Fall River Café To Reopen Without Post Office

Jeff Green | Mar 29, 2023

Take out available starting this week

Pradeep Vablachandran began facing obstacles as soon as he re-opened the Fall River Café in Maberly during the May long weekend last spring. After two busy days, the Derecho hit and the restaurant lost power for the next four days.

Undaunted, the Café quickly built up a strong following over the summer, with a very popular breakfast menu, and a varied lunch and dinner menu sprinkled with some recipes from his native Sri Lanka.

Struggles with food and labour costs proved to be a challenge, but Pradeep is strongly committed to hie clientele.

“I needed to make sure that I am making food that people in my community can afford, so we have worked hard to keep prices from rising too much.

When business slowed down in the fall, he decided to close the restaurant for January and take the time to return to Sri Lanka to visit his family and elderly parents. But because of family illness, he ended up staying through to Mid-March, and has returned ready get the restaurant back in gear.

“We will not be ready for in-person dining until April 12, but we want to be available now, so we are opening for take-out starting this Thursday (March 30).”

The Fall River will be open from Wednesday to Sunday from 9am-6pm, until the end of May when it will be open for summer hours.

One of the good things that came from his extended stay in Sri Lanka, was that he learned some new Sri Lankan dishes that he will be bringing to the restaurant later in the spring.

“I learned how to make some fish and seafood dishes I did not know before. I look forward to giving people a chance to taste them,” he said.

Although he owns the restaurant, Pradeep is one of three partners who own the building, and unfortunately while he was away the hydro bill did not get paid for two months.

“My partner was taking care of that, but he was very busy with another business. We paid the bill as soon as the Hydro went out, but Hydro One did not restore service for three days.

Canada Post rented space in the building, and when the Hydro went off, they pulled out and are currently serving Maberly clientele out of Sharbot Lake

Pradeep said he did not deal with Canada Post directly, but said the Fall River would welcome them back of they came to terms. He also said that Canada Post were very slow in paying their own rent for the space.

Canada Post sees the matter a bit differently.

In a statement from Lisa Liu, media relations, Canada Post said: “Unfortunately, the Maberly Post Office temporarily closed as of Thursday, March 9 due to unexpected reasons beyond our control and will no longer operate in this building. Canada Post has met all its contractual obligations in the lease.

“We remain committed to the residents of Maberly and are exploring all options to continue services in Maberly. A notice is posted on the front door of the post office informing customers that they can temporarily pick up their packages and access postal services at the Sharbot Lake Post Office located at 1034 Elizabeth Street, Sharbot Lake.

While it appears that the mail is not coming returning, food is back at the Fall River Café, and the convenience store is getting set to re-open as well. To contact the Fall River Café, call 613-268-0003