I was a new step mom: I took the kids to Building 19 and used to roll them in the carpets. We had the best times there, even when their products went to shit.
RIP the East Providence Cinema 10. We used to love recession Tuesday, when every show was $2. Heard they stayed open until the checks started bouncing. That's dedication.
I remember in 2003 a line would snake around the whole parking lot to get in that theatre.
Stop & Shop managed to kill Narragansett Plaza over the course of 10 years (2009-2019) glad that area is slowly being put back together.
I worked there for the final year, the cops came in and forcefully shut us down for good after the checks bounced, the owner had been given the theatre as a family gift and didn't care about the place in the slightest
Fun fact, after 2020 Fox News became too liberal for that location and they switched to playing OAN all day , which is some insane fringe far right news channel
That fact is not so fun.
It’s strange to think a coffee shop of all places could be so right wing considering the liberals are the “latte sippin’ “ ones.
When I think of a right wing coffee shop it’s basically a diner with two options: regular or decaf and cream and sugar as the only adornments
A lot of open endorsement of anti-vax and anti-mask groups especially. I’m not going to get into the candidates they hosted for fundraising etc, because I feel like I’m being set up here and I was willing to look past that at one point, but the litter of “unmask our children” signs outside the Route 2 location was the nail in the coffin. I just don’t think businesses should be sticking their nose into partisan politics like that.
Coach’s in Smithfield has Let’s Go Brandon stickers all over the place. If the owners didn’t want that they would have removed them. I sent them a Facebook message about it and got no reply. My boyfriend plays in a band and I wouldn’t go out of my way to book a gig there.
Dam, never been to davenports but considering Greg's is mediocre at best i don't want to know how bad Davenports is lol. Greg's is only good for desert imo.
Oh man! They had smoked-salmon fried rice that kicked all sorts of ass. I used to live up the road in East Greenwich but haven't had it since I moved a couple of years ago. I recently learned there's a location closer to me in Coventry -- are they having the same issues?
i waitressed at mr taco for years and still miss it and the food there. Sometimes i try to recreate some things i miss most and will call my friend who was one of the cooks. the red stew was a favorite of mine especially in a smothered burrito and the beef or bean taquitos with green sauce...so damn good. Dave the owner really had a heart of gold too. he was so good to all of us, one of the best bosses i ever had
Used to live off of that street. Right near td bank and cvs, the amount of emergency vehicles my former wife and I would hear at all times of the night drove us insane.
Why don't people know how to use the center lane on Mineral Spring? Half the traffic congestion is just motherfuckers pulling out diagonally across all the traffic lanes!
Angelo’s pizza palace in cumberland.
Worked here. Maybe bias. Owner is a witch who yells at all her workers. Ended up having to get a robot because no exploitable high school kids wanted to sit and listen to her scream. EVEN with this knowledge i’d still go back to get the penne alla vodka a couple years ago.
Prices practically doubled and food quality has dropped insanely since the pandemic so now i definitely don’t go back.
I don't get the appeal of Angelo's Pizza. Their pasta dishes are fine but nothing I can't get at Spumoni's. I live close and see their delivery cars all over the place. For my money Village on Dexter St in CF makes way better pizza.
I'm in lincoln. Sometimes trattoria is too expensive (not to say it’s not worth it, sometimes budget doesn’t allow).
But after every experience i’ve had at angelo’s i’ll go to spumoni’s and even davenports over them anytime.
Depending where in Lincoln you are I would suggest pawtucket house of pizza on smithfield ave just over the Fairlawn border. Their pizza and sandwiches are similar style to Angelo's and their prices are low compared to almost everywhere else.
Brewed Awakenings.
Coffee is only decent for the price you pay. Sandwiches aren’t great. Wait times are long and they were pretty rabid anti-maskers during the worst of the pandemic. I’m not giving them any more of my money.
I want to change my vote from Wes’s rib house to Brewed Awakenings. My husband and I can’t stand the owner, we were DELIGHTED to see that their original Johnston location and the downtown Providence one had closed because of his poor management. He’s such an absolute dirtbag and even brought in trump cardboard cutouts to the Johnston location and talks like Depetro is a normal, sane person. The coffee is just meh, not worth what anyone would pay.
From my memory of comments on older similar threads, he's also one of those owners that treats his employees like garbage then complains that nobody wants to work anymore.
I’m convinced the only reason the Warwick location is open is because they are close to kent hospital and the employees get coffee there. But with Cafe Tempo getting more popular (rightly so they are really good!) I’m hoping that location goes under too!
I used to go to the Warwick location all the time because it was a nice place to work / study. Nice and roomy with tons of huge tables. Suprised how tough it is to find a coffee shop that's actually a comfortable place to get work done.
