Restaurants reopen in-person dining
Ocean Breeze server Lucy Sinistaj serves a table of guests for the first time in over two months. “I was so excited [when I found out restaurants would reopen],” Sinistaj said. “I love everybody; I love all the customers that come in. I’ve been working for them for 20 years. I love everything about it.” Ocean Breeze continues to give guests tables to choose from.
Servers tie their aprons, restaurants unlock their doors and guests walk into restaurants, ready for the dining-out experience they missed from their lives these past couple months.
“I really want them to open because I want everything to go back to normal and we need to start taking those steps,” junior Maria Dunn said. “I think this has been going on for too long and I really miss everything being normal.”
Governor Gretchen Whitmer allows restaurants to reopen their indoor, in-person dining spaces at 25 percent capacity on Feb. 1 for the first time since they closed Nov. 18, 2020.
“I personally don’t think we should be opening because there’s just going to be more cases and I just don’t think it’s safe yet,” senior Olive Garden hostess Presley Tolevich said.
Although some believe it’s too soon to reopen, many show excitement and gratefulness toward the governor’s decision, which includes: tables being six feet apart, no more than six people per table, a 10 p.m. curfew and collecting guest information for contact tracing.
“The restaurants’ reopening will give me the opportunity to talk to some of my coworkers that I don’t see anymore; I really miss everybody,” Ocean Breeze hostess junior Lydia Mervar said. “I can’t wait to see all of the regulars again. I miss them so much; they all brighten my day.”
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