Providence Dining Experiences and Reviews

[Liamlunchtray]

Disclaimer. the statements below are my OPINION. not an attack on anybodys taste

Cheescake Factory is CRAP

Outback is CRAP

Smokey Bones is CRAP

I try and avoid corporate establishments like the above whenever and wherever I can. Granted its not always doable but I'm usually able to get a better meal at an independent restaurant.

I'm not fan of the corporate chain either, but for some reason I really like the Cheesecake Factory. I know the food is garbage and the prices insane, yet I still love it. I have no logical explanation. I think maybe because it's the only place in RI that smells and feels like Vegas. It is also a great monument to the art of drywall.

Liam

[bloodyrocker]

I'm not fan of the corporate chain either, but for some reason I really like the Cheesecake Factory. I know the food is garbage and the prices insane, yet I still love it. I have no logical explanation. I think maybe because it's the only place in RI that smells and feels like Vegas. It is also a great monument to the art of drywall.

Liam

Liam my friend I value your opinion so I say we go out to the Cheesecake Factory together and you can sway my feelings about the place. I mean it.. perhaps if I see the joy you get out of it I'll lighten up a bit.

[basachs]

As far as BBQ what about StickyFingers? I know the owner died, but his family was trying to start it back up again, apparently this month. Was that any good?

There are levels of chains. Some are boil in the bag/microwave fare like Smokey Bones and Olive Garden. Others prepare fresh food to order like CF and Outback. We only frequent the "better" of the chains sparingly, but with a food allergy there is something very good about chains. The consistency. In fact the only place that my wife can have french fries with a reasonable degree of certainty that she will not get sick is McDonald's! Why? Becasue they are so corporate and procedural that they have a dedicated fryer. The oil is never contaminated with products that contain breading. Sad that independents for all their appeal, can not accomodate food allergies as well as chains can.

This is relegated to the mid-level restaurant. High end places here in Providence are awesome, but who can afford to go out to a place like Gracie's every week?

And this whole independent vs chain issue really needs to be taken into perspective. There are tons of independent joints that are glorified Sysco Cafes.

[Garris]

Cheescake Factory is CRAP

Outback is CRAP

Smokey Bones is CRAP

If BBQ is what your after the only choice in town is LJ's BBQ. Its so much better than anything you can get at a chain restaurant. its better than Wes' ribhouse as well.

I agree on all counts, especially that the Outback is particularly offensive and that LJ's rocks.

The only chains that I have a softer spot for are Subways (because they are usually locally owned and you can eat quite healthily there) and Olive Gardens (whose unlimited bread and salad deals are a steal in my opinion and great for families on a budget).

In the Providence area, there's so little reason to frequent national chains when we have so many wonderful independents and local chains.

- Garris

PS: Cotuit, I'm sorry you didn't like the Red Stripe. Every meal I've had there has been wonderful, and I had the same tofu steak about a week ago, and all my dining companions who tried it raved about it. Maybe they had an off night?

[Frankie811]

http://www.projo.com/metro/content/projo_2...1.12e3c9c7.html

[runawayjim]

http://www.projo.com/metro/content/projo_2...1.12e3c9c7.html

that sucks... although joe's is one place i'm not at all fond of. i've had a couple pretty poor experiences there with poor food quality and poor service, and they weren't very busy at the time either.

[brick]

that sucks... although joe's is one place i'm not at all fond of. i've had a couple pretty poor experiences there with poor food quality and poor service, and they weren't very busy at the time either.

The Providence Place Joe's seems to be the worst one. I have been to many for some reason - Braintree, Dedham, two Boston locations, and Providence. IMO the quality of food and service was more consistent at all of the other ones. They are also much busier.

[basachs]

We sit at the bar whenever we go to the mall. We only get a few things, nachos, calamari, chili. Always good. Bartenders are nice too and remember you quickly.

The thing I hate about joe's is they have had the same menu for about 5 years now. Change it up for god's sake!

[Cotuit]

Olive Gardens (whose unlimited bread and salad deals are a steal in my opinion and great for families on a budget).

Not that we need any chains, but you bring up a point about affordability for families. I think Eagle Square needs some sort of family restaurant (chain or no) to tap into the lower-income families living in the area. Would give people in the neighbourhood a place to eat out on the cheap, and bring much needed off hours foot traffic to Eagle Square.

[runawayjim]

Not that we need any chains, but you bring up a point about affordability for families. I think Eagle Square needs some sort of family restaurant (chain or no) to tap into the lower-income families living in the area. Would give people in the neighbourhood a place to eat out on the cheap, and bring much needed off hours foot traffic to Eagle Square.

i'm actually quite impressed with eagle square. they did a fine job with it, and the shaws there is awesome (at least compared to the crappy shaws on admiral). but that would be a good location for a family restaurant chain. how about a chilis, fridays, applebees, ruby tuesdays type place?

[Cotuit]

i'm actually quite impressed with eagle square. they did a fine job with it, and the shaws there is awesome (at least compared to the crappy shaws on admiral).

