Only days after Governor Gavin Newsom proclaimed San Luis Obispo County’s return to the Red Tier, some restaurants are feeling a surge of customers. At Joe’s Place on Spring Street in Paso Robles Thursday morning, Joe Ontiveros said they had a mid-week crowd in the parking lot to be seated inside.
Joe Ontiveros told PRDN, “Looks like the doors have been opened. I’m loving it. Mid-week and it looks like about a 20-minute wait to be seated. The phone is ringing off the hook. It’s great. This is night and day.”
During the Purple Tier, Joe’s Place was able to seat people on an outside patio. Now in the Red Tier, Joe’s can seat a limited number of people inside. The servers still wear face masks and take extra precautions to clean tables after each customer. Additionally, the tables are arranged for safe-distancing.
Dinner houses need a longer ramp-up to reopen. In Atascadero Thursday afternoon, the Nautical Cowboy barbecue on El Camino Real produced aroma along El Camino Real. Hungry customers bought sandwiches, vegetables, tri-tip and ribs on the sidewalk, but the indoor dining room was empty. It takes longer for a dinner house to order food, schedule staffing and reopen the dining room.
This weekend, many restaurants in the North County are expected to reopen under the restrictions imposed by the Governor Gavin Newsom’s Red Tier regulations.
