More Tri-Cities bars, wineries and brew pubs back open with patio seating

Tri-Citians are again returning to their favorite watering holes after updated COVID-19 safety guidelines were announced recently, allowing wineries and bars to open.

“People are honking as we are building,” said David Vega, the general manager of The Pub in Kennewick. “They are excited to see us open.”

Vega said The Pub shut down in March along with everyone else but it never reopened, even for takeout. Now, the bar is extending its small outside patio to accommodate up to 20 tables.

“It was the risk factor, payroll — we are run old-school,” he said, explaining why the longtime bar remained closed for five months. “We aren’t tech savvy and aren’t set up to do takeout. We’re still a small mom-and-pop bar.”

The Pub on 7001 W. Clearwater Ave. has been around since 1975. It’s a popular spot to shoot pool and throw darts — although the inside will remain off limits. It doesn’t have a website and their menu isn’t online.

Many other establishments throughout Tri-Cities like The Pub have been struggling to keep afloat even has regulations surrounding openings during the pandemic remain in flux.

The health district initially announced that the Washington State Secretary of Health John Wiesman approved a modified Phase 1 for Benton and Franklin counties that includes restaurant outdoor seating at 50 percent of its outside capacity. It excluded drinking establishments that don’t also serve from their own kitchen.

That led to a vocal backlash from breweries and wineries who often bring in food trucks or allow customers to bring outside food with them.

“We are working hard to be treated fairly along with restaurants — we operate in a very similar fashion,” Josh McDonald, the executive director of the Washington Wine Institute, a industry advocate group told the Herald at the time.

That changed last week after the health district announced that wineries, breweries, distilleries, taverns and restaurants can now follow Phase 2 guidance with the exception that indoor seating still is not allowed — making all the difference to places like The Pub.

“Our main goal is to offer the same service that we did before,” said Vega, who opened outdoor seating Aug. 10. “We want to try to get back to normal as much as we can.”

Outdoor seating rules

Kennewick, Pasco and Richland councils have all adopted guidelines to allow expansion of patios and outdoor seating more easily.

Moonshot Brewing in Kennewick has been getting by with sales of only crowlers during the shutdown.

“It has been a little rough,” said Ryan Wattenbarger who owns the small brewery along with his wife Hilary Bird. “We’ve done enough to-go business to keep the lights on.”

He’s now jumping on the bandwagon and opened an outside seating area Aug. 7.

They are setting up seven tables with umbrellas to serve up a cold fresh one in person from 2 to 8 p.m. Fridays through Sundays.

“Hopefuly it helps to keep beer fresh,” Wattenbarger said.

One of the side effects of fewer customers, is not just a loss of revenue but product going stale. They had to pull eight kegs of beer because it wasn’t up to par — a loss of about $5,200.

“Lucky enough on a small system most of the stuff we had to dump we had big batches of,” he said. “But I’d rather dump bad beer than sell it.”

Here are some other establishments with outdoor seating:

▪ J Bookwalter Wines, 894 Tulip Lane in Richland, outside seating open with reservations for groups no larger than five people. Open from noon to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, noon to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. Call: 509-627-5000, Ext. 1. bookwalterwines.com; Facebook

▪ Kimo’s Sportsbar & Brewpub, 2696 N. Columbia Center Blvd., Richland. Open noon to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, noon to 9 pm. Friday and Saturday and noon to 7 p.m. Sunday. Call: 509-783-5747. kimosrmbc.com, Facebook

▪ Sage Brewing Company, 8425 Chapel Hill Blvd., Suite B102, Pasco. Open 3 to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Call: 509-316-4035. sagebrewing.beer, Facebook

▪ White Bluffs Brewing, 2034 Logston Blvd., Richland. Open 3 to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 2 to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sunday. Call: 509-578-4558 whitebluffsbrewing.com, Facebook

▪ Hedges Family Estate and Winery, 53511 N. Sunset Road, Benton City. Open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Reservations accepted online. Call: 509-588-3155. hedgesfamilyestate.com, Facebook