Mozzarella Sticks in Pittsburgh

21 restaurants in Pittsburgh list mozzarella sticks on their menus. The cheapest is AJ'S Pizza at $5.99. The typical price across town is $8.80, and the dearest we found is $11.99 at Pizza Parma Downtown, so the two ends of the list are $6.00 apart, which is 100% more for the same dish. Of the 21 kitchens listed, 7 charge more than a dollar under the typical price, 8 sit within a dollar of it and 6 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 Pittsburgh is cheaper than most of them, with a lower typical price than 547 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 Akron, about 90 mi away, where the best price is $6.29.

Where is the cheapest mozzarella sticks in Pittsburgh? AJ'S Pizza, at $5.99 on 3565 Harts Run Rd. The same dish reaches $11.99 elsewhere in town, so where you order it changes the bill by $6.00.

What should mozzarella sticks cost here? About $8.80 is the typical price across the 21 kitchens in Pittsburgh 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 Akron, about 90 mi away, where the best price is $6.29. That is $0.30 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.