Prospect, Crown Heights Restaurants Wary As Indoor Dining Begins

BROOKLYN, NY — From plexiglass boards hanging from the ceiling, to hiring new staff for the first time since the pandemic struck — Brooklyn restaurants are getting ready to welcome customers back inside as New York City resumes indoor dining this week.

But even as they prepare, or even open, doubts loom about whether customers will show up to use the indoor set-ups.

"Let's see —I'm not sure people are excited to come inside," said Shah Shihab, the manager at Joy in Prospect Heights, where indoor dining started up Wednesday evening. "I spoke to some customers who said they're not ready yet."

Joy was among restaurants across the five boroughs that welcomed customers inside the first day restaurants were allowed to do so.

The usual 50-person dining room is set up with seats for about 12 people to comply with a 25-percent capacity limit and has its large front doors open to help with ventilation, Shihab said.

Other restaurant owners told Patch the start-date for indoor dining came a bit too soon for. Gov. Andrew Cuomo officially announced New York City's indoor dining guidelines on Sept. 9, just three weeks before eateries would be allowed to open.

At El Gran Castillo de Jagua in Prospect Heights, hesitance to be inside was also a hurdle, but among staff. The eatery hired two new people so they could start indoor dining, but neither showed up for the job.

Their indoor dining is on hold until they can find more employees, manager Ray Tejada said.

"A lot of people do not actually want to be wait staff — they don't want to interact with customers, touch plates," Tejada said.

A staff member at another restaurant, who did not want to be named, told Patch that he also hadn't been completely sold on the idea of working inside.

"I'm not thrilled about having to work with indoor dining...but I mean, what other option is there," said the server, who returned to his summer job after getting sent home from college to study remotely.

The server said he is worried about putting his family, who he lives with, at risk, but doesn't qualify for unemployment as a student.

His restaurant, in Crown Heights, is planning to start indoor dining once plexiglass barriers that will hang from the ceiling between tables are done being assembled, the server said.

El Gran Castillo is hoping to open with about four of their usual 20 tables once they find staff, Tejada said. The restaurant — not able to take advantage of the the city's now-permanent outdoor dining program — has been running on takeout and pick-up orders since the pandemic hit.

"It's been tough," Tejada said. "But we're doing our best."

New York City restaurants will be able to expand to 50 percent indoor capacity starting Nov. 1, provided the city's coronavirus positivity rate stays below 2 percent.

The city's current rate is 1.38 percent over the past seven days.