I don't know exactly how long it has been since I was last at Big Louie's but it was before February as I remember being surprised that Chuck and Terry picked the Thai place instead to have dinner and then COVID-19 came to town when they left (not that I am inferring anything!)
In any case, after shopping at Dollar Tree and Winn-Dixie I suggested we go and have a pizza so we did. This has been the 4th restaurant we have been to since we had lunch at the Outback on March 12 and the restaurants were shut down. I was hesitant about eating out when they reopened but eventually, in August we went to Cafe Vico and though I wasn't 100% comfortable Marco follows all the regulations and the food, as always, was excellent. A week or 2 later, having gift cards, we went to The Cheesecake Factory and though they offer outside dining in August in Fort Lauderdale you don't eat outside. The dining room was spacious so distances between tables wasn't a problem and all the staff wore masks.
The following week we went to The Quarterdeck and it being a 'feel like' temperature of 101 degrees we ate inside. In addition to spacing tables and staff wearing masks they also took customer's temperatures when they came in.
We immediately saw a few changes at Big Louie's including a 'chef' statue outside with a sign saying "We are open". The front dining room was completely redone not only regarding tables but with the decoration also. I loved the woodwork and sign that Marcello's wife made--look at the bottom left picture. Also, it was great seeing Sheila was still working as a server. She had been the server/assistant manager when I worked there in 1999. We had a pizza which was g-o-o-o-o-o-o-d!
Looks like we will be getting back to having lunch out on Thursdays which I missed!