The 11 p.m. bar and restaurant curfew will be extended to midnight, starting next Monday, April 19, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday.
The curfew for catering events will be moved from midnight to 1 a.m., Cuomo also announced at the press briefing.
Indoor restaurant capacity for New York City, however, will remain at 50%, according to the governor.
In a statement, the NYC Hospitality Alliance commended the governor’s move, while also criticizing other mandates still in place.
"The extra hour is good news for many businesses, which we advocated for,” the statement reads. “It’s unclear when the curfew will be fully lifted, when the problematic requirement that a ‘food item’ be served with alcohol is eliminated, or when the rule prohibiting businesses from serving customers at bars in New York City will be lifted.”
Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, echoed the sentiment, saying, “The extra hour is good news for restaurants, bars and customers, but we still need a roadmap for when the curfew will be lifted like it has for other industries. The state also needs to lift the rule that prohibits customers from being seated to eat at a bar in New York City, and revisit removing the requirement that a 'food item' be served with drinks.”
Cuomo has been steadily increasing indoor dining capacity for restaurants outside the city, though. Currently, in everywhere in New York state besides New York City, restaurants can fill their indoor dining rooms to 75% capacity.