A server named Alejandra Salcido is always busy at Vinoteca Di Monica in the busy North End.
For three years, Salcido has worked at the popular Italian restaurant to help pay for her education. She enjoys the warmer months but often thinks about her first summer at the restaurant.
“It is a huge difference from two years ago when we had the outdoor patio,” Salcido told the Herald during the Friday lunch rush.
Vinoteca Di Monica will not have outdoor dining this year. It started in 2023 while almost every other neighborhood in the city provided outdoor dining. Other neighborhoods in the city offered full-scale outdoor dining beginning in 2023, but it is not happening in the Italian neighborhood.
Officials have restricted outdoor dining in the Italian neighborhood to just compliant sidewalk patios, but the option is not available in front of the Vinoteca Di Monica due to the narrow sidewalk.
The restaurant where Salcido works is involved in a lawsuit with owner Jorge Mendoza-Iturralde and 20 other restaurateurs, and the North End Chamber of Commerce, accusing Mayor Michelle Wu of biased treatment.
“It’s something unfair. It impacts a lot,” Salcido said. “All of us think the same: We want the patios back. It’s something that we need.”
“It’s still a really good place to work,” she added. “The North End is always busy, especially in the summer, but obviously it was different in the summer when we had the patios. We got more people, we got more tables, and of course, more money. Everything was so much better.”
The people involved in the lawsuit updated it this week by including the losses they expect in 2024, the fees they paid in 2022, and the lost revenue from 2023, seeking millions in damages.They are facing economic impact from the restrictions as indoor seating loses value in the spring and summer, and they are losing out on additional revenue to make up for winter losses, according to Mendoza-Iturralde.
The restaurateurs are being affected economically by the restrictions as indoor seats lose value on sunny days in the spring and summer, and they’re losing out on extra revenue “to compensate for the losses of the winter,” Mendoza-Iturralde told the Herald on Thursday.
The restaurateur expressed frustration at Mayor Wu's actions and how it affects their livelihood and the community.
During an unrelated event, Mayor Wu mentioned that outdoor dining allowed some North End restaurants to double their capacity and revenue, highlighting that they have remained busy even with limited outdoor dining.
The mayor pointed out that although the restaurants may not be at their maximum capacity as they were during the pandemic shutdown, the North End has remained busy. She also emphasized the importance of outdoor dining for small businesses and the community.
Mayor Wu believes in the benefits of outdoor dining for small businesses and the community, as long as it works with neighbors, residents, and traffic flow.
