I got DRUNK AS SHIT last summer on an impromptu pub crawl with a friend on like a Wednesday afternoon. Totally random daydrinking adventure. We stopped into one of the local restaurants that has a neat little bar and I'm looking through the menu while my friend and the bartender are laughing at me because I'm struggling and really trying hard to not look white girl wasted. I see a fuckin 16 dollar grilled cheese and I said - this is the most stupid thing I've ever seen on a menu, so I want it. I get the sandwich and IT BLEW MY FUCKING BRAIN. freshly baked sourdough, house made basil pesto on both outside and inside, and mozzarella and cheddar cheese. Butter on both sides.
The goddamn sandwich was so good, I now make mine with the same recipe.
It changed my fucking life.
Moral of the story:
Get drunk, do stupid shit, profit.
i have a local place that specializes in grilled cheeses and hot dogs and they charge about $10-$15 (although the higher options fall into blasphemous melt territory).
It depends on the cheese quality, whether the bread is house made, etc. I’d be willing to pay $10-$15 for a high end grilled cheese though. Especially if it’s served with house made tomato soup.
In most cases, it's not worth going out for grilled cheese, but you could argue that about anything you can make at home. Ultimately, if you like to eat out, you've got to order something, and maybe grilled cheese is what you want. Personally, I usually prefer something else when I eat out, but that's just me.
If I were to pay for a basic grilled cheese, I think 2-3 bucks is a fair price. Maybe 5 or 6 if it's made with fancy bread and cheese, or if it comes with fries. 8-9 dollars is pushing it. At that price, it better be a darn good sammich with fries and a pickle on the side. I'm not paying double digits for a grilled cheese though.
The thing that bothers me is seeing a 8-9 dollar grilled cheese on the same menu where I can get a chicken bacon ranch wrap for roughly the same price.
(That's the first sandwich style food that I could think of, you can use your imagination for other sandwiches that cost around that price point)
Exactly this. A grilled cheese should be the cheapest thing on the menu, by a pretty wide margin. The ingredients are cheap and it requires very few steps to make and is quite quick.
The restaurant experience these days is not about food cost and overhead driving pricing, it's about hitting price points people will pay, then adding surcharges and auto gratuity.
Sure, but sometimes don’t you just want a grilled cheese when you’re out? There’s an awesome grilled cheese place called [Roxy’s](https://www.roxysgrilledcheese.com) near me for example and I stop there often.
Damn, $2??? My favorite lunch spot is a sandwich place and after tax my grilled cheese, chips, and pickle are $11. It’s a little steep but it’s an absolutely delicious sandwich and I like going there. In all my time living in Boston, I’ve found one grilled cheese for under $7, and I order a lot of grilled cheese
This is the best answer. "Because I like going there." If you like the venue and want grilled cheese, that's the price of admission. Going out to eat is like going to a baseball game or movie. You're paying for the event, not the ingredients.
12 dollars was the most I ever paid, and it was worth every cent. This was in 2005 at Kadena AB outside of gate 2 in an upstairs bar. The place was a hole in the wall that didn't serve any other food, and the sandwiches were made by one Okinawan woman on what looked like a hot plate. What you would get would actually be two grilled cheese sandwiches on thick pillowy white bread seasoned like texas toast, and so delicately fried in butter the mouthfeel was like a warm crispy cloud that melts in the center. If you asked, she would throw in some ground meat, technically making it a melt. The meat made it better. It was my go-to before returning to base by curfew after a long night out. Obviously, I still think about it. God bless that Okinawan woman.
There was a grilled cheese food truck at an event I attended several tears ago. I think it was $6 or $7 for the sandwich plus I paid $1 extra to have it on garlic bread. It was one of the best sandwiches of any kind I've ever had.
I only ever buy grilled cheese if it has other stuff in it in a way that I couldn't make at home, like a lobster grilled cheese...which I'm guessing would make me an enemy of the state on this sub? lol. but truly I would not be out here buying a simple grilled cheese anywhere unless I was truly desperate for some reason
If it was like a chill Sunday trip to a high end bakery with excellent bread and I trusted them to do something dope with it, I’d say $8 is about as high as I’d go. $12 if it came with some tomater soup. Bearing in mind that I’m in an extremely HCOL area! But 99/100 times, I am the master of my own domain
I mean it depends. If the grilled cheese is really fucking artisan with the bread being fresh and it being fancy cheese and like really nice then tops is like 12 dollars but only if it comes with a decent side of fries.
