Andrea's Providence — Restaurant in Providence

While the food was fine, the experience seemed unethical and dishonest. I felt the employees lied to not have to pay the third-party app fees and pocket the extra money.

I ordered through TouchBistro and EACH item was $1-2 more expensive than if you just ordered through the restaurant. This was not the issue, but it's important info.

My total ended up being $46 before tax/tip so I added the tip and pushed the order through at 5:30 pm and the app said it'd be ready in 30 min. I get an email at 5:57 that the order was ACCEPTED and my order was being prepared. I walked in at 6:01pm and the lady told me I canceled my order (I did not), but they can just take it again and start on it.

So I went ahead and ordered through her, I didn't make a fuss because I'd figured it'd be cheaper anyway - I looked at their menu and did the math and expected my order to be $42 since there was no longer the up-charge per item. But nope - weirdly my total was EXACTLY the same with the tip.

So she hands me the receipt to sign and nothing was itemized, it just showed my total and the tip line was left empty, so I'm not sure if they were expecting me to add an additional tip since they charged me an extra $4 + auto applied my old tip.

When I got home I checked my email that my order had been "canceled" at 6:10 - nine minutes AFTER I arrived when THEY told me "I" canceled the order?

I think they did all this so they wouldn't have to pay a percentage to the app, which is fine - but why are you up-charging customers, applying your own tip and not honoring the prices listed on your menu? And why are you accepting orders only to cancel them and blame the customers?

I would've gladly let them keep 100% of the earnings and would've left my tip the same, but being charged an extra $4+tip for them to just solely pocket is WILDLY unethical.

I didn't want to make a scene so I didn't say anything, but I just want to warn you all before you put in an order to double-check the prices. Again, the food was fine, but not good enough for me to want to return since they basically...

Disappointed. Hadn't been in years and was looking forward - equal parts nostalgia and good food experiences. I shd have gone with my gut and ordered what I knew they would do well, souvlaki and greek salad. But I was really in the mood for fish, it has to be fresh though or it's all over. I told waitress this and asked her to recommend which fish on the menu was freshest - the swordfish or haddock. She checked in with chef whose answer was they are both very fresh. So I decided to trust and I ordered the haddock florentine in lemon wine sauce with artichokes and mashed potatoes. As soon as it was put in front of me, it smelled off. Looked ok though, and I really wanted to like this meal. I had only a handful of nuts all day and I was hungry. First bite, not good - but I talked myself into having two more before I had to stop. This fish was NOT fresh and (gross) had that lingering ammonia taste that you sometimes, unfortunately, get in fish and chips from a dive, fried fish joint. Not good. The huge serving of mashed potatoes the old fish came with tasted like they came most recently from a box, not a potato. I was a college student in Providence when Andrea's first opened in the 80s and I instantly became a huge fan and repeat customer. I will choose to remember them from years past and won't be heading back...

COLLAPSE of a LONGTIME PROVIDENCE LANDMARK Ever since the early 1980s, when I was a grad student at Brown, this Greek restaurant and bar has somehow managed to defy the drip-by-drip decline of Thayer Street into a gauntlet of fast food. That is, until this past weekend, when my wife and I relied on it to entertain friends and colleagues and were simply stunned by what’s taken the place of our trusty standby. Is Andreas under new management? I’m not sure. But what else could explain the sudden installation of giant-screen TVs that now flash and flicker and dominate even the dining area (!) — not to mention mysteriously substandard dishes. Our reservation had never been received, many standard wines were missing from the shrunken wine list, and dishes we’d enjoyed for decades were completely revamped. As just one example, the Chicken Gyro Platter had suddenly devolved into a mess of soggy zucchini bits, stale pita triangles, and chicken scraps that were saturated in what tasted like taco seasoning. Sadly, I can confirm that Thayer Street, including this former stalwart, is now an utterly lost soul. Go instead to Wickenden, or Wayland Square,...