3 restaurants in Portland list mac and cheese on their menus. The cheapest is Mama Mia at $8.00, listed as Mac & Cheese. The typical price across town is $16.00, and the dearest we found is $20.00 at The Social Spoon, so the two ends of the list are $12.00 apart, which is 150% 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 mac and cheese in 4 other areas and compare them all on mac and cheese across United States. The typical price there runs $9.00 at the median, so Portland is dearer than most of them, with a lower typical price than 0 of the 4. The lowest best price anywhere we cover is $5.00 at Vegelicious in Nashville, TN, and the highest best price is $12.00 in Minneapolis, MN. The nearest area with it is Minneapolis, about 1422 mi away, where the best price is $12.00.
Where is the cheapest mac and cheese in Portland? Mama Mia, at $8.00 on 439 Southwest 2nd Avenue. The same dish reaches $20.00 elsewhere in town, so where you order it changes the bill by $12.00.
What should mac and cheese cost here? About $16.00 is the typical price across the 3 kitchens in Portland 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 Minneapolis, about 1422 mi away, where the best price is $12.00. 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.
| Area | Best price | Typical | Places |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portland, OR this page |
$8.00 | $16.00 | 3 |
| Minneapolis, MN
The Loop · about 1422 mi away |
$12.00 | $14.95 | 3 |
| Indianapolis, IN
Somos Familia Mexican Restaurant · about 1879 mi away |
$7.99 | $9.00 | 3 |
| Nashville, TN
Vegelicious · about 1965 mi away |
$5.00 | $7.00 | 4 |
| Cincinnati, OH
Rusty Bucket Restaurant and Tavern · about 1979 mi away |
$6.29 | $8.00 | 3 |
Items are grouped by dish, so names vary a little between restaurants. Each price is what that menu listed on the date shown beside it, not a daily special, so a restaurant may have changed it since. The typical price is the middle of every price we hold for this dish in Portland.