Red tape blocks NYC restaurants from offering outdoor dining — leading to steep drop in options: ‘It’s a disaster’

Source: New York Post

New York City has let outdoor dining — a lifeline to restaurants during the pandemic and since — stagnate, issuing less than a fifth as many permits this spring as it did during the height of the program. Six weeks into the 2026 outdoor dining season, only 2,100 Big Apple eateries have permits — down from roughly 2,500 last year and about 13,000 during COVID times, Side Dish has learned. Around 1,000 restaurants were still waiting for permits as of last year, according to the city Department of Transportation, which declined to share how many are still in limbo.