If the sidewalks look barer than they did in 2023, your memory is correct. The Dining Out NYC roadway dining program returned for the 2026 season as spring weather arrived, per CBS New York's coverage of the season start — but only about 2,100 to 2,450 restaurants obtained roadway permits citywide, per Gothamist and the New York Post, down from roughly 2,500 the year before and a pandemic-era peak near 13,000.
A news summary of a public permitting program, not legal or permitting advice; permit counts and rules live with the city's Department of Transportation.
Why did the shed count drop?
Red tape, mostly. Per the New York Post's May 13, 2026 report, a months-long permitting process kept many restaurants from opening their roadway sheds just weeks into the season — operators who wanted sheds waited on approvals while the spring season burned. The post-2023 rules also made roadway setups costlier to build and maintain, which thinned the field further.
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What does this mean for a visitor in 2026?
Do not assume your dinner can be outside. In the program's peak, an outdoor table was a default across Manhattan; in 2026 it is a feature of specific streets and neighborhoods. The practical moves: ask about outdoor seating when you book, expect sidewalk cafes — the year-round, curb-adjacent kind — to be more reliable than roadway sheds, and treat a warm evening on a shed-lined block as the exception worth hunting, not the baseline.
Which streets still have the sheds?
The corridors that invested early — blocks where a critical mass of restaurants paid into the compliant structures — remain the strongholds. Neighborhood rows with deep sidewalk-café traditions, from the West Village to Arthur Avenue's approach streets, read more like the old normal than the citywide average does. On such blocks, the sheds are also the compliant, winter-grade kind — built to the current rules rather than inherited from them. The DOT's Dining Out NYC listings identify which restaurants hold active roadway permits.
The season runs while the weather holds, per the program's rules. The count may still tick up as late permits clear; as of late May, though, 2026 is a smaller outdoor-dining city than the one regulars remember.