By Gus Saltonstall
Ahead of a looming deadline, some of the Upper West Side’s most popular restaurants have removed their roadbed dining sheds over the last two weeks.
While New York City eateries that properly applied for sidewalk cafes can keep those setups standing year-round, all roadbed outdoor dining sheds must come down by November 30, regardless of whether they are up to code according to the new Dining Out NYC program. Sheds can be reassembled in roadbeds as of next March 31, but only if they meet the program’s code requirements.
An informal Rag survey found that many popular roadbed dining sheds on the Upper West Side have been removed since the last week of October, including those at:
- Cafe Luxembourg: 200 West 70th Street
- Felice: 240 Columbus Avenue
- Santa Fe: 73 West 71st Street
- Tacombi: 377 Amsterdam Avenue
- Nice Matin: 201 West 79th Street
- Dagon: 2454 Broadway
- Cafe Du Soleil: 2725 Broadway
- Mama’s Too!: 2750 Broadway
Here are additional roadbed dining sheds that have also closed in the neighborhood, according to our readers.
- Noi Due: 491 Columbus Avenue
- Harvest Bistro: 269 Columbus Avenue
- Dive 75: 101 West 75th Street
- Owl’s Tail: 215 West 75th Street
- Miriam: 300 Amsterdam Avenue
- Good Enough to Eat: 520 Columbus Avenue
- 5 Napkin Burger: 2315 Broadway
- French Roast: 2340 Broadway
- Barney’s Greengrass: 541 Amsterdam Avenue
- Mamoun’s: 508 Columbus Avenue
An employee at Felice told West Side Rag that the restaurant’s roadbed dining shed will not return in the spring, but that it will expand its sidewalk seating.
The new guidelines no longer allow outdoor dining structures to be fully enclosed or to take up more than a certain amount of the sidewalk or street. There is a $1,050 license fee to cover a four-year license term for roadway or sidewalk setups, or $2,100 for establishments that would like to offer both.
Let us know in the comments about other roadbed dining sheds that have come down on the Upper West Side.
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Yes, finally. Get rid of these gross sheds. Finally, air, places to park and walk. Now work on all the scaffolding next.
More places to park for the ~20% of people who own cars, but sadly there is now less fresh air and space to walk for the rest of us. Plentiful street parking is for the suburbs, NYC should prioritize restaurants over parking.
Those restaurant sheds were rat havens as well as outdoor urinals after hours. I’m glad to see them gone.
The dining sheds took up even more fresh air and space.
UWS Dad,
Mass transit buses shpuld always be the priority over “open streets” – and especially when there is an amazing park one block away.
Not necessarily. Perhaps that extra space can be used by delivery trucks (maybe 15 minute limit or something), so they don’t double/triple park, which creates traffic.
NYC should prioritize pedestrians over restaurants.
Most people in suburbs park in garages or lots, not always on the street. Street parking is something that benefits New York. In fact, the more you allow street parking, the more transit dollars flows to services that have higher ridership and a lower subsidy per ride and the more transit dollars flows to services used by people who have public transit as their only option.
Mamoun’s lost their shed. That was most of their seating, otherwise they only have four seats inside. I was there this weekend and people were looking for somewhere to sit while a blue Ford SUV was parked where the shed used to be.
I assume that when Mamoun’s acquired their space they knew it was only large enough for four seats and would be primarily a takeout restaurant. As did their customers. The shed provided the owners with rent-free extra seating for a couple of years. A pretty good deal, I’d say. Meanwhile, the owners of the Consulate at 85th & Columbus not only erected a substantial shed but added several rows of outdoor tables, effectively doubling their capacity while narrowing the sidewalk for pedestrians, parents with strollers and people with assistive devices. More rent-free space, courtesy of the city. Wasn’t the original idea of the sheds to give customers safer places to dine, not to give restaurant owners larger footprints?
Mamoun’s did put some tables outside but they don’t have a lot of sidewalk space there. They have one parking spot though that used to accommodate six or seven tables.
The parking spot is now providing a car owner with rent-free parking much of the time. I’d rather have rent-free seating for a popular restaurant than for someone’s parking.
There is no rent free parking. Those meters cost as much as $13 for 2 hours. The restaurants paid zero and the city lost all that revenue. 13 hours a day, 6 days a week.
Mamoun’s could provide sidewalk seating like their next door neighbor, Motorino Pizzeria.
Well, maybe owners will expand their restaurants now and rent more space.
That’s sad. Some places need the shed more than parking for someone not even there for the business
How many of the dining sheds are taking away commercial parking and short term metered parking which tends to be used by those doing business here?
