Indoor dining returns to NYC this week. Here’s what you need to know.
City-provided signage to be posted in restaurants and bars offering indoor dining (NYC Health)
After a summer of outdoor dining and drinking in New York City, indoor dining (and drinking) will return on September 30th. While the rest of the state has grappled with the challenges of indoor dining in a pandemic for the past three months, the rules and regulations may be unfamiliar to city-dwellers. While there’s no shame in still feeling uncomfortable about sitting inside a room with other strangers, for those that do, we’re providing a rundown of what to expect, as well as a few observations from places we’ve visited this summer where indoor dining and drinking was already cautiously permitted.
Capacity will be limited
Indoor capacity for restaurants, bars, and breweries is capped at 25% of their pre-pandemic capacity. That means fewer tables inside – a good thing for promoting social distancing, but a bad thing if those tables are in high-demand. Bierwax in Brooklyn, for example, will be launching an online reservation form for their indoor seating (which is limited to 15 seats). In addition to the limited capacity, expect some venues to restrict how long you can stay, in order to turn over those precious indoor tables faster.
Expect to be asked for contact information
The city requires that venues collect contact information for at least one person in your party upon arrival for contact tracing purposes. This will allow you to be contacted in the event that someone in the venue during your visit had contracted Covid-19. When we visited Maine this summer, this was statewide policy – every venue was required to collect that information. Guidelines state that the contact information must remain on file for 28 days and be accessible to the city and state departments of health.
Expect a temperature check
The city is also requiring that all venues also conduct temperature checks upon arrival and deny entry to anyone with a temperature over 100.0°F.
No saddling up to the bar
City guidelines prohibit seating and service at bars in restaurants and bars during this phase, even with partitions or shields in place.
All the same rules from outdoor dining apply indoors
This goes without saying, but rules around maintaining six feet of social distance, limiting maximum party size to 10, and wearing a mask when not eating/drinking will obviously apply indoors, and yes, you still must order “substantial” food with your initial drink order at a restaurant or bar, and a snack with your initial drink order at a brewery.
For most venues, outdoor dining will still be an option
Fret not if you’ve been enjoying drinking al fresco! Most venues will still offer the option of outdoor dining if they offered it over the summer. If anything, the option of indoor dining adds badly-needed capacity to an industry that is struggling to stay afloat.
Indoors, closing time is midnight
While the city requires outdoor dining cease at 11pm, indoor dining can last…
