Pacific Beach was oddly quiet on the first Thursday Night Football of the year.
Restaurants were busy with as many people as pandemic capacity restrictions would allow, and street-side dining kept the usually bustling scene from looking completely deserted.
Nicholas Pallone of The Local Pacific Beach was holding out hope for more business but it never seemed to pick up.
"We're normally booked right now. We normally have crazy specials going and lots of people here,” said Pallone as the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans played on the TV screens.
The pandemic has undoubtedly taken its toll on restaurants and bars. Bars that don't serve food are still shuttered and restaurants are working with a 25% indoor capacity limit and outdoor service if they have space.
At The Local, Diana and Isaac Beltran couldn't even find a table to sit at because the limited number of seats were already taken.
"It just makes it a reality for us that the pandemic is true and it's here and it's affected everybody, everything,” said Diana.
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Meanwhile, businesses are trying to all they can to turn a profit while following public health rules.
"We're trying to do our part with the hygiene and everything and speed it up as much as possible. Because we want everything to be done quickly, but we don't know really if it's gonna be months or weeks, or a year until everything's back to normal,” said Pallone.
