When I worked downtown a number of years back a lunch special in Chinatown was about $6 and a nice break in the middle of the day. Not sure there was even a microwave in the office. Another company did have a lunch room but there were a number of good soup and/or sandwich places within a few minutes walk. Meals in any case were pretty similar to what I’d make at home and maybe a few dollars more expensive.
Boston. Chinatown was maybe a 10 minute walk away. Other "downtown" location I worked was Nashua which was maybe 45 minutes north. No Chinatown but a bunch of small soup/sandwich places. Other (bigger) places I worked were suburban/exurban and there were very limited convenient options other than within the company.
Boston is tops for walkability. I think people don't appreciate this if they're not familiar with Boston but you can walk from one side to the other of downtown Boston in 30 mins and pass a half dozen T stations on the way.
