Valley sports pubs celebrate indoor dining return amid March Madness tournament

The 2021 NCAA March Madness tournament continued Monday – and local sports pubs are reaping the benefits.

Basketball fans at The Beer Hunter in La Quinta said the atmosphere is something they've missed.

"Being able to come inside and see all the screens – when you're with a group of people it;s so much better to watch a sporting event," Brad Hayes said. "It's totally different than sitting alone or with a small group at home. Being out of the sun, indoors, cooling off with a cold beer – there's nothing like it."

It's not just fans who are excited, it's also the staff. At The Beer Hunter, restaurant employees were just grateful to be allowing indoor dining.

"It's been great; theres been a lot of families coming in excited for us to be back open," said employee Jonathan Hernandez. "That's probably one of the biggest thing that we as an industry are enjoying – just being back."

The restaurant is following required Covid-19 protocols, including spacing out tables and limiting capacity to 25 percent. But Hernandez said there are somethings staff can't control, including shouting or chanting, which have been discouraged by the state in other settings.

"The most we can do is try to keep it to a minimum," he said. "As long as everyone is getting along, who are we to stop them from having fun?"

Fans said they were just glad to be supporting local businesses in yet another way. "We would hate to see some of these restaurants go away, so it's really time. We're just so eager to get back to normal" Hayes said.