Michael’s on the Lake in Moses Lake welcomed customers back on Tuesday
Left to right, Mary Ann Kirwan, Grace Kirwan, Brent Kirwan, Braxton Kirwan and Kyle Pea share a laugh after dinner at Michael’s on the Lake on Wednesday evening.
Casey McCarthy/Columbia Basin Herald
Left to right, Mary Ann Kirwan, Grace Kirwan, Brent Kirwan, Braxton Kirwan and Kyle Pea share a laugh after dinner at Michael’s on the Lake on Wednesday evening.
Casey McCarthy/Columbia Basin Herald
Customers dine outside on the patio at Michael’s on the Lake on Wednesday, the second day since the restaurant reopened its doors after closing the dining room following the state’s orders.
Casey McCarthy/Columbia Basin Herald
Left to right, Aja Gribble, Jenna Strange, Autum Rust, Dustin Rust and Chandler Gribble enjoy a meal together at Michael’s on the Lake on Wednesday as restaurants around Grant County begin to welcome back customers.
Casey McCarthy/Columbia Basin Herald
Chad Castro, bartender at Michael’s on the Lake, prepares a drink order on Wednesday.
Casey McCarthy/Columbia Basin Herald
MOSES LAKE — Restaurant owners in Grant County happily welcomed customers back to their dining areas after the county moved into Phase 2 of the state’s reopening process over the weekend.
Michael’s on the Lake restaurant in Moses Lake reopened its doors to dine-in customers on Tuesday for the first time since March.
The restaurant is limited to 50 percent capacity for customers, with new guidelines under Phase 2 also requiring face masks for employees among other new safety measures.
The changes went seamlessly after meeting with employees to discuss them, said restaurant owner Jordan Hamilton. For the past two weeks, Hamilton said they’ve been working to get ready for reopening their doors once the announcement came down from state officials.
“Being how it was last-minute, last notice, Memorial weekend, we really just didn’t want to do that to the staff,” Hamilton said, referring to whether to open that weekend. “And so we said, we’ll wait ’til Tuesday.”
Hamilton said it was maybe 10 minutes after the announcement came out on Saturday that messages and phone calls began pouring in from customers wanting to know when they’d be open.
“The phone just rang constantly, Saturday night, Sunday all day, Monday all day,” Hamilton said. “But the support’s been really good. We’ve had some great support in the whole shutdown.”
Hamilton said business was steady all day the first two days back, never getting too crazy or overwhelming. The restaurant is not taking reservations this week.
“Not knowing what 50 percent would look like, we opted to not take reservations this week, and kind of feel out what the new normal is. And then, next week, get back to reservations and start from there.”
Hamilton said there’s definitely some relief being able to reopen the restaurant doors but added there’s still a lot of anxiety with so much uncertainty right now.
“There’s a lot of anxiety, bringing people back in and dealing with customers,” Hamilton said. “What’s that going to look like? How are people going to be? And having to interact in that perspective is a little stressful.” Hamilton said simply, having sales down 80 percent is tough.
“But, I’m grateful for the staff that were willing to be here and work to get through it, push through it,” Hamilton said. “We all sacrificed a lot for 60 days, and we’re going to move forward the rest of the year.” While the restaurant isn’t completely up to full speed yet, Hamilton said he’s happy that most of the staff members are willing to come back once the operation is ready to bring them all back on.
“I’m just grateful that we’re still here,” Hamilton said.
