Pawtucket Dining and Nightlife

[Recchia]

Is the diner on Newport Ave just south of Job Lot/Burlington Coat Factory still open? I wanted to go to it last night but it looks desolate.

Also who's been to Spumoni's? I keep going by it everytime I go to the train station and have been wondering if its worth a try.

[Frankie811]

Also who's been to Spumoni's? I keep going by it everytime I go to the train station and have been wondering if its worth a try.

Been there several times and never had a good or decent meal.

[Jenks]

Been there several times and never had a good or decent meal.

I concur. Many, many, many years ago it was decent. Either that or I was too young and stupid to know it wasn't.

[Osheenwa]

My wife and I ate at the Heritage Tap last week and were blown away. The food was great and the prices were insanely cheep (8.95 for the specials...). It's on Grand Ave off of Central just past Newport ave. It looks like a dive, but it's the best restaurant we've eaten at in Pawtucket since moving here last month.

[Cotuit]

Welcome to UrbanPlanet, welcome to Pawtucket, and thanks for the recommendation.

[brick]

I know it's been said before (even by me) but another tip of the cap to Madhouse.

I made it for the first time this summer last night to sit outside and the spot is nearly perfect. Who would have thought? Anyway the terrace is very well executed and the food was good as always.

I really hope something interesting happens with the rest of the Ziggaraut.

[Recchia]

I wish they would've relocated the Tomato Vine from the Warwick Apex to this one when they knocked it down for the Lowe's. I loved that restaurant so much, and having it in another former Apex location would've made it easy to find.

[SUjunkie]

Is the diner on Newport Ave just south of Job Lot/Burlington Coat Factory still open? I wanted to go to it last night but it looks desolate.

Also who's been to Spumoni's? I keep going by it everytime I go to the train station and have been wondering if its worth a try.

The Diner hasn't been open for awhile now. Bickford's is gone as well so that end of Newport Ave. has no breakfast place.

I've been to Spumoni's a few times. Not great. Average food and dining experience.

[frymasterspeck]

East Ave Cafe to Reopen 10/1

More on The Bucket Blog.

[brick]

East Ave Cafe to Reopen 10/1

More on The Bucket Blog.

Great news. I hope they bring back some of the flavor, since it had become pretty bland.

In other news, for those that don't also read the Prov D&N thread, Madhouse is temporarily closed (and has been for a week) for "kitchen repair and maintanence," which to me means something bad happened, I presume a kitchen fire but it could also have been plumbing issues. I would think mechanical issues (like a broken fridge) would have been taken care of immediately. I know of at least a half dozen people from out of town who attended the arts fest and dragon boat races last weekend who wanted to go there, so it's a really bad time for it to have happened.

[basachs]

Great news. I hope they bring back some of the flavor, since it had become pretty bland.

In other news, for those that don't also read the Prov D&N thread, Madhouse is temporarily closed (and has been for a week) for "kitchen repair and maintanence," which to me means something bad happened, I presume a kitchen fire but it could also have been plumbing issues. I would think mechanical issues (like a broken fridge) would have been taken care of immediately. I know of at least a half dozen people from out of town who attended the arts fest and dragon boat races last weekend who wanted to go there, so it's a really bad time for it to have happened.

Seems like they have "cash flow" problems.

http://www.pawtuckettimes.com/site/news.cf...24491&rfi=6

[Recchia]

Seems like they have "cash flow" problems.

http://www.pawtuckettimes.com/site/news.cf...24491&rfi=6

That makes me very sad. I hope they can reopen.

WTF is this "parking" issue? Are people really so friggen lazy they can't walk from the MASSIVE Apex lot 40 feet to the front door? We need valet parking to "solve" the "parking problem?!" I hate people. Maybe they should have rentable segways in the lot so people can seg it up to the front door. In another couple thousand years, I bet nobody even has legs anymore due to evolutionary changes...

[Cotuit]

But Watson cited the parking issues, saying valet parking might have helped.

People seriously cannot walk a hundred yards from the sea of parking next door? They mentioned the lot is crowded when the registry is open, it cannot be full when the registry is open. Are people really that fat and lazy? If so, I give up, this country should just roll over and die.

"The Madhouse location is a difficult location because it's in the middle of nowhere,"

Uhm, they're in the middle of Downtown, sure there's nothing much downtown right now, but where in Pawtucket is less middle of nowhere? And if people can't walk a hundred yards from the parking at Madhouse, wherelse downtown will something work?

[Recchia]

Ugh, that article infuriates me on so many levels. I guess the only place they wouldnt consider to be the middle of nowhere in the Bucket is sprawltastic Newport Ave. Sadly, I bet Madhouse would be even more hoppin if it were over there.

And Pawtucket Times,

---------this is called an indent, USE IT!

Or you could put a line in between paragraphs, like this^

[brick]

I'm more annoyed by the "we're Pawtucket, we can't have fancy things" attitude of the people involved.

It's also completely stupid to make comparisons betwen Madhouse in Pawtucket and LJ's which is basically on the East Side as if they face similar challenges.

What I really don't get is that they were always busy when I was there, although they did seem overstaffed. I wonder if the management was a bigger issue than the job of attracting clientele. i.e. their prices actually weren't high enough that I would expect a separate waiter, server, and water person.

One thing that it seems may have been worth investigating for them would be a lunch menu with less expensive items, although their prices were no different than a random TGI Friday's or corporate schlock food which is what this reporter probably wants.

[Cotuit]

I'm more annoyed by the "we're Pawtucket, we can't have fancy things" attitude of the people involved.

