Eating Out on Thanksgiving Can Be a Challenge

The people who own and work at restaurants apparently like to spend Thanksgiving at home. After about a dozen calls to East Greenwich restaurants we found only one open on Thursday. The Grille on Main serves a Thanksgiving Day buffet from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and the bar is open until 8 p.m.

Our survey, although fairly extensive, was very unofficial so if you would like to know if your favorite restaurant will be open we suggest you make a call. 

We found that web sites have general information, but none that we looked at had any information about the holiday.

Pizza and sandwiches don’t seem to be in demand on turkey day either. Our stops at Subway, Greenwich Pizzeria and Marketplace and Domino’s will all be closed. 

Even with a turkey dinner on the menu, many people still seem to need their morning coffee and maybe a pastry. Mainstreet Coffee is open from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. McDonald’s opens from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. Dunkin’ Donuts staff will be on the job from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m.  And Felica’s will be serving coffee and available for bakery pickups from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Cumberland Farms is open on their regular schedule.

Drug stores are also available for a good part of the day. Walgreen’s, excluding the pharmacy, is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. CVS drug stores are also open - the new store on South County Trail posted its hours as 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. with the pharmacy open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.   

At Dave’s Market at 1000 Division the checkout clerk told us the store is closed on Thanksgiving Day, but open again on the regular schedule on Friday. She said Friday is usually sort of a slow day because everyone is still eating turkey and leftovers.

Again, this was a random and unofficial survey - we recommend you make your own call if you want to know if a favorite store will be open Thursday.

And of course while most of us are falling asleep from overeating, a lot of people will be on the job as usual. Police, firefighters, hospital workers, convenience store employees, and many others will go to work like any other day. With any luck, they will get a slightly early or slightly late turkey dinner.