Cheap Eats Near the Naperville Riverwalk
You walked the Riverwalk and now you're hungry — and everything downtown looks like $20 a plate. It isn't. Here are the verified budget picks within a short stroll of the water.
By Naperville Guide · Published October 5, 2026
Part of our permanent Naperville cheap eats guide, refreshed monthly with the newest verified deals.
Downtown Naperville has a reputation problem: people assume a stroll down the Riverwalk means dinner at steakhouse prices. But between the regular menus and this month's inaugural Taste of Naperville — a restaurant-week-style event running Friday, October 9 through Sunday, October 18 at 25 downtown restaurants with $5–$20 bites — cheap food near the Riverwalk is genuinely easy to find. Every item below is within walking distance of the Riverwalk, and every price was verified against a public menu or the event's official listings.
Taste of Naperville bites (Oct 9–18)
For ten days, 25 downtown restaurants are serving small "bites" at fixed price tiers — $5, $10, $15, and $20. The sub-$15 ones near the Riverwalk:
1. $5–$15 BBQ bites — Q-BBQ, from $5
Q-BBQ's Taste tiers are the best value of the event: a $5 jumbo stuffed rice crispy treat, a $10 Texas spicy link with a half-pound of fresh-cut fries, or a $15 pulled pork sandwich Q-style with a half-pound of mac-Q-roni. Any of the three is a real meal. The regular menu runs the same way — BBQ is one of the few downtown cuisines that scales down cheap.
2. $5 empanadas & fries — Temptinn Indian Fusion
Temptinn's $5 bite (two empanadas and fries) is the cheapest Taste entry near the Riverwalk, full stop. The $10 bite gets you chicken bao buns and fusion clay-oven tacos, and the $15 tier is their $14.99 express lunch. Three blocks from the water at 22 S Washington St.
3. $10 Sundae Boat — Cookie Dough Creations
Four flavors of in-house raw cookie dough with a scoop of ice cream in the middle, for ten bucks — a Naperville institution (open since 1994) doing dessert for the price of a fast-food combo. If you miss the event dates, a mini dough cup is $3.50 and a traditional milkshake is $6.00 on the regular menu.
4. $10 Dirt Cake Sundae — Ben & Jerry's
Two scoops of sweet cream and cookies ice cream with Oreos, gummy worms, hot fudge, and whipped cream — the $10 Taste bite at the Water Street scoop shop (120 Water St), right at the Riverwalk's edge.
5. $15 Thai sampler — Bangkok Village
The $15 Taste sampler plate — 2 chicken Thai egg rolls, 2 pork-and-shrimp Shumai, 2 crab Rangoons, and 2 spicy chicken pot stickers — is the most food at the $15 tier anywhere near the Riverwalk. A solid split-between-two appetizer dinner at 22 E Chicago Ave.
Year-round: cheap regular menus near the Riverwalk
The Taste bites end October 18. These don't:
6. Grilled cheese from $6.99 — Everdine's Grilled Cheese Co
A downtown grilled-cheese shop is exactly as dangerous as it sounds. The classic American on Texas toast is $6.99, a half sandwich with a side and a drink is $7.25, and the mac-&-cheese-on-Texas-toast melt is $9.25. They'll even put cheddar on a Turano glazed donut for $4.20 if you want to live a little.
7. Soup and sandwich for ~$7 — Potbelly Sandwich Shop
Potbelly's downtown spot on Washington St is one of the cheapest sit-down-ish lunches near the Riverwalk: a cup of mac & cheese, broccoli cheddar, or chili runs about $6.59, a grilled cheese about $8.69, and the smoked ham sandwich $8.89 (delivery-app prices — walk in and it's a little cheaper at the counter). The whole pickle for $1.69 is the correct accessory.
8. Edible cookie dough from $3.50 — Cookie Dough Creations (regular menu)
Worth a second mention: outside the Taste event, this is the cheapest dessert downtown. A mini cup of any of the eight edible dough flavors is $3.50, a cookie dough shake is $7.00, and the ice-cream-with-dough-topping combo starts at $4.50. Open until 10 PM (11 on weekends) — the post-Riverwalk-evening-stroll move.
How to work the Taste of Naperville like a local
- Stack bites, don't sit down. Two or three $5–$10 bites across different restaurants beats one entrée — that's the whole design of the event.
- Check the participant list first. All 25 restaurants and their bite tiers are on dinenaperville.com and the Downtown Naperville Alliance site; not every spot is open every day, and some bites sell out.
- Pair it with the other cheap-eats lists. This Riverwalk piece sits alongside our lunch under $10, cheap dinner under $15, and best happy hour deals guides.
- Know a cheap Riverwalk spot we missed? The tip form on our lunch guide feeds the crowdsourced deal queue — every tip gets checked against a real menu before it goes live.
FAQ
What is the Taste of Naperville?
The inaugural Taste of Naperville is a 10-day food event (October 9–18, 2026) where 25 downtown restaurants serve fixed-price "bites" at $5, $10, $15, and $20 tiers. It's run by Dine Naperville and the Downtown Naperville Alliance.
Where can I eat cheap near the Naperville Riverwalk?
Q-BBQ ($5–$15 Taste bites), Temptinn ($5 empanadas & fries), Cookie Dough Creations (from $3.50), Everdine's Grilled Cheese ($6.99), and Potbelly (~$7 soup/sandwich) are all within a short walk of the Riverwalk.
Are these prices verified?
All Taste of Naperville bites were read from the official event listings on downtownnaperville.com and dinenaperville.com on October 5, 2026; regular menu prices were read from public restaurant menus the same week. Event bites end October 18; prices change — confirm before heading out.
Sources & verification. Details verified October 5, 2026 against organizer and restaurant listings (7 sources read); hours and prices change — confirm before heading out.