Hellobee Boards

I love Providence, but don't know too much about it. I have actually been thinking of going for a weekend away, too. I think Mrs. Wagon went recently.

Ohmigawwwd. I lived in Providence last year and my heart skipped a beat when I saw this thread because I love, love, love that city so much! DH and I actually made an itinerary for @Mrs. Wagon and Wagon Sr., and they fell in love with the city, too.

Cheap(-ish) Eats:
- Ramen at Ken's Ramen http://www.kenramenpvd.com/ ($10-20/person)
- Surprisingly AMAZING vegetarian food at The Grange http://providencegrange.com/ ($15-30/person)
- Really creative and excellent executed Asian-inspired small plates at North http://www.foodbynorth.com/ ($20-35/person)
- The most amazing and intimate brunch at the tiniest restaurant, Kitchen https://www.facebook.com/tinylittlekitchen ($10-20/person - get the bacon! It's life-changing! And the local classic "coffee milk!")
- Signature Providence grilled pizza (yes, grilled!) at the birthplace of the dish, Al Forno http://www.alforno.com/ (The regular entrees are super expensive, but just order the pizza and it's $15-25/person!)
- Really cool, kinda hipster-y and almost dive-y small plates at AS220 Food http://www.as220.org/foodanddrink/

Fine dining:
- The modern and creative Birch http://www.birchrestaurant.com/
- Nick's on Broadway (you must get the chef's tasting menu) http://nicksonbroadway.com/site/
- Gracie's is an institution but Birch (next door) has been outshining it these days. http://graciesprovidence.com/

To see and do:
- Window shop along Westminster St. in downtown. Start at the revived oldest mall in America, the Arcade http://www.arcadeprovidence.com/ at Arcade St down to Mathewson St. Lots of great craft shops, restaurants, desserts, home goods, etc.
- The RISD museum is free on Sundays 10am-5pm! http://risdmuseum.org/visit/
- The Dean Hotel has made it into every major design and travel magazine this year. It is a thing to behold. And they have private karaoke rooms! And an excellent coffeeshop. It's definitely worth a gander. https://thedeanhotel.com/
- The amazing, incomparable Hope St. Farmers Market on Saturdays through October! http://www.hopestreetmarket.com/
- WaterFire http://waterfire.org/schedule/2014-waterfire-event-schedule/

Coffee: (starting with what I think has the best reputation at the top)
- New Harvest (http://www.newharvestcoffee.com/) Served in many restaurants, with a great shop inside the Arcade. If you go to their roasting site inside the Hope Artiste's Village, they will roast your beans ON THE SPOT. I will never have coffee any other way now!
- White Electric Coffee http://whiteelectriccoffee.com/
- The Shop http://www.theshopfoxpoint.com/
- Dave's Coffee http://www.yelp.com/biz/daves-coffee-providence

I was going to ask at the beginning what your particular interests are, but then I just word-vomited up all these great ideas because I'm so excited, so I hope something tickles your fancy! But if you do want to specify some of your interests (cuisines, types of activity, etc.), let us know!

ETA: I wanted to pre-empt any suggestions for Mama Kim's food truck in case I offend anyone. For some reason that I'll never understand, some people think that this food truck is destination worthy, but it is a food truck that sells mediocre Korean-ish food. If you want Korean food, get the real thing and go to Den Den or Teriyaki & Korean House.

@autumn865: Nylo is awesome, I grew up in Warwick, but Warwick is not Providence. It's across the street from a suburban mall.
For a true Providence experience I'd stay down city.

ETA: parking can be a pain in pvd and you'll definitely need a car if you stay in Warwick. Transit is pretty basic too. But Providence is amazing and I'd totally go for a romantic weekend.

@regberadaisy: Providence is no NYC, but it is WAY less expensive! It's a quick 3-3.5-hr train ride! The Amtrak comes right into the city in PVD.

Loved Providence! We were in town for a wedding, it was a long time ago. I remember watching the waterfire thing and it was cool!

@ineebee: Great list!! I really want to go to Providence now!!!

My DH is from RI, and so I guess I have such a different perspective. Thanks for the recs in this post as I will definitely think about going to some of these places when we are in the area again.

Wow, I live in Boston and have never really thought to visit Providence. I may have to consider for a nice day trip now!

@autumn865: many many things walkable from the Dean! We got a night at the Biltmore for the same price as the night at the Dean through a groupon, actually! Just fair warning that while the Dean is COOL and very very interesting, if you're used to traditional hotels you might not enjoy your stay. A few things I found to be inconvenient were: no mini fridge, no closet (just 3 wall hooks), no dresser, no bathroom counter (so I had to put my makeup in the sink while getting ready) and no shower door (no matter how careful we were, we both totally flooded the bathroom floor with our showers, and no drain in the bathroom floor either). No room service or in room phone either. My husband loved it though!