For some of you, it may have been months since you’ve last eaten out at a restaurant. Are you missing it?
In many states, restaurants have reopened for dine-in service. Have you been to a restaurant since it reopened? What was it like? Did it feel different?
Perhaps some of you don’t usually eat out at restaurants anyway, so nothing has changed for you.
But for those of you that do (er, did) eat out often, we want to hear from you. Do you miss it? Would you risk exposure to COVID-19 to dine or drink out at a restaurant or bar? Please tell us in the poll below, and remember, it may take a few moments to load.
Many restaurants in our area have outdoor seating so we have been using that option quite often. We keep our masks on until our food and drink is delivered and there is more than 6 feet between tables.
We tried eating out but the restaurants have a very limited menu that didn’t have our favorites on it so why bother.
For several days I haven’t been able to load the poll. I have waited as long as 10 minutes for to load on my computer, without any results. Has anyone else experienced this issue?
No problem here. Firefox on Android.
I have had to start opening the poll on my phone as it not even showing up on my computer.
We haven’t braved restaurants, yet. Our Covid numbers are still too bad to risk it. I miss foods that aren’t good once they leave the restaurant, like seafood. -G
I checked very much, but not for myself: I take out my 98 Y/O Uncle. He is in prison in Michigan and can not get out for leisure (doctor only). I did sneak him out on way to a doctor appointment for a breakfast. He can not go out for haircuts, etc. due to governor’s restrictions.
Use to go out maybe 3-4 times a year, Last time was for Son’s Birthday in February, Might try for our Anniversary in October, then again we might just celebrate it next year, it is only the 51st so nothing special, now when the 60th shows up we will celebrate.
51 years?! Congrats!!
51 years is no mean feat! My Dad said we should celebrate every anniversary like our first because we have no way of knowing which one will be our last. My parents made it to 53 years right before Dad passed very suddenly from an aortic aneurysm. My Mom’s parents were together 72 years. Ed/Ed’s sweetheart—and everyone else here, too—I wish you many more Happy Anniversaries!
“Nothing Special”?????
Are you kidding? You should feel both blessed and special to share every minute with your significant other. I’m sure you meant to say that 50 was a milestone anniversary and that 51 is another tick of the clock.
Cherish every minute and moment of time you get to share with your wife!
Happy Anniversary to you both! Our anniversary is also in October and we will be celebrating 45 years.
Don’t let your sweetie hear you say, “nothing special”. Every anniversary is special no matter the number.
We missed eating out while under lockdown here in Michigan but since it was lifted we have eaten in a restaurant a few times. It felt weird to walk to the table masked to remove it and order. It felt so nice to order from one of our favorite restaurants and support the recovery. Each table was far from others and never was a restaurant full of patrons at the reduced number allowed. We live in a smallish community with relatively few cases so we feel safe to very occasionally eat out.
My favorite dining out experience was Golden Corral Steak Buffet. Buffet dining is now largely forbidden due to the Corona19 Pandemic and, I doubt buffet dining will be safe anytime in the foreseeable future. Fortunately, it’s easy for me to cook a steak at my RV; I just don’t get the great selection of add ons that a good buffet features.
Since we did not go out to eat all that much, we have honed our cooking skills to where we would rather eat at home.
What I miss the most about not dining out as much is not being able to dine out with friends. It is a social gathering more than a meal.
I’m with Thelma…. I so miss my friends and family.
All your polls for the last several weeks NEVER load. The little circle just spins and spins!
What happened?
Haven’t had any problems here. Firefox on Android.
I have complained about it every day and have not been able to bring the poll up either. I guess some of us just aren’t getting it.
try clearing your history, cookies, etc
No problem here, Firefox and/or Chrome on Mac.
Same problem for me. After 3 years, this just started happening a few weeks ago.
try clearing your history, cookies, etc
No problems with me. I use Safari on my MacBook Air laptop. It would be interesting to know what browser those are using who are having troubles.
Pale Moon web browser on W10….no problem seeing the polls. More secure too!
Yup, same issue, not working.
But, they they are up before noon and working (Firefox, Edge, IE, WIN10, Google)
Keep thinking maybe weather, since I’m in a DEAD ZONE.
and using an air-card; everything effects it…
try clearing your history, cookies, etc
Safari on iPad, no problems
I haven’t been able to get the polls on my computer, either. I have tried safari and chrome. But, I can get them to open on my iPhone on safari. So, if I want to vote badly enough, I pull up the poll on my phone and then hop back on to my computer to read and reply. I have tried changing multiple settings, and (begrudgingly) I have had my husband take a look at my settings. Like several of you have mentioned, it just happened all of a sudden. When my son visits again, I’ll have him give it one last look. Good luck to everyone in the same situation and please let us all know if you get the issue figured out.
try clearing your history, cookies, etc
try clearing your history, cookies, etc
As we have travelled to other States, the rules are very different. We enjoy eating at local “mom and pop” restaurants. It is very difficult to plan on an outside the RV meal.
