Chicken Tikka Masala in Columbia

3 restaurants in Columbia list chicken tikka masala on their menus. The cheapest is House of India at $19.95. The typical price across town is $20.99, and the dearest we found is $29.00 at Royal Taj, so the two ends of the list are $9.05 apart, which is 45% more for the same dish. Of the 3 kitchens listed, 1 charges more than a dollar under the typical price, 1 sits within a dollar of it and 1 charges more than a dollar over.

We track chicken tikka masala in 3 other areas and compare them all on chicken tikka masala across United States. The typical price there runs $18.45 at the median, so Columbia is dearer than most of them, with a lower typical price than 0 of the 3. The lowest best price anywhere we cover is $9.95 at Salt and Pepper Grill in Washington, DC, and the highest best price is $15.99 in Malden, MA. The nearest area with it is Washington, about 22 mi away, where the best price is $9.95.

Where is the cheapest chicken tikka masala in Columbia? House of India, at $19.95 on 9350 Snowden River Parkway. The same dish reaches $29.00 elsewhere in town, so where you order it changes the bill by $9.05.

What should chicken tikka masala cost here? About $20.99 is the typical price across the 3 kitchens in Columbia that list it. Of the ones listed above, 1 is more than a dollar below that and 1 is 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 Washington, about 22 mi away, where the best price is $9.95. That is $10.00 less than the best here, though whether that is worth the journey is your call.

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.