Last week, Colleyville Mayor Richard Newton amended part of the city's disaster declaration to allow restaurants to serve customers in person, but only if they have an outdoor patio.
“We were open for curbside pickup all along, but with the patio, the last few days, there was a surge around the metroplex," said Ted Price, owner of Costa Vida Fresh Mexican Grill in Colleyville. "We’ve had people from Garland and Mansfield and just all over, they’ve been great and very supportive.”
Price said sales have tanked for the last five weeks since they were only able to provide takeout.
“People are pretty good about following the rules staying apart. We pulled some tables off of our patio to make sure that we were 6 feet apart and it seems to be working pretty good," he said.
Sunday afternoon, employees could be seen wearing masks and gloves and spraying tables, chairs and doors after customers left.
"We're just doing the best we can to be wise be cautious," Price said.
Across the street, at Gloria's Latin Cuisine, people waited more than an hour to get a seat a patio table.
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“We’ve been stuck in quarantine for so long and finally someone is letting people on the patio, so it was a chance to get out, it's beautiful weather," Mackenzie Wilson said.
She and her friend got a blanket, sat under a tree with her friend's dog and waited for their table.
"We sat for an hour and a half while we drank our margaritas," Wilson said.
Others tailgated while they waited.
“It’s a beautiful day and we’re bored, we’ve been cooking a lot of meals at home and we saw all these people here and we just thought we would come out and enjoy ourselves," Roger Anderson said.
He and his wife, along with another couple, sat on the back of their cars while they waited for their seat to open up at Gloria's.
Some debated the city's move, concerned that it went against Tarrant County and state orders.
Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley said he'd prefer everyone follow the same restrictions, but wouldn't insist on it.
"Well, it's a free country,” Whitley said. “This isn’t a police state.”
Earlier this week Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he believed Colleyville was following “much” of the state plan.
There have been 17 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Colleyville and no deaths.
“I know COVID is serious and all, but I’m kind of just ready to get back to normal, and I feel like this is a good test, maybe slowly opening and trying to get back into that normalness," Madison Bloodworth said.
"You always have concerns, but I feel like what will be and if you get sick, stay home," Anderson said.
"I don’t think this is the new normal. I think this will pass in time and we just work our way through the challenges day by day and soon it will be back to normal," Price said.
On Monday Abbott will announce his part of a plan to start reopening the state.
