Cafeography
New York

Cafés with outdoor seating in New York

Bryant Park chairs, High Line cold brew, cafés in Central Park and Prospect Park, and curbside tables from Bed-Stuy to Astoria.

Photo: Jesse R, Pexels License

Outdoor café seating in New York comes in two kinds. Sidewalk setups under the city’s Dining Out NYC program may stay out all year, while roadway setups in the curb lane were allowed only from April 1 to November 29 and had to be taken down for the winter.1 On August 13, 2026, the City Council voted to allow year-round roadway dining, with applications opening in early September; roadway cafés still close at 23:00.1

In April 2026 about 500 roadway setups and 1,300 sidewalk setups were in use, against an estimated 8,000 or more under the looser pandemic-era rules.2 The parks fill the gaps, with coffee for sale in Bryant Park, on the High Line, in Central Park and in Prospect Park. Midtown has the most cafés with outdoor seats, followed by Bed-Stuy, then Park Slope and Long Island City.

Local tip: Roadway café seats close at 23:00 under the city’s rules; after that, Bryant Park Café on West 42nd Street and Queen’s Room on Ditmars Boulevard both serve outdoors until 23:30.1

Where these cafés are: Midtown (17), Bedford-Stuyvesant (16), Park Slope & Prospect Heights (13), Long Island City & Astoria (13), Bushwick & Ridgewood (11), Upper West Side (11), East Village & Lower East Side (10), Williamsburg & Greenpoint (10), Financial District & Tribeca (9), Greenwich Village & West Village (7), Harlem & Morningside Heights (7), Upper East Side (6), Chelsea & Flatiron (6), Fort Greene & Clinton Hill (6), Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens & Red Hook (6), SoHo & Nolita (5), Sunnyside & Woodside (3), Crown Heights & Prospect Lefferts Gardens (3), DUMBO & Brooklyn Heights (2), Roosevelt Island (1).

At a glance

162Cafés listed
100With opening hours
06:00Earliest opening
04:00Latest closing
  • Opens earliest: Coffee Ave, from 06:00 (Daily 06:00–20:00).
  • Closes latest: Skytown, until 04:00 (Daily 12:00–04:00).
  • Most listed streets: Broadway (7), Columbus Avenue (3), Amsterdam Avenue (3).
  • Most common features: indoor seating (26%), wheelchair access (25%), wi-fi (23%).

Nothing matches those filters here. See all cafés in New York.

Bryant Park’s kiosks and movable chairs

Bryant Park sets out movable chairs and tables that anyone can rearrange; the American Planning Association counted 4,000 chairs and 1,000 tables in 2010.3 The Wafels & Dinges kiosk in Heiskell Plaza, at 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue, sells coffee, tea and Belgian waffles daily from 08:00 to 22:00, all year.4

Bryant Park Café on West 42nd Street serves daily 11:00–23:30, and Southwest Porch at 41 West 40th Street also seats people outdoors. A block east, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library at 455 Fifth Avenue has a seventh-floor roof deck that is free and open to the public.5 The Library Café by Amy’s Bread serves inside from 10:30 to 16:30, Monday to Saturday.

Coffee on the High Line and in Central Park

The High Line’s food stands work from spring to fall. For 2026 the park added CoolBean, a nitro cold brew stand at 15th Street, open daily 10:00–19:00; Shake Shack at Gansevoort Street stays open through the winter.6 Hearth on the High Line opens 12:00–20:00 from Thursday to Monday.

In Central Park, the Ballfields Café sits mid-park at 65th Street, on the northern edge of the Heckscher Ballfields, in a 1990s building that replaced the park’s historic Ballplayers’ House. It opens daily 11:00–20:30.7

Prospect Park and Bed-Stuy

In Prospect Park, the Park Slope café and bakery Winner took over the lower level of the Picnic House on the Long Meadow in 2022, with pastries, coffee, sandwiches and picnic meals.8 It opens at 07:30 every day and closes at 15:00 on weekdays and 17:00 at weekends.

Bed-Stuy has the most cafés with outdoor seating in Brooklyn. On Halsey Street, Trash Island at number 616 stays open until 21:00 on Fridays and Saturdays. Little Roy at 571 Greene Avenue and Bklyn Kettle Cafe at 385 Tompkins Avenue both serve daily 08:00–17:00, and Commune at 415 Classon Avenue opens at 07:00 on weekdays.

Columbus Avenue and Astoria

On the Upper West Side, Columbus Avenue has sidewalk seats at Black Press Coffee, number 274, which opens at 07:00 every day, and at The Muffins Cafe, number 222.

Astoria’s outdoor tables stay open late. Queen’s Room at 36-02 Ditmars Boulevard serves until 23:30 every day, and Noisette Pastry Shop at 24-21 Steinway Street and Mokafé at 25-73 Steinway Street both close at 23:00. Near the East River, DAGNY at 11-12 30th Drive opens at 07:00 on weekdays.

Sources

  1. ICYMI: Roadway dining gets a year-round seat at the table, EV Grieve (August 18, 2026), accessed October 2026
  2. Roadway Dining is Back For Season, DOT Now Wants Year-Round, West Side Spirit (April 9, 2026), accessed October 2026
  3. Great Places in America: Bryant Park, New York, New York, American Planning Association (2010), accessed October 2026
  4. Wafels & Dinges, Bryant Park Corporation, accessed October 2026
  5. Midtown Gets Spectacular NYPL Branch with Rooftop Reading Room, Mommy Poppins (Jody Mercier, September 20, 2021), accessed October 2026
  6. Eat & Drink, Friends of the High Line, accessed October 2026
  7. Ballfields Cafe, Central Park Conservancy, accessed October 2026
  8. Prospect Park Gets Big Win With New Picnic House Cafe, WINNER, BKReader (April 7, 2022), accessed October 2026
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Specialty coffee

335 cafés

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171 cafés

Bakery cafés

208 cafés

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122 cafés

Open late

124 cafés

By area: Financial District & Tribeca SoHo & Nolita Greenwich Village & West Village East Village & Lower East Side Chelsea & Flatiron Midtown Upper West Side Upper East Side Harlem & Morningside Heights Williamsburg & Greenpoint Bushwick & Ridgewood DUMBO & Brooklyn Heights Park Slope & Prospect Heights Long Island City & Astoria

FAQ

Outdoor seating in New York: questions

Can New York cafés keep curbside outdoor seating in winter?

Sidewalk setups under Dining Out NYC may stay out all year. Roadway setups in the curb lane were limited to April 1 through November 29 until the City Council voted on August 13, 2026, to allow year-round roadway dining, with applications opening in early September. Roadway cafés must close at 23:00.

Where can you get coffee in Bryant Park in New York?

The Wafels & Dinges kiosk in Heiskell Plaza, at 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue, sells coffee, tea and waffles daily from 08:00 to 22:00, all year. Bryant Park Café on West 42nd Street serves daily 11:00–23:30. The park sets out movable chairs and tables: 4,000 chairs and 1,000 tables in a 2010 count.

Where are the cafés in Central Park and Prospect Park in New York?

In Central Park, the Ballfields Café is mid-park at 65th Street, on the northern edge of the Heckscher Ballfields, and opens daily 11:00–20:30. In Prospect Park, Winner runs the café on the lower level of the Picnic House on the Long Meadow, opening at 07:30 every day.

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