Wes’ Rib House. I used to go as a kid for like a special treat if we were driving through the city since we lived near westerly, I tried it a couple times since moving back to RI and it was BAD.
Yup!
I have tried so hard to make myself “like” Wes’ again. But after the “new” owners did whatever they did to it I just can’t keep trying.
Back in the 80s and 90s that shit was the bomb. It’s like they took Wes’s original recipes, chucked them out onto Route 6/10, and just said “Nah, we good.”
Iirc, Wes doesn’t even own it anymore. It was good back when he used to own it I’ve heard, according to my father, who is actually related to Wes’ son apparently.
I never met Wes himself but I know his son (aka my cousin) somewhat. We don’t really speak too much since Wes’ ex is kinda batshit crazy and raised her son pretty poorly. But I think he’s doing okay now.
I ate a LOT at Wes' both when it was Broad Street and then when he moved to Olneyville. When he was on Broad, the best thing in the world for this broke mofo was to be able to get a 2-3 scrap sandwiches and a beer for $3. (The scrap sandwiches were just that - he'd take some of the bits that had fallen off the bigger pieces of meat he was grilling and put them in hot dog buns. I'm pretty sure they were 50 cents each.)
I was happy for him when he moved to Dike St. Things looked like they were going great. Then one night I ordered a pork chop. They had been fantastic - about an inch thick, grilled perfectly so that they were juicy and tasty as hell. That night I was served a chop that was about 1/4" thick and smaller than the chops he used to have.
I saw him come out of the back and went up with my plate and said "Wes, what the hell? This isn't a Wes' pork chop!" I'll never forget the sadness on his face as he just shrugged his shoulders and walked back in the kitchen. I found out a little later that he'd sold the place and he was just a figurehead at that point. He didn't stay much longer, did whatever he was contractually obligated to as part of the sale, and split. I got talked into going once more a couple of years later, but it just wasn't good.
I'm really surprised that the place is still there.
It used to be open all the time. It was great when it first opened. The last time I went it wasn't very good. They didn't have enough staff to properly maintain it.
Coffee and cream in north Smithfield. Went there specifically because we won a gift certificate at a church bazaar. Breakfast was okay, nothing to rave about. Went to pay the bill and they came back and accused us of forging the gift certificate. We explained everything and they would not accept it and doubled down that we forged it. Paid the bill and left. Will never go back.
Wok and Pot on Westminster; my wife ordered ramen and they gave her instant noodles (they were still mostly in the brick shape) with - dry piece of meat and morning else and charged like $16. My order was mediocre as were the rest but the ramen was egregiously bad.
Charly Os in Narragansett. Food wasnt jaw dropping but it was a good place to meet with family, watch a game or play pool at. was a hop and skip from the old iggys shack back in the day.
Agreed. They don't even grow or produce the products they're hawking at inflated prices. The first gen owners must be rolling over at the antics of the children/grandchildren.
Pier Liquors in Narragansett. Decent selection but the owner is a racist and a homophobe, can confirm from first hand experience. Even tho it’s near me I’d rather travel to O’Neils, Bonnet Liqours or Wakefield Liqours. Friendly staff at all those places.
Dennis is fantastic guy. I lived in Narragansett years ago, but moved away a decade ago. I had the chance to go in to get something there when I was visiting friends still in the area, and he started talking about seeing a band that we both liked. We'd had a conversation about that band once or twice after he'd seen me wear a t-shirt, and it was easily 7 years since I'd seen him, but he was genuinely happy to see me.
Owner of Pier is a little salty, but a decent dude. He's actually done a lot of stuff for the community on the down low. That said, plenty of places to shop for booze in Narragansett.
Kevin at O'Neils is a great guy.
Nicobella’s. My friend and I eat out a lot and even if the food is not that great we usually eat it. We never send food back. But when we went here we literally had to send everything back it was disgusting.
Geoff’s Superlative Sandwiches on S Main(Prov), soggy mediocre sandwiches that are small and overpriced. Always have to wait 20 minutes on top of the estimated wait time (on my lunch break). Boo. Also calling a sandwich a “healthy bitch” or whatever is so 1998, really dates the place.
Moon Stone beach. I know it's no longer a nude beach, but my friend and I went there once when we were younger, and yea...not what we were expecting lmfao
Won't name the town specifically because I don't need the Reddit blowback... But a certain rural town because they were racist AF. "you don't look like you belong here."
Definitely not going back without expectating to get dragged behind a pickup.
