These are the best cheap bites in San Francisco

This fantastic Filipino fusion place earned Guy Fieri’s description as “It’s not Asian, it’s not Mexican, it’s Señor Sisig.” More specifically, it’s Filipino street food from original family recipes adapted for a San Francisco take. Expect delicious tacos, burritos, loaded fries and crispy sinigang wings with fresno peppers. You can order any item prepared vegan or alternatively add a fried egg to it. Also avail yourself of the beer, wine and beautifully colored cocktails like the cool green Pandan grasshopper. A single sisig taco runs $5, while a more hearty burrito will set you back $15. There are three brick and mortars (in the Ferry Building, the Mission and across the bay in Oakland—and a fourth planned for next year at Thrive City), while a roving food truck can be tracked on the website.

Bei Fang Style, a small Northern Chinese dumpling shop in the Sunset fills with locals who can’t resist a beef noodle soup, Chinese savior crepes and stuffed, savory beef pancakes. An order of 24 Chinese cabbage-and-pork dumplings is a ridiculous bargain at $12. It’s so much food you may end up taking some home. For a bargain, get a plate of cold assorted vegetarian delicacies for $8.

This Mission restaurant Wes Burger claims it didn’t invent the smashburger but perfected it—and you can get one for a mere $9. That’s a three-ounce patty with American cheese, diced onion, pickle and condiments on Martin’s rolls. (And not as budget-friendly but very intriguing is the PB&J Burger at $16, created by San Francisco artist Jeremy Fish, a patty topped with—yes—peanut butter and strawberry-jalapeño jam, white cheddar and onion rings and optional bacon). The bargain-priced Southern fried or Nashville hot chicken sandwiches are $15, while a creamy mac and cheese can be had for $7.

You don’t have to order your Japanese curry served over rice “volcano” hot, there’s also hot, medium or mild. At Volcano Curry of Japan, the basic “E-Z original” version comes with rice, potatoes and carrots and is an easy $11, as comforting as a warm hug. A chicken, fish or pork katsu sandwich runs $10, and if you’re really strapped for cash (or just not that hungry), there are four mini sandwiches at $4: the potato croquette, chicken karaage, spam katsu and tratar white fish. Find this unique Japanese style curry spot in the Richmond District.

Executive chef Binita Pradhan was born in Kathmandu and moved here, opening her Nepalese restaurant and catering business Bini’s Kitchen. It’s famous for her scrumptious MoMo dumplings in turkey, vegetable or lamb with a roasted tomato and cilantro sauce (eight pieces for $13–$14). Open for weekday lunch only, Bini’s Kitchen also offers main dishes like Gurkha chicken and pork Chhoila for just $13. The best bargain is yellow dal Tadka (lentil soup) for $8. Drop by the SoMa location at 1001 Howard Street (there’s also a second spot temporarily closed for renovations at 1 Post Street in the Financial District).

Always and forever this writer’s go-to place for an awesome, inexpensive burrito, Pancho Villa in the Mission is forever busy with a line out the door, but persevere. All food is prepared from scratch, and the taqueria prides itself on using the word “taqueria” before that term became popular. You’ll move along the counter as you choose your kind of beans, meat, salsa and add-ons, watching while staff expertly creates and rolls your burrito, handed to you in a wax paper lined plastic lattice basket. A regular burrito can still be had for $9 (and a chile relleno for $8), but splurge on the super burrito with all the guamole and sour cream and extras for $13. House crafted tortilla chips are a free accompaniment, then go to the salsa bar to ladle up award-winning salsa. Other iterations are the El Toro (prequel) and El Cafetazo Cafe (and another Pancho Villa in San Mateo), but we’ll stick to this no-nonsense site.

Yep, pretty much every tourist at the teeming waterfront orders that soup in a carved out sourdough bun—but it’s because it’s affordable and delicious. Boudin bakes its sourdough fresh every day using the same mother dough cultivated from a gold miner’s sourdough starter(!), making it one of San Francisco’s oldest continuously operating businesses. For $14 you can get that famous sourdough bread filled with clam chowder dotted with fresh parsley, chili or tomato soup, or upscale a few more dollars to the crab chowder. You can also get a low-key turkey and havarti sandwich on that beautiful bread in baguette form for $14. There are five San Francisco locations (including at the airport) if you don’t want to venture to Fisherman’s Wharf or Pier 39.

Old and iconic AF, Tommy’s Joynt’s tagline is “76 years, one menu.” Go through the line with your tray for hand-carved roast beef, corned beef, pastrami, ham, turkey and BBQ brisket. Make a mini three-ounce sandwich for $8 or a classic five-ounce sandwich for $12, or get a simple sausage sandwich for $6. The low-cost sides are epic, including Tommy’s Joynt spaghetti with Italian meat sauce for just $4. The atmosphere is of another era, with stained glass lamps over the cutting board bar and a neon sign outside advertising in a charming, punctuation-free way the “Hot corned beef cocktails.”

Dumpling Time is another go-to place for quick and fresh food. Four pieces of steamed har gow (shrimp, juicy pork) go for $9, while seven boiled chili pork dumplings with that incredible chili sauce are $11. Seafood gyoza (spinach skin, crab, shrimp and chili butter sauce) are $15 for five pieces. The gan ban noodles with zucchini, chili, mushroom, egg, tomato and peanut is just $11. On and on. We love the Design District location (11 Division St), but there’s also one in Thrive City (and farther away in Berkeley, San Ramon and San Jose).

This tiny, no-frills lunchtime spot fits the need for a hella-fast teriyaki lunch box right before leaving for the airport: $10 for teriyaki chicken, four pieces of California roll, rice and soup. On my visit, there were no leftovers, which was exactly the goal, and the meal was delicious. A six-piece chef’s choice sushi combo is just $15. Hidden in one of the alleys of the Embarcadero complex (Building 5), this restaurant’s staff is kind (they chased down someone who had left their briefcase) and the food is spot on. Open 11am to 7pm daily except Sunday.

Prices are reasonable here at Wolfe’s Lunch: $7 for a hamburger, $6 for grilled cheese, $11 for vegetable donburi. The breakfast game is strong, too, with a $7 egg and cheese sandwich morphing up to a $15 breakfast combo with eggs, bacon or sausage, hash browns and toast. This cute little standalone place serving Japanese, Korean and American food at 16th and Irwin has ample seating inside and on the patio. Wolfe was the original 1948 owner; today’s owner Mr. Yun has been in place since 2000. Open 6am to 3:30pm every day except Sunday.

Walking down Embarcadero, the smells of sizzling onions, peppers and bacon on grills overcame this writer, and the loaded sausage she purchased with Venmo for $10 made her day: unbelievably flavorful and succulent. Street vendors must go through a stringent permitting process to sell food prepared at a sidewalk stand and get a permit (starting at $235), but it’s not entirely clear which vendors are vetted. Some people call these “danger dogs” as a result. It may be a case of looking around the seller’s station and seeing how precooked food is kept cold (or not) and using common sense… the payoff can be delicious.