Martha’s Vineyard restaurant owners approached the restart of indoor dining with extreme caution and a new menu of worries on Monday, as they navigated a summer business landscape upended by the coronavirus.

Gov. Charlie Baker announced Friday that indoor dining could begin Monday as part two of the state’s second phase of reopening.

But the reality was not so simple. With tight restrictions on capacity, severe staffing shortages on the Island and ongoing concerns about infection risk, restaurants on the Vineyard took the news from the statehouse with a hefty pinch of salt. Some owners planned to open with severely limited capacity, but many others said they would wait.

“I’m in no rush to open indoors any time soon,” said chef Ben DeForest, who owns and operates the Red Cat Kitchen and Cardboard Box restaurants in Oak Bluffs. “This whole thing, everything, is like walking on water. It changes underneath your feet every single minute.”

Since mid-March, restaurants have had to overhaul their business models to accommodate ever-changing social distancing guidelines, forcing many to stay closed, cut staff and change their offerings. And now with the announcement that indoor dining can begin, just because restaurants can reopen, it doesn’t mean they will.

“It’s way more complicated than it sounds,” said Mary Kenworth, who owns and operates State Road restaurant in West Tisbury and Beach Road restaurant in Vineyard Haven. “I feel for everyone,” she said, speaking of her colleagues in the business.

State Road, a popular up-Island eatery, is currently offering takeout with a slightly altered menu, while Beach Road remains closed. Ms. Kenworth said Monday that a variety of factors — including capacity restrictions on indoor seating and the safety of her staff — meant that she would not be reopening for indoor dining at least until phase three, despite the fact that takeout is providing only a small fraction of the restaurant’s normal business.

“You want to be open. My heart breaks that Beach Road has to be closed,” Ms. Kenworth said. “But right now, doing takeaway from one space is the best thing we can offer.”

Although the governor did not limit capacity at restaurants to an exact percentage of occupancy, tables are required to remain six feet apart or be separated by plexiglass, and parties are limited to six or fewer guests. For many Vineyard restaurants, including State Road, that would mean hiring kitchen and service staff for dining rooms with fewer than five tables.

J.B. Blau, who owns five restaurants on Island including Sharky’s, the Copper Wok, SeaSmoke and M.V. Chowder Company, said he won’t be opening any establishments for indoor dining until at least July. Space issues, combined with the fact that his normal staff of 150 employees was down to approximately 40 or 50 workers, makes indoor dining infeasible, he said.

“If we open Sharky’s in Oak Bluffs, we might get a third of a table in there. So what do I do?” Mr. Blau said. “We’re taking a wait-and-see approach.”

Safety is a primary concern for owners and customers alike. Mr. Blau said he conducted an informal Facebook poll that found 175 of the 190 respondents weren’t yet comfortable dining indoors. Ms. Kenworth said State Road was looking at getting permits for outdoor tables, but expressed concerns for her staff with indoor service.

“I would need my staff to feel more comfortable to accommodate guests inside. They are my first priority,” she said. “And I’m not really certain about how many guests want to dine inside, even if they can.”

Other owners said reopening for indoor dining is their only option. Geoghan Coogan, whose family owns and manages The Wharf and Rockfish in Edgartown, said The Wharf would be open for dine-in service on Monday and that Rockfish would open Wednesday.

Both restaurants could max out their indoor service at approximately 50 or 60 per cent of their normal capacity under the governor’s restrictions, Mr. Coogan said. But with staff hard to find, he said service limits would be much lower. On Monday The Wharf only had one cook and one server available for lunch.

“I’ll put it this way: We’ll never recover from the last few months,” Mr. Coogan said. “We’ll never hit numbers that we usually hit to make it through the next winter. So we need more than the outdoor dining to give us even the semblance of a cushion. We have to try [indoor dining]. Otherwise we might as well close.”

But Mr. DeForest and Mr. Blau had a different view.

“It’s all these different weights. Do you keep your labor low and sales down? There’s so many different things. It’s all uncharted,” Mr. DeForest said. “I’ve tried to keep myself too safe for too long to just open up the doors.”

Ms. Kenworth said opening indoor dining service with the necessary social distancing restrictions would fundamentally alter the experience. Until the joy and intimacy of going out to eat at a restaurant can be either regained — or reimagined — she said it wasn’t worth trying to replicate it through masks, screens and social distancing.

Outdoor dining and takeout will have to suffice, for now, she said.

“I’d like to see going out to dinner, be going out to dinner again,” Ms. Kenworth said. “Mingling, and getting to see people you know, and the vibe and the spirit of that. We’re all eager for that moment. But the regulations with phase two just don’t allow us to do that yet.”