the meaning of "combination"?

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hello,

While I listened to a VOA news article, I found a sentence odd to me:

The ban on Islamic head coverings is mostly at combination restaurant and bars.

The article is about restaurants and bars in Cairo do not allow women with higabs to enter because they sell alcohol. Anyway, what confuses me is “combination”. What does it mean in this sentence? Are there any kind of restaurant called “combination restaurant”? How about “combination bars”? I’m curious.

Thanks,
sweetpumpkin

2

I think it is simply an incorrect sentence.

3

Perhaps the author meant locals that are a combination of bar and restaurant.

4

The sentence is unclear and confusing, and is not written well.

I have two thoughts about what might be meant by ‘combination restaurant and bars’. My first guess is that they author is referring to a restaurants that allows mixed genders, i.e. isn’t only for men or only for women.

My second guess is that he means a combination of a restaurant and bar, that is a restaurant which also has a bar area, although I’m not sure why the author would feel the need to make that distinction. There isn’t a special word in English to distinguish between a restaurant that serves alchohol or has a bar area versus one that doesn’t have the bar area, so maybe the author is trying to describe such a situation?