Al fresco munching is back on the menu — but don’t grab a street-side seat just yet.
New York City’s beloved roadway dining setups have returned for 2026, with about 500 curbside cafes already approved under the city’s Dining Out NYC program, according to the Department of Transportation.
That’s a fraction of the scheme’s pandemic-times peak — when as many as 12,500 restaurants took over sidewalks and streets — making the revival look more like a slow crawl than a full-blown feast.
Unlike in the almost-anything-goes COVID era, today’s outdoor dining comes with rules, fees — and a whole lot of paperwork.
Restaurants now have to apply, pay for street space and rebuild their setups every year, all while following strict design requirements.
Roadway dining is also seasonal, running only from April through late November — a restriction the City Council added back in 2023.
That’s been a tough pill to swallow for many restaurateurs, who say the red tape and shorter timeline have driven some eateries to drop out entirely.
The cumbersome approval process doesn’t help: roadway cafes require sign-off from the Department of Transportation, local community boards and even the city comptroller’s office — while sidewalk setups also need a thumbs-up from the local council member.
Of the roughly 1,300 sidewalk cafes allowed to operate year-round, only about 700 have full approvals so far.
The rest are stuck in bureaucratic limbo, operating under conditional permits while the city works through a backlog — one that previously ballooned to more than 3,600 applications.
And for restaurants hoping to jump into roadway dining this season, the clock is ticking.
“Unfortunately, this season may be out of reach for many restaurants because of how long it takes… to actually start setting up,” said Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, as per Gothamist. “We just need to move quickly because time is of the essence.”
Still, City Hall is signaling a potential reset.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin vowed earlier this year to revive year-round, pandemic-style outdoor dining and slash the red tape that’s bogging restaurants down.
“This is a big one — we will finally fix the city’s outdoor dining program to make it year-round and reduce the regulatory burdens for restaurants,” Menin said in February, adding the changes would help small businesses “survive and adapt” and prevent job losses.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani is also on board with bringing back year-round outdoor dining — a move that could resurrect the 24/7 shed scene that once took over pandemic-era streets.
The push builds on a plan from Councilman Lincoln Restler to ditch seasonal limits, expand curbside setups and cut through the city’s notoriously painful approval process.
Not everyone’s cheering for a full-blown comeback — at its height, roadway dining sparked plenty of gripes — from trash and rats to noise and eyesore sheds crowding city streets.
But despite detractors, the appetite for dining outdoors remains.
Last fall, the city even launched its first-ever “Curbside Dining Week,” in September, with eateries offering discounts and specials to entice diners into the streets.
