Photo: WBZ NewsRadio / Suzanne Sausville
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — It's warm temperatures and clear conditions for the first day of outdoor dining in the North End on Sunday, and despite a rocky start to the program, some restaurant owners are glad to be back in the busy season.
Adrian De Stefano has owned Caffè Paradiso on Hanover Street for sixty years, and told WBZ's Suzanne Sausville that she's making do with the city's $7,500 outdoor dining fee for North End restaurant owners.
"This year is kind of disappointing, but you know, it is what is. It's no fun- the politics," De Stefano said.
Read More: North End Restaurants Face $7,500 Fee For Outdoor Dining
A couple of customers eating breakfast outside were thankful for the good weather on day one.
"First of all, It's very relaxing because of Covid, it's very safe. It's a beautiful sunny day and not hot- so perfect," one customer named Amy said. Amy says that her and her daughter are in town for the Celtics game from Pittsburgh, and that that they will circle back to the North End for dinner.
But the outdoor dining fee for restaurant owners was only one change this year, another is the type of barriers establishments can use outside.
"We have new rules this year for barriers, so the ones we had last year- we can't use this year. Last year we had beautiful custom-made barriers with planters, we had ornamental grasses in them- they were just really beautiful. This year we're conforming to plastic water-filled barriers" said General Manager of Tresca Jennifer Bacon. Bacon says a silver-lining to the new barriers is that the city is providing the water inside for free.
WBZ's Suzanne Sausville (@wbzSausville) reports.
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