Olneyville New York System ★ 4.8
Olneyville's signature combo: three hot wieners with mustard, meat sauce, onions and celery salt, plus a coffee milk. Under $13 in Olneyville Square.
Try: Three hot wieners 'all the way' with coffee milk
Eat well in Providence for under €15 a plate: the places locals on a budget actually use.
Cheap eats worth seeking out
Caserta Pizzeria ★ 4.6
Caserta on Spruce Street has been selling Rhode Island pizza strips since 1953. Sicilian-style square slices with sauce only or sauce-and-cheese.
Try: Pizza strips
East Side Pockets ★ 4.3
Thayer Street's Middle Eastern counter has fed Brown and RISD students cheaply since 1997. Falafel and gyro wraps under $13, hummus plates, late.
Try: Falafel wrap with hummus and salad
Iggy's Doughboys ★ 4.5
Iggy's Oakland Beach order at the window: a dozen doughboys with cinnamon sugar plus a clam chowder for under $15. The Warwick original is year-round.
Try: Doughboys with cinnamon sugar
Allie's Donuts ★ 4.6
Allie's Donuts on Route 2 has been a North Kingstown morning landmark since 1968. Cake doughnuts under $3, drip coffee for $2; the long line moves fast.
Try: Cake doughnut and coffee
Spike's Junkyard Dogs ★ 4.0
Spike's jumbo all-beef Junkyard Dogs come loaded with tomato, pickle, scallion, banana pepper and mustard. The Warwick storefront is the last Spike's.
Try: Junkyard Dog with all the toppings
D. Palmieri's Bakery ★ 4.4
D. Palmieri's, in the Palmieri family since the 1905 Providence original, still slings pizza strips, spinach pies and Sicilian loaves from Johnston under $6.
Try: Pizza strip and spinach pie
Fellini Pizzeria ★ 4.0
Fellini on Wickenden has been the family pizza counter since 1980. New York-style slices, fast service, open to 02:00 weekends; the cheap late slice.
Try: Slice and a soda