Return To Restaurants: Our First Post-Lockdown Meal Out, With Wine

Restaurants around the country are slowly coming back online, as post-lockdown regulations start to lift.

In Atlanta, where I live with my family, the list of restaurants that are re-opening for dine-in service include some family favorites along with a few (so far) notable exceptions. We were just as eager to dine out again as we were to continue supporting local businesses during this global pandemic, so we booked a table at a familiar casual restaurant for this past Saturday evening.

That meal in our calendar felt very much like a shiny light at the end of last week’s tunnel.

It wasn’t because Atlanta has been particularly regimental about shelter-in-place; residents here have been free to exercise outside, for example, and to grocery shop with masks and while practicing other precautions of hygiene that have become commonplace.

The light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel feeling was driven more by an eagerness for a return to favorite activities, including dining out and drinking new wines from a carefully considered list. Last weekend’s experience wasn’t a return to “normal,” and we were hoping it wouldn’t be because there are some practices (like more regular sanitation of public spaces) that developed during shelter-in-place that we hope will continue.

Here are three observations about post-pandemic dining, as some restaurants start their journey back.

Masks and Physical Dining Distance

We wore masks during the whole experience except while sitting next to each other at our socially-distanced table. Every staff person who approached our table — host, server, runner, manager — also wore masks and gloves throughout the evening. Communication between them and us were muffled, of course, and we usually had to ask them to repeat their questions but that was a very minor inconvenience.

There was plenty of room between tables, and between one set of diners and the next. The set-up was new but not vastly different in this particular restaurant than it was pre-lockdown, though we both named other restaurants where part of the rambunctious atmosphere (and part of their appeal) was the close proximity of one table and one set of diners to another. The most noticeable difference, as those restaurants hopefully also return, will be one of tone and decibel level.

“Toppings” for Drinks and Plates

We ordered three rounds of individual drinks for each course, and every one of them came “topped” with a coaster, including our cocktails when we sat down, which sacrificed the garnish. Again, it was a very minor inconvenience and also one that, we expect, will be ironed out as time goes by.

Every dish that was brought to the table was crowned with a metal plate cover. You could imagine that some servers and runners would remove the cover with a flourish, which would be entertaining if the resemblance to a hospital patient’s food tray wasn’t so obvious. It’s another detail that, we expect, will become personalized the way that the fabric of face masks have become more diverse and interesting.

Getting Back in the Swing

The staff was a bit rusty, which was more apparent in younger employees than with those who are more experienced. We felt rusty too as diners, but our glee in dining out again overrode any other inconvenience.

I don’t know the detailed math of running this particular (or any) restaurant, but I recognize that their challenges for returning to some kind of normalcy are significant: more space between tables, for example, which means fewer diners and fewer turns, which means less revenue; rehiring staff or training new staff; and adjusted roles in order to accommodate regulations. In Georgia those new regulations include stagger shifts, up-to-date certifications and employee health monitoring.

In many ways re-opening a restaurant post-COVID is similar to opening a restaurant that’s brand new. That’s a daunting task even in the best of financial environments: the rule of thumb before the pandemic indicated that 60 percent of new restaurants fail within the first year, while 80 percent fail before their fifth anniversary.

Mindful of those odds, the glee we felt at dining out post-lockdown was probably composed mainly of gratitude: gratitude toward the staff for trying, and gratitude especially for the essence of hospitality that’s at the heart of restaurants and the experience they serve.