We’ve been easing into a pandemic period where we don’t HAVE to eat outside while dining at a restaurant.

But, with warm weather here, why wouldn’t we want to do it anyway, especially if the locale is on the water?

Eating oceanside, riverside or lakeside is one of the joys of summer living in New England. Here’s a sampling of the embarrassment of riches around here.

You can step onto the grand Verandah at the Ocean House in Westerly and take in the sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean, Little Narragansett Bay, and, if you’re situated just right, Taylor Swift’s Watch Hill mansion.

You can traipse into Stonington Borough and hit Dog Watch Café and then Breakwater. You can see the sparkling Stonington Harbor while you sample dishes at either place.

If you go to downtown New London looking for food with a view, you have an array of eateries to choose from. Clam shacks like Capt. Scott’s and Fred’s Shanty are on the water, and places like Muddy Waters have decks overlooking the Thames River.

In Essex, you can take what feels like the world’s shortest ferry ride to Siren Kitchen & Bar, where you can look back at the quaint village as you eat.

Or you can head up to East Haddam and hang out on the expansive deck at the Gelston House, watching the Connecticut River roll by.

A summer reopening

Or you can swing by Main Street Grille in Niantic. That site was closed for the winter because of the pandemic but reopened on May 13, just in time for the kind of weather where visitors want to sit on the restaurant’s second-story deck or under-the-deck patio, both overlooking Niantic Bay.

Owner Teddy Ignatiadis said they served 420 customers on May 15, their first Saturday of 2021 — double the number of customers from that time last year.

“It was so unexpected. People were happy we were open, thanking us for being open, so it felt really good,” he said.

While Main Street Grille has long had deck seating, there are 12 more tables outside this year — some on the grass and some in the parking lot.

“Since it is the waterfront, people want to be outside,” he said. “Ned Lamont allowed it for this year … We took advantage of it.”

Ignatiadis also said, “Last summer actually went better than expected, because some people that weren’t scared to come out because of COVID actually drove from Hartford, Waterbury, and other places. Everybody was traveling from an hour away to come to the shore. It was wonderful,” he said.

As with many waterside venues, Main Street Grille’s most popular dishes include plenty of seafood. Ignatiadis said Main Street Grille is locally sourcing most of its seafood now, using local produce, and cooking everything from scratch.

Discussing the outdoor appeal of Main Street Grille, Ignatiadis pointed to “seeing boats on the Niantic Bay, getting the fresh air. The train as well helps, believe it or not,” he said of the Amtrak train that goes by on tracks between the restaurant and the water. “It just adds to the whole ambience, especially on the upper deck because you can see Long Island almost … You can see the ferries passing by, you can see Old Black Point from here. You can see people on the boardwalk.”

Little competes with being on the water

Jon Kodama, who owns Go Fish and Steak Loft in Mystic and the waterfront Breakwater in Stonington Borough, said that last year, “no question about it, outdoor dining was a plus, but it still comes down to the venue. When you’re on the water, there’s very little that competes with it, even in non-pandemic times.”

Kodama opened the seasonal Café Marina in Norwich last August. The property where the café was located is in the process of being sold; between that and the employment crisis, Kodama decided not to open it this year and see who ends up owning the property. He is also continuing to try to establish a different eatery at the former Dock & Dine site at Saybrook Point. (The Old Saybrook Zoning Commission voted against a proposal for an outdoor restaurant there earlier this month, saying the application was incomplete, but an updated application could be submitted.) 

Breakwater did extremely well last summer, Kodama said. He noted that the weather was pretty perfect during the summer months, which contributed to its popularity before the weather cooled off.

“People just gravitate to the water in season, not just people from outside the area — obviously, that’s where they really want to be — but even local people. On a nice weather day, lunch business even in Mystic is not great because people are out at the places near the water, whether it’s in Rhode Island or Connecticut. And that’s in a normal year.”

Scott Dolch, executive director of the Connecticut Restaurant Association, said that the 2020 expanded outdoor dining bill that relaxed restrictions on outdoor dining was “a lifesaver” for businesses. It also allowed restaurants to get very creative — building atriums, for instance, or igloos (as at Jealous Monk in Mystic).

“These restaurants have said, ‘OK, how do we make the outdoor experience as good, if not better than, our indoor experience?’” he said.

Dolch thinks that outdoor dining is going to stay around even when the pandemic has passed.

More where that came from

Here are a few of the other spots for waterside dining. This is by no means a comprehensive list. Feel free to add suggestions of other outdoor waterfront dining sites to the online version of this story.

Abbott’s Lobster in the Rough, 117 Pearl St., Noank

Ford’s Lobster, 15 Waterview Ave., Noank

The Fisherman at Long Point, 937 Groton Long Point Road, Groton Long Point

Sunset Ribs, 79 River St., Waterford

Hangry Goose, 11 Halls Road, Old Lyme

Café Flo at the Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme St., Old Lyme

Kokomo’s Restaurant & Beach Bar, 88 Hartford Ave Ext., Old Lyme

Fresh Salt, 2 Bridget St., Old Saybrook

Carlson’s Landing, 63 Main St., Essex