PlateDiary.
Menu
Get PlateDiary
  1. PlateDiary
  2. Calories
  3. American & British food

Calories · American & British food

Diner, pub and steakhouse calories, sides included.

Burgers, wings, steak, a club sandwich, fish and chips: the classics of diners, pubs and steakhouses. The main is often less than half the story — the fries, the batter and the dressing write the rest.

Get PlateDiary Read on

Free on iPhone and Android. No account, and it works with no signal.

In short

A sit-down cheeseburger is about 630 calories before fries, a side of fries about 490, six sauced wings about 570, a 10 oz ribeye about 570 on its own, and a chip-shop fish and chips about 1,000. A Caesar salad is about 400 but can reach 800 with heavy dressing.

Checked

How a meal is built

A main and a side, every time.

Most plates here are a main plus a side: burger and fries, steak and mash, fish and chips, a sandwich and crisps. Add a starter for the table, a refillable soda or a pint, and maybe a dessert.

That structure is good news for counting. Swap one side and the plate changes more than any other single choice.

The menu

American & British dishes, one rough number each

American & British · typical restaurant servingEvery cuisine →

  • Hot dog~300one beef hot dog in a white bun with mustard · usually 250–650
  • Mac and cheese~340one restaurant side, roughly a heaped cup · usually 250–1,000
  • Clam chowder~350one bowl of New England chowder, about 1½ cups · usually 200–900
  • Sausage roll~350one bakery sausage roll in flaky pastry · usually 250–550
  • Caesar salad~400one starter salad with about 45 g of dressing · usually 250–800
  • Grilled cheese sandwich~400one grilled cheese on white bread · usually 300–750
  • BLT~420one café or diner BLT, no sides · usually 300–650
  • Onion rings~420one side order of 8 to 10 rings · usually 300–1,000
  • Grilled salmon~440one restaurant fillet, no sides · usually 300–650
  • French fries~490one restaurant side of fries · usually 250–700
  • Shepherd's pie~490one pub portion · usually 350–750
  • BBQ ribs~530a half rack of sauced pork ribs, about 6 ribs · usually 450–1,400
  • French toast~530two thick slices, before syrup and butter · usually 400–1,100
  • Crispy chicken sandwich~560one fried chicken fillet sandwich with mayo and pickles, no fries · usually 390–900
  • Chicken wings~570six sauced restaurant wing pieces · usually 400–900
  • Ribeye steak~570one 10 oz ribeye by raw weight, no sides · usually 450–1,000
  • Belgian waffle~580one thick Belgian waffle, before toppings · usually 320–1,100
  • Boneless wings~590six sauced boneless wings · usually 400–1,100
  • Chicken tenders~610one order of 4 to 5 breaded tenders, before fries and dip · usually 290–1,100
  • Reuben sandwich~610one deli Reuben on grilled rye, no sides · usually 500–1,100
  • Cheeseburger~630one sit-down cheeseburger with a large patty, no fries · usually 300–1,100
  • Club sandwich~660one triple-decker club, no fries · usually 450–900
  • Pulled pork sandwich~660one large barbecue-joint sandwich, no sides · usually 440–1,000
  • Poke bowl~740one tuna poke bowl on sushi rice with avocado, cucumber and edamame · usually 520–1,000
  • Full English breakfast~800two sausages, two bacon rashers, a fried egg, beans, mushrooms, tomato and a slice of toast · usually 600–1,400
  • Mozzarella sticks~800one appetizer of 7 to 8 sticks, before marinara · usually 300–1,100
  • Philly cheesesteak~810one shop cheesesteak on a hoagie roll · usually 370–1,300
  • Fish and chips~1,000one chip-shop portion of battered cod and chips · usually 800–1,400

What drives it

Fries, batter, dressing and butter.

  • Fries and chips. A restaurant side of fries is about 490 calories — often close to the burger itself.
  • Batter. Fish and chips reaches about 1,000 because both halves are fried.
  • Dressing. A Caesar salad is about 400 with a normal pour and can reach 800.
  • Cheese and bacon. Extra patties, cheese slices and bacon stack up fast.
  • Butter on steak and in mash. Steakhouses finish with it.
  • Wing sauce and dips. Butter-based buffalo sauce and blue cheese dip.

Lighter orders

If you want a lighter meal.

  • Swap fries for a side salad or vegetables.
  • Grilled salmon, about 440 for a fillet, or a steak with vegetables instead of fries and mash.
  • Dressing and sauces on the side.
  • A BLT (about 420) rather than a triple-decker club (about 660).
  • Share the starters and the dessert.

How the dishes compare

A diner and pub menu, roughly.

Restaurant portions vary, so read these as rough. For a pub table, PlateDiary’s calorie counter reads the burger and the fries as separate saves from one photo — calories are off unless you turn them on.

Rough calories for typical American and British restaurant servings
OrderRough numberNotes
Caesar salad, starter~400Up to ~800 with dressing
BLT, no sides~420Café or diner size
Grilled salmon fillet, no sides~440About 170 g cooked
Fries, a side~490The biggest swap
Ribeye, 10 oz raw, no sides~570Butter adds more
Chicken wings, 6 sauced~570Plus any dip
Cheeseburger, no fries~630Big patties reach ~1,100
Club sandwich, no fries~660Triple-decker
Fish and chips~1,000Chip-shop portion

In PlateDiary

A rough number for the dishes you save — only if you want one.

Off unless you turn them on

Calories in PlateDiary are off unless you turn them on. Switch them on and, when PlateDiary AI reads your photo of the table, each dish gets one rough “~” number. Accept it or change it; a number you correct is remembered for that dish. With Calories off, the app looks exactly as it did before.

A read sends small pictures of the cut-out dishes, with the place's name as a hint — never the table photo, faces or your location. Calorie numbers never go to analytics, and nothing is written to a health app. PlateDiary AI starts with free tries; here is how it works.

Get PlateDiary

Sources

Where the facts come from

  1. USDA FoodData Central — Cheeseburger, 1 large patty (FDC 2706903)
  2. USDA FoodData Central — Potato, french fries, restaurant (FDC 2709462)
  3. USDA FoodData Central — Caesar dressing (FDC 2710199)
  4. UK CoFID (McCance and Widdowson’s Composition of Foods)

Questions

Questions people ask.

How many calories are in a restaurant burger and fries?

About 1,100 calories: roughly 630 for a sit-down cheeseburger and 490 for a side of fries. Bigger burgers and loaded fries go well beyond that.

Is a Caesar salad lower in calories than a burger?

It can be — a starter Caesar is about 400 — but heavy dressing, croutons and added chicken can bring it close to a burger.

How many calories are in fish and chips?

A chip-shop portion of battered cod and chips is about 1,000 calories, usually 800–1,400.

How many calories are in a steak?

A 10 oz (raw weight) ribeye is about 570 calories cooked, before sides and butter. Leaner cuts like sirloin come in lower.