Add to that the 85th Street shed at Good Enough to Eat; employee at Nina’s Burritos said theirs would be coming down. Noi Due on Columbus was disassembling theirs yesterday…
5 Napkin Burger has taken down it’s shed.
Thank goodness! While I understand those who may be lamenting this loss (as a place for community connection perhaps), these sheds have created visual noise, are a harborage for vermin (I have seen rats crawling in and out of every one, including on tables and chairs), and have often become temporary living structures (or places to fornicate) for the homeless. NYC isn’t some quaint European city where outdoor dining is a pleasure; in reality you have dogs urinating and discarding excrement inches from your feet while vehicle exhaust fumes blow in your face. Having these structures so close to/in the streets is also unsafe for the patrons inside them as well as the traffic which has the right of way (we all remember the handful of car crashes into these sheds while diners were inside).
I certainly won’t miss some of them (the one outside Blondies: barf), but I will others. Some restaurants are just so loud, and it was nice to have the outdoor option where I could actually hear my dinner partners. Not to mention how nice it is to sit outside on a summer evening.
Maybe Restaurants should turn down the volume?
Harvest Bistro {fka Harvest Kitchen) removed theirs as well.
Owl’s Tail’s shed is gone
You can add Dive 75 on 75th and Columbus to that list.
Miriam removed their roadside cafe, but has not removed their illegal enclosed cafe, put up during the pandemic, which is now totally enclosed in plastic. Also, their A-frame sign is a giant trip hazard at the corner of Amsterdam and 74th.
Are you sure their outdoor seating, enclosed or not, is illegal?
yes, sure.
Is Elea part of this takedown? Can barely walk though that sidewalk with a shed AND sidewalk tables!!
I meant French Roast next door. Same idea.
The part of Elea in the street is down. The other part is not. And Nice Matin next door is also down.
I am glad they are down. They served a purpose and that time is over. Restaurants were getting free space. This was great during Covid. But now they should pay for the space. There are too many empty stores on the UWS.
And the anti-car crowd is childish. I’m sorry you never leave NYC and don’t have friends who visit you. I am supportive of having parking permits for a reasonable amount. But the children who put their fingers in their ears and shout “No cars, no cars, no cars!” are ridiculous.
There are problems with parking permits too. You would need to go to Albany to get them and in practice, it creates a different set of exclusionary policies.
Question: Mama’s Too has removed the shed but regularly has picnic tables set up on the sidewalk. Are the picnic tables okay since they get removed nightly?
If they have a sidewalk cafe they need to have a permit. Whether it is removable or not.
I’m surprised that the bicycle fanatics have not already jumped in (as they inevitably do) to insist that the reclaimed space not be used for car parking (or, as they love to call it, “private storage on public land”).
Isn’t that what it is? Storing private property on public land, for free?
That’s one way to look at it. The other way is to look at is as temporarily storing private property on a street that’s funded by registration fees and gasoline taxes paid by the owners of that property.
Paid *partially* by the owners of that property. The major of taxpayers don’t put their private property on the street.
Not a cyclist, but I do think its tragic that public space that was previously used to benefit neighborhood restaurants is now being turned into car storage.
It was a stopgap measure to keep restaurants afloat during the pandemic, but it wasn’t really fair. Restaurants that were in a location where they couldn’t put up a shed were now competing with restaurants that had substantially more seating that didn’t cost them a penny. I’m not entirely against the dining sheds, but the city should be collecting rent on the space that these sheds occupy. It would even the playing field for those establishments that can’t have a shed and would provide a revenue stream for the city.
Restaurants have plenty of space that benefits them, if they are forced to rent more space, so be it. It is more than just car storage, it is the ability to move around in a way that may not exactly be easy by transit.
So happy to see most of them go. We had one across the street, taking up space and used as storage. Additionally, a rat house. Bye-bye.
Not a fan of the sheds. They’re a major hazard for cyclists.
And most of all pedestrians
Finally! Most looked like lean-to outhouses that harbored rats. They contributed to roadway congestion and e-vehicles hitting pedestrians and their own diners and wait staff.
It’s about time….4.5 year later, well after the pandemic! Further, this permanent Outdoor Dining program is not one New Yorkers voted on, but rather a bill that was pushed by Gale Brewer, alongside the hospitality industry – and passed by 30+ council persons. These 3rd world sheds have been a complete disaster, the cause congestion, rats and elevated garbage. The permanent program is nothing but a greedy land grab by private industry.
Terrible for the neighborhood.
The Felice dining shed that is pictured was really nice, sat ~16 diners. I walked by the other day, now that space is just 1.5 parking spots.
Friends of mine who don’t follow this sort of local news all thought this was awful and assumed the Felice shed was hit by a car. It’s worse than that – this is an entirely predictable outcome when the City Council effectively outlawed outdoor dining by not allowing it during the winter.
Outdoor dining is why the rat problem grew out of control.
Yes, famously rats were rare in NYC before outdoor dining.
