Calamari in Boston

15 restaurants in Boston list calamari on their menus. The cheapest is Sakabayashi Sushi Tavern by SUSHIRO at $8.00. The typical price across town is $17.00, and the dearest we found is $22.00 at Mooo...., so the two ends of the list are $14.00 apart, which is 175% more for the same dish. Of the 15 kitchens listed, 7 charge more than a dollar under the typical price, 2 sit within a dollar of it and 6 charge more than a dollar over.

We track calamari in 493 other areas and compare them all on calamari across United States. The typical price there runs $15.42 at the median, so Boston is dearer than most of them, with a lower typical price than 98 of the 493. The lowest best price anywhere we cover is $4.50 at French Quarter Grille in Austin, TX, and the highest best price is $19.75 in Harwood Heights, IL. The nearest area with it is Jamaica Plain, about 4 mi away, where the best price is $12.00.

Where is the cheapest calamari in Boston? Sakabayashi Sushi Tavern by SUSHIRO, at $8.00 on 665 Boylston Street. The same dish reaches $22.00 elsewhere in town, so where you order it changes the bill by $14.00.

What should calamari cost here? About $17.00 is the typical price across the 15 kitchens in Boston that list it. Of the ones listed above, 7 are more than a dollar below that and 6 are more than a dollar above, so the typical price is a middle rather than a floor.

Is it cheaper nearby? The nearest area we track it in is Jamaica Plain, about 4 mi away, where the best price is $12.00. That is $4.00 more than the best price here.

Why do the prices differ so much? We compare what each menu calls the same dish, and menus are not identical: portion, cut, sides and the kind of room you are sitting in all ride on the price, and none of that shows up in a number. Part portions and half sizes are kept out of this comparison, and a chain charging the same at several addresses is counted once, so the spread above is between genuinely different kitchens rather than the same one repeated.