Some Charlotte restaurants/breweries won’t open dining rooms (yet) in COVID Phase 2.
On Wednesday, Gov. Cooper announced the safer-at-home Phase 2 of the COVID-19 reopening plan, which allows restaurants to reopen at 50 percent capacity, as long as they comply with certain safety protocols.
While this was good news for many local restaurants that reopened indoor and outdoor dining spaces right at 5 p.m. on Friday May 22, it left others with a difficult decision: should they reopen now or wait until they have more training and safety procedures in place?
Several restaurants and breweries in Charlotte have decided against reopening dining rooms and patios for the time being. Many shared that it was a difficult decision, having to balance wanting to reopen to the community with ensuring the safety of staff and patrons.
The community responded positively to these tough decisions.
“I greatly appreciate this. I like seeing a company put the safety of its employees and customers first over making a profit. I’m going to make sure to order curbside from y’all during this in between time,” said Instagram user Keather Wood on a post from Amelies’ French Bakery.
“I have so much respect for you making this decision — thank you for looking out for us,” wrote another Instagram user, Lynsey Berry, in response to Haberdish’s decision to stay closed to dine-in for the time being.
These restaurants and breweries plan to reopen, but are first taking the time to ensure they can provide safe environments for both employees and customers. Until then, you can still support them via curbside pickup, takeout, and delivery.
(1) 5Church
127 N. Tryon St. #8
“Yesterday Governor Cooper announced that restaurants could reopen at 50% capacity. After careful deliberation, we have decided not to re-open for in-house dining at this time,” said 5Church via Instagram.
How you can support 5Church in the meantime: Takeout and delivery are available. You can also purchase a gift card online for later use.
(2) Amélie’s French Bakery & Café
Multiple locations
“Bonjour all, we have a safety update in regards to Phase 2 of NC restaurant re-opening. We have decided to wait to open the dining rooms,” the bakery stated on Instagram. We are focusing on staff retraining, implementing new procedures and making the bakeries CDC and NC DHHS guideline compliant. We will still be open for curbside, takeout and delivery. Thank you always for your understanding and bountiful support. This is not forever.”
How you can support Amelie’s in the meantime:Curbside, takeout and delivery are all available. You can also purchase a gift card online for use at any location upon reopening.
(3) Divine Barrel Brewing
3701 N. Davidson St., Suite #203
“We’ve always taken the approach to cross our T’s and dot our I’s. We are going to hold off on re-opening the taproom for now,” the brewery stated on Instagram. “We know many of you are itching to come see us again, but yours and our staff’s health, safety and overall experience in this ‘new normal’ are paramount to us. We want to take a little extra time to lock in and ensure the best possible experience for you whenever you do feel comfortable coming to visit. We promise the wait will be worth it. Until then, business as usual.”
How you can support Divine Barrel in the meantime: Online orders, curbside and drive-thru pickups, delivery, shipping and mobile can drops are available.
(4) Dot Dot Dot
4237 Park Road, Suite B
“Our number one priority has been ensuring the safety of our employees, members, and their guests,” said Dot Dot Dot via Instagram. “We’ve elected not to reopen tomorrow, Friday May 22, and will use this time to continue to fine tune our processes, train our employees, and meet the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Interim Guidelines for Restaurant reopening. Restaurants, Bars, and Private Membership Clubs will not be able to operate as they did prior and we’ve taken extensive steps to help ensure everyone’s safety. We appreciate the continued understanding and support of our members.”
How you can support Dot Dot Dot in the meantime: You can purchase cocktail kits, charcuterie boards or gift cards to use upon reopening.
(5) Haberdish
3106 N. Davidson St.
“We will re-open, we’re just not going to do it right away,” said Jamie Brown, co-owner of Haberdish. “I can’t help having mixed feelings. Our business has tanked — we worked a decade to build up to where we are — and we don’t have that much time left. I also want to keep our community healthy, our staff healthy, our family healthy.”
“I’m asking for bravery. I’m asking for hope. I’m asking for patience. And I’m betting on the grace of our staff and community,” Brown told CharlotteFive.
