Customers sitting at the bar at Faustina, an upscale downtown restaurant, are separated from servers by a glass wall that is similar to structures at eateries throughout the state.

Now the so-called "Zion curtains" are coming down, and servers will be able to set drinks directly in front of customers instead of having to come from behind the bar to hand over an order.

Starting Tuesday, the restaurant portion of the state's sweeping changes to liquor regulation becomes law. Utah's version of bars, private clubs, have to wait until July 1 to eliminate their membership requirements, however.

Utah restaurateurs affected by the new law, like Faustina manager Catherine Lauderback, are eager to remove the barriers.

"Absolutely. We're going to take it down, and we won't have to walk around to serve our customers," Lauderback said.

Already, she is thinking about ways to attract new bar customers once the glass is gone.

"Maybe we'll promote the bar a little more," Lauderback said, "get a flat-screen TV so businessmen can watch their sports and have their cocktails" along with their meals. State restaurant liquor licensees have to sell food to customers, even at their bars. Only in private clubs can customers choose just to drink.

Lauderback said Faustina will have little trouble complying with a new ban on anyone under 21 years old from a restaurant bar area unless drink preparations and storage are blocked from view.

"We don't have that many kids," she said. "It's an adult-friendly restaurant."

Chris Patterson, the owner of Christopher's Seafood and Steak House downtown, said he already keeps underage customers out of his restaurant's bar area.

Patterson said his bar's "Zion curtain" will stay put.

"It cost me a lot of money to build that partition. I'm not going to take it out now," he said.

But Patterson said he's frustrated he had to install it at all.

"I realized how ludicrous the law was, and how insulting it was to guests," he said. "It's almost going into what you see on TV, the place where people are talking to a prisoner over the phone behind glass."

The barriers came about as a way to block customers from drink preparations. Under the new law, future restaurant bars will have to put up opaque structures that keep customers from seeing drinks poured or mixed.