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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Outdoor dining here is a joke. It's seasonal and puts you on a roadway next to moving cars or on a sidewalk next to moving pedestrians. Nothing pleasurable or scenic about it. Go to California where restaurants are built to accommodate outdoor dining. Then come back here and realize how awful the DC "al fresco" dining experience truly is.[/quote]

I agree with this. It is actually very hard to find restaurants in DC with pleasant rooftops or patios. Most are just tacked on as cheaply as possible, which is also true for the vast majority of "streeteries."

The truth is that if you really want a nice outdoor dining experience, you need it be away from all cars altogether, because cars are not conducive to dining (too noisy and polluting, no one wants to shout over the sound of traffic or be able to smell exhaust while eating). Which would mean creating more pedestrian-only areas. I'm not a huge fan of the Wharf, but one thing they get right is that it's mostly a pedestrian zone, so all the patios and roof decks feel like more pleasant places to eat.

I live just off H Street and have never eaten at any of the streeteries that have popped up. A few places have invested well into outdoor patios that are actually quite pleasant (Maketto being the best example, I've heard Copycat's new outdoor space is is nice as well) but most of the outdoor dining on H is pitiful. Like the Biergarten House has a massive outdoor space but it's cheaply furnished and I've seen rats run through it because it sits right on the alley. H Street Country Club's roof deck is small and really more of a bar experience, not so much for dining. There just are not great options and the streeteries don't really change that.[/quote]

Only a couple options on that short section of H St., but if you expand your radius just a bit there are lots of good options for outdoor dining nearby. Daru, Indigo, Laos in Town, Taqueria Fresca, Chupacabra, Taqueria Al Lado, Ethiopic, and Cafe Fili all come to mind. And of course that's not including the numerous options around Union Market.

Most of those places benefit from being an end lot facing a quieter side street with a larger setback, or from being 1-2 blocks off of H itself. I agree that it's hard to make a streetery right on H into a pleasant space because of all the traffic. That's probably why all but a couple of them have already been removed.

I'm on board with restaurants being charged a rent that is closer to what the city would make from parking (offset to account for expected sales tax revenue; a typical restaurant probably only needs 1-2 patrons per hour per parking space to make up the cost of foregone parking with sales taxes). Streeteries that sit empty aren't benefitting anyone, and a nominal rent ensures ensures that the space is being used well. The current $100/year fee is too low. But no one has a right to street parking either. If a streetery is being used, then let people enjoy it![/quote]

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