You are reading

New York City Restaurants Can Increase Indoor Dining Capacity to 35 Percent Next Friday

Mayor Bill de Blasio dined indoors at a restaurant in Chinatown on Wednesday. (Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

Feb. 19, 2021 By Allie Griffin

New York City eateries will be able to serve more customers indoors starting next week.

City restaurants will be able to increase their indoor dining capacity to 35 percent next Friday, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced today.

The establishments were permitted to reopen indoor dining rooms at 25 percent capacity last Friday, Feb. 12, after months of relying solely on outdoor dining and takeout or delivery orders.

Cuomo upped the capacity level to match New Jersey, where Governor Phil Murphy increased indoor dining capacity from 25 percent to 35 percent earlier this month.

“What’s happening now is people in New York City — Staten Island, Manhattan — are going to New Jersey to those restaurants, so it’s not really accomplishing a purpose,” Cuomo said. “So New York City restaurants will go to 35 percent next Friday – that will be consistent with New Jersey.”

Elsewhere in the state, indoor dining is open at 50 percent capacity — a level many NYC restaurant owners and some local lawmakers have asked for across the five boroughs.

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Catch the fall vibe at these western Queens breweries

Sep. 3, 2025 By Jessica Militello

September rings in the start of Oktoberfest from mid-September through October, featuring special brews, fun events and more fall fun. Western Queens is filled with breweries to enjoy seasonal brews, fall flavors and the start of cooler weather as Autumn approaches, making it a perfect time to meet up with friends at these local spaces.

Op-Ed | Four years after Hurricane Ida, Queens deserves real climate resilience

Sep. 2, 2025 By Assembly Member Jessica González-Rojas

Four years ago, Hurricane Ida tore through our neighborhoods of East Elmhurst, Corona and Jackson Heights, leaving behind devastation we will never forget. We lost neighbors to the floodwaters. Families saw their homes destroyed, their basements wiped out, their lives upended. Immigrant families—so many of them undocumented—were hit the hardest, often excluded from relief altogether. Ida was not just a storm; it was a wake-up call.

Fall fun in western Queens: Your guide to the best seasonal events

Aug. 29, 2025 By Jessica Militello

With beach days and summer BBQs behind us, the start of September rings in the start of magnificent Fall foliage, Halloween and more fun activities that come with the start of Autumn, including a list of Fall events in the area. From apple picking to seasonal ciders and more, there is tons to explore in the community. From Mystic Markets to scary movie meet-ups and more, here is a list of Fall events you do not want to miss.

Fresh Meadows MS-13 gang associate sentenced to nearly a half-century in prison for murder of Corona teen in Kissena Park: Feds

An MS-13 gang associate from Fresh Meadows was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison on Tuesday, Aug. 26, for the 2018 slaying of a Corona teenager in Flushing’s Kissena Park.

Juan Amaya-Ramirez, 27, and his co-defendant Oscar Flores-Mejia, 25, from Elmhurst, who is also an associate of the transnational criminal organization, pleaded guilty to the murder of 17-year-old Andy Peralta in Brooklyn federal court last September.