Indeed, I'm sure there's no lack of places to get a Bud Lite in Pawtucket, and they probably all have parking 4 inches from the front door. Places like Trinity and Union Station do just fine without offer Bud Lite and the like. Trinity and Union are packed on P-Bruins nights, so its not just the high class East Side literati keeping those places afloat.

What there money problem sounds to be is they burned through a lot of money to open and had delays which prevented them from seeing any income for several months, and they haven't been able to overcome that loss. Margins in the restaurant industry can be razor thin, and if you start out behind, that's hard to overcome.

[basachs]

Heh, I purposely did not comment on the article itself, but I felt a little annoyed at the defeatist attitude and the parking/walking issue.

I agree with Cotuit's assessment of the money issue, which the article does suggest. I am still amazed at how slow things take here in RI in terms of putting together any type of business. Seeing as how the proprietor was not new to the restaurant business here in RI, a little better planning should have happened to ensure they had the cash to stay afloat while ramping up.

Its a shame, but as we often talk about on the Providence boards, a number of casualites is to be expected as a city experiences a rebirth. Even great places may not make it, but those type of places will come back and thrive with time.

[eltron]

Pretty schlocky article with lots of speculation from other restaraunters...

if anything, it was a bad business model and not a lack of demand or business...the garden grill guy is totally ridiculous...then again, he set up shop in a strip mall on the east side, so...

anyway, I would bet their model relied on crazy amounts of alcohol being bought that just didn't materialize, with most people going for the awesome lower priced burgers...when glasses of wine are 8 bucks, people just aren't gonna buy, but the place could still stay really busy all the time. People just must not buying the higher priced stuff and they're feeling the pinch.

[frymasterspeck]

I always felt that Madhouse overreached the market. And I am pretty sure that I spent more money there than any poster on this forum. I would take clients or go to celebrate something. It simply wasn't a place you could hang out in. God knows I tried.

Not to say that mine is the only opinion that counts, but I live and work in Pawtucket. I hardly ever leave. So it is with some understanding that I say there simply aren't enough gourmands in the city to support a place like that. Is it that great that it's a destination in itself? Would you Westsiders go past J, Nick's, El Chapicinto, etc. to get to the highway and drive to Pawtucket for dinner? Or you Eastsiders going past Pizzico, Blaze, Oak, Ranzan, LJs? Did you ever?

What I want to see so desparately is a nice, regular place to just hang out. A place similar to the East Ave, but without the anti-progressive, softball-team, WWII era attitudes. A place where you can talk about something other than sports. A place where a homosexual could go and not get hate-crimed.

Regarding parking -- this city's slavish obsession with parking is a major problem for itself, IMO. We bring people into the city, park them right next to their destination, put them back in their cars, and send them on their way. You can't have foot traffic if nobody ever uses their feet.

700,000 people came to McCoy Stadium this summer, and we never saw any of them. Hundreds of people come right downtown to the YMCA every week. They park, they swim, they leave. Tens of thousands go to the Registry. It is not for a lack of people that we have a lack of foot traffic. It is simply for a lack of walking.

I was at a civic meeting where a progressive-type suggested that we bollocks the parking lots and make the city a biking/walking kind of place. It produced almost comical looks of stupification on the City Father's faces and zero response. She might as well have been speaking Farsi. (I gave it a 'here-here' but got no other support.)

I hate people.

Thanks, Recchia, for taking the mantle of Worst Attitude in The Group off my narrow shoulders. Carry it with pride.

[Cotuit]

I'm sure j. and eltron are taking note. I hope that they are able bring something to the Grant that fits what you describe.

It produced almost comical looks of stupification on the City Father's faces and zero response.

Someone moments ago asked me if RIPTA was really necessary, as he had never ridden a RIPTA bus before.

[brick]

I don't know, speck, considering your first thoughts on the subject were that Madhouse was a crime on the taxpayers of Pactucket, I think I'm going to take your comments with a grain of salt.

I have plenty of friends from all over northern RI and the South Shore of MA that loved Madhouse and bought plenty of wine. Maybe they aren't your kind of people, (although lower middle class 20 and 30 somethings usually aren't that offensive to anybody) but Pawtucket can't be insular either. Insular thinking is, IMO, what has gotten RI into so much trouble in the past. And considering that many of those people would go to Narragansett to go to the original Crazy Burger, I have to say that yes, it was that good.

I just get the feeling you are happy they closed, like it's a victory for the common man or something.

I am with eltron and I don't think the problem was patronage per se, which is another reason I think the PawTimes story is a crock.

Anyway Ch. 12 is out there right now, so I guess it must be a slow news night!

[frymasterspeck]

No pleasure here.

And if y'uns were buying wine, I was definitely outspent. I stand corrected.

[Recchia]

Thanks, Recchia, for taking the mantle of Worst Attitude in The Group off my narrow shoulders. Carry it with pride.

Oh I always thought I was the most miserable person with the poorest attitude on this site!

[Frankie811]

Indeed, I'm sure there's no lack of places to get a Bud Lite in Pawtucket, and they probably all have parking 4 inches from the front door. Places like Trinity and Union Station do just fine without offer Bud Lite and the like. Trinity and Union are packed on P-Bruins nights, so its not just the high class East Side literati keeping those places afloat.

What there money problem sounds to be is they burned through a lot of money to open and had delays which prevented them from seeing any income for several months, and they haven't been able to overcome that loss. Margins in the restaurant industry can be razor thin, and if you start out behind, that's hard to overcome.

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/325899

[Nyuszi]

I made my second trip to Jac's yesterday. They have added a few more things to the menu (meat pies) and my wrap and smoothie were both excellent once again. the interior is still being finished and I assume at some point there will be more places to sit.

Is Jac's still open??

I finally decided to try them today and their phone number has been diconnected!