PLAINS, Pa. — The sign that says, "please wait to be seated," when you walk into D's Diner in Plains Township is a welcome alternative to last month's "takeout only" sign, now that Gov. Tom Wolf's indoor dining ban has been lifted.
'"We're feeling great," said owner Dan Demillier. "Glad to see a lot of customers are coming out today, and we're just fortunate enough to have the good business with people coming in."
Customers are happy, too.
Terrific," said James Zambito. "About time they opened it up."
"I have to say that for the first day, I'm very happy to come here for breakfast," Louise Tontini said.
Edward Smith says the lifting of the indoor dining ban makes life easier at home.
"I had to ask my mom to cook, and she don't like to cook, so D's Diner is the best diner, you know? I've been to a lot of diners down here. You get the home fries here, you know? you Don't get to have too many home fries in Wilkes-Barre."
While the owner of D's Diner says he's grateful to be back open, the struggle continues for restaurants like his.
"We're still at 50 percent," Demillier said. "25 percent to 50 percent doesn't matter to us. We'd like to be at 100 percent, so it still hurts a little. We do have people waiting outside. We're filled right now to capacity, but we have to do things safe."
Both the owner and customers say the biggest impact is for the people who work at restaurants like this for the tips.
"They got families to feed," Smith said. "With everything closed, you know, how they going to feed their family?"