I was recently in town for work and if you like dim sum, you have to try the Empress in Chinatown. The setting is an old theatre. The service is fantastic and the best part, it is cheap. Eight plates cost me $13.75.

I have to return in a few months. Any else got any suggestions?

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BOS is the airport, not the city. "Cheap eats in BOS" means sandwiches in a terminal. The city is "Boston."

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If you're in the near western suburbs, try Captain Marden's on Linden Street in Wellesley for seafood. The last time I was there three of us ate dinner, including soft drinks and a shared dessert, for $44 including tax and tip. You can spend more if you want lobster, but still in the "cheap eats" category - and pretty good.

It's not in Boston, but just across the river in Harvard Sq. is Charlie's Kitchen. You can take the T red line to Harvard Sq. if you don't have a car or don't want to drive.

http://boston.citysearch.com/profile...s_kitchen.html

It's not fancy, but the food is really good and cheap. They have a huge selection of good quality beers too. They had Hoegaarden on tap, amongst others. I strongly recommend the twin lobster roll plate. You get two hot dog rolls overstuffed with lobster meat and a side of fries for $9.95. Got a Hoegaarden for $4.75 (but it was enormous, almost a liter I think, because my wif'e's beer was 20 oz. and looked tiny by comparison) My wife got the twin crab roll plate with fries for $8.50, which was very good, but we both agreed the lobster tasted a little bit better. You can't go wrong with either. Our bill after the certificate was only $4.09 + tip. Not bad for dinner and a beer for two.

If you want an even better deal there, visit www.restaurant.com where you can get a $25 certificate for this restaurant for only $12.50. The certificate can only be used Sun-Thurs., and restaurant.com usually runs out of the certs as it gets closer to the end of the month (they have a limited number of certs each month), but you can use the cert towards the purchase of alcohol, at least at Charlie's Kitchen. Some restaurants only allow the cert to be used towards food.

I checked out restaurant.com - seems like a good deal.

PM me if you want the referral bonus.

Edited to delete what I was going to say.

If in the mood for a burrito on the go, Anna's Taqueria is hard to beat. It's kind of like a Chipotle or Qdoba, but better. It's gotten a bit ridiculous with the popularity lately (I remember when the first one opened up!), but still worth checking out.

I was in Boston a few weeks ago. I was impressed with a stop ay Feniul hall (sp?). There is a long building called Quincy hall that is loaded from one end to the other with various food vendors. A large food court with a nice selection of eats. Off the top of my head there was Mexican, Greek, Sushi, fresh seafood, Italian, Chinese and much more.

It's Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market. It is rather touristy but still one of my favorite places.

Just to the north is Union Oyster House. Although pricy, sit at the oyster bar and suck down some oysters or clams and drink draft beer. My experience has always been they shuck oysters and clams fresh when you're at the oyster bar. Sit in the dining room and they send an already shucked platter away. I could spend and afternoon and $200 there.

McCormick & Schmicks has a great "happy hour". For those who don't know, we Bostonians are not allowed to have happy hour, so to draw people in, they serve really good food cheap because drinks can't be discounted. I used to work in Faneuil Hall and always found the food a little iffy. Union Oyster House is good, but touristy (overpriced). Haymarket Pizza, around the corner from Union Oyster has great pizza as does Regina's about a 10 minute walk from Union and in the North End. The Barking Crab on the waterfront has good inexpensive food. Tim's Tavern in the South End is the home of the $3 huge burger, but you should call to make sure the kitchen is open. The Paramount at the base of Beacon Hill has fabulous inexpensive food and serves breakfast all day. Breakfast at Charlie's Sandwich Shoppe in the South End is also pretty inexpensive.

The Pour House Bar and Grill has great food at cheap prices, and a wide selection of beer. One of my favorite places to go. It has a young/alternative feel. Located 907 Boylston St, Boston. A short walk from the Hynes Convention Center T station on the Green Line. http://www.pourhouseboston.com/

Ehhh...I've found Anna's to be HIGHLY overrated. In fact, I don't think that Qdoba has the best burritos out there, but I would go there any day of the week before choosing Anna's (just my opinion). One thing that I don't understand about practically all of the burrito joints in the Boston area is their use of sliced cheese on burritos/quesadillas/etc. I don't know exactly why, but shredded cheese works SO much better.

I agree, Anna's is OK as a 'basic' burrito. Use shredded cheese please. Qdoba has a bit more bite and a better selection of salsa but still not excellent either.

If any of these restaurants actually had 'chipotle' sauce it would move up a couple notches in my book. It seems like all the burrito places in Boston are stuck in 1998.

I went to Blue Ribbon BBQ recently and they always have a wide selection of sauces (I know Blue Ribbon is BBQ, but they do have a bbq chicken burrito). My favorite is the Chipotle Mustard.. mmmm so tasty!

Eh, you're out in left field.

Anna's, in my book, is still a better bet than Qdoba or Chipotle (who isn't in Boston). The sliced cheese is money, it melts right onto the tortilla for sublime texture.

I'll second this. They have half-price food some nights too. Saturday from 6pm - 11pm(?) is half price burgers and fries. They're surprisingly good and plentiful considering it's like $3-4 total. If you go early you'll have to fight the MIT kiddies for a table though. A little further up the block, Whiskeys has half price appetizers from 5-7 and $0.10 wings until 11 (Sundays through Thursdays).

Anna's is ok I suppose, but nothing in Boston/Cambridge comes close to Boca Grande. Very cheap, very good.

For those unfortunate ones who find themselves stuck on the Rt 3 corridor NW of town, the Mambo Grille in downtown Lowell (of all places) is definitely not bad. Not only are the burritos more than passable (though they ought to learn how to drain the beans a lot better), but beer and even limited outdoor seating is available.