What is the point of “enclosed” outdoor dining?

I saw a number of restaurants with tents out for the cold weather.

I don’t know the point either

Parking garages in the city are full because the restaurants are taking up so many parking spaces. Good luck bringing a car into NYC.

OP, your link doesn't show any enclosed dining. Do you mean tents?

Speaking of "r******d"...

Madrid and NYC had similar spikes in March/April, then crept back down the same time.

Madrid's numbers shot back up in July to the present, and NYC's kept steadily low for 5 months.

What was the difference? Madrid opened up full indoor dining over the summer, NYC did outdoor only.

Is it an incredibly uncomfortable way to eat? Of course. But indoors at full capacity isn't remotely a safe option. While not completely safe, it is safer, and gives businesses a little financial relief.

It allows them to socially distance seat and still keep customers realtivly warm.

They showed those little dining igloos on the news today and, while they seem kind of cool, I thought to myself how are they going to completely flush out the dirty air in between customers? All they have is a little doorway on each pod, which seems almost worse than a large, open dining hall with good ventilation and plenty of space between tables. A bubble can hold thing IN as well as keep things out.

You don't understand, R5. The point of outdoor dining is that it's outside, where air moves freely. Enclosing outdoor dining areas with tent walls just creates another indoor dining space, which obviously defeats the purpose.

Why do people need to dine out? Do carry out, and then eat in your home for the next year.

That's my plan, R8, but I imagine people who are out there in the dating world need things to do outside the house. So glad I'm partnered.

It's like back in the early '90s in Los Angeles when they had smoking and non-smoking sections.

Like cigarette smoke is going to stop at an invisible barrier. Yeah right?!🙄

R3 the link does not show any tents either. Are you trying to tell us you are retarded as well?

None of this mitigates the hands of beleaguered restaurant workers, who have to touch food, ups, plates, etc., through the day. Restaurant dining is listed as one of the easiest ways for COVID to be transmitted.

I have yet to dine 'al fresco,' went to a downtown NYC outdoor bar area once, under pressure from friends, felt very uncomfortable as maskless drinkers nearby started shouting and hooting as they got drunk.

I continue to avoid walking along sidewalks with parklets, as they're crowded and block pedestrian traffic.

R8 - because many share a kitchen, or because the nature of their apartment is such that their at home work station is in the kitchen. I work in the spare room in the apartment the company rented for me and it's fine. Now my roommate likes her space and I like mine, but when she works in her bedroom or the living room she falls asleep (I low-key suspect she has perimenopause and is ashamed because she feels hot and sleepy all day and showers 3 times a day). For me, dining out is a way to relax, forget the pandemic and work from home situation and have some human contact besides my roomie...a short flashback to the old normal. Also, if I wanted to hook up, I could at my place but, for example, women are more prudent so they first wanna meet a man a few times in public.

[quote]Restaurant dining is listed as one of the easiest ways for COVID to be transmitted.

I've only been to a handful of restaurants since March but, at every one, I noticed something troubling going on. Cooks and servers with their masks not covering their nose. Using the same latex gloves to touch potentially contaminated surfaces and then food, dishes, or food prep areas. Adding automatic (and exorbitant) gratuities, without the telling the customer first. Just not worth it to me.

Dined al fresco this week with my family and made the comment that this can only last as long as the weather. My brother said that they’ll just close the plastic sheeting or whatever it’s called to keep it warm. I pointed out that that defeats the purpose of “safely” eating outdoors.

Might as well eat indoors.

[quote] Are you trying to tell us you are retarded

Oh, dear.

[quote] Even the thinking that the virus doesn’t spread outdoors is just plain retarded.

Not really; there's plenty of evidence that the virus spreads much less easily outdoors, though of course it's not impossible. Agreed, however, that dining inside a tent or "igloo" defeats the purpose of being outdoors.

I passed a local restaurant today that has erected a tent in its parking lot. It is a rainy day here, and the flaps of the tent were down 3/4 of the sides. What's the difference between that and indoor dining? Nothing.

rats running over feet, sewage grates and aggressive panhandlers does not appeal

(Cough, cough)

We're Tenting Tonight

restaurants employ so many workers, this virus has hit that industry hard

Maybe they know it's unsafe but it's a way to get around the regulations.

