Is Barking Dog’s seating area ‘indoors’?
Health District says yes, restaurant says no
It was about 1:30 p.m. Thursday when a state health inspector walked into The Barking Dog, a restaurant on the banks of a Hampton marina.
The inspector then kicked out all six diners who the restaurant’s owner says were eating at three spaced-out tables at the eatery.
The inspector, with the Hampton-Peninsula Health Districts, contended that The Barking Dog’s dining space is “inside” — so eating there violates Gov. Ralph Northam’s statewide restaurant restrictions.
But The Barking Dog’s owner, Sean Pepe, is calling foul.
“This is absolutely ridiculous,” he said Friday. “There is no rhyme or reason to it. You’ve got restaurants all over Hampton Roads that are way more closed up than we are.”
Pepe contends The Barking Dog’s eating space — a covered patio overlooking Sunset Marina — is clearly “outside.”
“It’s literally a roof over outdoor seating,” he said.
The spot, with four picnic tables and three four-top tables, is largely open on two sides, and partially open on another. The space connects through a doorway to The Barking Dog’s ordering counter and kitchen.
There’s no heating or air conditioning in the eating area, with breezes and rain blowing in Friday afternoon.
A wooden bench lines the perimeter, with large openings running from the top of the bench to the ceiling. A series of Nantucket shutters are propped wide open, and “boat curtains” are typically pulled up.
Pepe said that with no other indoor seating, he lost scores of customers Friday. Business is now limited to takeout and five tables he put on the marina grounds outside.
“My blood is boiling … because I’m only really making money six months of the year,” Pepe said. “And right now they’re taking that away from me.”
Tori Dessoffy, 24, the lone waitress called in Friday, said about 50 customers came by or called that day asking about eating on the patio.
“People didn’t understand it, because we’ve been open for sitting here all this time, and now all of a sudden it changed,” she said. “They didn’t understand. I didn’t really have a correct answer to give them.”
Pepe said the health department has not explained the rules on what’s considered “outdoors.”
“I’d like to see a definition of outdoor seating from the health department,” he said. “What are they enforcing exactly? How can one person come over here and make all my customers leave?”
Gary Hagy, the environmental manager with the HamptonPeninsula Health Districts, said the inspector went to The Barking Dog acting on a tip.
Most times, Hagy said, inspectors and eatery owners are able to work things out without incident. “This is the first one we’ve had where there’s been a disagreement,” he said.
Hagy said the health inspector should have allowed The Barking Dog’s diners to finish eating before kicking them out.
“That’s not the way we want to handle those,” he said. “We should have explained the situation and allowed people to continue their dining and finish up, but not let anyone else eat in that area.”
Hagy stood by the decision Friday that The Barking Dog eating area is “inside.” He’s seen pictures, but said he would visit the restaurant this week for a better look.
Laura Epstein, 54, of Newport News, arrived at the restaurant with a friend a couple hours after the health department’s action, with a waitress surprising them by saying they couldn’t eat on the patio.
“It just didn’t make any sense to me, the whole thing,” Epstein said. “It just didn’t sit well … I mean, there’s breezes and there’s a marina and there’s water. It’s all open.”
She and the friend ended up going to a Newport News restaurant that had a very similar setup.
A customer picking up his lunch on Friday, a 26-year-old former Army solider from Hampton, said he considered the spot “more outside” than in.
“It’s a lovely mixture of both,” he said. “I think more so outside. You can feel the breeze. You can feel it on your skin. So it’s outside … But it provides a homey inside feel as well.”
Two other takeout customers noted they felt some rain drops as they waited on their order, so they sided with “outside” as well.
Pepe said the process for challenging a Health Department determination on restaurants isn’t clear, unlike the process for challenging alcohol rules violations.
Hagy said Pepe could write a letter to the department disputing the determination.
“We can forward it to Richmond and say ‘This is what we’ve got and this is what our determination is — do you concur?’” Hagy said. “And they will respond back to us … and then the operator can take whatever action they think is necessary.”
Pepe said many other restaurants in Hampton Roads have similar setups and are serving, and he didn’t understand why he was being targeted. Hagy said the rule would be enforced against other restaurants if his department learns of them.
“I won’t name them because I don’t want this to turn into a witch hunt for the health department,” Pepe said. “I follow the rules, but this isn’t fair.”