Cheap Eats Near Alameda High: Five Lunch Specials for $5 or Less

Forty minutes. That's how long the nearly 1,900 students at Alameda High School have to eat lunch. Where can a budget-conscious student fill up fast if he or she didn't bring a homemade lunch?

Sophomores Sammy and Rosie make a beeline for Hawaiian Drive-In and leave with miniplates of rice and chicken mochiko. "I don't know what it's called.  I just point to it.  It's the chicken-popcorn thingy," says Sammy. "For $3, it's a lot of food!"

Manager Mai Wong says the miniplate of chicken is the most popular choice of students. Hawaiian Drive-In staff brace for the lunch rush, stacking the counter with spam musubi ($3) and lunch boxes filled with rice, meat and mac salad ($5). 

"It gets pretty packed in here.  I don't know how many come in," says Wong.  "I lose count." 

Here's our list of five for under $5:

House of Bagels $1 Pizza bagel (yes, one dollar), $1.80 Bagel with cream cheese

Dragon Rouge $2 Spring roll, $3 Garlic noodles, $3 Fried rice, $3-4 Vietnamese sandwich (price depends on filling), $5 Sandwich and ice-cream float special

Hawaiian Drive-In $2 Cheeseburger, $3 Spam Musubi, $3 Mini-lunch box, $5 Lunch box with drink

Woori Market $4 California rolls, Kimbap or Chap chae

Scolari's $5 lunch combos with choice of a sandwich on fresh-baked bread or two slices of cheese pizza.  A drink — fresh-squeezed lemonade or house-brewed ice tea — is included.

(Encinal High lunch ideas here.)