GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A new restaurant in downtown Grand Rapids says it’s been overwhelmed by support in its first few opening days. 

Social Misfits, which opened Monday, is located at 43 Fulton St W and serves a unique array of waffles, coffee and cocktails.

Although the staff is excited about the community response, they’re asking customers for patience. 

“We ask that you give us a chance,” Chris Durso, the restaurant’s general manager, said. “We’re still ironing a few things out. These things are … we have solutions to all of them though. We’re going to be staffed up and we’re going to be able to iron them out and we’re going to get people in and out of here and hopefully get to experience what Social Misfits is all about.”

Between staffing shortages and supply chain delays, this isn’t an easy time to open a restaurant, and Durso said they’re experiencing some of those obstacles. He was forced to shut down for several hours Tuesday, in order to get caught up. 

“We had some deliveries that didn’t show up until later that day, that was the biggest probably issue that we dealt with,” Durso said. 

And like many other industries, he’s also dealing with a lack of employees, which is something he wasn’t anticipating. 

“I was really lucky. I had a ton of applicants at the beginning. We have a great staff,” he said. “We went to open up on day one and some people just didn’t show up. I know everybody’s kind of dealing with staffing shortages and unfortunately, it turns into a domino effect at some point and it kind of affected our operations yesterday.”

Durso said he’s looking for more employees and will also be making some operational changes so that things run more smoothly. He doesn’t foresee having to shut down again but did say there could be long wait times to get a seat within the first few weeks. 

“There’s been a lot of people that have been just you know, they’re willing to wait, they’re understanding. They know the process of a new place is gonna be busy and we appreciate you. And if you didn’t have the time, we understand that too. We just ask that you give us a chance in the future,” he said.

For the time being, the restaurant is open for dine-in only on a first come, first serve basis. Durso said they’re also still working to get the phone lines up and running and said the best way to get in touch with them is through their social media pages or by sending them an email.