Restaurant diners happy to be eating inside again as pandemic restrictions ease
Ontario entered Step 3 of its re-opening, allowing indoor dining and indoor excerise
Three constructions workers from Brantford en route to St. Thomas to build a playground planned their breakfast pit-stop the night before: a Denny's in London, where they could finally eat inside on Friday.
At a table over, a hospital worker scarfed down a breakfast sandwich at 7 a.m., on his way to a shift.
People were peering through the windows at 6:30 a.m., excited that restaurants were finally able to open for indoor dining after months of take-out and eating on patios.
Regulars are excited to be back, and servers and kitchen staff are happy to be getting more hours, said Denny's general manager Jen Zumbergar.
"Hopefully, this is just the first step in putting all of this behind us," said Zumbergar.
Here are some of the other diners eating breakfast on the first day that indoor dining has been allowed in Ontario.
Shae Tough and Samir Hamadache
The business owners have launched the Forest City SynBio, an incubator that helps startups using synthetic biology, during the pandemic. On Friday, they've were excited to have their first face-to-face meeting.
"We're meeting a business partner of ours, we've been on Zoom for so long and it's nice to meet in person for once," said Tough.
"We're inside because we can," said Hamadache. "Hopefully, things stay this way. Hopefully, we're in the home stretch and nearing the end of the tunnel."
Susi Taylor
Eating out with friends at a restaurant signifies that things are getting better, said Susi Taylor.
"It is exciting. We've been so separated and not able to do so much for so long, and being able to get out amongst people just helps us to feel part of what's going on," Taylor said.
"We can finally do it. It's finally the opportunity to sit inside."
Taylor was celebrating a friend's birthday. Last year, a get-together was held outside, but this year they were happy to bring the dining party indoors.
Chris McGill and Branden Grasley
For the last few months, construction workers Chris McGuill and Branden Grasley have been picking up their breakfasts to-go and eating inside a trailer at the job site.
On Friday, they were happy to be sitting at a table, sipping coffee, as steaming plates of food were served.
"It's a nice, easy Friday. We worked hard all week and we figured we'd come sit down instead of getting take-out," said McGill. "It's a sign that things are getting back to normal."
The co-workers spend enough time outside, they said, and it's nice to eat indoors.
Faiazza family
It's not easy wrangling two active kids on a patio, where they get distracted and are bouncing off the chairs, say Chantal and Rob Faiazza. Bringing the kids to eat inside, where they can sit at a table and relax a bit was a welcome treat.
"It's just easier with the kids, especially with the weather," Rob Faiazza said. "Doing patios all the time, it's hard. We'd roast, it's hard to find shade while we eat with the kids."
The family stopped by Denny's while their cat, Elsa, was at the vet.
"It's just nice to get back inside, it's nice to see the servers get their jobs back," Rob Faiazza said.