Dartmouth’s favorite cafe Mirasol’s, welcomes back staff after positive COVID-19 test

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Mirasol’s Cafe has long been one of the most popular destinations in the area with hundreds of people flocking to the eatery daily for its Latin themed menu, “sexy” sandwiches, freshly-baked muffins and cookies, and of course, the famous “super-charged, super sexxy CHiPPi.”

If you are like me, you can’t imagine a week going by without a visit to the cafe, some banter with the baristas, and some socializing. With the arrival of the worldwide pandemic, life, as we know it, has changed and that meant less of those things.

This struck close to home on May 11 when Owner Rich Romero publicly announced that a staff member had underlying symptoms of the virus. The employee was sent home and the cafe closed its doors the following two days while the entire staff was tested and utilized an independent company to disinfect and sanitize the entire facility. This, in spite of the fact that the Dartmouth BoH and Massachusetts Department of Public Health had already cleared the cafe and given the go-ahead to open.

That particular employee has since recovered and fulfilled the conditions needed to return to work, which were two negative tests in a row and a doctor’s approval.

The cafe has altered the way business is done and how customers are interacted with. All employees’ temperatures are checked not only at the beginning of their shift, but randomly throughout that shift, and then at the end of it.

The current hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 8:00am-3:00pm for walk-up to-go orders, “call ahead and pay ahead” with curbside pickup or delivery through third-party delivery such as GrubHub.

The menu is a limited one for now and consists of half-gallons and full gallons of CHiPPi only, iced vanilla Chai by the half-gallon, select breakfast and bagel sandwiches as well as Quesadillas, dark roast, light roast, and decaff coffee by the half-gallon, muffins and cookies by the half dozen, coffee beans by the pound, and take home flavors and espresso.

Other precautions include requiring customers to wear a mask, utilizing plexiglass at the register which was moved closer to the door as well as 6′ apart floor markings for the queue inside. Once an order is placed, your order is brought to your car. As anyone who is a regular of the cafe knows, finding parking in the spot is like striking gold, so to lessen the time customers are spending occupying a parking space it is suggested that people call-ahead.

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