We carry “iron rations”, so something is always available. We carry masks (wife has made over 200) and gloves, just in case. Always masked in unknown areas.
I love sharing a meal and wine with friends and miss that, but it does get expensive.
I used to stop at any TJMax or Marshalls while I was working on the road, but that has stopped too. Now I work from my home office so those temptations of wasting money has come to a halt. This has been a slap in the face teaching me how much money I could have saved from impulsive spending feeding a closet of clothes that could have been a retail store.
It now kills me to think how much money I could have invested buying only what I really needed that also clears the mind from clutter. I think of one of my friends that never got caught in that American way of spending. She has a bundle and will never have to worry about money. Not that she is a miser, she is just smart and lives the environmental life we all should adhere to.
Normally I go out 3 times a week with various friends. Now it’s never. About $10 a time. That means I saved around $600. I miss the company but at 80 y/o I worry about covid
dont need that in my life.
I definitely miss the times out with friends but it just doesn’t make sense to me, my husband or our much missed friends to go out to eat at this point in time. And although, I greatly miss it I do believe we’ll go out less when this all is over. We’re saving money and losing weight by eating healthy home prepared meals and I’m exploring new recipes with my Instant Pot, I’ve found some real winners for our 3 qt IP for when we hit the road again.
I still meet my daughter once a month for lunch. Our restaurants in Arizona are still open with restrictions.
The visits with friends and family we miss most. We have social distance shared a happy hr in our yard with friends.
Have also had several Zoom happy hours with family (doesn’t have to be in afternoon between 3-6) Social distance and no worries about designed driver.
I still eat out 3-4 times every week. Restaurants and employees need the revenue. My tips are over 20% and cash always now. The only thing missed and a biggie was our 50th anniversary in April, party cancelled. I think when we snowbird in Florida this winter we may fly the entire family down for a week.
Before the pandemic, we went out to dinner almost every night (there was a reason, too complicated to go into here). Now we eat at home every night (sometimes with carry-out). Other than getting becoming friends with the staff at several restaurants, I don’t really miss it all that much.
I waited 5 min for poll to load and it didn’t load. It has alwayd been.easy and quick before.
I keep looking to be a part of the polls but they will not load
We have eaten in restaurants. We are picky which ones we go to, and our schedule is so weird that it is usually during a “slow” time. We as a family (3 sometimes 4 sets) eat together almost every night. We always did that and we were not going to stop. We all live within a few miles of each other.
We prefer cooking in our rig, we know where it comes from, don’t have to deal with non-conforming mask wearers and can stick to our diet. Miss it, not really.
Miss it? Yes… I didn’t go out often, but resent that we’re not allowed without CDC-5 snorkels now.
Risk C19? Absolutely. It’s not much of a risk. Do your own math.
Different? I went out for the first time in 5 months+ last week, and the waitress was muzzled unable to smile at patrons and hard to understand since I read lips. We wore muzzles to the table, and had to be re-muzzled to go to the WC. The restaurant was at about 10% capacity because people are too scared to do anything right now, waiting for zero-risk absurdity. Clearly, after many generations, the family restaurant is in danger of being strangled out of business. We tipped generously, and the waitress was almost in tears for taking care of her.
Everyone talks about saving the 1:million who might get sick, but we are letting America and family businesses die. Real people with real families are getting choked out by government overreach and paranoia. Be as cautious as you feel you need to, but get out there!
Spot on, Wolfe.
Exactly. When it is your time you will go mask or not.
It is all about me, isn’t it? Great attitude – money is everything – the hell with who dies because it inconveniences you. This virus will never die with stupid people who won’t take it seriously. Great to know 250,000 will be in SD and coming back to spread it everywhere. Other counties in the world have got a lot better control, but not the USA. Show the world how great we are – or more like how stupid we are. You can’t fix or reason with stupid.
And, this would be why 150,000+ people are dead from covid-19. We all have a responsibility to watch out for each other and not add to the problem. I am heartbroken that some small businesses will not recover from this, but I think I’d rather be bankrupt than dead.
What we started doing this spring was taking our motorhome to our favorite eateries, getting their take-out, and still having a dinner out. That maintains social distancing, supports our local businesses, and breaks up the cabin fever.
I miss the times to get together with friends to have a good meal and a good discussion in a wonderful setting and get waited on. So now we do take out and meet outside, socially distance and carry on.