Calamari in San Diego

20 restaurants in San Diego list calamari on their menus. The cheapest is Blue Water Seafood Market and Grill at $7.25. The typical price across town is $15.50, and the dearest we found is $21.00 at Siamo Napoli, so the two ends of the list are $13.75 apart, which is 190% more for the same dish. Of the 20 kitchens listed, 8 charge more than a dollar under the typical price, 5 sit within a dollar of it and 7 charge more than a dollar over.

We track calamari in 493 other areas and compare them all on calamari across United States. The typical price there runs $15.42 at the median, so San Diego is dearer than most of them, with a lower typical price than 233 of the 493. 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 Chula Vista, about 16 mi away, where the best price is $11.00.

Where is the cheapest calamari in San Diego? Blue Water Seafood Market and Grill, at $7.25 on 3667 India Street. The same dish reaches $21.00 elsewhere in town, so where you order it changes the bill by $13.75.

What should calamari cost here? About $15.50 is the typical price across the 20 kitchens in San Diego that list it. Of the ones listed above, 8 are more than a dollar below that and 7 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 Chula Vista, about 16 mi away, where the best price is $11.00. That is $3.75 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.