How you can support Haberdish in the meantime: Takeout and patio pickup are available. You can also purchase a gift card online for later use.
(6) JJ’s Red Hots
1514 East Blvd.; 15105 N. John Delaney Dr.
“First of all, we would like to thank all of our guests who have supported us through Phase 1of the crisis — it was not easy, and we thank you for your patience as we went through the process of serving you safely and swiftly,” JJ’s Red Hots stated on Instagram. As restaurant operators, there are certain things that are ‘required’ and certain things ‘recommended’ in order to safely and legally open our dining rooms to the public during Phase 2. However, there are included grey areas that we hope to resolve via our guest survey that we sent out last week. Those results, combined with the rational and experienced input we will receive from our staff, leadership and network of vendors, will inform the way we move forward. Accordingly, we will be operating under Phase 1 until further notice until we can, with great confidence, operate safely and comfortably. JJ’s will not reopen the dining room at this time.”
How you can support JJ’s in the meantime: Curbside takeout and delivery via ChowNow is available.
(7) Peppervine
4620 Piedmont Row Dr., Suite 170B
Peppervine was previously closed during the COVID-19 stay-at-home order. Instead of fully reopening, the restaurant elected to open for takeout only.
How you can support Peppervine in the meantime: “We are excited to launch Peppervine To-Go beginning Tuesday, May 26,” the restaurant stated on Instagram. “Place your order by calling us between 12-4 p.m. and pick-up your order between 4-6:30 p.m. We will be offering two options of three-course family-style meals. Limited availability Tuesday-Saturday. Stay tuned for the menu.” You can also purchase a gift card online to use upon reopening.
(8) Salud Cerveceria
3306-C N. Davidson St.
“We have made the decision to stay the course and not allow dine guests at this moment,” Salud Cerveceria stated in a Phase 2 Instagram announcement. “The safety of our employees and guests is our number one priority and we will monitor the situation as it develops. We cannot wait to open our doors up and downstairs for full service once the time feels right for us. Thanks again for all your support during these crazy times.”
How you can support Salud in the meantime: Walk-in pickup, curbside pickup and delivery are still available. You can also purchase a gift card online for later use.
(9) Sea Level
129 E. 5th St.
“We aren’t quite ready to leave the harbor but sister seafood restaurant The Waterman is setting sail today at 5 p.m.,” stated Sea Level via Instagram.
How you can support Sea Level in the meantime: You can purchase a gift card to use on food, retail or alcohol at Sea Level (upon reopening) or The Waterman Fish Bar. At this time, 25 percent of the gift card purchase goes toward the staff relief fund.
(10) The Unknown Brewing Company
1327 S. Mint St.
“Charlotte, trust us when we say we’re excited to get back to serving you guys. However, we will not be reopening our doors this weekend,” Unknown Brewery stated on Instagram. “Regardless of the uncertainty surrounding local breweries being able to reopen right now, we’d prefer to use this time to train our staff diligently on new and important cleanliness procedures, rearrange our tap room and both patios for a safer set-up, and create a fun yet comprehensive plan for when the right time comes to serve our friends & neighbors again. Place your order online, set your pickup time, and we’ll see you then! From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you all for your support throughout these trying times. We miss you guys!”
How you can support Unknown in the meantime: The Farmers Market, drive-thru and food truck will still be operating on regular hours (2-8 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, noon-8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday).
(11) Wooden Robot Brewery
1440 S. Tryon St., Suite 110
“In a statement via Instagram on Thursday , Wooden Robot Brewery said, “The details of the state’s Phase 2, Safer at Home recommendation are still unclear for breweries, so we are going to wait, while continuing to prepare to open in the most clean, safe, & responsible way possible. We will continue with our to-go beer sales this weekend at the Brewery in South End & The Chamber in NoDa.”
On Sunday, the WR team wrote: “We’ll update you next week on our plans for re-opening our patios and taprooms.”
How you can support Wooden Robot in the meantime: Takeout is still available. You can also purchase t-shirts and hats online.
This story was originally published May 24, 2020 at 6:04 PM.
