Some St. Louis-area restaurants are beginning to ask that only vaccinated customers dine indoors. Outdoor seating is available for everyone, including unvaccinated customers.
Bengelina Hospitality Group, which runs Elaia, Olio and Nixta restaurants in Botanical Heights and other businesses, announced the policy Wednesday.
The restaurants all have outdoor seating in gardens and on patios.
“We’re not refusing service to anyone, but we’re limiting where you can dine,” said Ben Poremba, chef and owner of Bengelina.
Apotheosis Comics and Lounge in Tower Grove East announced a similar move. Beginning Thursday, only customers who can show proof of vaccination against the coronavirus will be allowed to sit at the in-store bar. Unvaccinated patrons can order drinks to go or can drink them outside on the patio, according to a post Wednesday on the store’s Facebook page.
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These locations are among the first in the area to restrict indoor dining to vaccinated customers only. Poremba, a three-time James Beard Award semifinalist, said his organization decided to make the move because “we’re concerned about the safety and the health of our staff and of our guests.
“We’ve seen a serious increase in infections, in hospitalizations. We already have a mask mandate in the city of St. Louis. We don’t want another disruption in our business. We don’t want our staff falling ill; we don’t want our guests feeling ill.”
As with many other area restaurants, the Bengelina Hospitality Group restaurants were closed in 2020 from March through July. They opened in July 2020 for outdoor dining only; indoor dining resumed in January 2021.
The company also owns the French bakery La Patisserie Chouquette, which is open for curbside service only, and the gourmet-food market and café AO&Co., where masks are required by a St. Louis mandate. The Benevolent King remains closed.