Photo by Kevin A. Roberts
One of the dining rooms at Polite Society
As restaurateurs debate how to proceed as the pandemic continues, the choices aren’t getting any easier.
Some restaurants reopened as soon as they could and remain open today, such as Hamilton Hospitality’s five restaurants. Many reopened only for pickup and delivery. Some reopened and then closed their dining rooms again, such as Elmwood, or reopened and then closed their patios as well, such as Juniper. Some have not reopened at all since the mandatory shutdown in March, including Tony’s. And some have opened, closed, and reopened in response to a COVID-19 concern.
The combinations and permutations are confusing and endless, as evidenced by one customer's remark to a restaurant owner: “I feel really sorry for you guys right now.”
The most recent development—reopening, closing in response to a COVID-19 concern, and then reopening again—is “wearing us all out,” as one owner put it. “We spend our days walking on eggs, trying to keep the lights on, knowing that a COVID case could pop up at any time and shut us down. Despite all of the measures we take, many of us feel that happening is a when, not if scenario."
Qui Tran, who closed Mai Lee on Wednesday in response to an employee’s positive COVID-19 test, says, “We’re used to coming home from work physically exhausted, but now, having to deal with transparency issues, enforcing social distancing and mask-wearing reminders, we’re all mentally exhausted as well. I love the restaurant business, but none of us signed up for this.”
Courtesy Narwhal's
The interior at Narwhal's Crafted in St. Charles
At the Narwhal’s Crafted location in St. Charles, the situation is even more complex, according to Brad Merten, co-owner of the popular cocktail bar,
“With other bars and restaurants in St. Charles open back to near ‘normal’ capacity since mid-May, we started to feel and hear the pressure to also reopen our inside seating," he says. "We were no longer on a level playing field with everyone else by just doing curbside to-go, so we felt like we’d be missing out if we didn’t open as well, so we did, as carefully and responsibly as we felt possible.
"A large part of that measure was to reopen with a ‘masks-required’ policy for all guests," he continues, "which we felt was going to be a bigger challenge for our St. Charles location since St. Charles county did not have a government mask mandate like St. Louis City and County. And while we were providing masks for guests that were unaware of our policy, at times we were still met with resistance and pushback – which made it really difficult for our staff to effectively enforce – and in a way, make us look like the bad guy. Fortunately a large portion of our guests happily abided by the rules we set. But this is a really serious situation and we have a social responsibility to keep our guests and staff safe. It really has to be all or nothing. There can’t be an in-between.”
"Places like ours are supposed to be social and fun, and it just wasn’t," he adds. "I remember reading what [Juniper owner] John Perkins had to say [to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch] and feeling the same way, that we were pretending things were normal when they're not and that he was sick of the facade. Plus, I felt we were in a lose-lose situation, one that we knew we couldn’t control, so we decided to close both the inside and the patio, and revert to curbside pickup.”
Merten says part of the dilemma for business owners is the governmental inconsistency across the region. “When the local authorities leave decisions like wearing masks up to individuals—that it’s OK here and not OK there—it leads to problems. From a consistency standpoint, it was better back in March, when every place was closed. At least there was uniformity then.”
To illustrate the pervasiveness of the pandemic's effects, we’ve noted the restaurants that have announced their temporary closing and reopening dates during the month of July. (A hat tip to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Ian Froeb for chronicling much of the below information.) The number of impacted restaurants may be even higher, considering restaurants need not disclose whether they have COVID-related issues at present.
- Herbie’s (June 27, reopened July 7 for limited dine-in, patio, and curbside service)
- The Malt Shop (June 29, reopened July 15)
- Hotshots Sports Bar & Grill –Maryland Heights (July 6, reopened July 20)
- Balkan Treat Box (July 9, reopened July 29 for curbside pickup)
- The Benevolent King (July 10, will remain closed until fall)
- Billy G’s (July 10, reopened July 14)
- Anthonino’s Taverna (July 11, reopened July 16)
- Elaia (July 15, reopens July 31)
- Nixta (July 15, reopens July 29 for curbside and patio service)
- Olio (July 15, reopens July 31)
- Ted Drewes–Chippewa (July 16, reopened July 22)
- Salt + Smoke (all four locations July 18, reopened July 23 for takeout service and patio seating)
- Mission Taco Joint–CWE (July 20)
- Mission Taco Joint –St. Charles (July 20, reopened July 23)
- Yellowbelly (July 19, reopened July 29)
- John D. McGurk’s–Soulard (July 20, reopened for carryout and patio service July 22)
- BARcelona (July 21, slated to reopen August 3)
- Earthbound Beer (July 21, reopened for window sales July 23)
- Mac’s Local Eats (July 21, reopened July 29 for curbside pickup)
- 33 Wine Bar (July 22, bar service proactively closed until further notice; wine, beer, spirits still available to-go)
- Elmwood (July 23, reopened for pizza pop-up takeout service on July 30 which is slated to continue through August)
- Pie Guy Pizza (July 24, slated to reopen mid- to late next week)
- The Royale (July 24)
- Juniper (proactively closed dining room and patio indefinitely July 25; will remain open for pickup and delivery)
- The Bellwether and Polite Society (July 27)
- Urban Chestnut–Midtown (July 27 “for the foreseeable future”)
- Big Sky Cafe (July 28, slated to reopen August 4)
- Narwhal’s Crafted (proactively closed July 28, open for curbside and walk up business in both Midtown and St. Charles)
- Pieces: The St. Louis Board Game Bar and Café (proactively closed July 29)
- Nine Mile Garden (proactively closed July 30, August events have been cancelled)
In addition, on July 28, four establishments—Big Daddy’s on The Landing, Marquee Restaurant and Lounge, Start Bar, and Wheelhouse—were reportedly ordered to close for 14 days for violating social-distancing and mask regulations.
