Dedham Officials Negotiating With Restaurants

Press release from the Town of Dedham:

June 12, 2020

Town employees from multiple departments are working with local restaurants to create new outdoor dining spaces and enable those businesses to expand offerings under the second phase of the State's reopening plan.

Public Works Director Joseph Flanagan, Building Commissioner Kenneth Cimeno, and several Health Department staffers have been working with Dedham restaurateurs to create new outdoor dining areas. To date, 25 local establishments have either created new outdoor seating areas or are working to do so:

• 50’s Diner: outdoor seating under the canopy in the parking lot adjacent to their restaurant.
• Blue Ribbon Barbeque: outdoor seating in front of the restaurant and three parking spaces in the parking garage.
• Café Tremezzo: modified existing outdoor seating area.
• Dedham Country and Polo: several outdoor dining areas on the deck, patio, and behind the clubhouse.
• Dedham House of Pizza: an outdoor dining area in front of the restaurant.
• El Centro: existing outdoor seating.
• Fisherman’s Restaurant: using the area in front of their building including two parking spaces and some of the walkway adjacent to the building.
• Grateful Dedham Diner: outdoor seating in front of the building once the street platform and Jersey Barriers are installed.
• Halfway Café: potentially using alley adjacent to their restaurant for seating.
• Hooters: outdoor seating on the front walkway and front lawn.
• Horse Thieves Tavern: outdoor seating in front of the building once the street platform and Jersey Barriers are installed. Potential use of alley behind the building.
• Il Massimo: existing outdoor seating area and new seating area adjacent to the building.
• Midway Restaurant: new outdoor seating under a tent.
• Oakdale Pizza: sidewalk in front of the building.
• Oscars: outdoor seating in front of the restaurant once the street platform and Jersey Barriers are installed.
• P.F. Chang’s: existing outdoor seating area.
• Pizzeria Uno: existing outdoor seating area.
• Salem Food Market: seating in parking area next to the restaurant.
• Small Batch Café: new seating area in front of the restaurant.
• Temazcal: modified existing outdoor seating area with potential expansion into adjacent parking spaces.
• TGI Fridays: potential new seating area under tent in front parking lot.
• Victory Grille: existing outdoor seating area.
• Vincenzo’s: seating on sidewalk and in a portion of the covered parking lot.
• Waterford’s Restaurant & Pub: potential seating in parking area adjacent to the Charles River.
• Yardhouse: existing outdoor seating, plus expanded seating area.

Additional restaurant owners are considering the addition of outdoor seating areas, and Town staff are doing outreach to businesses to assist with the process.

Restaurants interested in expanding outdoor seating should first contact Assistant Town Manager Nancy Baker, (781) 751-9100, who is coordinating this effort across the municipal departments that oversee building code, use of the public way, liquor licenses, public health, and land use planning. Business operators may also want to join the Back 2 Business online forums hosted at 3 p.m. on Wednesdays by the Town.

Efforts to convert on-street parking spaces into dining areas is managed by the Department of Public Works. Expenditures related to these projects may be reimbursed by federal funding or a state grant program that was announced yesterday.

This press release was produced by the Town of Dedham. The views expressed here are the author’s own.