With phase two rolling out in New York City on Monday, June 22, the city allowed barbers, salons, playgrounds, retail stores, business offices, churches, restaurants and cafes all to open up for business again.Each of these establishments must abide by specific guidelines in order to operate in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A lot of those guidelines will be extremely inconvenient, but necessary to ensure that the city doesn’t fall up into a second wave of cases and deaths.
The one great guideline benefit of allowing restaurants and bars to open up, but not allow people inside their actual space is that the city is allowing them to have outdoor seating onto the sidewalks and open up their patios.
Normally, the city would charge around a $10,000 fee to a restaurant to get a sidewalk cafe license so they can have the privilege of offering outdoor seating but they’re waiving that fee in the face of coronavirus.
East Village restaurants with outdoor seating
Living in the East Village and biking around, I’ve witnessed the St. Mark’s chaos in phase I and now I have begun to see many restaurants and cafes open up in Phase II. Some of these places always had outdoor seating while the majority of them normally don’t offer outdoor tables and chairs, or sidewalk seating.
In this new phase two reality that’s a little over a week old, there aren’t many resources detailing out all the restaurants, cafes and establishments that now have outdoor seating options, so we decided to compile all of them in the East Village, Lower East Side and Alphabet City neighborhoods.
Many of these new restaurants are taking the license to create stylish outdoor areas to attract their customers and provide an experience. We’ve listed those when we could.
| Establishment | Address | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Au Za'atar | 188 Avenue A | This Lebanese/Middle Eastern restaurant normally has outdoor seating. |
| B Cup | 212 Avenue B | corner coffee shop now has cute seating on the side of building |
| BUA | 122 St Marks Pl | Irish pub with outdoor seating available |
| Cacio e Pepe | 182 2nd Ave | Italian trattoria features Roman specialties with patio and sidewalk tables |
| Cafe Mogador | 101 St Marks Pl # 1 | famous Moroccan cafe with outdoor seating that's an East Village icon. |
| Café Standard | 25 Cooper Sq | Sceney cafe at the bottom of The Standard hotel with plenty of seating (but gets busy) |
| Cornerstone Cafe | 17 Avenue B | Low key no frills american breakfast spot |
| El Camion | 194 Avenue A | Mexican cantina put up a tent with a few tables an chairs |
| Eleven B | 174 Avenue B | old school pizza and pasta joint now features a lot of outdoor tables |
| Ernesto's | 259 E Broadway | Spanish joint focused on Basque dishes now with outdoor dining options |
| Esperanto | 145 Loisaida Ave | This casual colorful Latin/Mexican restaurant had sidewalk seating pre-Covid-19 |
| Fiaschetteria Pistoia | 647 E 11th St | Italian Tuscan restaurant has always had outside seating — usually quite packed and if so seating is not socially-distanced. |
| Frank | 88 2nd Ave | Rustic Italian fare with outdoor seating |
| Hearth | 403 E 12th St | Tuscan East Village staple now features a lot of outdoor seating options |
| Il Posto Accanto | 190 E 2nd St | Italian wines are paired with small plates with spacious outdoor seating on the wide sidewalks of second ave. |
| Khiladi | 175 Avenue B (at 11th st.) | Modern home style South Indian restaurant has been selling drinks through their open window now has outdoor seating and some nice planters |
| Lil Frankie's | 19 1st Avenue | Reserve an outdoor table at this wood fired pizza joint by emailing reservations@frankcares.com. |
| Mermaid Inn | 96 2nd Ave. | This casually seafood spot with a Cape Cod vibe known for its outdoor seating and lobster rolls and oyster deals. |
| Mimi Cheng's | 179 2nd Ave. | If you want dumplings this place always had outdoor seating now |
| Miss Lily's 7A Cafe | 109 Avenue A | This Jamaican joint is always popping off at night and had outdoor seating pre-Corona |
| Motorino | 349 E 12th St | Popular pizza place placed a couple tables on their exterior |
| Nowon | 507 E 6th St | Korean fusion now features outdoor seating |
| Ribalta | 48 East 12th | Old-world Neapolitan pizza & Italian with some seating outside |
| Roost | 222 Avenue B | Cafe/bar now has a couple tables outside |
| Royale | 157 Loisaida Ave | Hamburger joint always had an outdoor patio but now features outdoor seating out front. |
| Ruby's | 198 E 11th St | Bills itself as an Australian cafe but very American fare with burgers and fries and brunch |
| Rue B | 188 Avenue B | chill jazz bar placing tables and chairs outside |
| Ruffian | 125 E 7th St | Awesome wine bar will have outdoor seating except Tuesdays from 1pm-9pm |
| Shuko | 47 E 12th St | This omakase Japanese restaurant is close to Union Square and has three tables outside |
| Strings | 188 2nd Ave | Contemporary ramen spot with a couple tables outside |
| Thai Terminal | 349 E 12th St | small Thai eatery now has a couple tables out front |
| Tortaria | 94 University Pl | Mexican eatery near Union Square with lots of seating outside |
| Veniero’s | 342 E 11th St | This historic Italian bakery now has new sidewalk mini cafe to order cheesecake and cannolis and coffee |
| Veselka | 144 2nd Ave | Iconic Ukrainian restaurant has always had outdoor seating |
| Wayla | 100 Forsyth St | all tables will be 6 feet apart according to this popular Thai restaurant's instagram |
| Westville East | 173 Ave A | Popular veggie-driven spot with outdoor tables wrapping around their space |
| Wren | 344 Bowery | Breakfast and brunch spot with outside seating that's a bit tight TBH |
If and when you choose to go dine out at one of these restaurants, please continue heeding safety and health measures so New York City can continue opening up — that means wearing a mask when you’re not enjoying food or drink, ensure your table and chairs are at least six feet away from the next one, don’t touch your face, wash your hands and maybe bring your own hand sanitizer.
This is a living list that we’ve used our own experiences to put together with help from 6sqft, Yelp, The Infactuation, Gothamist and Trip Advisor. As more restaurants and cafes open up in the Lower East Side, East Village and Alphabet City, expect to see more and more places with seating outside. That said, we definitely know that we’re missing several restaurants already. We’ll continue to add them as they pop up or run by them. If you know of any off-hand, please feel free to comment below. Much appreciated. Wear a mask!
