La Masseria in EG, but that could have changed

Village Haven & Lucky Dog in forestdale are known as having great ownership. In Cranston Mike's kitchen is under new ownership (RIP Mike) and have a great reputation as well.

You must include capriccio in Providence

The East End could be a great spot to feature. Unbelievably kind staff who appear to genuinely like where they work with an upscale dining room and some wildly talented folks behind the bar mixing drinks.

I don't work for Gracie's in Providence so I can't say personally, but I have heard they are in line with what you're describing and it's a great upscale restaurant. They also are bucking tipping culture by including a 20% service charge on all bills and distributing that and any other gratuities evenly to their team through wages.

I have no idea about their employee satisfaction, but if you're using the service charge as an indicator of a good workplace, Den Den Korean Fried Chicken also does it. Might be worth looking into it.

Pickerel, I believe.

I would much rather have Den Den's style of just charging more for the food than get a 20% service charge after the fact.

What Gracie's is doing is just mandatory tipping.

The slow rhode and Broadway bistro. Seconding Pickerel.

I agree, but I’ll also throw in that there are different schools of thought here. One is that tipping itself is silly. The other is that tipping is fine, but inequitable, since tips are correlated with how attractive patrons find the server to be. The flat charge addresses the second issue, while keeping the idea of a tip in place.

>I'm working on a piece about the death of fine dining's old ways (toxic chefs and owners, traditional white tablecloth settings, etc.) and putting a spotlight on the places around Rhode Island that actually treat their staff well.

Whoa, confirmation bias.

Also people typing random names without evidence and getting upvoted is also yikes.

Edit: No surprise this comment was mass downvoted. r/providence always complaining about horrible journalism but gladly contributes to it. Stay classy.

I think the effect is the same, it's just being called something else. In either case it takes the tipping decision out of the patrons' hands and makes it a cost built into the overall price, so that the income is reliable, predictable, and not reliant on the whims of the often hostile and/or biased public.

I understand the concept of tipping, and always tip very well, but why can’t these places just pay their employees? There are actually places in the world that do this. Who made the rule that waitresses and waiters need to make such little pay?

I hear Davenports is lovely.

Gracie's

A lot of factors keep it from ever changing but I think it's just boils down to consumerism. Basically the same human psychology we play here with the 4.99 vs 5 dollars and not including sales tax in prices of stuff. Whatever way you can give a consumer a lower price before check out is ideal. It's not surprising America adopted this.

That steak isn't 18 dollars it comes with a 1.26 sales tax, .18 cent local tax, with a 3.6 tip. You'd feel too bad to get a soda if the steak was 23.04.

How about a follow up piece on the toxic owners and chefs? There’s a lot to mine from lmao

Yesss

I think Foglia in Bristol could be considered fine dining. The chef is incredible too. I personally haven’t worked with him, but I’ve tried his food a few times over the years and it’s been great. It’s also fully vegan.

The Newport Restaurant Group is an ESOP (Employee Stock Owner Plan) They have a bunch of places including Hemenway's, the Mooring, and Castle Hill Inn. Its not new though, they been one for decades.