NYC Restaurants See Diners Step Tentatively Back Inside

Despite Governor Andrew Cuomo's theatrical announcement that restaurants could reopen at 25% capacity over Valentine's Day weekend ("Propose on Valentine's Day — you have the wedding ceremony [in March]," Cuomo declared), multiple restaurant workers told Gothamist that turnout was lighter than expected during the first three days of indoor dining’s return. They guessed that skittishness over new coronavirus variants, iffy weather, and trips out of town for the long weekend all resulted in fewer people making reservations to eat indoors.

In contrast to reports of last fall’s indoor dining period, restaurant workers who spoke to Gothamist said that patrons over the weekend were largely considerate and didn’t make a fuss about COVID-19 protocols.

"The people sitting inside were respectful, we had a lot of regulars who were curious how we were doing," said Rebecca, a server and bartender in Carroll Gardens who asked that her last name and employer not be included. "One of our biggest problems is having people remember they have to put their mask on [to talk to us], because it’s small inside — people start shouting over to the bartender because they’re used to talking to us from everywhere. So we have to say, 'We’re happy to talk to you but you have to put your mask back on.'"

Paris, a server at a restaurant uptown who told Gothamist about the challenges of working indoor dining last fall, agreed that the vibe was calmer this time around.

"I felt more relaxed because of customer compliance being better than before," he said. "It also helps that we did this before so I knew what to expect."

Charlotta Janssen, who owns Chez Oskar in Fort Greene, said that while some people may be avoiding indoor dining until they’re vaccinated, she didn’t sense any nervousness from diners who did come in.

"I think people were really happy to be out, celebrating the tail end of the coldest days," she said. "It was so nice to be able to not freeze to death and have a meal."

Janssen, who said that reservations were down at her restaurant, blamed elected officials for treating reopening decisions as "TV moments" rather than choices that need to make business sense. For example, announcing at the last minute that restaurants could stay open until 11 p.m., she said, threw off her restaurant’s ability to plan for a successful shift.

"Also, the fear-mongering is not helping anyone," Janssen added. "We’ve invested in power air-washers, we’ve invested in MERV filters, we have CO2 monitors, we keep logs, we make it way safer than if you congregate at home."

The New York City Hospitality Alliance, which has pointed to state data from last fall indicating that only 1.5% of COVID-19 cases came from bars and restaurants, applauded the decision to open for indoor dining last weekend, but said more help is still needed.

"It’s a glimmer of hope for these small businesses, but with some 140,000 industry jobs lost and thousands of restaurants and bars uncertain of whether they can survive without immediate financial relief, it’s clear that much more must be done to truly save the industry," Andrew Rigie, the executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, said in a statement. He added that restaurants should be allowed to open indoors at 50% capacity "as soon as possible."

Abigail Doyle, the director of operations for Dinosaur Bar-B-Que's Harlem and Gowanus locations, said both the restaurants she oversees had lively crowds for the long weekend.

"It was bananas, it was really busy," she said. "The first day, Friday, coming in for lunch and having our first table — it was so exciting. In Harlem, we have a lot of construction workers, it's a lot of regulars who we saw over this particular weekend. So I don't know how much of it was people going out of their comfort zone, it was [more] just people who are excited to have us as a neighborhood place that they used to frequent."

Doyle said that because both Dinosaur locations are relatively cavernous — and because of "high-tech air filtration systems" they've installed — diners and staff seemed more comfortable than not being indoors at 25% capacity.

A complete picture of last weekend's restaurant attendance is hard to come by. A representative from the online reservation service Resy told Gothamist that "we can't really give a contextual snapshot with data." But a data sample from restaurants using Open Table indicates that while Valentine's Day restaurant reservations were about half of what they were on the second Sunday of February 2020, it was a marked improvement over the rest of the weekend, with the first night of indoor dining's resumption down 85% what it was on the same Friday in 2020.

The recent decision to reopen dining rooms at all — which came just days after the governor said he wouldn’t allow it — has still felt rushed to some restaurant workers, especially with vaccinations on the horizon.

"I know a few people who are extremely happy that we’re back to indoor dining, mostly because they were struggling to survive," said Rebecca, the server and bartender from Carroll Gardens. "But in general, from what I can surmise, people are feeling like guinea pigs."

Rebecca, who got her first shot of the vaccine days after officials announced that restaurant workers were eligible, said she wishes the return of indoor dining could’ve been held off for a bit longer.

"All of us feel very let down by the state and federal government, and we’d like to see at least another month, maybe a little longer, until a lot more people have been vaccinated and to find out more about these variants," she said.