Outdoor Drinking Season 2024 Has Officially Begun

Oh, did you hear that? That crisp, sharp snap was the sound of the city’s outdoor drinking season cracking open. The skies have parted, the air is warming, the earthquakes have quieted — it’s once again time to fill the sidewalks, roofs and patios.

Outdoor drinking (and outdoor dining, and outdoor just-chatting-over-snacks) is our reward for the gray city winters. The embrace of citywide curbside and roadside dining is one of the few bright spots from the pandemic; it helped supercharge the street life that keeps our city healthy, and provided more space for New Yorkers to do our two favorite things: talking and drinking. 

The outdoor dining program that came out of the pandemic has changed a little this year. The City Council recently made the program permanent, and added new guidelines to  roadside and sidewalk seating for accessibility and uniformity. (To learn more about Dining Out NYC, the city’s new outdoor dining program, visit the Department of Transportation’s website.) Even with these changes, Lower Manhattan establishments are great at using our winding streets, shiny skyscrapers and river views well when it comes to outdoor drinking spots.

Industry Kitchen

Downtown, you’ve got a bevy of options to choose from this year. At 90 Washington St., there’s Clinton Hall, where outdoor drinkers can enjoy a craft beer in the plaza outside the bar, complete with oversized board games. Then there’s Liberty Bistro, at Brookfield Place’s Le District food hall, where you can catch a drink while watching the yachts dock in the Hudson River and let your worries sail away. On the other bank of Lower Manhattan, Industry Kitchen (70 South St.) offers a relaxing spot to kick back and appreciate the view from the East River. 

At the White Horse Tavern on Bridge Street, sidewalk tables make for perfect people watching, with a pint in hand. Westville (110 Wall St.) has a tucked away outdoor seating area, great for enjoying a happy hour margarita while hiding out from a summer storm. 

The outdoor drinking situation on Stone Street, however, may be one of the best in Manhattan. The curved, cobblestone alleyway has served as an popular drinking and dining destination since 1996, when the Downtown Alliance began a major streetscape program aimed at transforming public spaces into more welcoming environments for foot traffic. Now it’s home to an array of eateries and pubs — like Stone Street Tavern and Ulysses’, to name a few — as well as lots of car-free space for sitting, and one of the liveliest happy hour scenes around. 

Stone Street

And new this year, the outdoor terrace at Metropolis by Marcus Samuelsson is slated to open May 1, as part of the Perelman Performing Arts Center at 251 Fulton, making for an enticing elevated experience before or after a show. 

For even more ideas of where to crack into outdoor drinking season, check out our series highlighting other outdoor dining spots in the neighborhood, And if you need any help getting in the mood, we have a playlist for exactly that.  

main photo: Liberty Bistro (Sara Kerens/AP)