The COVID 19 Restaurant Poll

[Dan Gould]

Thought of this poll when, two weekends ago, I placed a take out order at the only Chinese place we have ever tried after moving to central Florida, and at 7 pm on a Saturday night it was a "ten minutes" wait, not the normal 20-25. Now, 9 days later, I saw that they have a sign up that they closed on the 23rd and "hope to re-open" by end of April. I have to assume that is a result of demand, and not that the family has to self-quarantine due to exposure/diagnosis.

[JSngry]

We've been entirely focused on grocery orders (this curbside pickup thing is FANTASTIC once you get the rhythm of the order/pickup window thing relatively down) and cooking in during this time, but it seems that carry-out & delivery options are remaining viable enough in this area. At least I'm not hearing anything on Nextdoor, which is Complaint Central For Chronically Crotchety Caucasians.

OTOH - Plano seems like it has some kind of restaurant every 6.5 feet, and I'm pretty sure that not all of them are set up for rigorous carry out, and definitely not drive-through. I don't know, to be honest. I'm telecommuting, and not making it out to any commercial area for anything but targeted, outcome-certain activity. Not out of fear or any legal mandate, but just common sense - eliminating as many variables as possible. At this time, Internet makes all this incredibly non-disruptive.

Speaking of groceries, though, if you live in an area where produce is limited in your "mainstream" markets, check H-Mart, if you have one. Just sayin'...List in advance, protection on, go, stock up (no hoarding, please, a 15 lb. bag of rice should last you a good long time)), pay, go home, and sani up. That goes for the food as well as your person.

You should do this for a trip to any grocery store. Not being paranoid, just eliminating as many variables as possible.

[jlhoots]

All restaurants in Santa Fe are closed. Some are offering takeout.

[Brad]

I’m not sure I totally understand some of the questions. You can follow distancing and still take out. Our favorite Chinese restaurant, one of the few authentic ones in the area, is closed. They’re not sure when they will reopen. The other one near that we mostly use for takeout (American style Chinese) is open. 

[Dan Gould]

14 minutes ago, Brad said:

I’m not sure I totally understand some of the questions. You can follow distancing and still take out. Our favorite Chinese restaurant, one of the few authentic ones in the area, is closed. They’re not sure when they will reopen. The other one near that we mostly use for takeout (American style Chinese) is open. 

I just tried to give an option for "not doing take out at all".

[catesta]

I'm still getting my morning espresso from a small coffee shop down the street, their business is off but chances are they will survive.

From what I've seen Starbucks is drive thru only now and those locations seem to be doing just fine.

During normal times I do lunch out almost everyday lot and my wife and I go out to dinner at least once a week. Now, we still do take-out from places we've always supported that are still open but also go home for lunch on some days.

 

[Justin V]

What is the point of asking about Chinese restaurants in particular?  Are they useful in gauging the overall health of the restaurant industry?  Or, are you interested in whether the harassment of Asian Americans because of the virus is affecting Chinese restaurants?  There was a disturbing NYT article recently about the disgusting trend.

We ate at a vegan Asian place two weeks ago when we didn't want to face the crowd of hoarders during the dinner rush at the grocery store.  We rarely eat out, though.  The restaurant announced the next day that they'd be doing takeout only before deciding to sell out of their current stock and temporarily (I hope!) close.

My favorite coffee shop/roaster appears to still be open.  I was last there two weeks ago and they were handling the dispensing of milk as well as simple syrup for cold drinks.  For hot drinks,  they were handing out paper cups with sugar and telling people to throw out what they didn't use.  I had already cut down from weekly trips to a trip every 6 weeks or so when I would grab a bag of beans.  I'll now be drinking a coffee I order from Amazon until the dust settles, whenever that is.  

[Dan Gould]

41 minutes ago, Justin V said:

What is the point of asking about Chinese restaurants in particular?  Are they useful in gauging the overall health of the restaurant industry?  Or, are you interested in whether the harassment of Asian Americans because of the virus is affecting Chinese restaurants?  There was a disturbing NYT article recently about the disgusting trend.

 

For the simple fact that when this first hit the news, Nancy Pelosi was encouraging people to go visit Chinatown in San Fran, as the number of people going there was noticeably down. Then, as noted above, the precipitating fact was that our favorite Chinese place was abnormally slow on what ought to have been a busy night and is now closed. 

Whether rational or not (and count me down for NOT), it is not surprising that Chinese restaurants might suffer at a time that a highly contagious, possibly lethal virus came out of China and severely disrupted life across the planet more or less.

[JSngry]

Post-GrubHub: https://www.eater.com/2016/9/26/13051528/most-ordered-food-delivery-america

Pizza and Chinese food were once synonymous with delivery, but people can now order alcohol, sushi, and spaghetti delivered to their door.

 

[catesta]

That map is interesting. I can't say I've ever ordered just french fries for delivery. Utah is cinnamon sticks, what the hell? I've never done Sushi by delivery and never will.

[sidewinder]

Avoiding all these places and doing self-catering.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

we dont have too many Chinese restaurants but everything is closed today after some attempted a few days of takeout

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

oh wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait we have many chinese restaurants downtown, and they are struggling and a major donation is going to be distributed- none in my area though

Does your city have all the places boarded up w/ plywood?

