FLORIDA — Restaurants in our area are gearing up to open Monday, but with restrictions, after Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled Phase 1 of his plan to reopen Florida Wednesday.
Inside Baxter’s Restaurant on Amelia Island, the staff has been sanitizing the inside and spacing tables apart on the patio.
“It’s very exciting to us, my employees are ecstatic, our customers have been calling,” owner Michel Azar said. “They made some reservations already, so we’re very happy to hear it.”
Like other restaurants on the island, they’ve been operating as take-out only.
That soon changes with the new rules outlined by DeSantis.
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As part of his reopening plan, restaurants will be able to operate at 25% capacity. Outdoor seating is allowed if the tables are six feet apart.
“I think that will keep us busy enough,” Azar said. “We have about 200 plus seats inside, so if we do 40 or 50 a night, that is perfect.”
Jane and Dave LeRoy have missed date night so much, they crossed state lines for it.
“We enjoy going out to the restaurants. We miss it,” Jane LeRoy said.
“In fact, we miss it so much we went up to Georgia yesterday,” Dave LeRoy said. “Had a wonderful meal up at Lang’s [Marina Restaurant].”
But not everyone is sold.
“I think I’ll probably be taking precautions for a little bit longer,” Allie Bucher said.
One thing they can all agree on is they welcome a return to normalcy.
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