Restaurants ready, but many lack outdoor space to reopen - Boston Herald

The patio is almost booked up Monday at North End stalwart Mother Anna’s, much to the delight of owner John Caparella.

“I hope they’re going to spend some money,” Caparella told the Herald Sunday as he sat in his empty restaurant. “People are sick of being inside. Bring ’em on.”

After months of being limited to takeout and delivery during the coronavirus pandemic, struggling Massachusetts restaurants can resume outdoor dining Monday as the state moves into the second stage of its four-phased reopening.

But many eateries that have taken a massive financial hit won’t be opening their doors just yet. Their lack of outdoor seating providing yet another restriction in a public health crisis full of them.

A couple blocks down Hanover Street from the massive outdoor space at Mother Anna’s, a sign out front of Casarecce Ristorante beckoned passersby to place take-out orders. The restaurant and its sibling, Pellino’s, lack the permitted outdoor space to reopen Monday.

“Enough is enough. It’s going on three months now,” owner Frank Pellino said. “People want to work and the diners want to come back.”

Pellino said his restaurants are prepared to meet the state’s stringent public health guidelines for serving customers. Yet he’s had to cancel some 50 reservations this week as he waits for the city to approve his plans for curbside dining.

Pellino voiced frustration with city and state officials for what he said was a slow process for reopening restaurants as compared to other states. Mayor Martin Walsh on Sunday said the city was working to streamline the permitting process for outdoor dining.

“Anything helps here,” Pellino said. “We’re drowning.”

Massachusetts Restaurant Association President Bob Luz has said roughly 80% of restaurants in the state don’t have patios and will have to wait until Phase 3 of the governor’s reopening plan. And he said many of the restaurants that can seat customers Monday may not be able to get perishable items back on their shelves fast enough to do so.

Restaurants have lost almost $2 billion in sales and laid off more than 200,000 employees since the pandemic began, according to the Joint Committee on Arts, Culture and Tourism.

To restaurateurs like the North End’s Frank Pasquale, who said his business has hemorrhaged money well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars since the pandemic began, the industry’s partial reopening is a “light at the end of the tunnel.”

“A better day is coming, but we’re all scared,” Pasquale said.

Paul Turano, owner and chef of Cook’s in Newton, said, “We have to get open to really move the needle and be allowed some kind of reasonable capacity — but every little inch helps.”

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Restaurants ready, but many lack outdoor space to reopen - Boston Herald
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