Moscow businesses to close or change hours, format

A handful of Moscow restaurants and bars have closed, changed their hours or restricted business to takeout orders until further notice in response to COVID-19.

Mock Orange is closed until further notice, according to its website.

Bloom moved to restricted hours and is not offering full-capacity seating to accommodate social distancing, according to an email from owner Nara Woodland to Moscow Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jenny Ford. Bloom’s new hours until further notice are from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, the email said.

The Garden Lounge is closed until further notice, according to a notice from George Skandalos and Carly Lilly, who own the bar, Maialina Pizzeria Napoletana and Sangria Grille. Sangria Grille is closed for dine-in business, but will stay open for takeout orders from 5-8:30 p.m. daily, according to the notice. It said it will be offering a limited takeout menu with 20-25 percent discounts.

Maialina is closed for dine-in business, but will stay open for takeout orders from 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. daily. The takeout menu is limited to woodfired pizza, salad, pasta and bottles of wine with 20-25 percent discounts.

The notice said the owners will reopen as soon as it is appropriate.

“The health and safety of our guests, our team members and our community at large, are our top priority as we take these extra precautions,” the notice said.

Skandalos said their employees are in contact with hundreds of people per day and he did not feel like he and Lilly had the option to keep their businesses running in the same close-contact format.

“We want to minimize the threat of this,” Skandalos said.

Skandalos said his employees will be able to tap into their paid vacation and sick time while the businesses are limited in hours or closed.

He said he and Lilly will schedule work for their employees as much as possible so they can accrue hours and get paid. They will allow employees to complete maintenance tasks, such as deep cleaning, to get work hours as well, Skandalos said.

He said they are trying to set up delivery at Sangria so employees can get more hours and are trying to set up online ordering at Sangria and Maialina.

He said meals will be provided to employees at the three businesses to help alleviate financial burden while their hours are reduced.

Ford said all other businesses she has spoken with are operating at regular business hours but that could change, she said.

Garrett Cabeza can be reached at (208) 883-4631, or by email to gcabeza@dnews.com.