Chances R among many Ottawa restaurants ready to resume indoor dining

It's a big weekend for Ottawa restaurants as the province switches to its new colour-coded system for COVID-19 restrictions.

Under the new rules, restaurants will be able to reopen indoor dining with limited capacity, after a 28-day shutdown.

While outdoor patio dining helped many local restaurants weather the storm, Mike Bouris, owner of the popular west end eatery Chances R, says the last month has been a roller coaster. 

Bouris says he and his staff are ready to again offer their signature-style comfort food indoors, and make sure patrons feel safe and comfortable with the shift. 

“Our restauant is a large restaurant and it's very spaced out,” Bouris says. “We can very easily, safely, comfortably seat 100 people in our restaurant instead of doing our normal 150 people, but this time around, we're told that we're only allowed to have 50 people in restaurant.”

He explains that glass partitions have been installed between dining booths, tables are being spaced beyond two metres apart, each table has been well-stocked with hand sanitizer and every staff member in the restaurant will be fully masked. 

Bouris' restaurant is also being aerated daily with a special peroxide mixture aimed at killing any COVID-19 germs within minutes. 

Under the province's orange classification, indoor dining is allowed with a 50-person indoor capacity limit for restaurants and bars.