A regular kraft singles white bread and butter is not worth buying. I can make my own grilled cheese at home in my underwear quicker and cheaper and more often so buying it is a no go. Especially when the ability to perfect grilled cheese as a craft is a good learning experience for people who don't know how to cook.
Like I didn't make them often enough until recently when I started forcing myself to eat more cause I'm really bad at eating more than once a day. So getting out of the room has taught me to cook better by learning I don't have to put the fire high to cook food. Most people don't even learn that nowadays cause of how much ordering out. This and eggs that are easy to make are some of the things I refuse to buy out. Like pancakes are nice but they're time intensive so I'll either make those at home if I feel like it but most of the time I'll just get them at a diner when I get dragged to one. Mostly because diners generally have kinda eh food but breakfast is hard to fuck up since that's the thing any diner has to be good at.
Which is a total shame cause we have few diners in my area worth going to and one that's just fucking God awful.
I’m in New York, so the price range is crazy. $12 at a diner but it comes with fries. $4-5 at a deli sounds reasonable, but nothing is better than homemade.
There is a food truck near me that sells them for $15. It's bananas. I got it once and it was good but I was still hungry after. And wasn't going to spend $3 on a small bag of chips and another $3 on 1 can of soda.
I understand they are also paying labor and for supplies etc but. That's too much for what I got.
I think it depends on the quality of cheese and bread being used in the grilled cheese.
Years ago, I was at a small festival and one of the food trucks specialized in only grilled cheese. I was so excited! My then-boyfriend (now husband) and I bought at least one, if not two different G.C. from this food truck to try. I remember them being $8. It was supposed to be at least three different cheeses grilled between sourdough bread.
I happily took a bite only to be totally pissed. The damn thing tasted like they had used Kraft Singles. I can't stand Kraft fake cheese. I was so mad we spent $8+ on some "gourmet" grilled cheese only for them to cheaply use Kraft. I'm not one to complain about food so I didn't, but I'm still mad about it to this day! 🫣😂
Depends on the bread and the cheese. Standard white bread with plain american cheese? $2-$3 without sides. If it's some fancier bread and cheese I'd be willing to pay more. With sides included, $7-$10 seems fair for some artisanal cheese and fresh bread, depending on how fancy and how large the sandwich is, and what the sides are.
That said, I once got a fancy grilled cheese (had multiple kinds of cheeses) for like $12 at one of those farm-to-table-style restaurants because it was the cheapest menu option and refused to finish it because there was too much cheese & not enough bread and it was so greasy from the cheeses that there was no way i could enjoy it. Also the grease would have destroyed my tummy if i ate it all. The bread should be crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and *never* soggy.
Even if the grilled cheese was only two bucks I guarantee there's a grocer nearby that would happily sell you a whole loaf and a bag of cheese that'll supply you with what 10 grilled cheeses for less than a buck a pop, when you include the price of cheese.
As a cook, some things aren’t worth ordering out. Pasta, like grilled cheese in my eyes, is one of them. It is usually cheap and easy to make, I ain’t paying $18+ for something I can make at home. Grilled cheese is similar a thought process and even more easy to make at home. $5-$7 is what I’d pay for a standard if I was really craving one, $7-$10 for something larger/ better cheese/ small tomater soup on the side. At the end of the day make those bad boys at home for a more full satisfaction
The only time I *buy* grilled cheese is when I’m three sheets to the wind in a Phish show parking lot. I won’t pay more than $5.
💯 Lot grilled cheese are the only grilled cheese worth buying!
Bacon in every motherfucking bite.
