C'mon, people. It's Haven Brothers…read more
Is it a true, objective, Michelin-style five-star dining experience? No. Absolutely not. But that completely misses the point of Haven Brothers. This place is a Providence institution, and sometimes you have to review a place for what it actually is rather than holding it to some ridiculous standard it never intended to meet.
I used to frequent Haven Brothers pretty much every weekend when I was driving down to Rhode Island from college, and more nights than I can count eventually ended here. There was something about finishing a night out, wandering over to the trailer, climbing inside, ordering some food and standing around Providence with a collection of equally hungry people that just worked. Friday and Saturday nights could produce quite a cast of characters, too. You meet all kinds of people around Haven Brothers late at night, and honestly, that's part of the entertainment.
There's also something genuinely fun about the place itself. It's not a conventional restaurant. You walk into the trailer, place your order, watch the food being prepared and take in all the history surrounding the place. Haven Brothers has been serving Providence from its mobile diner since the late 19th century, and there's something wonderfully old-school about the whole experience.
The burger I had wasn't the best burger I've ever eaten, and I'm certainly not going to pretend it was. But it was big, it was good, it was satisfying, and after a long night out, that's really all I was asking of it. The prices are also refreshingly reasonable, especially considering how expensive everything has become. You can get a substantial meal without feeling like you need to take out a second mortgage, and the service is impressively fast.
But here's the thing: you don't really come to Haven Brothers because you're searching for the finest hamburger in Rhode Island. You come because it's Haven Brothers. It's the trailer, the history, the late nights, the characters, the downtown location and the feeling that you're participating in something that's been part of Providence for generations.
For me, there's a tremendous amount of nostalgia wrapped up in this place. I spent plenty of college weekends ending up here, and coming back now brings back that particular feeling of being young, staying out far later than you probably should, and deciding that greasy food at an absurd hour was somehow the perfect conclusion to the evening.
So yes, I'm giving it five stars, even though I freely admit the burger itself isn't a five-star burger. Sometimes a place earns five stars because of what it means, not because every individual component is flawless. Haven Brothers is one of those places. It's a Providence institution, it's fun, it's affordable, the food is good, and the service is fast. If you're in Providence and you've never been, go experience it for yourself. Then you'll understand why people keep coming back.