Greater Sayville coverage is funded in part by The Shed, your scratch kitchen for brunch and dinner daily at 21 Main St. in West Sayville.
Village Idiot Irish Pub owner John Sarno wishes health officials had told him sooner that people who dined in his Oakdale restaurant last month tested positive for COVID-19.
“We kind of got blindsided by it yesterday,” Sarno said, referring to a Suffolk County Department of Health Services advisory that warned diners who ate at the pub over the Halloween weekend may have been exposed to the coronavirus.
Sarno said a health official told him on Nov. 9 that two customers had tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 27, and that another three tested positive on Oct. 29. He noted that, in the meantime, three Village Idiot employees tested positive on Nov. 1.
“I should have been told sooner, for the safety of my customers and employees,” he said.
The Village Idiot Irish Pub, which remains open, was one of two Oakdale eateries singled out in the county’s advisory on Wednesday — Mannino’s, which is temporarily closed, also had customers who tested positive for COVID-19.
The Village Idiot workers who tested positive have been on quarantine for 11 days, Sarno said.
“We continue to sanitize and disinfect the restaurant, and we follow all protocols, now and moving forward,” said Sarno, who invested $30,000 in a back patio and high partitions throughout the restaurant to more effectively cope with the pandemic.
“We take the safety of our employees and customers very seriously. The Village Idiot is a safe place to go, and always will be.”
