This winter was probably the longest toughest winter we have ever experienced before a restaurant season. Covid cases rose sharply in the late fall/winter of 2020 and continued into 2021. Covid cases diminished after the first of March. Last Thursday, new Covid cases jumped up again but not nearly to the levels we experienced during the dead of winter.
In the meantime, we were wondering how the regulations with respect to Covid were going to allow us to get to some stage of normalcy. Later in the winter we came to a consensus as to a game plan.
Barnacle Billy's (original) will open on Friday, April 9, 2021 at 11:00 AM. The entrance to the building will be exactly as it was previous to 2020 with some changes. Instead of coming through the door and ordering at the counter with an order taker, you will go right to your table. Only one person from your party will be able to order. When ready, you will walk to the table closest to the stairs where you came in and order from a cashier. The menu will be on a board on the wall in back of the cashier. We will also have menus if needed. Bathrooms will be available in the restaurant as they were before last season. Remember, last year we made you go next door.
For takeout food and drink, you will order from the takeout window on the patio as you always have been able to do. We will not have fried food this year at our original building. We did that last year while using the kitchen at Barnacle Billy's, Etc. because we ended up leaving that building closed. We plan to open Barnacle Billy's, Etc. on Thursday, April 29, 2021 at 5:00 PM. We will be serving fried food at this restaurant and we will have most of the menu items that we have had in the past.
We will be closed after the opening weekend at Barnacle Billy's (original) for four days. Those days will include April 12, 13, 14 & 15. This will give us time to fix machinery that isn't working correctly, make changes to the “almost normal” system and be better able to assess the situation moving forward.
We will still have takeout rum punches, smash lemonades & alcohol as long as you purchase alcohol with a food item.
The Covid protocol has changed from 50 people per dining room to 50% per dining room but still maintaining the six foot distance between patrons sitting at tables. As you know, we spaced tables further apart than that to be on the safe side last season. This year will be the same. We have taken part of the petition away that we put up in the dining room at “Original”. And we have lowered the top of the partition to allow more air flow while also keeping the separation from the wait staff working at the counter. And, yes, wait staff will be cocktail wait staff only.
On May 24th, the state is supposed to go to 75% capacity in dining areas. If the spacing between tables doesn't change, this added percentage will not change the table arrangement that we have now. Nor will the table arrangement on the deck be any different than it was last year.
This Journal update is just a look into the changes we plan to make for this season. As protocols change, so will we. Our aim is to finally get back to normal. When that will happen in the total sense is anyone's guess. I am very much looking forward to getting back to business. I am looking forward to seeing you all back here! Stay safe until then.