‘I’m so excited the patio is open. I’m beyond words’
Restaurants reopen outdoor eating areas as region enters Stage 2
WATERLOO REGION — Throughout the region people are meeting at restaurants for the first time in months, and raising a glass to toast the arrival of Stage 2.
Friday marked the next steps in Ontario’s plan to reopen after shutting down in March to control the spread of COVID-19. As long as proper safety measures were in place, restaurants were permitted to reopen their outdoor eating venues.
“Oh my god, I’m so excited the patio is open. I’m beyond words,” said Diane Emmerson. The Palmerston resident drove into Kitchener Friday for an appointment and stopped in at the patio at Moose Winooski’s on Heldmann Road shortly after it opened.
“There’s something about eating outside,” she said, looking off toward the groups spaced out around the building. Servers wore black masks and seemed to give customers space when they approached the table.
Bill Siegfried, the restaurant’s vice-president of operations, said when Premier Doug Ford announced Monday that Waterloo Region would be entering Stage 2 of reopening, the reservations came flooding in.
“As soon as he said patios could open on Friday, the phone started ringing.”
The restaurant spread tables apart on the patio, and placed other tables around the building. In the coming weeks, the business hopes to expand their seating further, opening more tables on a pad beside the existing patio. When that happens, they’ll be hiring more staff.
Siegfried said the guidance from the province has been ambiguous, but they’ve been working directly with the local public health unit to plan their reopening.
Not all regions around the province are moving into Stage 2. Toronto, York, Hamilton, Peel and others are still in
Stage 1 and patios in those regions are not allowed to reopen.
“People have had it. They’re tired of being shut in,” Siegfried said. He said tables for the weekend booked up on Wednesday.
Karen Ball and Bethany Parkinson met up for a bite at Borealis Bar and Grille in Kitchener on Friday. Over the past three months, the pair have been hanging out on hikes or in backyards, but maintaining a physical distance. Now they’re sitting across from one another at the table.
“It feels like such a luxury,” Ball said, adding she took for granted the ability to see other people who are living their lives around us.
“We’ve been waiting a long time for this,” Parkinson said.
On Friday the province updated public health recommendations, encouraging people to form “social circles” of no more than 10 people. This would allow for people in different households to meet together without the need to stay physically distant from one another.
Once a circle is established, that’s it. No one could be part of more than one circle. This change was good timing — on patios around the region, friends and colleagues met together for the first time in months.
Neil Robinson is the managing partner of Borealis Kitchener. The restaurant only has 10 tables on their patio but they’re looking at expanding to the parking lot. Instead of serving staff, managers are serving the public, and people have to order from the bar.
“This is super exciting for us,” he said, but noting it’s different than how it was before COVID-19. Reservations are taken to limit lines from walk-ins, but also to help provide information to public health if any contact tracing needs to be done.
In downtown Kitchener, Bobby O’Brien’s opened its patio, putting Xs on every other table to keep people spread out. Hand sanitizer is available at the front of the line and servers watch as customers use it before entering.
Standing in line, Corey Morris and Teana Cantave said they were relieved to see other people again, even at a distance.
“With Stage 2 moving along, it shows there’s hope for later in the summer, Cantave said.
Morris noted it was a historic day. “Hopefully we’ll never see something like this again.”