Disappearing Seats, Defiant Eateries And The End Of An Era: Outdoor Dining Deadline Arrives

By Melanie Marich, The City

August 6, 2024

Along Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria, a familiar pattern has emerged: the 18 outdoor dining sheds that had lined the ten blocks adjacent to the subway since 2020 have dwindled down to just three.

The scene on Ditmars mirrored restaurant rows across the city over the weekend when contractors with pickup trucks and power tools hit the streets to take down one of the last visible vestiges of pandemic-era New York City.

Thanks to City Hall legislation that went into effect at the beginning of August, Saturday became the deadline for eateries to apply to make their outdoor seating structures legal under a new system — or demolish them. (Those that keep their sheds but ignore the new law could face hefty fines.)

Only a fraction of restaurants with pandemic-era outdoor seating have taken the above-board route. Of over 12,000 restaurants that participated in the current outdoor dining program over the last four and a half years, less than 25% have applied for permanent permits.

According to the Department of Transportation, 2,592 restaurants applied to be a part of the new program as of the Saturday deadline — with more than half of those coming on the last day.

Customers sit in a dining shed along Starr Street in Bushwick, Brooklyn, July 30, 2024. Credit: Alex Krales/THE CITY

Of the restaurants that applied, 681 requested curbside seating while 1,277 requested sidewalk-only seating and 634 requested both. Notably, the sidewalk-seating program will be year-round, while curbside seating will only be allowed from April through October, meaning those sheds will go up and come down seasonally.

The fine for not complying with the new rules is $500 the first time, and $1,000 for subsequent violations, though it’s unclear when enforcement of the new rules will begin in earnest.

As the deadline approached this weekend, restaurateurs who’d expanded outside during the pandemic chose widely different paths forward.

In Forest Hills, Tom Avallone, owner of Nick’s Bistro, said the 15-year-old Greek restaurant isn’t budging despite the demolition edict.

Avallone spent $165,000 in 2020 to build an outdoor shed with overhead lighting, heating and a sound system. The structure does not follow the city’s new requirements, but he doesn’t plan to take it down anytime soon.

“We are suffering for the actions of a few,” he said, referring to other outdoor sheds that have attracted rats and trash.

Eateries that applied to be part of the new outdoor dining program, called Dining Out NYC, can keep their outdoor setups up until November. After that, they must be in compliance with the DOT’s new design requirements, which include new specifications such removable overhead coverings, no walls and water-filled barriers — as a car-proofing mechanism

The old Open Restaurants program from 2020 saw outdoor dining options increase dramatically from pre-pandemic levels, according to researchers at NYU Wagner School of Public Service. Before then, only about 1,000 restaurants had licenses for sidewalk cafes, but in the four years since the program begun, more than 12,000 restaurants applied for and were granted a license

For Antonia Joannides, the curbside set-up is no longer practical, as the structure itself was too difficult to maintain and more people preferred sitting indoors in hot weather She owns the American bistro Queen’s Room in Astoria and after amassing violations on her eatery’s structure last year, Joannides agreed to allow a city crew to take down her curbside seating last summer.

“The outdoor structures were really necessary during COVID, but they’re not necessary for us right now,” says Joannides. “I’m not going to rush into spending the money and figuring out all of the barriers and seating and what not while we’re still figuring it all out.”

She has now applied for a sidewalk permit only.

“With everything that we went through in Covid, this seems like a happy medium,” she said.

Empty Seats

The Open Restaurants program was a lifeline for many New York City restaurants, allowing many to stay in business as many New Yorkers stopped going into restaurants to eat and revenue plummeted. As indoor dining restrictions were wound down and public sentiment around COVID-19 relaxed, outdoor dining setups largely remained untouched until now.

Customers sit in a dining shed along Starr Street in Bushwick, Brooklyn, July 30, 2024. Credit: Alex Krales/THE CITY

Andrew Rigie, executive director of the New York Hospitality Alliance, says that while the new laws are an improvement on pre-pandemic policies, not enough eligible restaurants have applied. The reasons, he says, include the midsummer deadline the city has set as well as the associated costs including application and permit fees and the costs of taking down the old structures and rebuilding the new ones. On top of that, the program’s new seasonal restrictions, which will only allow for curbside dining for part of the year, are not popular with restaurant owners.

“The city should analyze why, make changes to some rules and application procedures, including extending the application deadline to help achieve their goal of having the biggest and most inclusive outdoor dining program in the country,” he said.

Since the legislation passed, Avallone, the owner of Nick’s Bistro, started collecting 2,000 signatures from patrons asking the city to allow him to keep his structure up.

He said his outdoor dining setup became more than just a COVID-era solution, but a place for his neighbors to gather long after indoor dining returned and vaccines became the norm. It led to a massive increase in his business’s popularity as its 40 inside seats were more than matched by 40 more curbside and another 20 on the sidewalk.

Avallone says that if he takes down the outdoor dining shed, 50% of his employees will lose their jobs.

“The city doesn’t realize the ramifications of their actions,” he said.

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