Everyone wants to score a first-rate deal on the road.  But deals can be difficult to come by in a tourist zone - especially one like Maui, where the cost of dining can be as breathtaking as the landscape. 

So we went to the people who know Maui best - its residents - and asked them for suggestions on how to eat well here on a budget. 

Their advice helped us develop this list of 10 great Maui meals for less than $20. 

Some of the restaurants take cash only, and some are hard to find; call first for hours and directions. 

Bon appetit, or as they say in the islands: E mea ai maik'i. 

CJ's Deli & Diner

Price: $7.95 to $9.95

Scoping it out: Only $10 to spend?  Stop at CJ's Deli & Diner for what may be the best hamburger on Maui.  For $9.95, our burger combo included a half-pound of Angus beef topped with caramelized Maui onions, cheese and bacon, a refillable soda and a heaping mound of seasoned fries.  The diner is cheerful and appealing and is just down the street from the uber-expensive resorts at Kaanapali. 

The menu includes more than burgers: Comfort meals include meat loaf ($8.50), pot roast ($9.95) and roast turkey ($8.95).  Order lunch to take on a picnic and CJ will lend you an ice chest. 

Aloha Mixed Plate

Price: $6.25 to $13.95

Scoping it out: Lahaina, once a whaling town, is now a tourist hub with restaurants crowding Front Street, the main drag.  Many are chains with high prices, so try something different: Aloha Mixed Plate. 

This funky oceanside restaurant features plate lunches and foods of many cultures.  Typical dishes are teriyaki beef, kalua pork, poi, rice, macaroni salad and lomi lomi salmon, but finicky eaters can skip the local food and get a burger or salad. 

You dine outdoors on paper plates, but the view is worth a million dollars, especially at sunset: tiki torches, lush vegetation, crashing surf and a flotilla of sailboats riding at anchor.  Come around 8 p.m. and you'll hear the music and dancing from the Old Lahaina Luau next door. 

Sunrise Cafe

Price: $5.95 to $9.95

Scoping it out: Sunrise Cafe is a day brightener.  Tucked away on a side street in busy Lahaina, the diner offers breakfast specials for $5.95 each.  At a resort hotel, you'd pay as much as $28 a person. 

This tiny, family-run restaurant has only 13 tables but is charming, with two shady patios for dining.  Breakfast is served until 3 p.m., when the cafe closes.  After 11:30 a.m., appetizers, soups and sandwiches are available. 

Scoping it out: It's easy to get hooked on the food at Fish Market Maui.  If you want a great fish dinner without paying a fortune, this tiny shop in a West Maui strip mall makes it easy. 

Owners Jim and Tricia Patch buy from local fisherman and resell to the public.  Plan a condo picnic or beachside barbecue and pick up ready-to-grill opakapaka (Hawaiian pink snapper), mahi mahi, ono, wild salmon and striped marlin.  Or phone ahead and ask them to cook it for you. 

The market also has a to-go counter with sandwiches, fish tacos and pizzas, including crab and avocado.  And there's a deli counter with lobster salad, poke (raw ahi salad) and smoked fish. 

We loved: Eating fish that just came off the boat. 

We didn't love: The location, north of Kaanapali, which is too far for visitors staying in Kihei or Wailea. 

Honolua Store Deli

Price: All less than $7

Scoping it out: Kapalua is a pretty tony address.  This resort community at the far end of West Maui is home to the swanky Ritz-Carlton Kapalua hotel and other pricey digs. 

But it's also home to the quaint Honolua Store, a fixture since 1929, when the area was part of a pineapple plantation.  The store, which sells T-shirts and tourist necessities, has a new addition.  In December, a deli was added; its takeout menu has quickly become so popular that locals and tourists line up outside before the 6 a.m. daily opening. 

Chef Romeo Arruiza, formerly of the Westin Kaanapali, offers a changing menu of lunch plates, pizzas and sandwiches.  You can walk out the door, with a beverage, for less than $10.  Stop by for a picnic lunch if you go snorkeling at Kapalua Beach or drive the West Maui coast road.  Or dine outside on the patio. 

We loved: The fast, fresh, inexpensive local food. 

We didn't love: Getting lost on Kapalua's dead-end roads. 

Honolua Store Deli, 502 Office Road, Lahaina; (808) 665-9109. 

Maui Culinary Academy

Price: $5 to $8.50

Scoping it out: Where on Maui do you find the best food for the lowest prices?  The winner, hands down, is Maui Culinary Academy, which operates seven specialty kitchens and a high-end restaurant at Maui Community College. 

The restaurants are part of the school's food service program and offer a terrific place to eat breakfast or lunch if you're lucky enough to visit during the school season.  Sushi, seafood, pasta, salads - all beautifully prepared and presented - are available in the Paina Food Court daily. ( It's near the airport and open 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.)

"A lot of people think we aren't open to the public," says longtime chef-instructor Bobby Santos. " We embrace the public.  The busier we are, the more the students are going to learn." 

Da Kitchen Cafe

Price: $6.75 to $13.95

Scoping it out: Ask a Maui resident about his or her favorite budget restaurant and the name that keeps popping up is Da Kitchen, which has two strip-mall locations.  The main cafe is in Central Maui near the airport; an express version is in Kihei. 

Da Kitchen is known for its plate lunches.  It's also known for huge portions.  The teriyaki chicken plate has about 1 1/2 pounds of chicken; the kalua pork has about a pound of meat. 

"And at least 75 percent of our customers have no problem eating it all," says Mariah Brown, who owns the cafes with Les Tomita. 

"He's a big guy who likes to eat," says Mariah of her business partner, "and he thinks we should serve big food."  That's why their motto is "Home of da world's biggest plate lunch." 

We loved: The tempura mahi mahi. 

We didn't love: The 30- to 40-minute wait for lunch or dinner at the Central Maui location. 

Down to Earth

Price: $7.75 to $8.25

Scoping it out: Tofu and organic food fans, this is your place.  Down to Earth, a Honolulu company, has two outposts in Maui; the main store is in Kahului near the airport, and a satellite store is in Makawao.  If you forgot to pack your ginseng, you can pick up some in the wellness center, which is packed with vitamins and elixirs.  Or score lunch or dinner at the salad and food bars or the deli counter.  Try the Greek salad or the blackened tofu, both $7.59 a pound. 

Cafe O'Lei

Price: Lunch $6.95 to $12.95; dinner $14.95 to $38.95

Scoping it out: Many of our under-$20 restaurants are modest.  Diners order at a walk-up counter and the food comes in containers.  That doesn't mean the fare isn't tasty, just that the surroundings and amenities are simple. 

Cafe O'Lei Steak and Seafood is a pleasant exception, with cloth napkins, white tablecloths, fresh flower arrangements and candles on the table.  It has martini and sushi bars to add to the setting.  The food is more expensive, but more than half the dinner entrees make our under-$20 cut, and the artfully prepared dishes and enjoyable ambience make it worth the price.  A fellow diner called it "a terrific value."  We agree. 

Scoping it out: Chickens graze in the breezeway at Alexander's Famous Fish Co., a rustic highway stand on the main drag in Kihei.  Nearby, patrons at resin tables wolf down fish and chips.  A mural of a hula dancer decorates the walls. 

Alexander's doesn't offer ambience, but the fish is fresh and perfectly cooked.  The takeout stand specializes in local ahi, ono and mahi.  Order it fried or grilled.  There are also fish tacos, sandwiches, salads, shrimp, fried chicken and ribs. 

Many people order the food to go, but some eat it there.  Just don't be surprised if a chicken hops by looking for a handout.