Shrimp Scampi in Caldwell

5 restaurants in Caldwell list shrimp scampi on their menus. The cheapest is Fresco Market & Catering at $12.99. The typical price across town is $26.95, and the dearest we found is $28.95 at La Famiglia Ristorante & Pizzeria Caldwell, so the two ends of the list are $15.96 apart, which is 123% more for the same dish. Of the 5 kitchens listed, 2 charge more than a dollar under the typical price, 1 sits within a dollar of it and 2 charge more than a dollar over.

We track shrimp scampi in 272 other areas and compare them all on shrimp scampi across United States. The typical price there runs $23.00 at the median, so Caldwell is dearer than most of them, with a lower typical price than 42 of the 272. The lowest best price anywhere we cover is $8.99 at Via Italian Table in Worcester, MA, and the highest best price is $32.00 in Red Bank, NJ. The nearest area with it is Fairfield, about 3 mi away, where the best price is $21.50.

Where is the cheapest shrimp scampi in Caldwell? Fresco Market & Catering, at $12.99 on 115 Bloomfield Ave. The same dish reaches $28.95 elsewhere in town, so where you order it changes the bill by $15.96.

What should shrimp scampi cost here? About $26.95 is the typical price across the 5 kitchens in Caldwell that list it. Of the ones listed above, 2 are more than a dollar below that and 2 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 Fairfield, about 3 mi away, where the best price is $21.50. That is $8.51 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.