Luigi’s is known for its pizza and wings, but it is also doing some pretty amazing things with dinners, soups, salads and other choices. Many dinners are a few bucks beyond cheap eats prices, but John, Pat, John and I found plentiful pickings within our budget. We got an excellent meal with exceptional ingredients at a reasonable price.

We started with a bowl of Nicholena’s Chicken Soup ($3.45) and a small chef salad ($2.70). The flavorful broth was packed with roasted chicken, celery, carrots, ditalini and romaine, an interesting addition. The salad, of field greens topped with garbanzo beans and tomatoes, was cold, crisp and excellent.

We also tried the “wing dings” — a dozen for $8.74. These are smallish but very meaty chicken wings, battered and deep-fried. They tasted totally different from normal wings, more like Grandma’s homemade fried chicken.

The kitchen threw in a plate of ambrosial breadsticks, slightly crispy on the edges, soft and steaming inside, drenched in a buttery topping that may have had a bit of olive oil mixed in. They were amazing.

A plate of ziti with two meatballs ($8.97) was topped with a delicious, rich, balanced sauce, neither too acidic nor too sweet. It was an enormous serving of ziti that made another meal and a half at home.

A personal-size Nana’s Pizza ($5.47) was a plate-sized marvel, a medium-thick, chewy crust topped with a modest slather of excellent sauce, sliced onion and charred-edge pepperoni slices. A half chicken-finger sub ($5.06) was a generous chicken slab on a fresh, toasted roll. Like all the other choices, it was exceptional.

Luigi’s is open from 3 to 9 p. m. Monday, 11 a. m. to 10 p. m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a. m. to 11 p. m. Friday and Saturday and noon to 9 p. m. Sunday. It is handicapped-accessible.