January 20, 2021

Friends,

We welcome the Mayor’s recent decision to allow Baltimore City restaurants to finally return to what we do best (and what has been allowed in surrounding counties for six weeks now): namely, to reopen once again for in person dining—albeit with new strings attached this time like limited capacity (25% indoors, 50% outdoors) and odd, Orwellian requirements like a one hour time limit on all in-person dining and stringent customer record keeping requirements for contact tracing.

We welcome the decision because it was wrong to close all restaurants so capriciously in the first place. Reopening is not only the right thing to do, the moral thing to do, it’s also supported by science and data. Today is a small step in the right direction for many in our industry.

However, at Aldo’s, prior experience has taught us that a 25% capacity limit doesn’t work for our fine dining business model. Reopening will require a significant investment of time and money. Before we can reopen, we need to be sure we can do it profitably and sustainably—and without further government curtailments.

Therefore, Aldo’s will continue to “hibernate” for a short while longer. All restaurant operations will remain suspended until we are permitted to operate at closer to 50% indoor capacity.

Notwithstanding, we are very eager to get back to work. In the meantime, there are two things YOU can do to help:

1. Sign up for email updates at AldosItaly.com so you’ll be the first to know when we reopen!
2. Support Baltimore City restaurants: donate what you can to the GoFundMe effort of the good folks at Jimmy’s Famous Seafood. Click here for more info: gofund.me/dbbb76fe

With your support, Baltimore City restaurants will weather this storm. We look forward to serving you and your guests once again in the very near future.

Thank you for your support!

The Vitale Family
and the Staff of Aldo’s

306 South High Street | Baltimore, Maryland 21202 | (410) 727.0700 | AldosItaly.com