Chicken Tikka Masala in Washington

11 restaurants in Washington list chicken tikka masala on their menus. The cheapest is Salt and Pepper Grill at $9.95. The typical price across town is $18.45, and the dearest we found is $24.00 at Daru, so the two ends of the list are $14.05 apart, which is 141% more for the same dish. Of the 11 kitchens listed, 3 charge more than a dollar under the typical price, 3 sit within a dollar of it and 5 charge more than a dollar over.

We track chicken tikka masala in 3 other areas and compare them all on chicken tikka masala across United States. The typical price there runs $18.95 at the median, so Washington is cheaper than most of them, with a lower typical price than 2 of the 3. The lowest best price anywhere we cover is $13.99 at Jays Food in Sheboygan, WI, and the highest best price is $19.95 in Columbia, MD. The nearest area with it is Columbia, about 22 mi away, where the best price is $19.95.

Where is the cheapest chicken tikka masala in Washington? Salt and Pepper Grill, at $9.95 on 2628 Georgia Avenue Northwest. The same dish reaches $24.00 elsewhere in town, so where you order it changes the bill by $14.05.

What should chicken tikka masala cost here? About $18.45 is the typical price across the 11 kitchens in Washington that list it. Of the ones listed above, 3 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 Columbia, about 22 mi away, where the best price is $19.95. That is $10.00 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.