I am too. If they had planned renovation versus demolition from the get-go, rather than changing the design midstream, it probably would have come off better (the street pattern through the site blows for instance). But considering they scrambled to change the design at the last minute, I think it came out pretty well.

[basachs]

I shop at Eagle regularly as the Shaws is extremely well stocked, if a bit dirty. The other shaws in the area are even worse though, so I guess it is better than par for the area.

The food selections though are pretty bad. Popeyes, subway etc. I'd actually like to see an independent joint go there but know the realities. Still, shouldnt something better than a chain like those mentioned go there? With Eagle Square, Rising Sun and the Plant all right there, that area needs to cater better to the population they are trying to attract. Something funky, independent and mid priced would be nice.

I guess if a chain needed to go there, how about a Carrabba's?

[brick]

With Eagle Square, Rising Sun and the Plant all right there, that area needs to cater better to the population they are trying to attract. Something funky, independent and mid priced would be nice.

I guess if a chain needed to go there, how about a Carrabba's?

Who are they trying to attract? I guess that's the issue.

Seems like a good place for a decent coffee/sandwich place. that means Panera unless you get a local guy in there first. Daily Bread? What about that b.good place? That would be pretty funky, although probably better suited to Thayer St.

What would be nice is if they could get a decent destination type restaurant, like a decent Mexican place that isn't too expensive. I wouldn't go out of my way for a Carrabba's a quarter mile from Federal Hill.

[Recchia]

Just thought I'd weigh in on this conversation about chains given my obsession with food,

Cheesecake Factory blows very hard except for the peanut butter fudge ripple cheesecake, which is incredible. Then yet, as everyone has said, who wants to wait two hours for it when you can get amazing cheesecake on Federal Hill?

Smokey Bones I love (chicken fingers platter is amazing); Joe's blows; Outback has great ribs but nothing else I like; Olive Garden is an abomination, especially in a state that ranks second in percentage of Italians, (seriously, who can eat that mass-produced Wonder Bread WOP crap when you have all the great Italian restaurants in this state??); all the other chains around, be it Friday's or Chili's or Ruby Tuesdays, are all essentially the exact same restaurants with different names.

Thank God we are spoiled in RI and have great original restaurants that we can frequent so we don't have to go to these crap places.

P.S. One chain that I think would be a great replacement for any of the above chain restaurants in Providence would be Bertucci's, that place is amazing and everything is made fresh in front of you.

[runawayjim]

Just thought I'd weigh in on this conversation about chains given my obsession with food,

Cheesecake Factory blows very hard except for the peanut butter fudge ripple cheesecake, which is incredible. Then yet, as everyone has said, who wants to wait two hours for it when you can get amazing cheesecake on Federal Hill?

Smokey Bones I love (chicken fingers platter is amazing); Joe's blows; Outback has great ribs but nothing else I like; Olive Garden is an abomination, especially in a state that ranks second in percentage of Italians, (seriously, who can eat that mass-produced Wonder Bread WOP crap when you have all the great Italian restaurants in this state??); all the other chains around, be it Friday's or Chili's or Ruby Tuesdays, are all essentially the exact same restaurants with different names.

Thank God we are spoiled in RI and have great original restaurants that we can frequent so we don't have to go to these crap places.

P.S. One chain that I think would be a great replacement for any of the above chain restaurants in Providence would be Bertucci's, that place is amazing and everything is made fresh in front of you.

i can't agree more on the olive garden... 2 types of chains i will NEVER go to... italian food and pizza (of course i was spoiled with pizza growing up near new haven). i actually like chilis more than all those other fridays/tuesdays/applebees places.

as for bertuccis, i've found their pizza undercooked everytime i've eaten there. i also don't like the way they pass brick oven pizza off as this special amazing thing... i've had my share of pizza and brick oven does not automatically make pizza good. bertucci's gets a D for their pizza (places like dominoes are worse). i've never had anything else there so i can't really comment... but they are more a pizza place than anything else as far as i can tell.

[Recchia]

Ha, I guess why I like Bertucci's is probably because it's undercooked, I love mushy crust pizza.

[Jerry2]

I shop at Eagle regularly as the Shaws is extremely well stocked, if a bit dirty. The other shaws in the area are even worse though, so I guess it is better than par for the area.

The food selections though are pretty bad. Popeyes, subway etc. I'd actually like to see an independent joint go there but know the realities. Still, shouldnt something better than a chain like those mentioned go there? With Eagle Square, Rising Sun and the Plant all right there, that area needs to cater better to the population they are trying to attract. Something funky, independent and mid priced would be nice.

I guess if a chain needed to go there, how about a Carrabba's?

All those great projects add diversity if anything there. Within a one mile radius, there are 45K people and the majority are low income minorities. I think a Ponderosa or Asian buffet would be much more suitable for the place. They are very popular with Hispanics, don't kill a budget, and everyone loves a buffet once in a while. It may not be Red Stripe or even Leon's, but I think an overall better suit for the area.

