Mozzarella Sticks in Columbia

8 restaurants in Columbia list mozzarella sticks on their menus. The cheapest is Pizza Boli's at $5.99. The typical price across town is $8.01, and the dearest we found is $10.99 at Eataliano Market & Deli, so the two ends of the list are $5.00 apart, which is 83% more for the same dish. Of the 8 kitchens listed, 2 charge more than a dollar under the typical price, 4 sit within a dollar of it and 2 charge more than a dollar over.

We track mozzarella sticks in 700 other areas and compare them all on mozzarella sticks across United States. The typical price there runs $9.95 at the median, so Columbia is cheaper than most of them, with a lower typical price than 618 of the 700. The lowest best price anywhere we cover is $4.00 at Master's Pizza in New York, NY, and the highest best price is $11.28 in Lake Grove, NY. The nearest area with it is Elkridge, about 5 mi away, where the best price is $5.99.

Where is the cheapest mozzarella sticks in Columbia? Pizza Boli's, at $5.99 on 7060 Oakland Mills Rd. The same dish reaches $10.99 elsewhere in town, so where you order it changes the bill by $5.00.

What should mozzarella sticks cost here? About $8.01 is the typical price across the 8 kitchens in Columbia 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 Elkridge, about 5 mi away, where the best price is $5.99. That is the same as 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.