They reached for a dream. The Washington Bridge closure has them barely hanging on.

Not good, my friend.

That’s Harut Matkasyan talking about the impact of the Washington Bridge crisis on his East Providence restaurant.

It’s called Riviera, a Portuguese mainstay on North Broadway by the Henderson Bridge. It’s got a banquet hall, too.

I asked what he meant by “not good.”

Business is more than 40% down year over year – because of the bridge.

That’s a brutal number.

I heard similar stories from other East Providence places I called.

But start with Harut.

He'll tell you traffic is still bad – when he heads out to pick up supplies, bridge backups can be so frustrating that he just turns around. Other routes are better, like back and forth to the East Side. But many of his regular customers don't realize that and are staying away for fear of traffic.

Harut is also getting banquet cancellations.

“December was a horrible month that should have been the best month,” he said. “I ended up getting cancellations for a half dozen parties.”

And there’s a ripple effect.

“I was going to repave the parking lot, and do interior improvements,” he said. “New ceiling, new lighting.”

But he can’t afford that now.

“So that impacts local contractors, vendors and suppliers,” he said.

Harut, now 62, came to America with his family from Armenia when he was 14. He spent his career in the food and beverage industry, then bought Riviera four years ago. It was a dream.

Not so much these days.

Same with Steve Costa. He bought a closed restaurant at 92 Waterman Ave. in East Providence and created Rosa’s Tavern, a quaint Portuguese and Italian place. That was two years ago. Steve is 35, grew up in town and is the classic case of a chef who aspired to have his own restaurant.

“My motto is you come in as a friend, you leave as family, and family never goes home hungry.”

Things were going well until the bridge.

Now?

“We’re down 30%,” Steve said.

Is he at least making money?

“We’re behind.”

His location is between the two bridges, the Washington and the Henderson, which at first was in chaos as drivers detoured around the 195 squeeze through the East Side.

It's better now, but people are still avoiding the area.

“We’re caught in the middle and nobody’s helping us,” said Steve. By "nobody," he means the state. We'll get to that in a minute.

Next, I tried the Red Bridge Tavern, also on Waterman Avenue, reaching Joseph Pereira, a co-owner for three years. Business was a disaster in the first days of the bridge crisis, and though improved, it's still down, especially at lunchtime.

Like everyone, Joseph has no idea if the bridge crisis is going to continue for months, or years.

“They should be working 24/7,” he said. “Days, nights, weekends, holidays. Sometimes I go by and only see two or three trucks. How long is this going to take?”

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I called Francesca’s on Broadway, across from Riviera and owned by Edgar Barillas, 49, who moved here from Guatemala in 2000.

“For the American dream,” he said.

He opened the first Francesca’s in Pawtucket in 2017 and this one in East Providence only 14 months ago.

He told me that East Providence Mayor Roberto DaSilva has done a good job resolving the bumper-to-bumper traffic, but his business is still down 30%, which is a very big deal.

Edgar serves both Mexican and American food, which brought him a lot of regulars. But many from places like Providence and Barrington are now afraid of the traffic and don’t come as much.

He's worried that the Washington Bridge might, as he puts it, “have to be thrown away” and rebuilt.

“But I’m doing my best to keep these doors open.”

When I called him around 1 p.m. last Wednesday, he counted 10 lunch customers. Some lunchtimes are half that. In pre-bridge times, he often had 20.

But not every place has been impacted.

Peter Dowhan, manager of Chelo’s on Warren Avenue, told me they are down a bit at lunch and early dinners, but not drastically.

He pointed out that Chelo’s has been around 70 years and has a solid following that has gotten the place through.

Finally, I tried Digger’s Catch, a seafood market on North Broadway, also near the Henderson Bridge.

Bill Foeri, 61, has owned it for 13 years.

“Sales are down 50%,” he said. That's huge.

He’s another example of the ripple effect. He has four full-time employees but has had to cut back on payroll and hours.

“And the owner’s the last guy who gets paid,” he said of himself.

Bill is the classic story of a working guy who earned his way up. He spent years as a quahogger, finally creating Digger’s Catch.

But now, he said, he's planning to spend more time shellfishing on the side to make ends meet.

Has business come back at all?

“Not yet,” he said. “I’ll let you know.”

For all of them, there’s frustration about help from the state.

The only aid offered so far has been a low-interest loan from the federal Small Business Administration. But Bill Foeri told me that applying is arduous. And with a 4% interest rate after a grace period, it’s hardly a rescue package.

“I’m not enthusiastic,” he said. “More debt doesn’t help. That sinks us faster.”

Steve Costa, of Rosa’s Tavern, told me the same. What’s needed, he said, is a grant, not a loan.

Francesca's Edgar Barillas echoes that. He’s considering the loan, but doesn’t love the idea.

“I don’t want more debt,” he said.

And here's a glimpse into the SBA bureaucracy. Tommy Allen, who just opened Myrtle, a bar and music venue on Waterman Avenue, with his wife, Natalie Vanlandingham, was told by some out-of-state SBA person that the situation is no longer a "disaster" because part of the bridge has reopened.

But Tommy begs to differ. He said it's still bad, with many patrons not coming until mid-evening, when traffic has lightened. And what the SBA guy doesn't realize, said Tommy, is that some I-195 off- and on-ramps are still closed, making it hard to get to and from the area.

"It's cut our business in half," said Tommy.

Harut, of Riviera, said now-struggling businesses like his and others are the "heartbeat" of East Providence, and they aren't being helped.

Indeed, from what I heard, the bridge problem has hit many salt-of-the-earth folks who reached for a dream and are now barely hanging on.

Clearly, the little guy is being hurt the most.

And so far, there’s no meaningful lifeline.

mpatinki@providenceournal.com

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: East Providence restaurants struggling amid Washington Bridge crisis