Harlem Restaurants Greet Indoor Dining Cautiously

HARLEM, NY — With indoor dining allowed to resume this week in restaurants around New York City, some Harlem eateries are embracing the experiment more enthusiastically than others.

Neighborhood fixtures like Melba's and Amy Ruth's have promoted their big returns, inviting customers to dine in at 25 percent capacity.

Others have been more wary, citing risks posed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as well as the financial reality that the city's capacity limits make it difficult to sustain a restaurant.

Vinateria, a European-inspired restaurant on Frederick Douglass Boulevard, has chosen not to reopen indoor seating for now, owner Yvette Leeper-Bueno told Patch, instead maintaining its outdoor patio setup.

"For dining rooms to be at 25% capacity, it barely makes a dent in the bottom line of our business, but seeing that it could potentially be a health risk, it's a lot to weigh," she wrote in an email.

At Clay, a farm-to-table restaurant on Manhattan Avenue, the question of whether to reopen for indoor dining was "terrifying," according to bar director Andrea Needell Matteliano.

Clay has garnered a reputation in the neighborhood for “being 11 on a safety scale of one to 10,” Needell Matteliano said. Diners are asked to read a full page of safety instructions when they sit down to eat on Clay’s outdoor patio, and are required to wear face masks whenever staff are at the table, going a step beyond the city’s rules.

Out of concern for the restaurant's staff, Clay's owners have installed two different types of air filtration systems and will keep the windows wide open for as long as weather allows, Needell Matteliano said.

"A good bit of my staff doesn’t have a choice to do something else," she said. "It’s our duty as employers to be appreciative of that and go above and beyond to ensure their safety."

Ultimately, Clay's owners decided their strict protocols would mitigate the potential risks, and resumed indoor dining Thursday evening. After all, there weren’t many other options.

“My choice is to be open or lose my restaurant,” Needell Matteliano said.

Lido, an Italian restaurant on Frederick Douglass Boulevard, also reopened for indoor service this week, installing dividers between tables and improving ventilation by opening its street-facing doors.

Still, if it weren't for outdoor dining, recently expanded to become a year-round program, Lido would be doomed, according to owner Susannah Koteen.

"You can’t run a business on 25 percent," she said.

Related coverage: Indoor Dining Is Back, But Some NYC Restaurateurs Are Holding Off