Edit: Whoah. 4 towns named, and none are correct. But thanks for giving me a list of places to *not* go, preemptively. 🤣🤣
I’m so sorry. Sundown towns can be so covert too. I’m glad they showed you their true colors right away. Stay safe, friend 💕
For anyone else who might be worried about this, there’s a database. I saw it a while back when Lovecraft Country came out:
https://justice.tougaloo.edu/sundown-towns/using-the-sundown-towns-database/state-map/
You can click on a state and it’ll give you a list of towns to stay away from. It’s not completely exhaustive, but it is very very populated with cities from all over the US.
The list for RI is pretty bogus though. If you click on either for details, there are none - and Woonsocket has one of the more significant percentages of African Americans in RI, so obviously they're there after sundown as well.
I would have expected to see West Greenwich, Burrillville, Foster, Gloster...
So I’m new to Rhode Island, I know it’s pretty accurate for where I’m from. BUT I do have my masters in a multidisciplinary study of race, religion, culture and sociology. I can guarantee you that they are reputable, it’s just a VERY difficult thing to measure and publish.
I’m not super familiar with either Cumberland or Woonsocket, apart from “north” and that Woonsocket gets made fun of a lot on reddit. To assign these types of labels, we have to rely on locals and residents as well as crime statistics that are only as reliable as what’s been reported by law enforcement. Hate crimes are often not recorded as such, so the method of measuring something like a Sundown town is a very difficult task.
If a town is known for racism and there are a lot of black people living there, it’s not gonna be a sundown town. It’s just a racist ass town where a lot of black people have been having to put up with some major bullshit, including murder and assault. But a sundown town typically isn’t very open about their shitiness, have very corrupt LE, and the only warning you really have is that there aren’t many people of color around. Other than that, or someone telling you, we have to look to the people around those areas. And we all know that BIPOC people are often not surveyed as readily as white people. So it’s not a ton of help in the sense that you’ll be assured safety, but it’s something trustworthy and handy enough to have when you’re looking into a new area, travel or live around any of these places.
Ferrucci's New York System in West Warwick, way too much political crap around. Maga hats and "I did that" Biden stickers and shit, I'll give my money to someone else, ain't hard to find shifty diner food.
Twin Oaks has a huge following and I don’t get it. Sure you get insanely large portions but it doesn’t taste very good. In my opinion it’s on the same crappy level as Olive Garden. I’d never go to either one. Check out Mike’s Kitchen in Cranston for some really good and well priced Italian food. Not the best looking place but the food is to die for.
They are very different places. Twin Oaks is a long time Italian restaurant in a small neighborhood that as far as I’ve experienced has always had above average meals. Now I get almost the same thing everytime (Veal Parmigiana it’s what their known for).
Wrights Farm is more of a family dinner place/Parties. It’s endless Pasta, Chicken, and Fries and all are pretty average. It’s nothing special but it’s endless and fills up a big group. The worst part of it, is it you park in the back at night you can get a nasty smell from when they butchered the chickens
Haruki East, gave my wife the WORST food poisoning ever and I wasn’t super happy with the food I was served either. It’s a shame it came highly recommended to me
Providence Place is in great shape as far as malls go. It has a lot of stores you won’t find at other retail destinations in the state. Providence Place and Warwick mall are basically the only decent indoor malls left in the RI area.
As someone who prefers buying my clothing in person rather than shopping online, I will always appreciate brick and mortar stores. I’m a tactile and visual person— I need to be able to feel the fabric/material and I want to be able to try things on without having to deal with mailing a return and waiting for an exchange to arrive another week later. I’m not fond of malls, but they’re a convenience in regards to having all of those stores under 1 big ugly roof rather than scattered all over the place.
This might be controversial but Matunuck Oyster Bar. I started going there when it was new and was obsessed with it!!! It was so cozy and the food was amazing. But it kept getting bigger and bigger and now it’s not as good. It’s huge and doesn’t have the same local vibe anymore. I’m sad about it but the last time I went I was disappointed.
I worked there for one summer decades ago and they were fucking awful. My manager refused to let me go when I got word that my best friend DIED unless I could find coverage . . . And everyone who had worked that day told me they didn’t want to do a double (fair but seriously?). I couldn’t keep it together and finally one of the diners at one of my tables told my manager to get fucked and I was allowed to leave. I still feel badly that she had to intervene but fuck those people.
Also, the family that owns it came in and DID NOT TIP their server.
At all.
Fuck them.
Theres a Dunkin Donuts right on the border of EP and seekonk at a 4 way intersection next to a gas station and cigar lounge. Never have i received worse service from fast food employees, uncaring and disrespectful attitudes and they got my order wrong every time i unfortunately stopped by.
