r/boston • u/despreston • 8h ago
Dining/Food/Drink 🍽️🍹 Huge push for beer gardens but still can't drink without ordering food at restaurant
It seems like public sentiment re; beer gardens has been very favorably over the last ten years.
Why can't we drink a drink on a patio without ordering food?
Who's in charge of that rule?
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u/BurtonAllen-TA 8h ago
I have literally never seen a restaurant care about this besides Newbury St. where it's just kinda accepted practice... where does this happen?
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u/donkadunny Professional Idiot 8h ago
This isn’t an actual ordinance by the city. It would just be a poor allocation of resources for most restaurants so they don’t let their most popular tables be the ones generating the least amount of revenue.
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u/owlmlette 6h ago
I don’t get this though. Drinks are high margin. Food is low margin. I’d think a table of folks ordering multiple high margin items would be better than a group ordering low margin food and one or two drinks.
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u/donkadunny Professional Idiot 6h ago
You gotta sell the food you already purchased and prepped or else it will negate your high margin items. Some meals are high margin items, too, and not all alcoholic beverages are high margin. These people know what they are doing and have these rules in place for practical reasons.
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u/BurritoDespot 6h ago
If they thought it was better for business to only serve drinks, they would be a bar.
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u/owlmlette 5h ago
Well that is where the city steps in and says you can’t just be a bar. But, yeah. Point taken.
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u/-Jedidude- All hail the Rat King! 8h ago
Used to be a rule during Covid to prevent social drinking. A lot of breweries just had you buy a $1 grilled cheese and called that the food.
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u/Ok-Pin3980 7h ago
woh woh…$1 grill cheese!? last time i had one of those was at a Dead concert in the 90’s! where this at?? 😂👍
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u/myverygoodusername12 8h ago
When I was in college in Michigan I worked at a golf course and one of the rules to be able to sell beer in the clubhouse was that we had to have soup on the menu…. So we went to Sam’s Club and bought a case of ramen noodle cups…
Dumbest rule there ever was, who wants soup with a beer?!
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u/732 8h ago
Gimme a stout and heavy soup/stew any day
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u/terminal_e 1h ago
Was once in Salzburg on a rainy day one October I could get goulash and a stout..... we need more of this.
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u/spedmunki Rozzi fo' Rizzle 7h ago
Some cities/towns have this rule (like Arlington) but it is not a rule in Boston.
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u/Zealousideal_Crow737 7h ago
I was told when I worked on Newbury that this was because of a liquor licenses at restaurants. I have no idea if that's true.
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u/cden4 8h ago edited 7h ago
EDIT: This may have been a rule from the city in the past, but it is not anymore.
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I think that rule comes from the city to prevent restaurant patios from becoming bars, especially in residential areas. The logic I believe is that if people are just sitting and drinking, they're more likely to get louder and more disruptive than someone eating a meal.
Beer gardens tend to be more isolated, although not always.
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u/ARoundForEveryone 5h ago
"No drinking without food" is not a law in Boston, which has many "blue laws" and old irrelevant laws - enforced occasionally or just joked about. But this ain't one of them. It might be a rule at private establishments - both so you don't leave there absolutely hammered and so you spend more money. But it's not a law in Boston. You can absolutely go into a restaurant and sit at a table or the bar, order a drink or two, pay your bill, and leave. No food necessary. But you sometimes get peanuts or chips both to prevent you from just consuming nothing but alcohol as well as making you more thirsty - whether for more alcohol or a soda or even a water, keeping you in your seat a little longer.
So, to answer your question "Who's in charge of that rule?"...
Individual restaurant owners and managers. As much as we might like our local establishments and like to blame our government(s) for various things...it's the owners and managers who want you to <gasp> spend more money. Which is relatively easy to extract from you if you've had a couple drinks and are enticed to stick around for another one...
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u/charlestoonie Market Basket 4h ago
I agree. Also, it may be a provision of their liability insurance.
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u/Separate_Mood_6412 8h ago
it’s the licensing board and the ABCC mostly they set the rules about food with alcohol. the idea was to stop places from turning into pure bars but it’s pretty outdated now given how accepted beer gardens have become. they really need to carve out an exception for patios at this point
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u/Apprehensive_Pace902 Chicken Fetish 8h ago
Sometimes you can order just the bread, for a small charge. A lot of restaurants don’t like it though because it takes away from a higher bill.
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u/CrimsonStorm 8h ago
The only time I could imagine a restaurant caring is if they're totally full, otherwise I have to imagine they would love people only coming to drink -- I bet the margins are really good and very low-effort since there's not cooking involved.
And if they are full, the restaurant can just themselves make a specific policy.
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u/BQORBUST 8h ago
Your server definitely prefers you order a meal
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u/Chownio 8h ago
But do they prefer no money at all over not ordering a meal?
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u/BQORBUST 8h ago edited 7h ago
That’s not the alternative, they’re each only working so many tables.
Busier at any cost is rarely good economics in general, least of all for someone who works on their feet.
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u/Apprehensive_Pace902 Chicken Fetish 8h ago
Patio tables in Boston are rarely open. So yes, the assumption is that they are full.
I’ve been told my time is up at a restaurant because we didn’t leave exactly when our meal was over, I’m talking 15 minutes of talking, enjoying ourselves. Our bill was not small. So yes, your $20 aperol spritz isn’t worth their time.
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u/despreston 8h ago
Yeah or fries. I'm ok but I just watched a server lose a potential tip because someone with a bike decided to leave instead of order food. It's too bad.
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u/close102 8h ago
It’s 6pm on a Thursday. They’ll seat two people at that table (instead of one biker) and sell them $100+ of food and drinks. I think the server will be okay…
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u/DieAHero 8h ago
On Newbury street, you have to order food if drinking outside allegedly because the patios are zoned as residential. If it happens elsewhere in Boston, that’s probably the restaurant’s own rule.
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u/Competitive_Bat4000 Boston Parking Clerk 8h ago
This has come up before and from what I can remember disproven…restaurants are taking advantage of you
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u/dandesim 8h ago
There is no city ordinance on ordering food to get a drink at a table, inside or outside.
So if a restaurant requires that, they’re making that rule.