Tired of high prices? Here’s an $8 burger basket near TCU in Fort Worth. Or a pizza deal
If you’re looking for good deals, South University Drive is the place.
On Monday, it’s where you can find a real, local, fresh double cheeseburger basket for $8 — cheaper than McD’s.
Four blocks away, supreme pizzas sell for $12.50 Mondays. Kids eat for half-price Mondays and free Tuesdays.
And the rest of the week brings Buffalo wing deals, $4.50-$5.50 hot dogs and burgers, and all-you-can-eat catfish.
Don’t let TCU students snarf up all these deals.
Most of these are at Buffalo Bros and Dutch’s Hamburgers, both legendary stops on the TCU college “strip” in the 3000 block of South University Drive.
But don’t miss the double cheeseburger basket with fries or another side for $8.
That’s all day every Monday at the Purple Frog Restaurant & Cantina, a well-worn bar and seafood grill with a welcoming patio at 3468 Bluebonnet Circle.
The Purple Frog has been around for 22 years under several owners and names.
It always seems to be in an existential crisis over whether to be a neighborhood restaurant or a college bar. Sometimes, the food has suffered.
But the Frog has stuck with its impressively huge menu and bargain daily specials. And it’s often busy at weekend brunch.
On weeknights or at lunch, most of the patrons are dining. If it’s decent weather, more than half will be outdoors on the large patio, positioned perfectly away from the setting sun.
In short, the Purple Frog seems like the kind of place where a double cheeseburger basket would cost more than $8.
But that’s the price Mondays for a fully dressed burger with about a half-pound of beef, a choice of cheese and any of 18 different side dishes, from fries or waffle fries to veggies, okra, a Caesar or even a baked potato.
Add a $2 scoop of ice cream and it’s a $10 lunch or dinner that makes any Monday brighter.
The Purple Frog’s Tuesday deal is even better for families: kids eat free. That’s also when the Frog sells an all-you-can-eat catfish dinner for $17.99.
Dutch’s, Buffalo Bros dinner deals
Four blocks north, Buffalo Bros and Dutch’s are well-known for their nightly specials.
Dutch’s has a deal Mondays — half price kids’ meals for age 12 and under, or about $3.50-$4.
Dutch’s contest-winning burgers are half-price Tuesdays, about $5.50 and up, and the hot dogs are half-price Wednesdays, about $4.50 and up. (Fries are extra.)
Buffalo Bros offers half off pizzas Mondays, knocking its signature Buffalo chicken-blue-cheese pizza down to about $11.50. There’s even a true Buffalo “beef on weck” pizza with roast beef and au jus on a kummelweck-style crust.
Buffalo Bros’ other specials include a rigatoni platter Tuesdays, 10 wings for $8 Wednesdays, green chicken enchiladas Thursdays and haddock-and-chips Fridays.
I went to University Drive to get a Buffalo Bros chicken pizza. But I got sidetracked.
Maybe another Monday night.
This story was originally published March 11, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
