Charleston restaurants continue pandemic adjustments

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Weekend closures of Hale Street and Capitol Street downtown are helping resturants cope with the difficult posed by the pandemic.

Dino Stanley owns Adelphia Sports Bar downtown and says the adjustment has been a lifesaver.

“The biggest boom has been the outdoor dining on the weekend. It allowed us to staff more and essentially move our seating outside and get our capacity back up to around 90 percent,” he said.

Mayor Amy Goodwin speerheaded the idea and worked with restaurant owners downtown who sought to find a way through what has been a difficult circumstance. Stanley said nothing has been easy.

“The capacity inside is not where we’d like to be, but we’re maintaining. Take outs are helping fill in the gaps of 50 percent capacity, but we’re not staffed where we’d like to be,” he said.

Stanley also added the federal Paycheck Protection Program or “PPP Loans” have helped keep their stafff on board so far through the pandemic.