Brisbane City bars with cheap eats

What’s better than a great bar? A great bar with cheap food. Drinking responsibly involves eating and, let’s face it, you’ve got to eat anyway so why not combine both? From American-style sports bars to underground bunker bars, these inner-city watering holes have the best combos of atmosphere and affordable eats that will keep you coming back for more.

Brew Cafe and Wine Bar

Brew Alleyway
Little Burnett Lane’s hidden bar is a hit with city locals all week round. The bar menu has you covered with its bagels and burger range, plus there are heaps of bar snacks to share (like buffalo wings, spiced popcorn cauliflower or chicken nuggets) from $11 each. Happy hour from 5pm is the time to go.

Riverland

The new kid on Eagle Street Pier (and super close to Student One – yay for us) is Riverland, an epic setup over the Brisbane River with a stellar view of the Story Bridge. There’s plenty of room for friends here and the food-truck-slash-street-market is perfect for evening eats. Choose your poison between five individual kitchens producing the best authentic street food from around the globe.

Super Whatnot


Head down Burnett Lane to find the multi-storey Super Whatnot. This place is always packed and has an American-inspired menu that’s designed for sharing and grazing, featuring gourmet toasties, a super deluxe grazing board and shoestring fries.

River Bar

Riverbar
Bar with a view? Yes please. Riverbar is a popular Eagle Street Pier venue that fills with a city crowd on weekday afternoons. Fridays are by far the busiest but go in the afternoon for drinks in the sun with the breeze. Snacks like crispy potato wedges, crumbed chicken tenders and salt and pepper calamari are all under $20.

Brooklyn Standard

With a place like Brooklyn in its name, you’d expect Brooklyn eats and that’s exactly what they’ve got. With $12 cheeseburgers, $5 yankee hot dogs, $8 buffalo wings and $10 mozzarella sticks, what more could you want?

Fat Angel Sports Bar

This Eagle Lane American sports bar is also serving up the goods alongside round-the-clock sports. Start with mozzarella sticks and cheeseburger spring rolls for $10 each and then move on to loaded fries and finish off with Philly cheese steaks. We are drooling already and forget sports, we would honestly go just for the food.

Red Hook


This American-inspired laneway bar behind The Gresham on Queen Street is known for its big, juicy, delicious burgers. And, they’re cheap, starting at $13. Go during happy hour (from 4pm daily), and make sure you add loaded fries, or waffle fries, or mac ‘n’ cheese balls, or all three.

Hellcat Maggie

Every student needs student-friendly drinks and affordable eats nearby, day and night. This atmospheric restaurant and bar dishes up breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus coffee and alcoholic beverages. Tuck in to burgers, salads, wings and fries, or home-style favourites like lasagna, meatballs and spag bol. The best part? Most eats are under $15. It also has its own beer on tap designed just for students (ie. it’s cheap). This is the perfect spot to hang out with friends, in style

Felons Brewing Co

Howard Smith Wharves is one of the most happening spots in Brisbane and one of its arguably most popular hotspots is Felons. It is the perfect place for an afternoon session featuring drinks and eats as the sun goes down. Open seven days a week, Friday night is by far the most popular with the after work crowd so we recommend heading in early to snag a table. When it comes to ordering, you’ll want to pair one of its craft beers with one of its epic pizzas and you can never go wrong with a side of fries.

Lucha Kitchen & Bar

Lucha Kitchen & Bar is just a hop, skip and a jump from the Student One Elizabeth Street residence saving you the walk or the Uber fare home. Open until midnight, their tea-infused cocktails are a must-try and with a range of signature dishes all as good as the next, you’ll want to try them all. Not sure where to start? Look for the thumbs up icon next to the menu listing for their recommended dishes.

Jade Buddha

Jade Buddha and its riverfront location will have you settling in for the afternoon and well into the night. Most of its menu sits at around $20 or under, but if you’re really on a tight budget, make sure to check out their lunch specials. Available from noon-2pm on weekdays you’ll get a full meal for $10. You can also get all-you-can-eat dumplings, which will cost a mere $12. This deal is available every Tuesday noon-2pm and 6-8pm, you’re welcome.