Dining outside? Downtown, there are more options than ever

Your weekend forecast: Sunny both Saturday and Sunday, with temps in low 80s. It’ll be a fine couple of days to dine outside, and, according to the Downtown DC Business Improvement District, there are more options to do that than ever before.

The number of sidewalk cafes within the BID’s 138 blocks increased by 8 percent in the last year to 178. The annual summer survey turned up 13 new cafes in 2014 compared with 2013.

The number of sidewalk cafes has nearly doubled since 2009, when the BID found 95 outdoor establishments. There are now 43 cafes with more than 41 seats, 41 with 21-40 seats, and 94 with 1-20 seats. The average number of seats for a downtown cafe: 31. The total number of surveyed cafe seats was 5,541 seats.

Some examples: Jaleo (480 Seventh St. NW) has 40 seats, Gordon Biersch (900 F St. NW) 48, and Shake Shack (800 F St. NW) 18. Le Pain Quotidien (975 F St. NW) has eight seats, Ollie’s Trolly (425 12th St. NW) 36, Paul Bakery (801 Pennsylvania Ave. NW) 30, and Del Campo (777 Eye St. NW) 48.

West Wing Cafe, 1111 Pennsylvania, offers four outdoor seats. Most Starbucks within the BID, and there are many, offer between 5 and 10 seats.

K Street and Penn Quarter account for nearly 70 sidewalk cafe locations. The smallest sidewalk cafe in the BID, Urban Cafe at 1225 Eye St. NW, has three seats, and the largest, Aria Pizzeria and Bar, offers 243 seats. Aria, which is scheduled to close this month, and the Reagan Building food court, combined, have 445 seats.

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