Restaurants seeing resurgence as restrictions loosened

It was a great day for family gatherings this Easter, as the country emerged from the darkness of a year ago when restaurants were open only for takeout and the covid-related restrictions were just beginning to clamp down on the country.

“We had 2,000 reservations,” Ron DeNunzio said Sunday, counting his restaurants in Jeannette, Monroeville and DeNunzio’s Chop House at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Unity.

This year, about 90% of the business is from customers who want to dine in the restaurant, DeNunzio said.

“People want to sit down and gather together” with their family, DeNunzio said.

Among those eating at DeNunzio’s in Jeannette for Easter dinner were Ed and Joanne Highberger of Hempfield, who were joined by his sister, Carol, and her husband, Jack Henry.

“It’s great to get out among the people,” said JoAnne Highberger, who said they have been going out to restaurants. She and her husband, a retired Seton Hill University music professor, both had their vaccinations, she said.

Business is almost back to normal, DeNunzio said of the number of diners he has seen recently at his three restaurants.

The governor’s lifting of restrictions on indoor dining to 75% of capacity beginning on Easter, will help, said DeNunzio, who has been in the restaurant business for 45 years. Lifting the capacity to 75% is for restaurants that are self-certified — showing they strictly comply with all public health safety guidelines, such as cleaning and mitigation protocols — or are undergoing the certification process.

Requirements such as mask-wearing and social distancing, including 6 feet between diners, also still apply.

“Each week, it seems that people are more comfortable going out,” especially as more people get vaccinated against covid, said Amy Templeton, general manager.

“We’re looking forward to serving people at the bar again,” Templeton said.

The restrictions on dining out or having a drink at a bar are being loosened just as the region and state are experiencing a spike in covid cases.

On Sunday, many restaurants and bars were closed, but for the few that were open, patrons sat at the bar, much like they did pre-covid, but with a few twists.

Although the dining room was sparsely populated Sunday at Primanti Brothers in Harmar, a pre-covid scene unfolded at the bar. Patrons sallied up and drank tall Bud Lights while they watched the Pirates and the Chicago Cubs take the field. The signature cheese steak, egg and fries sandwiches flowed.

At Hoffstot’s Café Monaco in Oakmont, “bar-titions,” small plexiglass dividers, were strategically placed on the bar between the stools.

Hoffstot’s Bartender Krysta Yuhaschek mixed up a “Monaco Margarita,” which is topped off with a splash of Grand Marnier and named after the late Danny Monaco, Hoffstot’s owner who died this year.

“He’d be happy to see everything open up today,” she said.

Manager J.T. Waters was happy to see the bar reopen but said the boost in occupancy to 75% “doesn’t really help us because restaurants still have to maintain six feet between tables, and we don’t have the space to add more tables.”

A cook from New Kensington, Rashaun Turner, was at Pittsburgh Mills outside of the Olive Garden on Sunday basking in the sun and cleaning his car.

“With the relaxing of the restrictions, it will break down the social barriers and people will have a good time more comfortably,” he said.

Allegheny and Westmoreland counties on Saturday registered the highest number of new coronavirus cases since Jan. 13. Pennsylvania reported the highest number of new cases since Jan. 29.