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Indoor dining may still be off limits in New York City for the foreseeable future but just across the Hudson River, New Jersey is ready to allow restaurants to reopen dining rooms starting on Friday, September 4th.
If you’re a New Yorker ready to hop on the Path, an NJ Transit bus or willing to drive across state lines, there’s one caveat to keep in mind: restaurants are only allowed to fill their seats at 25% of full capacity.
“Reopening responsibly will help us restore one of our state’s key industries while continuing to make progress against #COVID19,” tweeted the Garden State’s Governor Phil Murphy on Monday morning.
What does that mean for diners who haven’t been able to step inside a restaurant since March? If a popular place like Razza, known for its pizzas (they’re currently offering takeout), wants to welcome guest indoors, they’ll only be able to seat about 10 guests while keeping tables at least six feet apart (there are 40 seats in the restaurant, according to Razza’s website).
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio has not yet set a clear timeline for the return of indoor dining even though the rest of the state has been allowed to do so in the past month. De Blasio seemed to indicate that it may not happen until 2021 but then backtracked. He and Governor Andrew Cuomo have made comments that indoor dining may be dependent on how infection rates fare when schools are back in session and if there is a vaccine.
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