This Philadelphia restaurant will FaceTime you to recreate the dining-out experience

It's no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has been hard on restaurants – and the people who love them. Small businesses that have managed to keep their doors open have been relying on a steady stream of takeout, often powered by third-party delivery apps, balancing on razor thin margins. And diners who once relished the social ritual of dining out have discovered that the ambiance and community of restaurants can't quite be matched by tucking into a styrofoam box of your favorite dish at home, however well-prepared.

That's why one Philadelphia restaurant is turning to video apps to recreate the dining-out experience for their patrons who have no choice but to dine-in at home while social distancing. Apricot Stone, a four year old family-run spot in the Northern Liberties neighborhood, is using FaceTime, Duo, and Sykpe to simulate the full experience of being cared for by restaurant staff as you make your order.

Customers can call Apricot Stone and make a dinner reservation. After the call, they receive the food and beverage menu via email. The mediterranean selections include options like hummus, baba ghanoush, falafel, kebabs, shawarma and gatnabur – a kind of Armenian rice pudding. The recipes were developed from Chef Fimy's own mother's cooking, which she learned during her childhood in Aleppo, Syria before the family moved to the United States in the 1980s.

At the appointed reservation time, Chef Fimy's son and front-of-house manager Ara Ishkhanian reaches out by video chat from the Apricot Stone dining room. There, you'll find the lights are on, music is playing, and you are "seated" at a table set with silver and glassware. Ishkhanian attentively walks you through what's on offer just as if you were ordering in person.

After your order is delivered by Apricot Stone's own waitstaff, Ishkhanian reaches out once more on a video call to ensure everything arrived as it should, and will even fill a water glass for you on screen to complete the effect, before logging off to let you enjoy.

The video chats bring the human element back into take-out dining – a welcome change in routine for diners who are weary of social distancing. It's also a way to help keep the front-of-house staff employed. The video chat service is free, though a twenty percent gratuity is added automatically to support Apricot Stone's wait-staff-turned-delivery-drivers. It's a small price to pay, though, for a taste of normalcy in a time that's proved anything but.