Rats were not running in the middle of the street and on sidewalks in large numbers before outdoor dining. Yes I have walked the streets of the UWS at 5 am and notice these things.
UWS Dad,
Eating at restaurant is not an “entitlement” nor is eating outside an entitlement.
Many people can’t afford to eat at restaurants – and no one is giving them a subsidy so they can go to a restaurant.
Also, while NYC gave restaurants the benefit of dining sheds, NYC did nothing for retail and small shops.
That seems pretty unfair to me.
My parents once taught me that life is not fair. As a city, NYC needs to make choices about what to prioritize for the benefit of its residents. More street parking is great if you live in NJ and want to avoid the train, but that’s not what the city says it is trying to encourage.
It is more than just wanting to avoid the train. NJ is a very bus dependent area. Every time someone takes NJ Transit to NY, NJ is not only subsidizing transit that is more expensive than NYC subways or crosstown buses, they are losing tax revenue to NY be it sales tax revenue or income tax revenue as NJ residents working in NY pay taxes to NY as NY does not have income tax reciprocity with either CT or NJ. Even if a small minority of UWS residents own cars, the UWS attracts a lot of people from everywhere and street parking is essential to maintaining that, especially when MTA has already decided to cut off peak bus service between the outer boroughs and Manhattan and advocacy groups have pretty much conceded that this service is gone.
If I were you, I would be careful saying life is not fair, because just as you can say it to those who oppose urbanists, when those opposing urbanists have the upper hand and say it to you, you would cry foul. At the end of the day, urbanists have made cars a culture war issue and liberals may have to give up the car culture war to win the other culture wars that affect people’s rights.
Jacob’s Pickle has got to go! At least 200+ seats in the road for years they do not pay rent on. Sidewalks completely impassable, noise level unbearable. They have taken advantage of this situation with no regard or respect for the people living in the area..
yes, they shouldn’t be allowed to co-opt public space as they have done for years. I hate walking by there. The sidewalk is not theirs to own and use,
Jacob’s Pickles is going away, literally: https://www.westsiderag.com/2024/05/10/jacobs-pickles-is-moving-from-its-original-upper-west-side-location
I hope they don’t bring the shed with them
About time to stop NYC from looking like a 3rd world country. Get rid of the shacks. Get rid of migrant shelters. Let’s make New York, Great Again.
The east side of Amsterdam, between 84th and 85th, is insane.
As happy as I am that these are finally going away, I do think the one at Cafe Luxembourg was kind of nice.
They still have lovely, heated, non-shed outdoor seating!
I am thankful the restaurants had them, but these temporary structures have exceed their useful life.
The Leopard/Cafe des Artistes also took their beautifully-appointed roadbed shed down.
I loved the live music they provided, too.
Where are the rats going to go?
I liked some of the sheds, Santa Fe for example. It was very tasteful, clean and much more pleasant to dine in than their dark indoor space.
Most restaurants don’t have room for outdoor seating, so the sheds were very nice to have.
Good riddance! Most were hideous and made the city an eyesore.
Metro, I noticed yesterday. I felt bad because it was truly a safe place re ventilation, not a closed-in, virus exposed extension.
I am in favor of their removal. Almost as unpleasant as eating “in the toolshed” (as a friend puts it) is having to look at a toolshed when sitting at an otherwise nice sidewalk table. Bring back the beauty of our city, the sun and air, the ability to see across the street!
What you didn’t see when you were dining in those sheds were the homeless people doing their business in them they were disgusting. Remove them and let’s replace them with trees and shrubbery! Upper west side deserves more trees! We want more luxury! We want only luxury in the upper west side!
French Roast has also taken their sheds down.
They were disgusting! Upper west side needs to prioritize their streets and give it back to the pedestrians! No more street vendors! We want street sweeps! Where do they relieve themselves? Exactly!!!! It’s disgusting! We want more trees! Let’s turn parking spots into beautiful parklettes! Let’s install more anti homeless benches! Let’s remove those charging stations where homeless hang out! Let’s install trees on broadway! Let’s get rid of those ugly building sheds too— we want expensive real estate in upper west side we need to get rid of affordable housing! Let’s privatize Central Park! It should be like Gramercy park! Key only for the upper west side and east side residents! No Harlem! Definitely no Jersey and Stan island
Finally! Private businesses should not be allowed to take over public sidewalks and streets.
And before the tiresome responses about cars start coming in, free street parking should be banned as well.
Wow.
So glad these sheds are coming down.
They generate trash and rats.
They impair visibility for pedestrians and bicyclists.
They’ve created a shantytown.
And also incredibly unfair that the restaurant sector got City help -but the City has not helped the retail sector which is really suffering.
Yeah get rid of the rat huts. It’s disgusting. They destroyed the city.
