Dining Outside in New York City

With pandemic restrictions lifting in New York City it seems that the sidewalk/street structures outside of restaurants are here to stay. This means a summer filled with outdoor dining! Is that really such a good thing though? Like everything else in the world, there are both pros and cons to this issue and it’s only fair to look at both sides of the argument before deciding where you stand on this (if anywhere at all).

Pros:

Increased Seating Capacity: So this one is pretty obvious. Some restaurants never had an outdoor area. Now that they do, there will be more seats available for them to fill with customers thus bringing in more revenue. After a year of lost/decreased revenues due to COVID-19, the restaurants can use all of the filled seats inside AND outside!New Outdoor Seating Areas: With the normalization of pop-up seating in the streets and on the sidewalk restaurants, that never offered outdoor seating before now have that option! This offers a new feel to some of New Yorkers’ favorite restaurants. Increased Sense of Community: After a year plus of isolation and social distancing, people are craving that community feel again. Outdoor dining provides that in a relatively safe manner. You can be near your fellow restaurant goers in an outdoor setting while also watching the hustle and bustle of the city around you as you dine on that sidewalk like never before!Increases Business Awareness: Having outdoor seating, new outdoor structures, and taking up space in the streets and on the sidewalks will bring a new awareness to some restaurants that you may never have seen before. You may have walked by that one door 100 times and never even know it was one of the best pubs around! Seeing all of the people enjoying their meals al fresco might spark something in your brain to say “wow, I gotta try that place!”  

Cons:

Increased Seating Capacity: This one is the lucky winner that makes it to both the pro and con list. Increased seating for the patrons also means increased seating for the employees to manage in possibly understaffed conditions. We all know that businesses had to make sacrifices over the last year to stay afloat and many of them had to reduce their staff.Decreased Street Parking: Restaurant structures that were built in the street are usually in some parking spaces. This reduces parking for not only restaurant goers but also for the residents in the area. City parking is already a disaster and this just increases the frustration that the city drivers face.Over-Crowded Sidewalks: Restaurant structures that were built on the sidewalks make the sidewalks more narrow for pedestrians walking around the neighborhood. This crowds the sidewalks in a time where people would still like to be a bit distanced from each other when possible.It’s Dangerous: This is the most important con in my personal opinion, especially for the pop up structures in the streets. Most of the restaurant structures that are in the streets are not protected by anything other than a thin piece of plywood. There is a huge risk that an accident can happen involving the structure and the patrons of the restaurant. Unfortunately, there have already been a few incidents such as these, some even involving fatal outcomes. For example, In April 2021, a car drove through an outdoor dining space in Astoria, Queens leaving 2 people injured and 1 person dead.  After weighing both the pros and cons of outdoor dining in New York City, what is your take? Comment below if you have something new to add to either list!Thank you so much for reading! Don’t forget to subscribe to our email list to stay updated on all the things TAWK offers! I promise you won’t be disappointed. Let us know what you think! Your feedback is so important to us!