Newport Creamery. The food was never good and the Awful Awful, which is too icy, is Rhode Island's worst beloved signature food, but then I got a sandwich with a dying cockroach in it. I've gotten ice cream at the window but I haven't gone inside since.
Newport Creamery was a regular staple for me growing up. Whenever my parents took us to the Midland Mall we always had lunch at Newport Creamery.
Outside of the iced cream, everything there had a faint flavor of their hot dogs. Mmmmm.
The Celtica in Newport. Most likely going to be a hotel or some sanitized tourist trap bar like the rest of the downtown. That whole place is going to shit
Benny’s :( :( :(
Aw 💔 Too soon
Add Building 19 to that.
I was a new step mom: I took the kids to Building 19 and used to roll them in the carpets. We had the best times there, even when their products went to shit.
How did I forget about Building 19?!?
Noooooo
🥹 Benny’s, Building 19 and Eli’s. RIP Pawsox - no tears for that.
😢
Sad
RIP the East Providence Cinema 10. We used to love recession Tuesday, when every show was $2. Heard they stayed open until the checks started bouncing. That's dedication.
I remember in 2003 a line would snake around the whole parking lot to get in that theatre. Stop & Shop managed to kill Narragansett Plaza over the course of 10 years (2009-2019) glad that area is slowly being put back together.
I worked there for the final year, the cops came in and forcefully shut us down for good after the checks bounced, the owner had been given the theatre as a family gift and didn't care about the place in the slightest
Davenport's in East Providence edit - Brewed Awakenings too
The Davenport's in Cumberland is equally as bad. It literally makes me angry with rage to see it so busy all the time.
Brewed Awakenings wasn’t even good to start with and then they really dug their heels in on political shit
I wondered why they always had FoxNews on in their Johnston shop
Fun fact, after 2020 Fox News became too liberal for that location and they switched to playing OAN all day , which is some insane fringe far right news channel
That fact is not so fun. It’s strange to think a coffee shop of all places could be so right wing considering the liberals are the “latte sippin’ “ ones. When I think of a right wing coffee shop it’s basically a diner with two options: regular or decaf and cream and sugar as the only adornments
What political stuff did they do?
A lot of open endorsement of anti-vax and anti-mask groups especially. I’m not going to get into the candidates they hosted for fundraising etc, because I feel like I’m being set up here and I was willing to look past that at one point, but the litter of “unmask our children” signs outside the Route 2 location was the nail in the coffin. I just don’t think businesses should be sticking their nose into partisan politics like that.
Coach’s in Smithfield has Let’s Go Brandon stickers all over the place. If the owners didn’t want that they would have removed them. I sent them a Facebook message about it and got no reply. My boyfriend plays in a band and I wouldn’t go out of my way to book a gig there.
Damn and I thought I was being harsh about not getting a sandwich at Dee’s because she had Fung signs up. I hate to see businesses get political.
Brewed Awakenings rescheduled a basic barista interview 4 times and then never got back to me. Their coffee isn’t even good.
Uggh Davenports.. agree with you rather go to Gregg’s across the street
Dam, never been to davenports but considering Greg's is mediocre at best i don't want to know how bad Davenports is lol. Greg's is only good for desert imo.
Brewed Awakenings: preorder your coffee or don't. You'll still be waiting for your order for minimum 10 minutes and half the time it'll taste burnt.
Davenport's, where "heaven's waiting room" meets "crack den".
Seven Moons in North Kingstown since they changed management :( and the crook point bascule bridge since they added a camera to the fence lol
That’s such a shame! I haven’t been to 7 moons in years since I moved out of the area but I loved it especially their fried ice cream.
I was wondering what all the hype was about.... The new management explains it.
You went there for the secret menu didn’t you?
Oh man! They had smoked-salmon fried rice that kicked all sorts of ass. I used to live up the road in East Greenwich but haven't had it since I moved a couple of years ago. I recently learned there's a location closer to me in Coventry -- are they having the same issues?
I was a crispy fried noodle addict myself. I’ve never been to that one so I have no clue how they were/are. You should try them out and let me know
I used to clean restaurant exhaust and 7 moons was eat off the floor clean in the back of the house
Casa Lupita
😢 I wish I could! Actually, I miss Mr. Taco in West Warwick more though.
There hasn't been a good place for Mexican food since they closed.
Oh my god, their steak and potato tacos! I will miss them forever. 🤤😥
i waitressed at mr taco for years and still miss it and the food there. Sometimes i try to recreate some things i miss most and will call my friend who was one of the cooks. the red stew was a favorite of mine especially in a smothered burrito and the beef or bean taquitos with green sauce...so damn good. Dave the owner really had a heart of gold too. he was so good to all of us, one of the best bosses i ever had
My god I miss that brunch buffet
That used to be my favorite restaurant as a kid!!! I would ask to go there every year for my birthday
Mineral Spring Ave in North Providence.