Barney Greengrass shed is down
I went to the website for the new program, and the regulations seem completely reasonable. April 1-November 30, half-walls and umbrellas or awnings but not fully enclosed rooms, removable floors or no floors (for cleaning and rat proofing.) Dismantling and storing the new designs should be doable. There probably are already companies offering to build, set up and store compliant units. The fees are fair (restaurants are getting lots of valuable table space, after all.)
I will miss the relative quiet of outdoor seating, where you could hear your companions talk instead of being blasted by the noise of indoor dining. But at some point huddling by heaters wasn’t fun anymore, and plenty of sheds were uncomfortable and badly maintained.
Overall, it’s a good compromise.
Community Food & Juice and Le Monde have taken down their roadway sheds.
Good bye hundreds of beloved, tax paying, job creating, business enhancing, street enlivening outdoor dining structures. Hello more car storage.
Good riddens to the eyesore, dirty, noisy, rat-infested sheds, particularly the enclosed ones which did little to protect from covid. Welcome back to open views where we can see across the street. I’ll be curious and look forward to see what the new regulated-design outdoor spaces are like. They certainly are inexpensive for restaurants to build compared to the upside.
“Car storage” helps create jobs as well and enhance businesses as well. Brings tax payers to the UWS as well.
Enlivening for who? Gentrifiers and tourists?
The end game is not livable streets, but streets where only certain kinds of people are welcome.
Perhaps you can afford to park your car in an actual garage, and not the street. Some of us are not as fortunate.
Howard Yaruss,
My family rarely eats at restaurants and I don’t consider restaurants “beloved”
In addition, there is a glut of restaurants and food places not to mention food delivery.
Personally I think that retail/stores/shops are essential to neighborhoods.
Also stores have huge challenges – high rent, ecommerce competition, shoplifting….
I don’t understand why CB 7 is not concerned about neighborhood stores?
Why only the concern for restaurants?
Malt, CB7 is mostly concerned about restaurants because many members of the board are connected to the industry. Prime example, Andrew Rigie, Executive Director and chief advocate for the NYC Hospitality Alliance. Rigie sits on both Transportation and Business committees, reviewing liquor license and outdoor dining applications. Sound like conflict of interest? How is this possible? Look to the elected’s in our district, Gale Brewer and Mark Levin hand pick our board, no one gets on without their approval – and they have their agendas. Hope that helps answer your question?
Sidewalk tables are not the same as the sheds. So many of them up here were festive and charming and gave a sense of life to the neighborhood. Also, you cannot sit at an open table when it is raining or chilly. Just the blow that our already struggling restaurants needed. I find it sad and will miss them.
Will look a lot better when standards are upheld next spring. Some of these plywood shanty sheds were a disgrace to the neighborhood. Others, however, were great – Sante Fe being a good example (well the bit at the end!)
I was for them during the shutdown but let’s be honest, they’re ugly. I would allow some kind of really cool looking permanent sidewalk seating to help businesses to be able to recover lost revenue
Greatest news!
Since the pandemic started I have seen many fewer rats on the subway tracks. I wonder if this is because the sidewalk sheds were a better option. Will the older rats remember that the subway tracks were a good place to live and guide the younger rats there?
I vote for more sheds – permanent, good quality ones. The sheds add nightlife, more options for restaurants and are fun to eat in. MORE SHEDS!!!
News flash – those of us putting up with the hassle of parking our cars on the street (moving twice a week, enduring damage from other drivers, vandalization and sometimes theft) are doing out of necessity. I ride the subway to work in the city four days a week, and work at a college outside of the city one day a week that is only accessible by car. I also have aging parents that I visit most weekends and they do cannot be reached by public transit. I am confident no one parking their car on the street is “freeloading”. Restaurants who all of a sudden doubled and tripled their capacity via these sheds and continued to do so for years beyond necessity did indeed benefit exponentially.
Uber.
What does that mean “Felice will expand its sidewalk seating”?
Hopeful that the removal of the outdoor dinning structures meant more room for pedestrians to walk and roam, however, this makes me fearful they will just encroach on the already limited walking space.
Excited for responses
Glad to see these eyesores go, except for those operated by nice matin and cafe luxembourg.. would also like to see the homeless men wandering the neighborhood off our streets as well as the migrants who sit outside banks and stores with their children in tow. Not a trump supporter but I want my taxes dollars spent elsewhere, ie our precious local libraries!
I noticed it this weekend. Things look so much better on Columbus in the 80s now. Jacob’s Pickles still has multiple structures – that really stood out
These sheds were disgustingly. Public property benefiting a private business for a handful of people for a couple hours a day. Pathetic waste of space and a hazard. What a breath of fresh air to get that sorely needed public space back!
The license fees are way too low. Privatizing public space is NEVER a good idea. License ls should be more limited in duration and cost more. The existing fee is ridiculously low