At Cascades Restaurant, at the Best Western Plus in Goulburn, the kitchen is filling up with food and the excitement is growing.
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And manager Adam Rabjohns is "feeling fantastic".
"We can't wait for things to get back to normal," he said.
"It seems like a long time to only do takeaways. We miss our regular customers, just seeing their faces."
They'll be open from 6am until late, with a brand new all-day breakfast menu.
But Cascades is an outlier in the region, with most of the restaurants, cafes and pubs contacted by the Goulburn Post deeming opening for 10 diners - in line with restrictions - economically unviable.
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In fact, Franco Berlusconi, from La Casa Italiana Restaurant on Auburn Street, called the 10 diner limit "ridiculous".
"Feeding 10 people does not actually support anything - it wouldn't even pay the guy who cleans the toilets," he said.
Mr Berlusconi plans to wait a couple of weeks and "see how it's going".
In the meantime, he's giving the restaurant a facelift, working out a new menu, and plans to re-open with more of an original Italian trattoria vibe.
In agreement is Justin Taylor from Greengrocer on Clifford, who is continuing with takeaway alone.
"We are not opening for dining until they lift the restrictions more," he said.
"We can hold 180 people in the cafe, so 10 people is not worth it."
Kelsey Seers at Grit Cafe was in the same position, saying that the cafe would only be open for takeaway from 6am-2.30pm for the forseeable future.
But at the Taralga Hotel, staff were setting up for re-opening tomorrow, when they will take bookings for dinner in two time slots, 6-7.30pm and 7.30-9pm (on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights ongoing).
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Owner Phil Anderson was cautiously optimistic.
"It's not really like having a pub but more like having a weird little restaurant in a pub," he said.
"We've put on one extra staff member and hope people turn up."
He said they were all still getting their heads around the procedures, such as the full sanitising that will occur between sittings.
"A lot of places are not opening because it is a bit of a risk," he said.
"But it's better than nothing, and good just to have a few faces back in."
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