Calamari in Los Angeles

12 restaurants in Los Angeles list calamari on their menus. The cheapest is Victorio's Ristorante at $11.95, listed as Fried Calamari. The typical price across town is $16.95, and the dearest we found is $26.50 at Delphi Greek Restaurant & Bar, so the two ends of the list are $14.55 apart, which is 122% more for the same dish. Of the 12 kitchens listed, 6 charge more than a dollar under the typical price, 1 sits within a dollar of it and 5 charge more than a dollar over.

We track calamari in 495 other areas and compare them all on calamari across United States. The typical price there runs $15.37 at the median, so Los Angeles is dearer than most of them, with a lower typical price than 124 of the 495. 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 Santa Monica, about 8 mi away, where the best price is $15.95.

Where is the cheapest calamari in Los Angeles? Victorio's Ristorante, at $11.95 on 10901 Victory Blvd. The same dish reaches $26.50 elsewhere in town, so where you order it changes the bill by $14.55.

What should calamari cost here? About $16.95 is the typical price across the 12 kitchens in Los Angeles that list it. Of the ones listed above, 6 are more than a dollar below that and 5 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 Santa Monica, about 8 mi away, where the best price is $15.95. 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.