The point of keeping outdoor dining indefinitely in NYC, as a friend who is a restaurant owner explained to me, is this: The capacity for indoor dining is only 25%. By allowing the outdoor space to augment the indoor space, they're increasing the number of socially distanced seats, thereby increasing the amount of possible revenue. Some small restaurants in NYC have at least as many seats outside as they do inside, some have even more.

R24 that point is obvious you idiot. The reality is lame brain Cuomo and DeFagio need to end this stupid lockdown shit now and let the regular dining rooms open. It’s stupid to have people sitting in a plastic bubble or tent in the street. Put plastic partitions between the goddamn tables indoors for crying out loud. Knock off this stupidity and let’s get back to work. People are surviving this latest Chinese flu.

I assume R24 was joking,

[quote]The reality is lame brain Cuomo and DeFagio need to end this stupid lockdown shit now and let the regular dining rooms open.

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha

Fuck off.

This shit isn't worth arguing anymore, since Cuomo will never let it happen, but what part of "third wave of new infections" is unclear to you fucking covidiots? Opening everything up = massive wave of new infections. We've seen it over and over and over and over again. Your desire to kill people for the sake of profit is just psychotic at this point.

[quote]Knock off this stupidity and let’s get back to work.

Go lick doorknobs on a COVID ward.

R27 I’ve already had it dumbass.

Well, R25 - R28, you're clearly suffering from one of the symptoms; brain damage.

You were also an asshole before, and now you want everyone else to get it. Typical angry male neo-Trumpian sociopathology. Too bad you didn't just die.

[Quote]Even the thinking that the virus doesn’t spread outdoors is just plain retarded.

Its fantastic that we have an expect that knows better than the scientists that have studied this virus and found outdoor distanced activities to be an incredibly low transmission risk.

Please, share with us your credentials and the studies you've published on this.

My local Chinese restaurant has about a dozen indoor tables. They’re only allowed to use 6 of those indoor tables due to social distancing. There’s room for them to put 6 socially distanced tables on the sidewalk & in the street, enclose them with a tent & a heater.

Voila, 12 tables.

Many NYC restaurants have used rented, heated tent entrances for years in cold winters. So it’s no skin off anyone’s nose to rent a bigger tent. And people eat out because they want to get out of their apartments. People actually GO FOR WALKS IN WINTER on the streets in NYC.

I know, it’s hard to grasp that people put in a hat & coat & walk for a mile or two in winter, but it’s a normal thing to do. People are used to going outside in winter, spring, summer & fall in the city.

Typical heated restaurant vestibule in non-pandemic winter. Simply get a bigger tent.

R8 gee I don’t know...to get out of our fucking apartments? To stay sane? Because we don’t like cooking or cleaning up? Because food is better served fresh out of the kitchen? Because it’s one of the few “social” things left people are allowed to do?

What a fucking asinine question , seriously. If you want to live like a hermit and eat cold soggy food great for you, but no need to impose your lifestyle on everyone else.

A lot of those sidewalk vestibules violate regulations in most, or many, US cities, though I suppose the regulations have been relaxed since April.

[quote]So it’s no skin off anyone’s nose to rent a bigger tent.

Except that it costs more for the restaurant owner (which will be passed to the customer), and takes up street and sidewalk space.

There are some shut ins that don't seem to understand other people like having a social life r33.

Blue state governors and mayors are retarded. “Outdoor dining in the freezing winters but *in a tent* to stay warm! So smart!” Eye-fucking-roll. You’re not Hawaii or Florida you dumb cunts.

No bailout money for these stupid fucks!

Yes the rules were rewritten to allow outdoor dining to take up more space r34. In New York this has now been made permanent.

Do suck tents follow the rules?

Fat westerners should refrain from talking while having food in their mouths. This will somehow decrease the risk of infection.

But no, fattards have to kiss and hug when they meet and then they have to prattle with food in their mouths as well as spitting out the virus all over the table. Sometimes your lifestyle is the problem.

r33 All that can be done with carry out, but enjoy your cold unsoggy food.

[quote] A lot of those sidewalk vestibules violate regulations in most, or many, US cities,

Not in NYC, which is the city all the wingnuts are screaming about with their ignorance of how social distancing works..

If tent renters want to stay in business, they won’t Jack their prices up to astronomical levels because then restaurants will be unable to afford tent rents & the restaurants will close down for good. No restaurants, no tent business. New restaurants won’t pop up in their place, as libertarians think will happen, because landlords benefit from empty storefronts due to tax deductions pushed through by real estate developers.

