‘Luck of the Irish’: Valley pubs celebrate red tier return to indoor dining on St. Patrick’s Day

At O'Caine's Irish Pub in Rancho Mirage Tuesday, St. Patrick's Day came early.

People were already starting to celebrate on the outdoor patio as the restaurant geared up for its biggest day of the year.

The phone was ringing off the hook, with customers excited for indoor dining to make its comeback at 25 percent capacity Wednesday as Riverside County returned to the red tier of reopening.

"Everyone here is excited," said owner Brenda Johnson. "We're just scrambling as fast as we can to get ready for tomorrow."

Johnson said it was a stark difference to St. Patrick's Day last year, when the pandemic took its first sharp turn for the worse. "Kinda put a damper on it last year because we had to close early," she said.

This year, a brighter celebration was expected – with plenty of pandemic procedures still in place.

"We can spread tables out; we're going to be doing every other booth, every other table," Johnson said. "The bar is only gonna be allowed so many bar stools and they're going to be separated at the proper distance."

Johnson said she was cautiously optimistic about the return to the red tier, but with vaccines being widely distributed and seeing the low coronavirus rates, she's hopeful the reopening is here to stay.

Some customers weren't ready yet for the potential risks of indoor dining, especially in a holiday celebration atmosphere.

"I just think that it might cause problems with more people coming down with Covid," said Diane Ventura.

"We've all had our shots so we all feel pretty comfortable, but maybe not in a bar situation," said Nancy Zieg.

Others, on the other hand, were all set to return. "We'll be here two days in a row – fabulous," said Denise Turner.

The reopening of indoor dining only applies to restaurants right now. Bars that don't serve food will have to remain closed until the county