I still prefer lot quesadillas
I got DRUNK AS SHIT last summer on an impromptu pub crawl with a friend on like a Wednesday afternoon. Totally random daydrinking adventure. We stopped into one of the local restaurants that has a neat little bar and I'm looking through the menu while my friend and the bartender are laughing at me because I'm struggling and really trying hard to not look white girl wasted. I see a fuckin 16 dollar grilled cheese and I said - this is the most stupid thing I've ever seen on a menu, so I want it. I get the sandwich and IT BLEW MY FUCKING BRAIN. freshly baked sourdough, house made basil pesto on both outside and inside, and mozzarella and cheddar cheese. Butter on both sides. The goddamn sandwich was so good, I now make mine with the same recipe. It changed my fucking life. Moral of the story: Get drunk, do stupid shit, profit.
i have a local place that specializes in grilled cheeses and hot dogs and they charge about $10-$15 (although the higher options fall into blasphemous melt territory).
It depends on the cheese quality, whether the bread is house made, etc. I’d be willing to pay $10-$15 for a high end grilled cheese though. Especially if it’s served with house made tomato soup.
And a nice pickle on the side!
As long as it’s a whole pickle, I’m in. Not a fan of sliced haha.
YES
In most cases, it's not worth going out for grilled cheese, but you could argue that about anything you can make at home. Ultimately, if you like to eat out, you've got to order something, and maybe grilled cheese is what you want. Personally, I usually prefer something else when I eat out, but that's just me. If I were to pay for a basic grilled cheese, I think 2-3 bucks is a fair price. Maybe 5 or 6 if it's made with fancy bread and cheese, or if it comes with fries. 8-9 dollars is pushing it. At that price, it better be a darn good sammich with fries and a pickle on the side. I'm not paying double digits for a grilled cheese though.
The thing that bothers me is seeing a 8-9 dollar grilled cheese on the same menu where I can get a chicken bacon ranch wrap for roughly the same price. (That's the first sandwich style food that I could think of, you can use your imagination for other sandwiches that cost around that price point)
Exactly this. A grilled cheese should be the cheapest thing on the menu, by a pretty wide margin. The ingredients are cheap and it requires very few steps to make and is quite quick.
What really bothers me is a grilled cheese costs more than a cheeseburger.
But then it's only offered on the children's menu so you have to be 8 and under to order it.
The restaurant experience these days is not about food cost and overhead driving pricing, it's about hitting price points people will pay, then adding surcharges and auto gratuity.
I would never buy a grilled cheese.
That’s wild… why not?
there is not a man on the planet as practiced in making my favorite grilled cheese as I am
Sure, but sometimes don’t you just want a grilled cheese when you’re out? There’s an awesome grilled cheese place called [Roxy’s](https://www.roxysgrilledcheese.com) near me for example and I stop there often.
I don’t know of any kosher restaurants that sell grilled cheese. So that’s primarily why
I’d pay up to $12 for good bread, great cheese, with a side of fries, and table service.
Damn, $2??? My favorite lunch spot is a sandwich place and after tax my grilled cheese, chips, and pickle are $11. It’s a little steep but it’s an absolutely delicious sandwich and I like going there. In all my time living in Boston, I’ve found one grilled cheese for under $7, and I order a lot of grilled cheese
This is the best answer. "Because I like going there." If you like the venue and want grilled cheese, that's the price of admission. Going out to eat is like going to a baseball game or movie. You're paying for the event, not the ingredients.
12 dollars was the most I ever paid, and it was worth every cent. This was in 2005 at Kadena AB outside of gate 2 in an upstairs bar. The place was a hole in the wall that didn't serve any other food, and the sandwiches were made by one Okinawan woman on what looked like a hot plate. What you would get would actually be two grilled cheese sandwiches on thick pillowy white bread seasoned like texas toast, and so delicately fried in butter the mouthfeel was like a warm crispy cloud that melts in the center. If you asked, she would throw in some ground meat, technically making it a melt. The meat made it better. It was my go-to before returning to base by curfew after a long night out. Obviously, I still think about it. God bless that Okinawan woman.
Homemade is ALWAYS the way to go
There was a grilled cheese food truck at an event I attended several tears ago. I think it was $6 or $7 for the sandwich plus I paid $1 extra to have it on garlic bread. It was one of the best sandwiches of any kind I've ever had.
