Fido can now officially join your outdoor dining reservation.
The Food and Drug Administration recently updated their 2022 list of food regulations to allow “pet dogs” — not just service animals — “in outdoor dining areas, where approved.”
Pet dogs are still not allowed indoors or wherever food is prepared, not even to walk through to an outdoor dining area, but they can now join as their owners enjoy outdoor dining just in time for spring.
However, service dogs are still the only animals permitted to join their owners at indoor tables.
While the updated FDA regulations allow dining spots to welcome the neighborhood’s beloved pet pups, it doesn’t mean that they have to.
Restaurants, bars and cafes can still make their own decisions on whether or not they want to have tails wagging al fresco.
But if an establishment permits a small, shivering chihuahua onto their patio, staff also has welcome a large, drooling Great Dane — discriminating based on breed is prohibited.
However, cats and other pets are also still not allowed, per FDA regulations.
Dogs dining out is nothing new for New Yorkers, who have been bringing their purse pooches to brunch for some time now, but the FDA’s amendment is sure to be a welcome clarification to restaurant workers.
Service animals have almost always been permitted to join their owners at meals, but the difference between a certified service animal and a cuddly pet has led to years of confusion.
During the summer of 2019, the NYC Commission of Human Rights issued a new set of legal guidelines regarding people with disabilities, one of which reminded restaurants that they are forbidden to demand proof of either a person’s disability or an animal’s use as a service companion.
That sparked a wave of frustration as restaurant workers had to rely on — and sometimes doubted — customers’ honesty, plus some pet-free diners became disgruntled as their favorite hot spots were increasingly filled with four-legged friends.
“It’s gross,” Danit Sibovits, an Upper West Side lawyer, previously told The Post. “I don’t want dog hair or slobber near my food.”
Noel Shu, co-owner of downtown’s Windrose restaurant, also expressed annoyance at the time.
“I can’t say, ‘Excuse me, can I see ID for this dog?’ It’s like profiling,” he said.
“The customer can turn the tables and say they’re being discriminated against. People are definitely bringing in their dogs because they know they’re not going to be asked.”
But now, thanks to the recently updated FDA regulations, there should be less confusion.
Any pet pup is allowed to bask in the sun as their owner enjoys an Aperol spritz on an outdoor dining patio this spring and summer — if the restaurant so desires.