[runawayjim]

Ha, I guess why I like Bertucci's is probably because it's undercooked, I love mushy crust pizza.

something about new haven pizza is that it's browned on the bottom but never overly crispy (the crust on the outside edge gets crispy, but still tastes amazing). the closest i've found to new haven style is rocco's on the corner of admiral and river. relatively thin crust, cooked just right. it's really new york style, which is similar to new haven, although new haven does it better... rocco's is good though.

[eltron]

All those great projects add diversity if anything there. Within a one mile radius, there are 45K people and the majority are low income minorities. I think a Ponderosa or Asian buffet would be much more suitable for the place. They are very popular with Hispanics, don't kill a budget, and everyone loves a buffet once in a while. It may not be Red Stripe or even Leon's, but I think an overall better suit for the area.

This has gotten terribly out of hand on SO many levels...

Poor Eagle Square, where have you gone?

There are dozens of reasonable restaurants right around there, no need to bring in an abomination for the "po folk."

[basachs]

As for who Eagle Square is trying to attract, there is a 2 bedroom listed for 345k @ 1342 sq ft. A 1050 sqfeet, one bedroom condo is listed for 289k A 1000 sq ft, one bedroom condo listed for 229k. Plus the monthly fee is 300 bucks a month. I would say they are looking for people that would not want to eat at a Ponderosa. Especially having a Ponderosa visible from their window. Hell, I grew up poor and have never eaten at a Ponderosa. Or a buffet.

I am not sure what Rising Sun is leasing for, but I imagine its not dirt cheap.

Bottom line, a quality restaurant that both lower income and higher income people will want to eat at is something that should go there. Mexican was a good idea. How about a Chevy's?

[runawayjim]

As for who Eagle Square is trying to attract, there is a 2 bedroom listed for 345k @ 1342 sq ft. A 1050 sqfeet, one bedroom condo is listed for 289k A 1000 sq ft, one bedroom condo listed for 229k. Plus the monthly fee is 300 bucks a month. I would say they are looking for people that would not want to eat at a Ponderosa. Especially having a Ponderosa visible from their window. Hell, I grew up poor and have never eaten at a Ponderosa. Or a buffet.

I am not sure what Rising Sun is leasing for, but I imagine its not dirt cheap.

Bottom line, a quality restaurant that both lower income and higher income people will want to eat at is something that should go there. Mexican was a good idea. How about a Chevy's?

chevy's is not very good mexican... it's more tex-mex, and i'd rather have chilis anyday.

eagle square is trying to attract more upper middle class folks, young professionals. rising sun is actually not very expensive. a good sized studio is under $700/month (good sized being 450+ sq feet). i looked into renting there, but they didn't have any of the studios available (anything bigger was too expensive for me, plus i decided to stay where i'm living now).

the problem with eagle square is it's located in a relatively lower class or lower-middle class neighborhood. i don't agree that gentrification is a good plan, at least not most people's idea of it (getting young professionals everywhere so prices everywhere go up). put something that the people of the neighborhood might like. forget the yuppies, they can go downtown for their meals. while an independent place would be best, it should be reasonably priced for all to enjoy, not just those buying in eagle square or renting at rising sun (plus that really limits your customer base if your prices aren't affordable by a good portion of the neighborhood).

[gregw]

i'm actually quite impressed with eagle square. they did a fine job with it, and the shaws there is awesome (at least compared to the crappy shaws on admiral). but that would be a good location for a family restaurant chain. how about a chilis, fridays, applebees, ruby tuesdays type place?

I also think the SHaws there is good. Way nicer than the one in Pawt. The rents at Eagle Sq must be really high given that almost everything there is a chain. I think it would be cooler if you had some independent and cheap ethnic places.

As for the slow moving office space upstairs, I could be wrong, but I think a lot of that space was originally earmarked for artist live/work spaces as part of the deal that Cianci worked out with Feldco. However, the developer ended up charging very high rents which mean that the live/work space idea never took hold. The developer went back to the city and managed to get of the provision more recently.

[Frankie811]

I'm not too sure if some posters here are accurate in calling the Eagle St & Atwells Ave area "Eagle Square". I've lived here all my life and the corners of Admiral & Douglas Avenues has always been known as "Eagle Square".

[basachs]

As you have said about Cheecake Factory Frankie, there must be a reason why people wait for crazy amounts of time for it. Well, they do that for Chevy's too. Tex-mex, mexican its all the same to a lot of people and the nuances are lost for many. But your point is well taken. I get annoyed when people say jewish style, and that distinction is lost on so many as well.

I do take some issue with your gentrification point, probably because I am a young professional. I live in the west end, and would like to eat in my neighborhood more.

[Liamlunchtray]

chevy's is not very good mexican... it's more tex-mex, and i'd rather have chilis anyday.

Chevy's is in no way "real" mexican, but I liked it quite a bit for a chain restaurant. I was bummed when the Warwick location closed. They should turn the old East Side Marios on promenade into a Chevys like they did in warwick.

"Put a sombrero up on that fake brooklyn bridge - no one will know the difference"

Liam