Besides, most tent rental businesses are owned by either restaurant owners or the relatives of restaurant owners in NYC. It’s one big happy immigrant family. Restaurants, caterers, tent renters, cater-waiter staffing agencies ....they all know each other. They’re dependent on each other. Their businesses are at stake right now. They’re looking forward to a vaccine or treatment. If they work together, they can get through it. If yiu ask NYers “Will you eat in a heated tent in winter even if you have to socially distance, will you do it?” The answer is yes, because weve all done it before. Restaurants become really popular in summer areas - they rent a tent, tack it on & air condition it. In winter, they heat it. My favorite Italian place has used a huge tent year round in what used to be their parking lot for years. It’s a family owned place, it’s packed in the summer season, not so packed in winter, except for Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Years, when second home owners come out to their houses to host their families. Sometimes they use the tent in winter, sometimes the tent is closed in winter, depending on the clientele. On a Saturday night in February they can get swamped by people suffering from cabin fever who want to go out & socialize. They cope.

I’m sure the tent restaurants will cope in NYC. The city is doing pretty well with regard to infection rate, once you factor out religious nuts. If anyone sees a Hasid on the street *outside of a Hasidic neighborhood* they just cross the street.

R41 you conveniently left out the staying in your apartment and having no life part. And just about everything else. And no — food that just comes out of the restaurant kitchen isn’t cold, unless it’s meant to be.

That’s ok. Didn’t expect any less.

They are doing the tented gym space in LA but ours is very open b/c of the weather. They are doing the same set up in NYC, but I imagine it will be more closed off. The advantage could be that between work outs, they can open the tents and flood it with fresh air in between scheduled times. And many days might suffice with just a heat lamp. NYC is beyond freezing during the winter, but people are desperate to have some sort of normalcy back. Outdoors is better than nothing and it gives business owners a fighting chance.

Are you going to hear apocalyptic stories about the city on the verge of collapse, with catastrophic businesses closures & people “fleeing” into the countryside? Of course. That’s what the media does best. If it bleeds, it leads. You’d think the city was burning down. I walked right past a demonstration in front of the governor’s NYC office the other day. Was there megaphone yelling & chanting & protest signs? Yup. Coukd I figure out which group was protesting? Nope. There’s always someone protesting in front of the governor’s NYC offices. Teachers who want schools closed, parents who want schools opened, religious groups who want their houses of worship open & packed full, black lives matter, blue lives matter, people who hate masks & want to go to the movies or the racetrack or whatever.

It’s just another day, another protest/apocalypse/police state/ free for all/ lockdown/ shakeup/ fall of civilization.

[quote] Except that it costs more for the restaurant owner (which will be passed to the customer), and takes up street and sidewalk space

So?

R42, this article is from a few years ago but makes a still applicable point.

"But restaurants everywhere have to keep in mind one very important regulation when they’re designing an entrance: the Americans with Disabilities Act. "

r43 You can hang out with close friends at your place or your friends. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. Not sure why the concept is so hard to grasp. If you are eating outside in a tent it will get cold, unless you plan to scarf it down in 5 minutes. But you do you. Have a Corona on me:)

Poor rubes don’t know that party/restaurant tents are well heated & have been since at least the latter half of the 20th century. How do you think they did drive thru hospital parking lot testing in March in the northeast?

[Quote] The reality is lame brain Cuomo and DeFagio need to end this stupid lockdown shit now and let the regular dining rooms open.

It’s not like thousand of people have died in NYC or anything like that...

Cities are desperately attempting any scheme that could save as many local restaurants as possible.

Otherwise, we'll end up shuffling down the street to some central distribution warehouse probably run by WalMart and having slop labelled into our tin pails .

Christmas markets in cities all over the world have heated tents. There’s nothing new or mind boggling about them.

Greengrocers in NYC have used heated enclosures for years for their outdoor flower & fruit/veg displays. Oooh, but it takes up sidewalk space! Oh no!

But you probably have to pay more for your oranges if you buy them from the market across the street from your building than if you bought them at Walmart! Oh no!

[Quote] Christmas markets in cities all over the world have heated tents. There’s nothing new or mind boggling about them.

Xmas markets are usually freezing and you quickly go from stall to stall and then run inside

You’re going to the wrong Christmas markets, R55. Patio heaters are everywhere.

....

The point is it should be at 50 percent by this point. It should have been raised to 25 percent sometime I need the summer and Sept 30th should have been when 50 percent happened. Then this would all be a lot more manageable. NYC restaurants on avg Re a lot smaller than most where 25 percent is an absolute joke.