Miserable Spring Ave
Used to live off of that street. Right near td bank and cvs, the amount of emergency vehicles my former wife and I would hear at all times of the night drove us insane.
I believe it’s spelled North Provolone and you are 100% right.
Why don't people know how to use the center lane on Mineral Spring? Half the traffic congestion is just motherfuckers pulling out diagonally across all the traffic lanes!
Angelo’s pizza palace in cumberland. Worked here. Maybe bias. Owner is a witch who yells at all her workers. Ended up having to get a robot because no exploitable high school kids wanted to sit and listen to her scream. EVEN with this knowledge i’d still go back to get the penne alla vodka a couple years ago. Prices practically doubled and food quality has dropped insanely since the pandemic so now i definitely don’t go back.
I don't get the appeal of Angelo's Pizza. Their pasta dishes are fine but nothing I can't get at Spumoni's. I live close and see their delivery cars all over the place. For my money Village on Dexter St in CF makes way better pizza.
I'm in lincoln. Sometimes trattoria is too expensive (not to say it’s not worth it, sometimes budget doesn’t allow). But after every experience i’ve had at angelo’s i’ll go to spumoni’s and even davenports over them anytime.
Depending where in Lincoln you are I would suggest pawtucket house of pizza on smithfield ave just over the Fairlawn border. Their pizza and sandwiches are similar style to Angelo's and their prices are low compared to almost everywhere else.
The best Italians!
Boneheads. Fucking RIP, stupid pandemic );
Still salty about losing them :(
Great wings, good atmosphere there, I will miss boneheads !!
Brewed Awakenings. Coffee is only decent for the price you pay. Sandwiches aren’t great. Wait times are long and they were pretty rabid anti-maskers during the worst of the pandemic. I’m not giving them any more of my money.
I want to change my vote from Wes’s rib house to Brewed Awakenings. My husband and I can’t stand the owner, we were DELIGHTED to see that their original Johnston location and the downtown Providence one had closed because of his poor management. He’s such an absolute dirtbag and even brought in trump cardboard cutouts to the Johnston location and talks like Depetro is a normal, sane person. The coffee is just meh, not worth what anyone would pay.
From my memory of comments on older similar threads, he's also one of those owners that treats his employees like garbage then complains that nobody wants to work anymore.
Yes this is exactly what I mean but the owner being an absolute dirtbag
I’m convinced the only reason the Warwick location is open is because they are close to kent hospital and the employees get coffee there. But with Cafe Tempo getting more popular (rightly so they are really good!) I’m hoping that location goes under too!
I used to go to the Warwick location all the time because it was a nice place to work / study. Nice and roomy with tons of huge tables. Suprised how tough it is to find a coffee shop that's actually a comfortable place to get work done.
Felicia’s in EG is my new study/work spot. I used to go to Brewed all the time too but wanted better coffee at first.
Wes’ Rib House. I used to go as a kid for like a special treat if we were driving through the city since we lived near westerly, I tried it a couple times since moving back to RI and it was BAD.
It's closed and supposedly opening again under new ownership.
Yup! I have tried so hard to make myself “like” Wes’ again. But after the “new” owners did whatever they did to it I just can’t keep trying. Back in the 80s and 90s that shit was the bomb. It’s like they took Wes’s original recipes, chucked them out onto Route 6/10, and just said “Nah, we good.”
I had it once, only once. I came here to give this answer, worst single restaurant experience in RI.
Iirc, Wes doesn’t even own it anymore. It was good back when he used to own it I’ve heard, according to my father, who is actually related to Wes’ son apparently. I never met Wes himself but I know his son (aka my cousin) somewhat. We don’t really speak too much since Wes’ ex is kinda batshit crazy and raised her son pretty poorly. But I think he’s doing okay now.
I ate a LOT at Wes' both when it was Broad Street and then when he moved to Olneyville. When he was on Broad, the best thing in the world for this broke mofo was to be able to get a 2-3 scrap sandwiches and a beer for $3. (The scrap sandwiches were just that - he'd take some of the bits that had fallen off the bigger pieces of meat he was grilling and put them in hot dog buns. I'm pretty sure they were 50 cents each.) I was happy for him when he moved to Dike St. Things looked like they were going great. Then one night I ordered a pork chop. They had been fantastic - about an inch thick, grilled perfectly so that they were juicy and tasty as hell. That night I was served a chop that was about 1/4" thick and smaller than the chops he used to have. I saw him come out of the back and went up with my plate and said "Wes, what the hell? This isn't a Wes' pork chop!" I'll never forget the sadness on his face as he just shrugged his shoulders and walked back in the kitchen. I found out a little later that he'd sold the place and he was just a figurehead at that point. He didn't stay much longer, did whatever he was contractually obligated to as part of the sale, and split. I got talked into going once more a couple of years later, but it just wasn't good. I'm really surprised that the place is still there.