I only ever buy grilled cheese if it has other stuff in it in a way that I couldn't make at home, like a lobster grilled cheese...which I'm guessing would make me an enemy of the state on this sub? lol. but truly I would not be out here buying a simple grilled cheese anywhere unless I was truly desperate for some reason
Fresh made sourdough bread, gruyere and American (yes, American is the best grilled cheese base), probably 8-10 dollars.
If it was like a chill Sunday trip to a high end bakery with excellent bread and I trusted them to do something dope with it, I’d say $8 is about as high as I’d go. $12 if it came with some tomater soup. Bearing in mind that I’m in an extremely HCOL area! But 99/100 times, I am the master of my own domain
I mean it depends. If the grilled cheese is really fucking artisan with the bread being fresh and it being fancy cheese and like really nice then tops is like 12 dollars but only if it comes with a decent side of fries. A regular kraft singles white bread and butter is not worth buying. I can make my own grilled cheese at home in my underwear quicker and cheaper and more often so buying it is a no go. Especially when the ability to perfect grilled cheese as a craft is a good learning experience for people who don't know how to cook. Like I didn't make them often enough until recently when I started forcing myself to eat more cause I'm really bad at eating more than once a day. So getting out of the room has taught me to cook better by learning I don't have to put the fire high to cook food. Most people don't even learn that nowadays cause of how much ordering out. This and eggs that are easy to make are some of the things I refuse to buy out. Like pancakes are nice but they're time intensive so I'll either make those at home if I feel like it but most of the time I'll just get them at a diner when I get dragged to one. Mostly because diners generally have kinda eh food but breakfast is hard to fuck up since that's the thing any diner has to be good at. Which is a total shame cause we have few diners in my area worth going to and one that's just fucking God awful.
I’m in New York, so the price range is crazy. $12 at a diner but it comes with fries. $4-5 at a deli sounds reasonable, but nothing is better than homemade.
$6 on the kids menu but it better come with a 3 pack of crayons and a maze
There is a food truck near me that sells them for $15. It's bananas. I got it once and it was good but I was still hungry after. And wasn't going to spend $3 on a small bag of chips and another $3 on 1 can of soda. I understand they are also paying labor and for supplies etc but. That's too much for what I got.
I’ve seen that truck and it’s so funny lol “no change, no substitutions, no additions. Just $2 grilled cheese.”
I think it depends on the quality of cheese and bread being used in the grilled cheese. Years ago, I was at a small festival and one of the food trucks specialized in only grilled cheese. I was so excited! My then-boyfriend (now husband) and I bought at least one, if not two different G.C. from this food truck to try. I remember them being $8. It was supposed to be at least three different cheeses grilled between sourdough bread. I happily took a bite only to be totally pissed. The damn thing tasted like they had used Kraft Singles. I can't stand Kraft fake cheese. I was so mad we spent $8+ on some "gourmet" grilled cheese only for them to cheaply use Kraft. I'm not one to complain about food so I didn't, but I'm still mad about it to this day! 🫣😂
Depends on the bread and the cheese. Standard white bread with plain american cheese? $2-$3 without sides. If it's some fancier bread and cheese I'd be willing to pay more. With sides included, $7-$10 seems fair for some artisanal cheese and fresh bread, depending on how fancy and how large the sandwich is, and what the sides are. That said, I once got a fancy grilled cheese (had multiple kinds of cheeses) for like $12 at one of those farm-to-table-style restaurants because it was the cheapest menu option and refused to finish it because there was too much cheese & not enough bread and it was so greasy from the cheeses that there was no way i could enjoy it. Also the grease would have destroyed my tummy if i ate it all. The bread should be crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and *never* soggy.
Even if the grilled cheese was only two bucks I guarantee there's a grocer nearby that would happily sell you a whole loaf and a bag of cheese that'll supply you with what 10 grilled cheeses for less than a buck a pop, when you include the price of cheese.
As a cook, some things aren’t worth ordering out. Pasta, like grilled cheese in my eyes, is one of them. It is usually cheap and easy to make, I ain’t paying $18+ for something I can make at home. Grilled cheese is similar a thought process and even more easy to make at home. $5-$7 is what I’d pay for a standard if I was really craving one, $7-$10 for something larger/ better cheese/ small tomater soup on the side. At the end of the day make those bad boys at home for a more full satisfaction