Newton Outdoor Dining To Return April 1

NEWTON, MA — In a sign of better days to come, Newton is following Boston's lead and will reopen expanded outdoor dining April 1.

"These sunny warm days are wonderful," said Karen Masterson who owns Johnny's in Newton Centre. "We are loving it and looking forward to expanded seating in the next few weeks."

This year's outdoor dining will build off last year's.

As with last year's pilot program, restaurants can apply to transform parking spaces in front of their businesses and sidewalks, but they'll also be able to expand to the sidewalk and parking spaces of adjacent buildings and nearby parking lots with their neighbors permission.

In preparation for the expanded dining, the city has also recently designated 15 minute "pick-up" spaces for customers to park and grab their takeout orders near the village centers.

Newton Community Pride and the city's cultural affairs department are also planning to provide communal dining areas with painted bistro tables, umbrellas, lighting and "other artistic elements," according to the mayor.

Look for expanding dining on the Newton Centre Green, the Langley Lot, Rodney Barker Square, Elm St. Parking Lot, Captain Ryan Park, Austin St. Parking Lot, and Colletti-Magni Park, and on Union Street.

Outdoor dining was one of the few bright spots among restaurant-goers to emerge from the first few months of a dreary pandemic in Newton. But business owners expressed disappointment last year that the city didn't go far enough to support the restaurants, and had been hoping for something more similar to what Waltham did when it closed a stretch of Moody Street to cars.

The new effort, a collaboration with a number of city councilors, city departments and the chamber of commerce, is being well-received.

"We are really pleased that the city has expanded the opportunities for restaurants to get outdoors and feed their customers outside," said Newton Needham Regional Chamber president Greg Reibman.

The embellished communal outdoor spaces, with artistic flair and lights, will make a big difference, he said.

"It will make it a much more pleasant experience," Reibman said. "Hopefully it will be a much more fun and communal experience for diners to come and grab some food and see people they haven't had a chance to in a while."

And all eyes will be on Union Street's "festival-like" vibe with added communal tables that businesses and Ward 6 councilors helped design, as an experiment that the city might consider adding there or elsewhere even after the pandemic, he said.

"While restaurants are feeling optimistic about this, they still have a long road back toward economic recovery," Reibman said, pointing out that many businesses had depleted loans, savings and were just beginning to bring back staff.

"It's going to be a long road for the restaurant industry to find its footing - years, really," he said.

Massachusetts restaurants do not face a capacity limit as of Monday, but still must abide by restrictions such as keeping 6 feet (or partitions) between tables and seating no more than six people at a table.