Cheap Eats in Chattanooga: Six Budget Meal Stops

A whiting sandwich at Uncle Larry’s, a Traditional Reuben on the North Shore or street tacos on the Southside can each anchor an inexpensive Chattanooga lunch. Allow up to $20 per person for food, including an extra side if you want one, but keep sales tax, tips and drinks outside that allowance.

Choose the stop near the part of the city you are visiting. These six meals range from sandwiches to a Southern meat-and-three plate, and they are alternatives for lunch rather than a circuit to follow.

Budget meals at a glance

Venue	Area	Order	Typical food spending per person	Weekly closing days
Uncle Larry’s	MLK Boulevard	Whiting sandwich, optional extra food	$10–15	Sunday, Monday
River Street Deli	North Shore	Traditional Reuben, optional extra food	$15–20	None
Taqueria Jalisco Ania	Southside	Carne asada street-taco order	$10–15	Sunday, Monday
The Purple Daisy Picnic Cafe	St Elmo	BBQ Sandwich with a side	$10–15	Sunday
Ankar’s Hoagies	Brainerd Road	Gyro, optional extra food	$10–15	None
Wally’s	McCallie Avenue	Weekday meatloaf with sides, when offered	$15–20	Sunday

Keep the food order simple to stay within the allowance: choose the named dish first, then add food according to appetite. A starter or alcoholic drink can turn a modest lunch into a noticeably larger bill.

For an ordinary lunch, approach these as walk-in stops and leave flexibility for a wait. With a group, arrange seating ahead rather than assuming several adjacent tables will be available. At table service, a customary tip is around 18–20% of the pre-tax bill. Counter-service tipping is optional.

These orders centre on meat or fish. If you need a wholly plant-based lunch, choose from vegan meals in Chattanooga instead.

Uncle Larry’s on MLK Boulevard

Uncle Larry’s on MLK Boulevard belongs on this list for its fish-focused menu. Order the Whiting sandwich, made with a white fish, when you want fish at the centre of lunch rather than a deli-meat filling. The sandwich is a straightforward starting point for an inexpensive food order.

For slaw, add 25¢ for the sandwich to be packed separately with it. Let your appetite decide whether to add more food rather than treating the sandwich as a plate with sides. This is the MLK Boulevard branch, a useful choice when your day keeps you around the central city’s MLK corridor.

Its serving window extends beyond lunch into the evening, with later service towards the weekend. For a midday meal, you can keep your sightseeing plans flexible rather than aiming for a short lunch-only sitting.

River Street Deli

River Street Deli brings New York-style deli food to River Street on the North Shore. Choose the Traditional Reuben for grilled corned beef with sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing. Sauerkraut is fermented cabbage, adding a tangy contrast to the meat and dressing.

Treat the Reuben as the centre of the meal and add extra food only if you need it. This is a daytime stop for a North Shore visit, so put lunch before your afternoon plans run late. Its daily service also makes it a useful choice when the weekday-only rhythm of some lunch restaurants does not suit your trip.

Taqueria Jalisco Ania

Taqueria Jalisco Ania is the Parra family’s restaurant on Rossville Avenue, making it a Southside choice for Mexican street-style tacos. Order carne asada, meaning grilled steak, in the three-taco order. Choosing the full order gives lunch a more substantial centre than a single taco eaten as a snack.

The steak is one of the meat choices for that order. Keep the tacos at the centre of your spending, and decide whether you still want more before adding starters. Drinks and shared appetisers are easy additions to a table, but they change the size of an otherwise inexpensive lunch bill.

The family has expanded the business over the years. At this Rossville Avenue restaurant, service continues from lunch through dinner, with a later finish towards the weekend. That gives you room for a late lunch after exploring the Southside rather than requiring an early sitting.

The Purple Daisy Picnic Cafe

The Purple Daisy Picnic Cafe on St Elmo Avenue earns its place through barbecue: the pulled pork is smoked on site. Pulled pork is slow-cooked pork separated into strands, and here it fills the menu’s BBQ Sandwich. Choose this stop when you want a barbecue lunch during time in St Elmo.

The sandwich comes in regular and jumbo sizes, so appetite can guide your order. Homemade sides are separate additions. For a fuller meal, choose a side with your sandwich rather than assuming one comes alongside it. That lets you build lunch around the pork without automatically ordering a larger sandwich as well.

Food service runs Monday–Saturday, 11am–8pm, making an unhurried afternoon meal possible. St Elmo is the southern neighbourhood choice in this selection, so it makes most sense when your plans already bring you to this part of Chattanooga.

Ankar’s Hoagies on Brainerd Road

Ankar’s Hoagies on Brainerd Road is the east-side sandwich-shop choice, with a business history stretching back to 1979. Choose the gyro for beef and lamb with tomatoes, onions and gyro sauce on pita bread. A gyro is sliced seasoned meat served in flatbread, and this order brings meat, vegetables and sauce together in one sandwich.

Keep the sandwich as your starting point rather than moving straight to a larger platter. Add extra food if your appetite calls for it. The Brainerd Road branch lies east of the central sightseeing districts, so it is a useful lunch when you are already in this part of town rather than a reason to cross the city solely to save on food.

Early-week service ends in the afternoon, while the later-week window continues into the evening. Lunch fits both, but a return for dinner depends on which day you visit.

Wally’s on McCallie Avenue

Wally’s on McCallie Avenue offers a Southern plate lunch rather than a sandwich, with roots going back to 1950. Its meat-and-three format means one meat with three vegetable or starch sides. That makes the sides part of your meal from the start, rather than extras you add to make a sandwich lunch more substantial.

Look for meatloaf with gravy among the changing daily meats at a weekday lunch. Meatloaf is seasoned minced meat baked as a loaf and served in slices. Choose the sides that appeal to you alongside it, and let the complete plate be the centre of your order.

The McCallie Avenue restaurant sits east of the central districts. Plan this meatloaf choice for a weekday, when it is offered, rather than treating it as a guaranteed daily special. Saturday has a shorter morning serving window and all-day breakfast, so it is a different occasion from the weekday Southern lunch.

Sources & fact-checking

Checks against the sources below cover: closures, key figures, and opening hours.

• Ankar’s Hoagies — closures
• Ankar’s Hoagies — key figures
• Wally’s Restaurant — key figures
• Uncle Larry’s Restaurant — opening hours
• Uncle Larry’s Restaurant — closures
• Taqueria Jalisco | Ania — opening hours
• Taqueria Jalisco Ania — key figures
• Taqueria Jalisco — key figures
• Purple Daisy Picnic Cafe — key figures
• River Street Deli — opening hours
• River Street Deli — closures