Dublin
The student deal at Wok In on St Stephen Street Lower offers a complimentary drink with any noodle or rice dish (from €10.95) or go for the larger meal deal (€13.95), which includes all the above plus a spring roll or chicken satay.
At Wowburger, €11.95 buys a burger or chicken bites, plus fries and a soft drink. Student ID required.
The student lunch deal at Bison Bar is €12.95 for any burger with fries or sweet potato fries and a soft drink or a pint of Heineken, Heineken 0.0 or Island’s Edge. Available Monday – Friday from 12pm – 5pm.
Although not specifically a student deal, a lunch bowl from Mongolian Barbeque is just €12.90 while an all-you-can-eat lunch is just €18.90 from 12pm – 4.30pm daily. (Dinner is pretty reasonable too, costing from just €21.50)
A main course followed by an ice cream cone is an astonishing €7 at Neon with a valid student card. The student deal is only available in the Camden Street Lower branch from Monday – Friday 2pm – 5pm.
A €10 spend at Disndat on Dame Court gets a pint of Guinness, a toastie and a packet of crisps. The toastie deal is available Monday to Friday until 5pm and there are also €5 pints every Monday to Wednesday, plus €7.50 spirit and a dash and €10 cocktails.
The Meal Deal at the incredibly popular Bambino on St Stephen St Lower includes two slices of pizza and a drink for €13, or add on €2 to upgrade to a wine or beer, and in the basement of NCAD, The Goodies serves an excellent value lunch with soup from €4, generous sandwiches from €7 and sausage rolls from €4.
A budget basic, the lunch meal deal from Dunnes Stores includes a sandwich, a packet of crisps and a drink for €4.50 while Yum Thai offer meals from just €5.
All Yeeros branches (Drumcondra, Glasnevin and Dame Street) offer a lunch deal of a gyros pita wrap with a soft drink for €9.85, plus, there are lots of other options. Meanwhile, enjoy two pizzas with two cocktails for only €30 all week long at The Jar on Wexford Street.
On South Leinster Street, a hop, skip and jump from Trinity College, students can enjoy a regular burrito for just €8.50 (usually €9.50) with up to 9 fillings. Mamas Revenge also offers a loaded bowl of chilli con carne with rice and beans topped with cheese and jalapeños for just €7.50.
For a burger fix, a regular burger or cheeseburger with shoestring fries and a soft drink at Bunsen costs €13, Monday to Thursday from 2pm – 5pm with a valid student card.
The Express Lunch Menu at Boeuf & Coq is priced at just €14.95 from 11.30am to 4pm, seven days a week. This includes complimentary still and sparkling triple-filtered water and a choice of dishes including chargrilled Piri Piri chicken with frites or Bantry Bay moules frites with white wine and tarragon cream and rustic baguette. At the sister restaurant, the express lunch menu at Boeuf runs seven days a week from 12pm to 4pm. Mains are priced from €11.95 and include a steak and chips for €13.95.
Students get 10 per cent off with a student card at KC Peaches and a coffee and a pastry costs just €5.50 until 11am, Monday to Friday. There is also 50 per cent off hot food in the last hour of service so check opening times.
Cork
For a Nashville/Korean chicken hybrid, choose anything from the main menu at Poulet Vous for about €9 or €10 and add fries and a drink for another €4.50. That means Korean fried chicken, shredduce, house pickles, kimchi mayo and gochujang in a toasted bun with fries and a drink for €14.50.
A pie of your choice with mash, slaw and pickles would make a fine feast indeed at €14. The Pie Guys also offer a freezer pie pack for €17.
With all (hefty) slices €5 or less, and a tray of slices that feeds 10 for around €36 (€3.60 per slice), a slice of either Roman or New York-style pizza at Frankie’s will keep you going until you crack open the Koka noodles that night.
The ever-popular Wabisabi on Cork’s Oliver Plunket Street is known for the excellent value it offers and a lunchtime bento box to take away costs €14.90 and is very generous in size with rice, miso soup and mixed salad all included. At the highly-rated Amigos in Cork, students can enjoy a burrito for €9 with a complimentary drink (in-store only). A fusion Mexican and Turkish menu, a house-made gyro will set you back €8.
Galway
A burger meal with all the trimmings will set you back €7.50 at Giovanni’s Kebab House on Galway’s Dominick Street but there is lots of other value too with plenty of weekly specials available. A falafel salad is €8.95.
At Pizza and Pasta Napoli, a slice of pretty good pizza is less than €5, while a mammoth sandwich from Plámás will certainly fuel the brain cells for the afternoon, without the inevitable afternoon crash from a lunchtime spice bag.
Speaking of spice bags, the most famous in the land has to be from Xi’an Street Food, where it will cost €8.95 while the student deal at Smashbird gets you an excellent “hatch burger” with fries for an unbeatable €10 from Monday to Thursday.
If things get tight, check out The Student Pantry in the University of Galway, a great project that avails of Foodcloud to distribute surplus food from supermarkets to university students.
Limerick
The Grove Veggie Kitchen offer nutritious soups, sandwiches and meals, most for around €10, and with soup added for around €4.50. Meanwhile Locke Burger do a great midweek deal of any burger with rosemary sea salt fries for €10. Breakfast at Canteen costs from €4.60 while The Student Corner offers meals from €6.
Belfast
The Parlour Bar is a top choice for students in Belfast with full pizzas from £10 and student specials all week long, while the renowned Maggie Mays does a legendary breakfast starting at £6.50 and in the evenings you can BYOB for £2.50 for wine or six beers. There is also an extensive vegetarian and vegan menu available. In the newer Maggie Mays Belfast Chippy, you can enjoy a ‘roast on chips’ for £7.50 (think gravy chips with chicken, ham and stuffing), or a lunchtime snack box for £7.
