Happily stepping out for Step 3

Restaurants particularly busy as indoor dining resumes; urge patience as staff get back up to speed

Families out at restaurants to celebrate a birthday. Taking kids to the movies. Walking out of the gym for the first time in months feeling like a million bucks.

These are just some of the ways people said they spent the weekend, after Ontario moved into Step 3 of its reopening plan on Friday.

For the first time in months, restaurants were allowed to open for indoor dining.

Restrictions are still in place, including maintaining physical distancing or barriers between tables.

Gyms opened with 50 per cent capacity.

Indoor venues, including movie theatres, opened at 50 per cent capacity or up to 1,000 people.

Social gatherings are allowed up to 100 people outdoors and 25 indoors, with face masks still required if closer than two metres from people not in your household.

Many restaurants posted messages on social media, joyously welcoming their customers back inside, but also asking for kindness and patience. Many business need time to hire more staff and get back up to speed.

Trevor Poczynek started the ONRestaurants+ Facebook groups at the beginning of the pandemic as a way to connect the community and restaurants. The first group was in Burlington, with others opening in Hamilton, Oakville and London.

The groups are not meant to be a review site, but rather a place where people can share their favourite finds and look for recommendations.

Restaurants also share specials and other events they have.

Poczynek said the groups have helped people find restaurants they never knew existed in their cities. In all there are about 500 restaurants and 70,000 members.

On Friday he posted a video urging customers to be patient and kind as restaurants reopened for the first time in months. Most restaurants are

short staffed, working with new staff and have abruptly gone from takeout to being fully open in a very short amount of time, he said.

“They’re just doing their very best,” he said.

“Everyone is so anxious to get out there in the middle of summer.”

Restaurants were reporting hour-long waits and at least one

said they would need to stop doing takeout orders for two weeks.

On the ONRestaurants+ Facebook groups, people eagerly posted pictures of food and live music, happy to be back inside restaurants.