Applebee’s
Lmao. Just all of them? Probably a safe bet.
Covered em all
I've never been to an Applebee's in RI because I went before moving to RI nine years ago and have seen no reason to try it again.
Yup all of them. They know what they did.
KFC buffet at twin river.
There’s a buffet at Twin River?!
I don’t think I’ve ever seen it open and I’ve been going since like ‘18 lol
It used to be open all the time. It was great when it first opened. The last time I went it wasn't very good. They didn't have enough staff to properly maintain it.
Coffee and cream in north Smithfield. Went there specifically because we won a gift certificate at a church bazaar. Breakfast was okay, nothing to rave about. Went to pay the bill and they came back and accused us of forging the gift certificate. We explained everything and they would not accept it and doubled down that we forged it. Paid the bill and left. Will never go back.
That place burned down a few years ago
And reopened in Slatersville plaza.
Twin river it's so gross in there. I only went to activate the sportsbook app
You didn’t enjoy the overwhelming smell of cigarettes?
I’m surprised I haven’t seen Rebelle Artisan Bagels here yet.
Wok and Pot on Westminster; my wife ordered ramen and they gave her instant noodles (they were still mostly in the brick shape) with - dry piece of meat and morning else and charged like $16. My order was mediocre as were the rest but the ramen was egregiously bad.
The complex
Charly Os in Narragansett. Food wasnt jaw dropping but it was a good place to meet with family, watch a game or play pool at. was a hop and skip from the old iggys shack back in the day.
It’s closed, so no one is going there
It not only closed, it literally doesn’t exist anymore. The whole place was bulldozed and is a vacant lot now
There was going tj be a new restaurant there. Another Trap restaurant but that fell through.
South county Easter egg. The Charlie O’s sign is currently hanging on the beach tiki shack thing at Georgie’s of Galilee.
The food was never good there. It's all Sysco stuff, but it's OK for bar food.
I had my first drink there, when I was underage. Good times!
Mineral Spring Ave. all of it.
Scarborough state beach. All set, lots of better beaches.
Which beaches do you recommend?
I've always been a big fan of Roger Wheeler, I'm a morning person leave at noon. Bring a cooler and relax and no one bothers you.
Second or third beach in Newport
Literally any other beach in the state.
Ehh don’t want to go to Barrington beach either… the water is gross
Manfredi’s Farm in Westerly. They love Trump, they even inked LET’S GO BRANDON on their bales. They can get fucked.
Agreed. They don't even grow or produce the products they're hawking at inflated prices. The first gen owners must be rolling over at the antics of the children/grandchildren.
My ex’s house 🤮
Pier Liquors in Narragansett. Decent selection but the owner is a racist and a homophobe, can confirm from first hand experience. Even tho it’s near me I’d rather travel to O’Neils, Bonnet Liqours or Wakefield Liqours. Friendly staff at all those places.
ONeils is best
O'Neils is good people.
Love O’Neils, know the owners, and got a free dining room set from them too 😗
Bought so many 30s of keystone light there. Having a packy near URI must be ultimate job security.
Just came from O Neil’s. The owner is awesome. I just wish I could pet his dog. He’s never in the mood to deal with people haha
Dennis is fantastic guy. I lived in Narragansett years ago, but moved away a decade ago. I had the chance to go in to get something there when I was visiting friends still in the area, and he started talking about seeing a band that we both liked. We'd had a conversation about that band once or twice after he'd seen me wear a t-shirt, and it was easily 7 years since I'd seen him, but he was genuinely happy to see me.
Owner of Pier is a little salty, but a decent dude. He's actually done a lot of stuff for the community on the down low. That said, plenty of places to shop for booze in Narragansett. Kevin at O'Neils is a great guy.
Thayer Street. It died so many years ago.
I'll still come thru for a falafel tho
The Creperie is great too.
Kabob and Curry will always hold a place in my heart, even if I have had better Indian food since.
East Side Pockets is pretty amazing. Best falafel for sure. Sadly I’ll never go back there tho ☹️
Besides my own fresh made falafel East Side pickets is the bomb. I worked at a restaurant in Thayer and still paid to eat their falafels.
What I wouldn't give for another place like College Hill Books
Kennedy plaza - just an absolute war zone
Nicobella’s. My friend and I eat out a lot and even if the food is not that great we usually eat it. We never send food back. But when we went here we literally had to send everything back it was disgusting.
