St. Patrick’s Day festivities were put on hold last year when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of local restaurants on March 16.
One year later, local pubs and eateries are excited to welcome patrons back - albeit for restricted dine-in St. Paddy’s Day celebrations.
Kaitlyn Slater, general manager at Fionn MacCool’s, says the Irish-themed restaurant in downtown Orillia will be celebrating by serving green beer and Guiness all day. They will also be giving out prizes and apparel.
Fionn MacCool’s will have their heated patio open which seats 68 people; they will also have seating for 10 available inside the restaurant.
“We can’t do reservations because the restrictions would make it too difficult, so it will be first-come first-served, but with the 17 tables outside (which are six feet apart) we are fairly confident that we will be able to accommodate everybody,” Slater said.
In a normal year, Fionn MacCool’s would celebrate at full capacity inside with live music. Despite having to pull back from the norm because of restrictions, restaurant staff thought it was important to still celebrate the cultural holiday.
“We didn’t get to do it last year, so that’s our No. 1 motivation,” Slater said.
For those who would still prefer to celebrate from home, Fionn MacCool’s has put together a St. Patrick’s Day music playlist which you can find on Spotify. They are also hosting a virtual party on their website, and they are offering St. Paddy’s Day-themed take-out specials.
“We have our Guinness beer available for take-out, as well as Irish-themed take-out bundles which can be ordered through SkipTheDishes, DoorDash, and Uber Eats,” Slater explained.
“We have one special that comes with six Guinness tall cans, a T-shirt, a hat, and a Guinness glass, all for $25.”
Over at St. Louis Bar and Grill, owner Brad Watters says hosting a St. Patrick’s Day bash would be hard to do with the province’s red “control” restrictions limiting his restaurant's capacity to ten.
“At this point we can’t really encourage gathering. I don’t know if throwing a party on Wednesday is the greatest idea during this thing, and I don’t think it sends a great message to the public health department,” he said.
Watters says it is possible that St. Louis Bar and Grill would open up their patio on Wednesday evening to expand capacity, but that would be a spontaneous decision made by management depending on the weather.
“If people are going to be going out for St. Patrick’s Day, we would love to host them. We have Guinness on tap, and we are more than willing to do it,” Watters said.
“I’m sure people are going to dress up, and we are going to throw it the best we can, but without having a covered patio we can’t plan for a big event on Wednesday.”
Watters and his staff are looking forward to St. Patrick’s Day in 2022 when they can host their inaugural St. Paddy’s Day bash.
“We will throw our first St. Patrick’s Day party next year when we can be at full capacity. It will be our first ever in our third year of business,” he said.
At Brewery Bay Food Co., general manager Darren Gallagher says they will be making the most of celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with limited seating capacity.
“We are trying to make it as festive as possible, and it will be busier than last year ... yet we can only have ten inside,” Gallagher said.
Brewery Bay Food Co. has become accustomed to throwing a big St. Patrick’s Day party over the years with live music and a festive atmosphere. Despite restrictions and their patio not being ready for Wednesday, Gallagher and his staff still wanted to do something fun for their customers.
“We are still going to do the green beer, we are still going to have specials in-house and for take-out,” he said.
“It won’t be as jam-packed, and there won’t be as much cheer, but we will cheer with what we got.”
Brewery Bay will be serving a corned beef and cabbage sandwich on Wednesday, which has been a St. Patrick’s Day favourite at the restaurant for at least the past 10 years.
“I recommend people make reservations if they are planning on coming in because of the limited seating. There are still a few spots, but not many, and it’s filling up fast,” Gallagher said.
