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WILKES-BARRE &mdash; No one likes a Monday, but for restaurant owners and staff across Pennsylvania, this particular Monday comes as sweet relief.
				A ban on indoor dining that was put into effect by Gov. Tom Wolf on Dec. 12 was set to expire at 8 a.m. Monday morning, allowing for restaurants that have completed the state&rsquo;s self-certification process to resume indoor dining at 50% capacity.
				The restrictions also put a halt to high school sports and other extracurricular activities, and closed gyms, casinos and movie theaters. Indoor gatherings were limited to 10 people, outdoor gatherings to 50 people and retail stores were held to a limited capacity, as well. Those restrictions will also expire.
				For Jonathan Grimes, one of the owners of Jonathan&rsquo;s Restaurant on River Street in Wilkes-Barre, the end of this ban could not have come faster.
				&ldquo;People dine with us for the experience,&rdquo; Grimes said. &ldquo;When we have to put that experience into a plastic takeout bag, it just isn&rsquo;t the same.&rdquo;
				Grimes said that Jonathan&rsquo;s completed the online self-certification process and would be ready to open at 50% capacity.
				&ldquo;We&rsquo;re closed on Mondays and Tuesdays anyway, so we have an extra two days to prepare,&rdquo; Grimes said.
				With the self-certification process complete, restaurants like Jonathan&rsquo;s will still have to adhere to COVID-19 mitigation rules that were in place before Wolf&rsquo;s more specific restrictions were put in place. Alcohol sales can still only be made with the purchase of a meal, and cut have to be off entirely at 11 p.m. Masks must be worn by employees at all times.
				Completing the self-certification process allows restaurants to be entered into a public database of certified restaurants that can be searched by prospective customers looking for an available place to order from.
				Restaurants that do not get self-certified aren&rsquo;t penalized by the state, but are only allowed to open indoor dining to 25% capacity.
				Across the river at Ollie&rsquo;s Restaurant in Edwardsville, longtime hostess Denise Salgado says that they&rsquo;ve scrubbed every inch of the restaurant from top to bottom in preparation for reopening.
				&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve cleaned as much as possible in here,&rdquo; Salgado said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re so excited to be reopening.&rdquo;
				Salgado said that Ollie&rsquo;s managed to do okay over the restricted period, largely due to a dedicated customer base.
				&ldquo;We have such amazing support from our customers, we&rsquo;re like a family,&rdquo; Salgado said. &ldquo;If we didn&rsquo;t have them, we may have been like some other restaurants that succumbed to the chaos.&rdquo;
				Both Grimes and Salgado admitted to being a little surprised that the Wolf administration would be lifting the restrictions as scheduled.
				&ldquo;We were surprised, but mainly relieved,&rdquo; Salgado said.
				&ldquo;We were ready for whatever he [Wolf] announced, but I wasn&rsquo;t sure what to expect,&rdquo; Grimes said in reference to a press conference held by the governor on Wednesday affirming that the restrictions would be lifted on Jan 4.
				It&rsquo;ll be a cautious few weeks, and the future remains uncertain. But for restaurants who had to close their dining rooms for a second time this year, the lifting of indoor dining bans is a step forward.
				&ldquo;Hopefully sometime soon we could open to full capacity,&rdquo; Salgado said. &ldquo;But we just can&rsquo;t wait to have our customers back inside again.&rdquo;

Restaurant owners ready for return of indoor dining