I Target Restaurateurs

[Ben_Who]

Here's a little note to restaurant owners in American cities:

It's probably not a very good idea to try to do the whole "sidewalk cafe" thing. Sidewalks in this city are only about six feet wide to start with, and if you're going to string up red velvet theater rope, the only tables you're going to be able to fit are two-tops. Your servers will now be balancing trays of food in the middle of outdoor urban foot traffic.

All over downtown, restaurant after restaurant has dragged a handful of cramped tables out onto the broken, birdshit-splattered sidewalks and attempted to serve customers at them, as if their tiny corner of the world opened out onto the Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy. This doesn't look like a whole lot of fun for the diners, who get to enjoy their overpriced meals wedged between a brick wall and the general public with less than a foot of clearance on each side. Still, it adds four or five paying tables to a restaurant in an area where every square foot of retail space counts.

A lot of restaurants do have outdoor dining - but they do it on private property, on terraces or patios or rooftop decks. Italian restaurants seem to love to put their diners on display out front - every Italian restaurant on Main Street has a row of two-tops surrounding it.

This rant's been brewing for a while, since I've been picking my way through tables to get to work for some time now, but it sort of came to a head earlier today when I needed to get something out of my car - and quickly. I was hustling off down the street when I found myself face to face with a waitress in full uniform carrying a tray of spaghetti dinners, and we did that little "you go this way no you go that way" dance on the two feet of sidewalk available to us between the curb and the diners, all of whom were looking suspiciously up at us as if half-expecting to be rinsing spaghetti sauce out of their clothing later tonight.

And if I could put on my snob hat for a minute, it does seem a bit declasse to spend a hundred bucks on a night out and be forced to eat on the porch with the pigeons because the front of the house is full. I'd rather wait for a table with a roof on.

Love, Who?

[Nashida]

I usually try not to go on the patio in the city if I can help it, or if I can get a table away from the metal railing. Once some guy actually decided it was okay to reach over said railing and help himself to the food on my plate. Restaurant did nothing about it, since they had no way to prove I didn't do it myself.

[Geek King]

I usually try not to go on the patio in the city if I can help it, or if I can get a table away from the metal railing. Once some guy actually decided it was okay to reach over said railing and help himself to the food on my plate. Restaurant did nothing about it, since they had no way to prove I didn't do it myself.

In cases like that, the fork is not just an aid to eating, but a method of plate defense. you will find that a fork placed in the back of an offending hand will almost always cause the hand to drop what it is holding.

Of course, I grew up with siblings and went to summer camp.

[lordlundar]

Dining Al Fresco is nice, but the catch is in places like Paris and Italy, where the idea originated, actually PLAN their restaurants around this idea. They are recessed in and in some cases, don't even have an indoors apart from the kitchen. (a few don't even have that as indoors)

Places that like to adopt it in North America usually have a choice: rebuild the place around al fresco dining (ridiculously expensive), lease a new place that is designed around it (also insanely expensive) or check the laws to see how far out you can extend the "brand new outdoors section" without causing you to lose your license and cram as many tables in as possible (very cheap and relatively easy to implement)

Guess what most choose.

[Amina516]

I know that restaurants want to make some $$, but that seriously doesnt sounds safe. I (or you...Lol) shouldnt have to fend off diners and employees just to walk down the public sidewalk.

[Pagan]

Dining Al Fresco is nice, but the catch is in places like Paris and Italy, where the idea originated, actually PLAN their restaurants around this idea. They are recessed in and in some cases, don't even have an indoors apart from the kitchen. (a few don't even have that as indoors)

Places that like to adopt it in North America usually have a choice: rebuild the place around al fresco dining (ridiculously expensive), lease a new place that is designed around it (also insanely expensive) or check the laws to see how far out you can extend the "brand new outdoors section" without causing you to lose your license and cram as many tables in as possible (very cheap and relatively easy to implement)

Guess what most choose.

A lot of restaurants around here do build with outdoor seating areas incorporated into the design. Mainly since we've got sooo much of the year we can comfortably eat outside.

[Chromatix]

There's an al-fresco restaurant near my office - yes, in Helsinki. The summer here is actually quite warm and sunny. But they've done the sensible thing and built it on the promenade/quayside, where there's lot's of space. They've got a register and basic drinks available at an outside counter, while the food is made inside the normal restaurant which stays open all year.

[Magpie]

Weather has nothing to do with it. They're all over Toronto, but rarely into the sidewalk. However, Toronto has two seasons: winter and humidity. I've only ever seen one patio with heaters (radiant heat, so you feel warm underneath them, but the don't heat the air that much).

[ThirdGenRetail]

I can only imagine what that's like... The places around here that have outdoor dining, actually... Yup, planned for it! There's a few down at the beach, and a couple up at Town Center. Well, 1-2 up there... Plus the places at the malls. They figured, this is a beach resort town, may as well offer outside dining! Not that I'd eat outside, anyway, it's too hot and humid here for my liking.

[It's me]

Don't restaurants need a licence to use the sidewalk? I suspect a call to bylaw enforcement could help.....

[jedimaster91]

It always seems to be downtown establishments that have this problem. We have it here, too. The downtown restaurants push tables out as far as they can and the ones in other areas of the city actually plan for it. I don't ever remember eating outside at a restaurant though. It's either too hot, too cold, or too crowded.

I take that back. There used to be an old steam boat on the river that had been converted into a restaurant and I ate there once. The food wasn't that great, though. I fed most of it to the fish.

[firecat88]

Most of the year, I cannot imagine eating outside anywhere here. In the summer, it typically gets up to about 90-95 degrees outside. In the winter, it gets to about 10 below 0 at the most. In the summer, if you sit outside, the flies and the wasps will swarm. In the winter and early spring, there's snow and ice on the sidewalks. XD

I would much rather sit in a nice temperature-controlled building that's free of bugs, wind, rain, icy sidewalks, etc.

[Pagan]

Most of the year, I cannot imagine eating outside anywhere here. In the summer, it typically gets up to about 90-95 degrees outside. In the winter, it gets to about 10 below 0 at the most. In the summer, if you sit outside, the flies and the wasps will swarm. In the winter and early spring, there's snow and ice on the sidewalks. XD

And that's the great thing about being in the desert. We get just as hot, but no humidity (usually) to speak of, and almost always just enough of a breeze. Where I grew up is even hotter and we eat outside just as much there, too. And there's no bug problems, either.