Entry No. 9 — the Providence file — filed under: live-jazz
Chan's Eggrolls & Jazz
The building at 267 Main Street has served Chinese food since 1905; the Chan family took it over in 1965, and in 1977 John Chan started booking live bands next to the egg rolls — 49 years later, 'Live at Chan's' is one of New England's longest-running jazz and blues rooms. The venue expanded in the 1980s into the former bank next door, and the walls have become a museum of the thousands of musicians who've played the humble stage, Dizzy Gillespie and Scott Hamilton among them, their signed photos crowding every surface. Woonsocket has given Chan a key to the city and is planning a statue; he still runs the room, and the 2026 calendar is packed with blues acts and tribute bands through October. Dinner is combination plates, ribs, and wonton soup, served while the band sets up a few feet away.
→ Three more after-dark & night-sky spots in Providence — never the same twice
The story
A Chinese restaurant has been at 267 Main Street since 1905. It was the Shanghai, then the New Shanghai after the Chan family took over from cousins in 1965 — only the second family to run the place in its whole history. John Chan graduated from Providence College in 1974, took the restaurant over shortly after, and renamed it the House of Chan. He had spent his student nights in Providence music clubs, Joe's Upstairs chief among them, and in 1977 he asked his father whether they could put a band in the dining room. His father had grown up in the big band era. "Yeah, let's give it a shot."
One of the first bookings was Sammy Sherman on slide trombone, with Gene McKenna O'Donnell singing and a Providence College professor, Rodney Dallasanto, on jazz accordion; Chan still calls it the kind of set you don't forget. By the 1980s the restaurant had spread into the former bank next door, which bought it more seats and a proper events room, with a stage barely raised off the floor. Dizzy Gillespie played it. So did Scott Hamilton, Rebecca Parris and Leon Redbone, and Monster Mike Welch and Grace Kelly both started at Chan's as teenagers. Most of the sets were recorded and kept.
The walls are the archive: hundreds of signed photographs, Chan's own watercolors and oils hung opposite the wall of fame, pop-art musician portraits by George Frayne IV of Commander Cody, original work by Robert Hamilton, and a lobby of signed Farrelly brothers posters — the Farrellys were Providence College classmates. There is a J. Geils gold record, and an Oscar the Farrellys handed him for a bit part opposite Cher in Stuck on You. Chan still books every act himself. Woonsocket has given him a key to the city and a John Chan Day, April 26, 1993, with a statue planned for Railroad and Main.
What it's like
The kitchen opens at 3 p.m. seven days a week, and the show is a separate ticket — general admission, no reserved tables, which means the people who arrive early and order dinner get the seats near that low stage. Recent listings run 8 to 10 p.m., and the house is blunt about starting on time and refunding nothing, for any reason, ever. Prices track the act: $25 in advance and $30 at the door for a jazz quartet, $38 and $45 for a touring blues headliner. Happy hour, 3 to 6 Monday through Thursday and dine-in only, is the cheap way in — egg rolls at $3.50 apiece, boneless ribs at $13, $2 off the combination dinners. Cards carry a 3% convenience fee. Then the band loads in a few feet from your table and the room does both jobs at once.
The move: Buy two tickets to this weekend's blues act at chanseggrollsjazz.com, show up when doors open to grab a table close to the stage, and order the egg rolls and boneless ribs before the first set — it is dinner theater where both halves are the point.
📍 Before you go Restaurant opens at 3 pm seven days a week; shows are ticketed separately through the website and the music room fills up for bigger names, so buy ahead rather than at the door. Happy hour runs 3-6 pm Monday-Thursday if you want a cheap pre-show hour. Downtown Woonsocket, about 25 minutes from Providence; call (401) 765-1900 with questions.
- 📍 Woonsocket
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Low-key
- 🌗 Outdoors
Where: 267 Main St, Woonsocket, RI 02895
Hours: Added 2026-08-25 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- St. Ann Arts and Cultural Center — A mile away in the same city, with walk-in tours only on Sunday afternoons — and Chan's opens at 3 and books the occasional Sunday show, so the timing lines up exactly once a week.
- Rustic Tri-View Drive-In — Ten minutes south on Route 146: eat at Chan's when the kitchen opens, then be at the drive-in gate for dusk.
- Old Slater Mill — The other end of the Blackstone Valley mill story — free, in Pawtucket, and on the drive up, so you can see where the mills started before dinner in the French-Canadian mill city they built.
More weird in Providence
Good to know
Do I need a ticket, and does it include dinner?
Tickets are sold separately from food at chanseggrollsjazz.com and they are general admission — no assigned tables. A fall 2026 jazz quartet ran $25 advance and $30 at the door; a touring blues headliner the same month was $38 and $45. Everything is non-refundable, and the stated policy covers weather, illness and changed plans alike, so buy for a night you will actually turn up for.
What time should we get there?
The restaurant opens at 3 p.m. daily and recent shows are listed 8 to 10 p.m. Since seating is first-come, eat first: arrive by 6 or 6:30, order, and hold the table through the set. Chan's warns that shows start on time and will not refund a late arrival.
How do we get there, and is it far?
267 Main Street in downtown Woonsocket, about 25 minutes north of Providence up Route 146. Call 401-765-1900 for a table or takeout. Note the 3% credit card convenience fee — cash and debit avoid it.
What's the room actually like?
Two joined buildings: the original restaurant and the former bank next door that became the events room. The performance platform is lower and smaller than a normal stage, so the front tables are effectively in the band. Every wall is covered — signed photographs, Chan's own paintings, movie posters, a gold record — which makes the walk to the restroom a detour.
Is it only jazz?
No. Chan books the calendar himself and it runs wide: straight-ahead jazz quartets, Chicago blues, blues-rock headliners, roots rock, and a steady rotation of tribute acts — the Doors, Amy Winehouse, Led Zeppelin, the Allman Brothers — mostly Fridays and Saturdays with the occasional Sunday.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site · oceanstatemedia.org
last checked: 2026-08-25