After the Finger Lakes Region entered phase 3 of reopening, Ox and Stone in Rochester, along with many other restaurants, opened its indoor dining room for the first time in three months.

"I think it was something that we were looking forward to doing," said Regis Acosta, who last dined inside a restaurant in Ottawa a week before the shutdown in March.

He never thought he would have to wait a few months before he could do it again.

"We actually made reservations to eat outside and then they let us know that they were accepting indoor reservations and that was really cool so we just jumped right on it because it's really been awhile since we've been able to sit inside and eat dinner," said Acosta.

For Bobbi Lonobile, it was a chance to reunite with old friends

"With the people we're here with tonight, we haven't seen these guys in literally three months and we used to dine out quite a bit. It's just really nice to see people in person. We've all done a lot of zoom stuff but it's just not the same," said Lonobile.

Ox and Stone front house manager Steven Szozda says it's been tough for the last three months not being able to provide indoor dining because he really missed serving customers.

"Just knowing that we are kind of making people's day and allowing people to gather to drink and to have great food is really exciting first and foremost," said Szozda.

While Ox and Stone has outdoor dining, Szozda points out much of their business comes from the three dining rooms they have inside.

"If we have the night that I think that we possibly could, roughly 125% increase from last Saturday when we were just doing outdoor dining," said Szozda.

After having to wait three months, Lonobile is happy to support local restaurants like Ox and Stone.

"Safety is our number one priority but we've been very concerned about the economy too and folks' livelihoods, people that work in restaurants and we're so excited to be able to be catering to the area businesses again," explained Lonobile.