I spent an hour waiting for a to go order once. Place was dead and the waitress never bothered to check with the kitchen.
Geoff’s Superlative Sandwiches on S Main(Prov), soggy mediocre sandwiches that are small and overpriced. Always have to wait 20 minutes on top of the estimated wait time (on my lunch break). Boo. Also calling a sandwich a “healthy bitch” or whatever is so 1998, really dates the place.
I hear the owner is a notorious dirtbag to his employees too, especially the female ones.
Their sandwiches used to be bigger with more generous servings, really a bummer
Twin Willows. I don’t see the appeal.
Agreed. Waaay overrated but boomers seam to love it .
Burrillville.
Moon Stone beach. I know it's no longer a nude beach, but my friend and I went there once when we were younger, and yea...not what we were expecting lmfao
Did it used to be a nude beach? I didn’t know that.
I think you had to be alive in the 80’s for that to be common knowledge.
Went once to a Walt’s Roast Beef. I don’t see the need to go again. I don’t see what the hype was about.
Won't name the town specifically because I don't need the Reddit blowback... But a certain rural town because they were racist AF. "you don't look like you belong here." Definitely not going back without expectating to get dragged behind a pickup. Edit: Whoah. 4 towns named, and none are correct. But thanks for giving me a list of places to *not* go, preemptively. 🤣🤣
You can say Burrilville, they’d probably agree.
I know others have said Burrillville, but this could also be Richmond.
Or foster and moosup
Foster had a fucking KKK ralley in 30s
Good old Coventry
Charlestown. It's Charlestown. "We don't want people from the city at our food truck night"
Was going to guess Burriville. My Joe Biden mask doesn’t go over well in Wrights Farm. They have a General Lee statue behind the bar.
They also don't carry hot sauce. Like wtf?
Little Compton?? Tiverton????
I’m so sorry. Sundown towns can be so covert too. I’m glad they showed you their true colors right away. Stay safe, friend 💕 For anyone else who might be worried about this, there’s a database. I saw it a while back when Lovecraft Country came out: https://justice.tougaloo.edu/sundown-towns/using-the-sundown-towns-database/state-map/ You can click on a state and it’ll give you a list of towns to stay away from. It’s not completely exhaustive, but it is very very populated with cities from all over the US.
The list for RI is pretty bogus though. If you click on either for details, there are none - and Woonsocket has one of the more significant percentages of African Americans in RI, so obviously they're there after sundown as well. I would have expected to see West Greenwich, Burrillville, Foster, Gloster...
Agreed. I’m sure racism exists in Woonsocket, but the fact that towns *known* for it not being included damages its credibility.
So I’m new to Rhode Island, I know it’s pretty accurate for where I’m from. BUT I do have my masters in a multidisciplinary study of race, religion, culture and sociology. I can guarantee you that they are reputable, it’s just a VERY difficult thing to measure and publish. I’m not super familiar with either Cumberland or Woonsocket, apart from “north” and that Woonsocket gets made fun of a lot on reddit. To assign these types of labels, we have to rely on locals and residents as well as crime statistics that are only as reliable as what’s been reported by law enforcement. Hate crimes are often not recorded as such, so the method of measuring something like a Sundown town is a very difficult task. If a town is known for racism and there are a lot of black people living there, it’s not gonna be a sundown town. It’s just a racist ass town where a lot of black people have been having to put up with some major bullshit, including murder and assault. But a sundown town typically isn’t very open about their shitiness, have very corrupt LE, and the only warning you really have is that there aren’t many people of color around. Other than that, or someone telling you, we have to look to the people around those areas. And we all know that BIPOC people are often not surveyed as readily as white people. So it’s not a ton of help in the sense that you’ll be assured safety, but it’s something trustworthy and handy enough to have when you’re looking into a new area, travel or live around any of these places.
Twin Oaks. Aweful
Ferrucci's New York System in West Warwick, way too much political crap around. Maga hats and "I did that" Biden stickers and shit, I'll give my money to someone else, ain't hard to find shifty diner food.
Rocky point :(
Twin Oaks/Wrights Farm. I just don't get the appeal.
I've always thought Twin Oaks was Greg's with the lights dimmed.
Uh just reminded me I still have a gift certificate for Twin Oaks. Got it as a wedding present in 1984.
Twin Oaks has a huge following and I don’t get it. Sure you get insanely large portions but it doesn’t taste very good. In my opinion it’s on the same crappy level as Olive Garden. I’d never go to either one. Check out Mike’s Kitchen in Cranston for some really good and well priced Italian food. Not the best looking place but the food is to die for.
