Virginia Restaurant Using Mannequins to Social Distance

A three Michelin star restaurant in Virginia has come up with one helluva model to provide social distancing while also helping you avoid that lonely feeling.

The Inn at Little Washington — about 70 miles outside Washington, D.C. — is gonna deploy mannequins to fill in the joint. It won’t be weird or anything though for customers … ’cause they’re life-size mannequins. Think of it as dining with a really boring friend.

Oh, but the mannequins will be decked out in 1940s era clothing to recreate America’s post-World War II celebrations. Ok, that’s a little weird.

The move from chef Patrick O’Connell comes after a mandate to cap restaurant capacity at 50% in an effort to keep diners properly social distanced — but appearances clearly matter to O’Connell.

He’s been working with Shirlington’s Signature Theater to get the mannequins. And, get this … when the restaurant opens on May 29 servers will be instructed to pour the mannequins wine and ask them about their evening … according to the Washingtonian.

So, why the stunt? O’Connell told the outlet, “I think it would do people a world of good to reduce their anxiety level when they come out to a place which is still unaffected, because if you watch your television, you think that there isn’t such a place under a bubble.”

BTW, the chef has also created custom-made masks with Marilyn Monroe smiles and George Washington chins. The move perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise. For starters, O’Connell reportedly majored in drama in college.

The restaurant also boasts that dining at its joint “has been likened to a performance with the guest always playing the star role.”