Isn't the same thing true for the grocery stores? They are located in the same areas as restaurants and have to pay pretty much the same expensive rent, no? meanwhile, their expenses may be lower than the ones of a restaurant.
anyway, could you tell more info about what your neighborhood pub - for example, what neighborhood is it? what meal did you eat?
I can share my numbers - and sorry I did not tell in advance I went with my BF, so there were two of us eating cooked food.
So, I ate at Cafe Aroma in Manhatten and I paid about $17 for a plate with rice + fish + some salad.
the same day I went to a grocery store on Myrtle Ave in Brooklyn to buy supper for 2. I paid about $27 for tortellini, some chicken ham, a small watermelon, and some beer. It was enough for us for supper + some leftovers for breakfast (beer haha ;). The day after I found an even cheaper store where I bought supper for the other two days at once.
$17 for a cafe meal seemed too expensive for me, so the next days I tried to eat cheaper cafe lunches. So I ate sandwiches for ~ $10-12; however, they contained a much smaller amount of proteins so I felt hungry much faster after.