography note this corner of the Valley requires: the Town of Guadalupe — one square mile, founded by Yaqui families and incorporated in 1975 precisely so Tempe and Phoenix couldn't annex it — borders this city on three sides and is its own place, its own story, and maybe someday its own page.
🇺🇸 Also Valid Nationwide
These chain deals work anywhere in the country, including Tempe.
🚒✓ verified
Firehouse Subs
Two $5 Snackers — $10.75 · Born in Jacksonville 1994
Jacksonville's biggest food export reaches here too: founded in 1994 by two firefighter brothers, now 1,200+ stores across the Valley, Tempe included. The $5 Firehouse Snackers (BLT, Cordon Bleu, Sweet & Spicy Ham, Turkey Jalapeño half-subs) feed two for $10.75 all-in, and two small 4-inch Hook & Ladders run $12.78. The 8-inch mediums most people order run $10-plus — the only medium pair that stays near the line is the build-your-own ham or turkey. Priced on the chain's own ordering system at its Jacksonville San Marco store, July 2026 — prices vary by store, so confirm at yours.
📍 Tempe, AZ · ⏳ Two eat from $10.75 · varies by store
The Pick 6 lets two people build a shared meal — choose six items across wings, tenders, and sides — starting around $19.99. A reliable two-for-$20 play at any BWW. Dine-in or takeout; pricing varies slightly by market.
The $9.99 Big YUMMM tier gets Red's Double Burger, the Haystack Double, or a 7-inch Donatos pizza — each with one bottomless side — so two people land right around $20.