Local restaurants adjust to being able to go ‘out to eat’
Fazzini’s turns parking lot into street café
WOONSOCKET — Bethany Marsland, a longtime city restauranteur, opened Fazzini’s Restaurant at 2120 Diamond Hill Road eight months ago to a lot of fanfare and anticipation.
But Fazzini’s hasn’t been meeting all that early optimism under the coronavirus pandemic and the related state shutdown and that had Marsland looking to a new outdoor dining option as a potential lifeline in turbulent times.
The restaurant’s back parking lot has been converted into a street café of sorts where its staff will be serving a special menu along with drinks from the bar inside.
The city approved layout gives Fazzini’s 20 tables of four, all spaced more than eight feet apart for social distancing, for a total of 80 diners at any given time.
It’s a far cry from what Fazzini’s has to offer inside a restaurant with seating for 270
but that’s what Marsland has for now.
“I’ve already got about 50 people booked from 5 to 9,” Marsland said of the reservations already in for Friday night.
Although Marsland’s husband and partner in the business, Eric Marsland, typically puts out a fine dining menu for Fazzini’s, that isn’t possible under the new state dining rules calling for disposable plates, cutlery, and even menus, she noted.
“You adjust, you have to adjust,” she said while explaining that is what restaurants are having to do to survive the economic impacts of the pandemic.
“It’s very difficult, to the point that if things don’t change, many, many businesses aren’t going to be able to hold out,” Marsland said.
Marsland has seen plenty while running restaurant businesses in the city over the past 40 years, from the old Bravo Pub, where Christopher’s Kitchen & Bar, 2 South Main Street, is located today, to her other current restaurant, Champ’s Diner at 719 Front St, but nothing like this.
“I’ve had 10 businesses in the city in all and by the grace of God they have all done well. Now my hands are tied and it’s tough,” Marsland said.
The restaurant owner will also be putting on outside dining at Fazzini’s on Saturday and Sunday in addition to the curbside service it started to offer last week.
Fazzini’s will be offering a half-chicken dinner with fixings for $8.25 on Sunday as another special for its customers.
The curbside menu drew 100 customers for pick-up on the day it started and Marsland is hoping for similar interest in the outside dining option this weekend.
But while it will help in difficult times, Marsland said there is no way the limited offerings can make up for what it costs to run a restaurant and she will need more diners and in-house operations very soon to continue to operate.
“The Governor is saying 50 percent inside capacity by June 1 and that will help but you are still at half of that capacity because of social distancing.
With the overall side of Fazzini’s, Marsland said she could go to 100 percent capacity of 270 and still maintain the required separation of eight feet “and still be safe and socially distanced,” she said.
Marsland is also concerned about the current state guidelines in relation to what might happen in the fall when it becomes colder and outdoor dining is no longer an option.
She isn’t the only restaurant trying to make do under the circumstances and pointed to Kay’s on Cass Avenue, Christopher’s, River Falls Restaurant at 74 South Main, and Ye Olde English Fish & Chips at 25 South Main Street as among those taking advantage of the outside dining option to stay in touch with their customers.
It will have to do, Marsland said.
“Right now people are just trying to stay open until this is over,” she said.
“You have to keep your name out there, that is all you can do,” Marsland added.