50 percent with all the precautions, barriers, masks, distancing, temp checking.., is totally fine. Every other part of NY has been doing it since June with no uptick I’m transmission rate.

And if you see a Hasid sans mask, just run.

Don't you realize that given New York restaurants run a lot smaller and more cramped that is the reason to allow fewer people inside r58?

Yes, R58 knows that, because she is a troll. She keeps saying the same thing over & over to perpetuate the thread.

The point is, what’s the difference between sitting a bunch of people in a heated tent than in a heated room in a restaurant? Plastic walls vs. plaster walls. Yes, you can extend the space to the outdoors like we’re doing here in New York, but I don’t want to sit in a tent in the winter!!

R59 PERCENTAGE. It’s the same distance between people. Smaller restaurants will have fewer people. Same percentage. This isn’t hard.

[quote] The point is, what’s the difference between sitting a bunch of people in a heated tent than in a heated room in a restaurant? Plastic walls vs. plaster walls.

If you’re outside, even in a heated tent, you don’t have HVAC vents blowing hot/cold air, along with a potentially unhappy surprise, all over the room.

> I continue to avoid walking along sidewalks with parklets, as they're crowded and block pedestrian traffic.

Same.

Without customers the tables are spaced 6ft. apart with tables on the sidewalk and in the street, that 6ft between tables disappears when people are seated and the 6ft. wide aisle in-between the sidewalk tables and street tables becomes single file.

[quote] Without customers the tables are spaced 6ft. apart with tables on the sidewalk and in the street, that 6ft between tables disappears when people are seated and the 6ft. wide aisle in-between the sidewalk tables and street tables becomes single file

Says who, R64?

Xennial R33:

"to get out of our fucking apartments?"

Go out. Go to a park. Go to a museum; some are opening with proper social distancing.

"To stay sane?" - You lost that a while ago.

"Because we don’t like cooking or cleaning up?" - Lazy much?

"Because food is better served fresh out of the kitchen?" - Just not yours, since you can't boil water.

"Because it’s one of the few 'social' things left people are allowed to do?"

There are plenty of other things to do than sit in a disease-spreading plastic tent or open-sidewalk-table chowing down on food sprinkled with car exhaust.

"If you want to live like a hermit and eat cold soggy food great for you, but no need to impose your lifestyle on everyone else." Do you even know how to turn on an oven or microwave?

Other than adhering to basic logic in the midst of a pandemic, selfish idiots like you want to do anything you want because you're 'bored'. Your myopic POV is 'go out for dinner or you have no life' is inane. You're doubtlessly one of those assholes who puts his facemask below his chin to yammer into your cell phone.

I want to have r66’s babies.

R66 yeah no. My views political and elsewhere have been very clear in this and other threads. You and quite a few other people on here do this strawman thing that if you don’t want things locked down indefinitely you must be a deplorable shitstan.

There’s a way to open gradually and sensibly. Scientists know this, other countries like South Korea knows this, Biden knows this. Cuomo knows this too, actually, and deserves all the credit he gets for turning things around. Wear a mask and distance and follow the fucking rules. Do you know if both people are wearing masks and distance, the transmission rate goes down to 1.5 percent? This is why Florida and Texas et al have had cases exploded and New York is still in good shape religious nut jobs in Brooklyn excepted. Why are you so fucking allergic to a sensible middle ground. It’s like you’re rooting for a doomsday scenario.

Though the majority of DL would love for a communist regime to control the US, we still do live in a free country. If you want to eat at home, great. If you prefer to dine out, that's OK too. Everyone just wear your fucking mask when you are not seated at a table and our infection rates would drop. That's all anyone needs to do, whatever you choose. Wearing a mask includes indoor gatherings at peoples homes with mixed households.

Xennial: " Why are you so fucking allergic to a sensible middle ground."

Where only half as many people will die or get sick to accommodate your need to gab at your pals over a $30 bowl of pasta?

"It’s like you’re rooting for a doomsday scenario. "

It's like you're projecting and veering back into delusional black/white comparisons.

But judging my your handle, you only know of the last plague from TV shows.

I want Xennial's cut cock deep inside me after we dine outside under al fresco under the neon lights.

It doesn’t matter if you have heating lamps, going to a restaurant just to sit outside during the fall and winter doesn’t seem enticing to me