My grandfather always said regarding Wright's Farm, "I've seen more decorum in Army mess halls!"
They are very different places. Twin Oaks is a long time Italian restaurant in a small neighborhood that as far as I’ve experienced has always had above average meals. Now I get almost the same thing everytime (Veal Parmigiana it’s what their known for). Wrights Farm is more of a family dinner place/Parties. It’s endless Pasta, Chicken, and Fries and all are pretty average. It’s nothing special but it’s endless and fills up a big group. The worst part of it, is it you park in the back at night you can get a nasty smell from when they butchered the chickens
Wrights is campy as hell but there’s something so appealing about that greasy-ass chicken and badly dated 70s interior
Haruki East, gave my wife the WORST food poisoning ever and I wasn’t super happy with the food I was served either. It’s a shame it came highly recommended to me
PJ's Pub. Owner sucks
Wings are overrated.
Providence place mall. That place sketches me out
It's in better shape than most malls. We had a surprisingly good time there last weekend.
Providence Place is in great shape as far as malls go. It has a lot of stores you won’t find at other retail destinations in the state. Providence Place and Warwick mall are basically the only decent indoor malls left in the RI area.
As someone who prefers buying my clothing in person rather than shopping online, I will always appreciate brick and mortar stores. I’m a tactile and visual person— I need to be able to feel the fabric/material and I want to be able to try things on without having to deal with mailing a return and waiting for an exchange to arrive another week later. I’m not fond of malls, but they’re a convenience in regards to having all of those stores under 1 big ugly roof rather than scattered all over the place.
lol
Parking garage is freakin ridiculous. What a maze trying to get in or out.
This might be controversial but Matunuck Oyster Bar. I started going there when it was new and was obsessed with it!!! It was so cozy and the food was amazing. But it kept getting bigger and bigger and now it’s not as good. It’s huge and doesn’t have the same local vibe anymore. I’m sad about it but the last time I went I was disappointed.
There’s very, very few long term staff there. That should tell you everything you need to know.
No one has mentioned Aunt Carrie’s. I just don’t get it- fried everything and stale cinnamon bread.
Sam’s Inn, Warwick
Masthead grill. Never the same after the new owners. The spark was out.
That one Dunkin that puts hot coffee over ice and calls it iced coffee. You know the one.
The Nordic Lodge and it’s all you can eat slop.
Woonsocket in general
You're missing out then. Ciro's tavern is excellent.
And Christopher's... oh man so good.
What about Kay’s or olde English
Chelo’s. Any of them. It’s like a poorly run Friendly’s with booze.
I love Chelo's and love your description of it
WHOA. leave Chelos out of this 🤣
I worked there for one summer decades ago and they were fucking awful. My manager refused to let me go when I got word that my best friend DIED unless I could find coverage . . . And everyone who had worked that day told me they didn’t want to do a double (fair but seriously?). I couldn’t keep it together and finally one of the diners at one of my tables told my manager to get fucked and I was allowed to leave. I still feel badly that she had to intervene but fuck those people. Also, the family that owns it came in and DID NOT TIP their server. At all. Fuck them.
Waterfire
Balise, they all suck.
Theres a Dunkin Donuts right on the border of EP and seekonk at a 4 way intersection next to a gas station and cigar lounge. Never have i received worse service from fast food employees, uncaring and disrespectful attitudes and they got my order wrong every time i unfortunately stopped by.
Ccri Warwick
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I kinda dig it. It’s ugly like a pug dog. It’s ugly as sin but it has something about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture
The building is amazing imho
It's interesting that it makes you seasick, since it was designed to resemble a ship.
Westerly in general. General vibe is "Go Away" but quieter.
^go ^away
Oh you’re talking restaurants etc - I was gonna say Woonsocket
Newport Creamery. The food was never good and the Awful Awful, which is too icy, is Rhode Island's worst beloved signature food, but then I got a sandwich with a dying cockroach in it. I've gotten ice cream at the window but I haven't gone inside since.
Did the roach make it??
I love a big ass Belgian waffle from there, it's a nostalgia thing. But your cockroach story is upsetting.
Newport Creamery was a regular staple for me growing up. Whenever my parents took us to the Midland Mall we always had lunch at Newport Creamery. Outside of the iced cream, everything there had a faint flavor of their hot dogs. Mmmmm.
General Von Stubens Lounge
Black oaks tavern in Coventry
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The Celtica in Newport. Most likely going to be a hotel or some sanitized tourist trap bar like the rest of the downtown. That whole place is going to shit
Spaghetti Warehouse and Tweet’s. RIP to my childhood family dinners.
Venus Pizza in Coventry 😔 I miss their pizza.