Lowcountry restaurants are back on track with full-service but as COVID-19 cases increase in the region one restaurant is bringing back the precautions they once had it place.

Like many restaurants across the country, Nico Oysters + Seafood in Mount Pleasant had a rough year throughout the pandemic. For the first two months, the restaurant could only offer carry out and delivery services before they were able to open their patio to customers.

Slowly, the restaurant has been able to reopen indoor dine-in services with social distancing and new safety measures. Over time they began returning to service at full speed.

Now with a rise in COVID-19 cases and the unknowns tied to the Delta variant, the owner Nico Romo, said they are re-introducing safety measures.

“I was hoping like everybody else in the world right now that COVID would be way behind us, but it’s not. It’s still here,” Romo said. ” We brought back our plastic menu that we could easily sanitize, and we just put everything back on. We have asked our staff to wear masks again and we are separating bar seating for social distance.”

Even though Romo said most of his team is vaccinated, he doesn’t want to take any chances when it comes to employees or customers getting sick.

When the new protocols were announced, the restaurant received some negative reviews from customers. After putting the message out on social media, Romo said he has also gotten a lot more support from people.

He said the mask policy is for the employees, and he will not force customers to wear masks. He said he wants to make the best decision for the safety of everyone in his restaurant.

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