Bronx restaurants with roadway dining sheds were required to take them down at the end of last month as part of New York City’s permanent outdoor dining program rules.
The “Dining Out NYC” program, passed by the City Council and signed into law by Mayor Eric Adams in 2023, allowed sidewalk dining year-round but limited roadway dining to the warmer months, from April through November.
The deadline to remove roadway setups was Friday, Nov. 29, after which the curb space returned to street parking. Restaurants that failed to comply faced fines of up to $1,000. Roadway setups will be allowed to return on April 1, 2025.
The program’s seasonal requirements created financial and logistical challenges for Bronx restaurateurs. While many eateries dismantled their outdoor setups months ago, others struggled to keep them viable under the new rules. Twice a year, businesses were required to take down, store, and rebuild their roadway dining sheds, a costly process that small establishments said was unsustainable.
At Maisonetta, a family-owned French-Mexican restaurant on Lincoln Avenue in the South Bronx, the bright blue dining shed had become a neighborhood fixture. Manager Sonya Calixto said the outdoor/roadway seating was a lifeline during the pandemic, but the program’s requirements made it increasingly difficult to justify the investment.
“It was a huge investment for us,” Calixto said. “It was either that or just closing completely because of all the restrictions. Most people wouldn’t take the risk to dine indoors at the time.”
Maisonetta had already spent around $30,000 adapting their setup to meet the new regulations, Calixto said. As the Nov. 29 deadline approached, the restaurant faced an additional hurdle: finding affordable storage for the structure. Her brother, Victor Calixto, searched for a solution but struggled to secure a space within budget.
“He was still knocking on doors to see if we could get somebody who was willing to give us a reduced price,” she said. “Like any other storage, it will be a monthly bill for us to keep up with for a while. We also kept looking at different options.”
The city’s Department of Transportation (DOT), which administers the Dining Out NYC program, acknowledged the challenges. To assist struggling businesses, the agency launched a vendor database called the Dining Out NYC Marketplace, where restaurants could find companies offering removal and storage services. A search for vendors serving the Bronx yielded 18 results, according to the database.
DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez emphasized the program’s role in preserving outdoor dining as a permanent part of the city’s landscape, despite the adjustments.
“New Yorkers have come to enjoy outdoor dining, and the Dining Out NYC program has made it a permanent part of the fabric of our city,” Rodriguez said in a statement. “Businesses with roadway outdoor dining had to remove their setups by the end of the day on November 29. I encourage all restaurants who want to participate to apply for Dining Out NYC.”
The program saw a sharp decline in participation compared to its pandemic-era predecessor, Open Restaurants, which issued over 13,000 permits across the city. Under the new rules, only 3,655 applications were submitted, including 738 for roadway-only setups. However, that number was higher than pre-pandemic.
Calixto and other restaurateurs worried that the financial and logistical burden of the program would discourage small businesses from continuing to participate. While the city touted the permanent outdoor dining program as a win for local businesses, some Bronx eateries viewed it as a source of ongoing headaches.
For now, Maisonetta’s outdoor dining future remains uncertain. As the family scrambled to meet the deadline, Calixto reflected on the trade-offs.
“Outdoor dining helped save us during the pandemic,” she said. “But now, it feels like we’re being punished for making it work.”
