When times are as uncertain as these, with the COVID virus making headlines every day, the last thing you want to worry about is where to eat. Some restaurants take precautions, some don’t. Who knows if a restaurant does takeout? All this worrying that you don’t have time for, and you end up with fast food anyway. The struggle is over, because this list counts down the best COVID friendly restaurants in Ponte Vedra Beach. The tenth best COVID friendly restaurant in Ponte Vedra Beach was Woody’s Barbeque. They had separate tables, temperature checks, sanitized menus and tables, and wore masks. Their downside is that they are at 100 percent capacity. Since they are at full capacity, if you are extremely nervous about the pandemic, takeout instead of in person from this restaurant is the way to go.
“Pretty much everything is the same for the restaurant, you just wear your mask when you are walking around,” says Korina Murchison, a 7th grader at Landrum Middle School.
The ninth best COVID friendly restaurant in PVB was Sierra Grill. They wear masks, sanitized the tables, wore gloves after each use, sanitized their hands before changing gloves, and they had the tables separated.
“People were wearing masks but when they sat down everyone took them off,” says Mckenna Lowe-Greene.
Two Dudes Seafood got the 8th best COVID friendly restaurant in PVB. They wore masks, wiped down menus and tables, and separated/divided tables. They are also at 100 percent capacity, which brings them down the list.
“It was fine, everyone had their masks on and they social distanced tables,” said Remi Baker, 7th grader at LMS.
Al’s Pizza scored the 7th best COVD friendly restaurant in Ponte Vedra. All the employees wore masks, and the chefs or people in the kitchen all wore gloves and changed their gloves often between making meals, they also all wash their hands and sanitize before and after cooking, and the tables are spread out. They are also not enforcing masks for everyone but do recommend wearing masks.
“I think they were really good because they aren’t at full capacity, they do a lot of pickup orders, they only use every other table, and they are wearing masks,” says Remi Baker, a 7th grader at LMS.
Nona Blue got the 6th best COVID friendly restaurant around the beach. They sanitized all the menus and tables every 15 minutes. This scored them 6th place.Alltheir employees and customers are also required to wear masks.
Zöe’sKitchen was the 5th best COVID friendly restaurant around PVB. All their employees wore masks, they had social distance reminder pads around the store, outside seating, an app you can order from for takeout and 6 feet apart tables. Their only downside was that they are at full capacity. Even though they are at full capacity they seem to have many precautions taking place. But, if you extremely cautious, using the app for takeout is recommended.
Maddox Tidwell, a 7th grader at LMS says that she was happy with her experience with Zoe’s Kitchen and they took a lot of precautions.
The 4th spot for best COVID friendly restaurants in Ponte Vedra goes toMcFlamingo.All their employees and customers are required to wear masks-even in the kitchen, they wear gloves always when handling food, all the counters get cleaned regularly, the tables are distanced, and they wash hands even more than they used to. There are also only 60 people, including staff, maximum allowed in the restaurant at a time. (It usually doesn’t get to 60 people, even when there’s a rush hour its mostly people picking up.)
“I liked it because when I went in there everyone was wearing a mask, even in the kitchen,” says Charlotte Osol, 7th grader at LMS.
Napoli’sPastariain the top 3 with 3rd place for best COVID friendly restaurants in PVB. The employees wear masks in the kitchen, or serving customers, they wipe down the tables or counters with bleach after closing or in the morning, sanitize, wash their hands, and they have 50 percent capacity which is what carried them to 3rd place.
Aqua Grill was placed 2nd best COVID friendly restaurant in PVB. The employees all wore masks, they have hand sanitizer set by every door, occasionally a company will come into the restaurant to sanitize the building specialized for COVID, they have virtual menus – so nobody touches anything, which is a plus.
“Masks are amazing to protect ourselves and others, here we don’t just wear masks to protect ourselves but as well our customers,” says the Aqua Grill manager.
The winner for best COVID friendly restaurant was…Trasca& Co Eatery! (Trasca’sfor short.) Trasca’s got the “COVID The New Normal” award from health officials. Their restaurant and staff got certified for COVID training. All of their employees and customers are required to wear masks and every hour on the hour they sanitize everything in the restaurant including iPads and light switches.
“I got takeout from Trasca’s and I really liked it because it was really good and easy to order online,” says Zoe Epsein, 7th grader at LMS.