For our first visit to this area, we're spending a few days on the Cape in Brewster, and daytripping to Nantucket and MV.

I've done a search on these places and have many great suggestions from previous posts, and have done a fair bit of other research as well. One area I am lacking info on is affordable places to eat, particularly on the Cape and Nantucket.

We will be dressed very casually as we will be cycling on Nantucket and MV; we will have a car on the Cape.

Can anyone suggest good places to pick up a lobster and eat it close by (i.e., beach or outside tables)? That and seafood is our preferred food choice. Or any other yummy cheap places?

Also looking for good breakfast places too. Hope you can share some of your good finds! =)

Nantucket doesn't really have any place that normal people would consider cheap. If you walk into a sitdown restaurant for lunch you will probably spend around $50.00, if your thinking dinner, think about getting it on the cape. There is the strip on broad street which is a take on fast food, pizza, and sandwiches, stuff like that, you can get some munchies there.

While we (islanders) enjoy the weather in the summer, we do not enjoy people coming in for the day trying to find a Red Lobster on Island.

My new favorite affordable restaurant on the Cape is the Brazilian Grill on the West end of Main Street in Hyannis. Not your typical Cape Cod kind of place, but it caters to a growing Brazilian population. All you can eat from a buffet of soup, salad, vegetables, rice, fish, meat and stews which have been different on each of the four times I've eaten there, plus barbecue that waiters circulate with on large skewers, all for around fifteen dollars. An endless selection of various cuts of beef, quail, pork, lamb, chicken, I'm getting hungry thinking about it.

For lobsters on the beach in Brewster, you can have your lobsters cooked at the fish store, then bring them to the beach. Most fish stores on the Cape will cook them for you. In Brewster, there is Breakwater Fish and Lobster on Underpass Road. Or Sveden's Fish Market on Route 28 in Dennisport, which also smokes its own fish and prepares yummy dips and spreads.

Stay in Kansas there are no Red Lobsters here.

Desiring cheap eats and lobster at the same time sounds like an oxymoron but Nikki gave you the best advice. Seek out a Seafood market in Brewster area that will cook it for you to pick up & eat it where you want.

Other good food at reasonable prices on the Cape can be had at Cobies on 6A in Brewster, any Box Lunch, and Cook's Seafood located around the Cape. For breakfast I like the Breakfast Room in Dennis on route 28.

I live in Yarmouth and I am always looking for a good cheap eat!
I like B2 Burrito Bistro in Hyannis across the street from the mall. Would not call it exactly cheap, but good food at reasonable prices.
When I go out for breakfast, I like Bagels and Beyond (THE CHEAPEST BEST BREAKFAST GOING- on rte.28 in Yarmouth) or Grumpy's in Dennis.
If you are taking the ferry to Nantucket from Hyannis, your best bet is to eat near the Harbor. Tugboats, Baxters, and Steamers are all near by. and just a note- seafood on the Cape is not cheap! If you eat seafood, be prepared to pay top dollar for anything that you would think twice of eating. I think the cheapest seafood restaurant on the Cape is probably Cooke's or Seafood Sams.
But again, I echo the sentiment of previous posters regarding your budget. Eating cheaply while eating lobster is having your cake and eating it too. Could happen, but probably won't.

Nikki, Gene, and Melissa: thanx a mint for sharing your finds!

I should have qualified what I said, in that I meant "relatively cheap", like paying 20 bucks for a lobster as opposed to $38. I used "cheap" because I have found that when posters ask for dining suggestions, most replies are to upscale, 'the best' type places. Most of the places we had read recommendations for were 'fancy' type places, which we did not want to go to being dressed very casually.

Next time I will try to be clearer in my posting. These suggestions are great...just what I was looking for! =)

Black-Eyed Susan's and Brotherhood of Thieves on Nantucket are each good, festive and relatively affordable. The former is best for breakfast or at mid-day. The later is best around evening and thereafter. Cost will vary between $30 and $60, including tip, depending what you eat or drink (at the Brotherhood, which is more of a bar).

Don't be scared by the cost of visiting the islands. While many--such as "xx" above--would prefer to keep the islands gentrified, lily-white and boring, there are deals out there that enable the rest of us to enjoy their beauty.

Klam, I just noticed you also asked about breakfast places. Not in Brewster, but nearby on Route 6A in East Dennis, my favorite is Grumpy's. Always a line, but you can usually get seated at the counter without too much of a wait.