Where can I eat on Thanksgiving Monday in Saint John, NB?

September 22, 2022 7:01 AM

Can you recommend a restaurant in/near Uptown Saint John that's likely to be open on Thanksgiving? I'm taking a little New Brunswick vacation and, inconveniently, I'll be entering Canada from the US on Canadian Thanksgiving. I have a hotel booked in Saint John that night but I'm not sure to what extent restaurants and supermarkets will be open. Maybe I'm unnecessarily concerned and there will be plenty of places open?

This is weirdly difficult to Google! I keep finding results about New Brunswick, NJ and last year's Thanksgiving weekend COVID restrictions in New Brunswick, with a bit of St. John, USVI and St. John's, NL mixed in.

It seems like grocery stores are generally closed on Thanksgiving, but there are a handful of restaurants that will let me make OpenTable reservations for that Monday night, which seems promising (or maybe they just haven't updated their calendars in OpenTable). I know I won't starve - I'll bring some snacks with me and my hotel appears to have one of those lobby markets where you can at least get Cup Noodles - but I would love to be able to get a hot meal and maybe a beer after a long drive.

Also would love any recommendations for non-Thanksgiving dining and activities along the Fundy Coast! (I know this is the end of/after the tourist season and my options will be somewhat limited, but I'm cool with that.)

posted by mskyle to Travel & Transportation around New Brunswick (4 answers total)

Best answer: Whether a given restaurant will be opened or closed on Thanksgiving in Canada varies. If they're available on OpenTable, however, they almost certainly will be, and if they end up not being open, it probably won't be because of Thanksgiving but because of some other unexpected happening.

I'm not familiar with Saint John specifically, but Thanksgiving is actually a fairly busy weekend for restaurants in much of Canada because a lot of people travel. Even some restaurants which are not normally open on Mondays will open specifically because of the long weekend.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:56 AM on September 22, 2022

Best answer: Canada is not as much like the US where *everything* shuts down for thanksgiving (as I found the HARD way omg). So check in advance but some places will still be open. If there’s a Swiss Chalet near your hotel… well this is the season where they Shine, my friend.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 11:44 AM on September 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Great, this sounds very manageable! I've been caught by surprise by holidays before, and I've also bought the last carton of cream at the gas station that was the only place open on my way to (US) Thanksgiving, so when I saw that Walmart was closed on (Canadian) Thanksgiving I got worried - but it sounds like I should have options.
posted by mskyle at 2:09 PM on September 22, 2022

Different provinces and cities have slightly different ways of regulating who may be open on public holidays, but it is common for restaurants to be allowed to open while retail stores are mandated to close. A very, very quick glance at New Brunswick's rules says that that the default in that province works that way.
posted by jacquilynne at 2:50 PM on September 22, 2022