While bars have been allowed to operate outdoors in SF so long as patrons are wearing masks, sitting at tables, and consuming a meal with their alcohol, some bars have been looser with the rules than others — and we now know that the city has caught almost a dozen of them and ordered them temporarily shut down.
At least 11 bars around the city, some of them very well known, have been forced to temporarily shut down due to repeated violations of SF's public health orders for bar and restaurant operations. As ABC7 reports, these 11 scofflaw bars are among some 400 businesses around the city that have been cited since March by the Department of Public Health — but they received shutdown orders because they were cited more than once.
Violations include not serving a proper meal with drinks, not maintaining distance between customers, and allowing customers to leave their tables and intermingle.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, bars without food in SF have not been allowed to operate indoors or out, but bars that serve food or partner with a nearby business that does are allowed to serve drinks at outdoor tables as long as food is purchased.
Among the problem bars, per ABC7, are some familiar names — and places that don't have proper kitchens but have remained opened by way of offering food items, possibly through partnership with other businesses. But, like, who's going to the Endup for dinner?
The bars and clubs that have been given temporary shutdown orders due to repeated COVID violations are:
- Amsterdam Cafe - 930 Geary Blvd.
- Coffeeshop - 2761 21st Street
- The Endup - 401 6th Street
- Delirium Cocktails - 3139 16th Street
- El Trebol Sports Bar - 3149 22nd Street
- The Knockout - 3223 Mission Street
- The Midway - 900 Marin Street
- Mr. Bing's - 201 Columbus Avenue
- Shotwells - 3349 20th Street
- Trad'r Sams - 6150 Geary Blvd.
- The Valencia Room - 647 Valencia Street
Delirium on 16th Street is listed as currently open, and the bar has been quiet on Twitter since March despite being fairly active on the platform prior to that — save for one retweet of a quote on April 20, "given a choice between fascism and Bernard - the people thought for a while and moved towards fascism."
A single Yelp review from late August paints things kind of bluntly.
Read BG M.'s review of Delirium on Yelp
As you can see from the Endup's Facebook page, there's been an ongoing series of DJ nights and events billed as "a distanced dining experience," including a Halloween party called "Pandemic at the Disco."
The Endup has a page on its website detailing its COVID safety precautions and stating that "We have also undergone required health inspections and passed."
But can it be true that people are going to The Endup, sitting on the patio, quietly listening to music and never getting up to dance?
Explaining the nature of the violations that were found, Terence Hong, who leads the food safety inspection program for the health department, tells ABC7, "Overall, it was not properly socially distancing, gathering, and serving alcohol without a bonafide meal. And not having the patron sit with that bonafide meal. Turning it into more of a bar."
The revelation that such repeated violations have been occurring leads to questions about whether restaurants that are following all safety protocols ought to be getting punished right now with the removal of what few indoor seats they've been allowed, if possible super-spreading events have been happening at more booze-focused businesses that haven't been as careful. And it also doesn't bode well for bars being allowed to begin unfettered outdoor drink service without food.
And when Mayor Breed says "People have gotten complacent," is she really talking about people at proper restaurants?
San Francisco recorded 99 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, up from an average of around 30 per day in early October. And on Tuesday, Breed announced that all restaurants need to cease allowing patrons indoors beginning on Saturday, for an indefinite period of time, until a potential surge has passed.
Photo: Facebook
