(Angie Rolheiser/northeastNOW Staff)

By Angie Rolheiser

Dining experience

RJ’s Urban Garden expanding patio hours, excited for loosening of restrictions

Jun 2, 2021 | 3:11 PM

The loosening of restrictions on Sunday is welcome news for restaurants.

Owner of RJ’s Urban Garden Cafe in Melfort Raianne Maga told northeastNOW her favourite part of being able to have six people at a table is seeing families seated together.

“It was so upsetting to have to split up a family of five,” Maga said. “I love that now when people come in as a family of five or six, they can actually dine together.”

That is up from the previous order that only allowed four at a table, even if they were from the same household.

Two tables have been gained as well with the new rules for restaurants that still need to maintain two metres of separation between tables.

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“It is a far cry from the 16 we had pre-covid but we will take it, so that is exciting too,” Maga said.

A patio was added to the cafe last year which added several tables for the restaurant.

“It was a tremendous difference, especially last year with the fear of COVID wearing heavily on everyone. Having an outdoor option was the best choice,” Maga said. “People were still hesitant to dine-in so our patio was full all summer.”

As of today, the hours have been expanded to 10 p.m. from Wednesday to Saturday, giving more time to dine and be able to enjoy the warm summer nights on the patio.

“We hope people take advantage of those additional hours to come out and have dessert and coffee or just use that space and be together,” Maga said.

Maga referred to the patio space as the ‘one of the greatest investments’ they made last year for the business.

RJ’s Urban Garden also began offering barbecue packs last summer which are back again this summer.

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angie.rolheiser@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @Angie_Rolheiser