A Restaurant Experience

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When grandson David had a day off, John suggested a special treat. We would drive through the gorge to enjoy the scenery and go to a restaurant in Tennessee. The restaurants there had been open several days, while North Carolina was still locked down. All went as planned. We got off the interstate and drove along the Pigeon River, which is always a treat for David and me.

It was great to walk inside the restaurant, though we hadn’t thought about how different it might be. Many of the tables were roped off, because only a certain percentage of seats could be used. There was no hostess. One of the wait staff showed us to a table, giving the three of us two paper menus. Evidently the 8.5”x11” paper was for one use only. Our waitress told us they switched to a limited menu when the virus first caused things to be shut down.

I left this photo square, because we had a good square meal at the restaurant.

From my vantage point, I spotted two people waiting on tables and one constantly walking to the door and back with the pickup orders. David pointed out that our table was bare. There were no salt and pepper shakers, sugar, or condiments. Our waitress seemed comfortable with her mask, but she was constantly pulling her gloves into place. When a party of three left, she wiped the table and chairs thoroughly. No devious germ would have dared to come near. Since there were so few people in the restaurant, she had time to chat with us. We found out that the county had 19 cases of the COVID-19 virus, the same as our county across the border.

We enjoyed our day out and look forward to more freedom as our state begins to open again.

Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

Published

55 thoughts on “A Restaurant Experience”

  2. You sure are brave. We have done a few pickup meals but nothing is open here yet and if it were I think I’d do outdoor dining, which fortunately we have a great deal of, here in sunny California.

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  3. Watching the waitress clean tables and chairs when someone leaves gives you the confidence about where you’re sitting. The waitress was sensible to keep her mask in place without complaint. I’m glad you had a treat and got a good square mmwal

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      1. Sensible rules and yes, very close to home.I only see a different face when my daughter delivers the shopping on a Friday.I can wave to my grandchildren gaming in the back seat and hope they notice.
        Huge Hugs

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  4. We haven’t been to a restaurant for a long time and it will be a lot longer. We might get take out fish and chips tonight, the first take out in over 9 weeks. I hope hubby is not tired of my cooking as I try to make it interesting. We did go for coffee at an outdoor cafe on Monday. Waitress in a face mask and gloves. No one allowed inside the shop. Hopefully, soon we will be more comfortable being around other people. Stay safe. xo

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  6. We did not visit restaurants much before COVID-19 mostly because of our Paleo lifestyle, so this hasn’t bothered us much. I am glad to know restaurant staff are being extra careful and patrons are cautious as well. It’s nice to be able to enjoy some of the simple pleasures of life again.

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  7. Ahhhh, a restaurant. With people. You living the dream, for sure. Thanks for sharing it so we can vicariously enjoy. I wonder why they don’t put the menu on a chalkboard or online or both? Save paper. Nice workaround for them now, though.

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    1. The menus of local restaurants have not changed on line. Most of them don’t even mention present restrictions because of the virus. I like your idea of using a chalkboard inside a restaurant. There might not be enough space to list everything, though.

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    2. Evidently I lost the reply I typed. Your idea of using a chalkboard is a good one, but it might take up too much space. There were many items on the paper menu we had.

      Local restaurants have not changed their menus on line at all. Seems to me it would be simple to do, but maybe they would have to hire someone to change it and later change it back. Sometimes we call and find the restaurant closed. Other times they’ll tell us they don’t have what we want. Most of the ones we’ve tried offer everything from their regular menu.

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  10. I wonder how soon it’ll be before it’ll seem normal to go out to eat– and see a server in mask and gloves? Not really looking forward to it, honestly.

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  11. I’m not quite ready to eat inside yet. We are still in lock down. Even after that I’ll have get some courage back. We have done curbside pick up a few times and that has helped break the monotony.

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  13. Oh, to be able to out to a restaurant again! Our county (Lancaster) has had nearly 2500 cases! It will be a while before we feel comfortable going out to a restaurant.

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  14. That’s great you did this Anne – an enjoyable day for David on his day off and an oasis in a sea of r. I’ve not been out to eat in ten years due to the Hepatitis A problem here so I’m not used to going out anyway. We have bad stats in Michigan … as of today a grand total of 49,582 cases; 4787 deaths. I’d be worried about eating out, but I am a bit of a germaphobe to begin with anyway.

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      1. It wasn’t always like that – in Winter I left in the dark and came home in the dark and had to walk to the bus stop, about two blocks away. I was mindful of coming home in the dark and had my keys in my hand and my hand in my pocket, but I would not have angst like now.

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  16. Anne,
    Glad you got some time out. We got take out delivered once at home but it didn’t taste good, so we stopped ordering and started cooking. Even if my husband is not sick of my cooking, I am.
    Susie

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  17. Can’t wait to dine out. The crowd, the wait, the chatter of people around, the aroma from the food being served, etc etc etc… It feels like so log ago…..

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    1. I love going out to eat, but we couldn’t afford it when we were young. We didn’t go out when the children were young, either. There is an 11-year span from first to last. The older two were socially acceptable about the time John $ was born, and we were back to square one. There were YEARS when we had to eat what I cooked.

      I hope you think of things you’d enjoy eating and don’t mind cooking.

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  19. As here in NY our stay at home was just extended again, you must be very happy to have left this state! How wonderful that you were out at a restaurant (and that you saw the waitress cleaning up after patrons left)!

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    1. NY was home for a LONG time, and I loved the people there. I don’t miss what Manhattan and Long Island are going through now. NC has loosened the rules for some businesses, but we had to go to TN to eat in a restaurant.

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  20. Nice! Still pretty much on lockdown here, although there are a few openings in the “regions” – but not here in Montreal, which is still considered a “hot spot.” 😦

    So glad I have John here, although the odd time one of us gets a tad irritable with the other. Whaddyagonnado, eh? Then we stay in different rooms for about 1/2 an hour, and all is good again. 🙂

    Soon shopping for food. Take care! xox

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