Edited March 26, 2020 by chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez

[ejp626]

I think the bias against Chinese restaurants and Chinatowns is a little less pronounced in Toronto than elsewhere, but it seems there is an impact, probably more than against other restaurants, who are all suffering obviously.

We do very, very little eating out/take out as a family (honestly it was down to ~10 times annually, though I ate lunch in the food court a lot more often than that).  So I'm trying to order out a bit more often just to help some of these restaurants, but it will likely still only come to twice a month.

[Coda]

Many restaurants in the Boston area and beyond that haven't been used to doing takeout/delivery have either completely shut down for now or have given it a shot with varying results.  Places that have traditionally focused on takeout/delivery before the virus outbreak might be doing all right, but this isn't always the case.

Takeout spots as sub shops and pizzerias are seeing a drop-off in business following the governor's ruling last week to shut down restaurants except takeout & delivery.  Local radio gives an example of a North Shore pizzeria that has seen a drop-off of approximately 40% because people are simply not going out.  Delivery is still busy in some cases but business for takeout places is down in general.  I had take-out for this first time last night, visiting the Bangkok Bistro which is about a block from home.  It wasn't busy, the owner was very thankful for our business.

We have a huge Chinese population near me with about as diverse a restaurant industry as possible.  I don't see overt signs of bias although I do read of some incidents.  Boston is a very progressive community and home to many of the medical and pharmaceutical companies.  I believe most of us are trying to get through this together.

The restaurant shutdown in MA remains in effect until April 6, though it is not known if that date will hold.

[Dmitry]

Most strip mall Chinese restaurants around here provide very low end Szechwan food to the customers who would eat garbage, provided it was cheap. 

However, I would be sad if my favorite one were to close; they are the only ones in the area who make nice Cantonese dishes, dim sum, congee, etc. I have no idea how authentic they are, unlike Brad, who made a distinction above. It just tastes good. It's probably authentic; it is the only one where I regularly see Chinese people as customers, sometimes whole families sitting around a lazy Susan.

Hot and sour soup - one of the few Szechwan dishes I truly relish. A well-made one is remarkable. Tough to find, though.

Edited March 26, 2020 by Dmitry

[sidewinder]

8 hours ago, ejp626 said:

I think the bias against Chinese restaurants and Chinatowns is a little less pronounced in Toronto than elsewhere, but it seems there is an impact, probably more than against other restaurants, who are all suffering obviously.

Presumably still concentrated on Spadina? Very lively area !

[ejp626]

57 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

Presumably still concentrated on Spadina? Very lively area !

Spadina and Dundas is by far the largest Chinatown, but there are a few others now, including a small Chinatown mixed with a bit of Vietnamese on Gerrard near Broadview.  I live fairly close to this one.

[sidewinder]

Yep - Spadina and Dundas, that’s the one I remember.

[Dmitry]

18 hours ago, bresna said:

Since I moved to York, ME, it's been tough finding a really good Chinese restaurant. There are two OK restaurants in York and two not so good ones in nearby KIttery & Wells.

I would love to find a good Cantonese restaurant. Some of the best Chinese food I ever ate was at a Cantonese restaurant in Hong Kong.

Kevin, if you decide to come down here for the Newport Festival this August, I will take you to that Cantonese restaurant. It's a hidden gem. I really hope it survives the turmoil. 

[Brad]

On 3/25/2020 at 10:00 AM, Brad said:

Our favorite Chinese restaurant, one of the few authentic ones in the area, is closed. They’re not sure when they will reopen. The other one near that we mostly use for takeout (American style Chinese) is open. 

Looks like I was wrong. The two restaurants we use for takeout have been closed since mid March. Bummer. I think the Chinese food store, which is about 35 minutes from here, may be open. 

Edited April 8, 2020 by Brad

[jlhoots]

Total Wine is closed here now. They tried to claim they were a grocery store, but government disagreed. Fortunately we're well stocked.

[Brad]

18 hours ago, jlhoots said:

Total Wine is closed here now. They tried to claim they were a grocery store, but government disagreed. Fortunately we're well stocked.

One of the large wine stores in our area has pickup only; you order through their website, they let you know when it’s ready, you call them when you get there and they load it into your car. When I picked up last week, there were a few other cars waiting too. 

Edited April 9, 2020 by Brad

[porcy62]

15 hours ago, jlhoots said:

Total Wine is closed here now. They tried to claim they were a grocery store, but government disagreed. Fortunately we're well stocked.

One of the biggest liquor store in Rome does 400 deliveries per day, don't know the others, but I guess are over 1000 all togheter.

[Tom 1960]

On 3/26/2020 at 2:10 PM, bresna said:

Since I moved to York, ME, it's been tough finding a really good Chinese restaurant. There are two OK restaurants in York and two not so good ones in nearby KIttery & Wells.

I would love to find a good Cantonese restaurant. Some of the best Chinese food I ever ate was at a Cantonese restaurant in Hong Kong.

It would be more of a drive for you Kevin, but we got very good Chinese from a place in Sanford called the Green Tea. It's located on Main Street. Agreed on your thoughts about closer venues.  "East" here in town is horrible.

Edited April 9, 2020 by Tom 1960