Coronavirus and dining at a distance

So I was catching up with a friend when we walked past "Duck and Waffle" in the IFC mall.  I had never been and he had only ever been when he lived in London.  There was no line so we thought this would be a good opportunity to try it.  We both ordered the namesake dish of confit duck leg served on a slice of waffle.

It was "good", but it certainly wasn't worth the price.  If anything, it was probably overpriced by at least half.  There was something very conveyor belt to everything in front of us.  Every element looked like it could be made quickly (and in advance) except for a few of the final flourishes like the egg, making the assembly line the perfect way for these dishes to be churned out quickly and efficiently.  I poured on the maple syrup sauce which added an exceedingly sweet finish to the whole plate.  Again, it was tasty enough, but there wasn't anything special to what I was eating.  It is as described.  Duck.  Waffle.  Covered in sugar.

Sitting in the restaurant itself, in the middle of the day on a Saturday, I couldn't help but think about how much they and other restaurants must be suffering.  There are already restrictions on the number of people who can be inside each restaurant along with further restrictions on how many can be in a total party and the distance that must be in place between groups.  Even with all of these restrictions in place, people are still wary of going out and the restaurant was almost completely deserted.  I can only imagine that it is a combination of reasons, people are worried about going out because of the virus but on top of that, there must also be growing financial concerns amongst large parts of the population.  The idea of going out and spending at restaurants (irrespective of how much) is probably the last thing on their minds.