Burton’s Grill and Bar recently added outdoor “dining bubbles” for customers who want to distance themselves from others diners and/or eat outside during the cold weather.
The Riverdale Park Station restaurant put up three plastic-covered geodesic domes last Friday on the sidewalk along Van Buren Street.
The bubbles seat six, have ambient lighting, space heating and can be zippered open or closed by patrons.
Manufactured by Florida-based Garden Igloo USA, the seven-foot tall domes cost around $1,100 and were something of an internet sensation in the summer of 2019 when they became available on Amazon.
Lately they’ve become a popular option around the country and in Baltimore and D.C. as restaurants have had to limit indoor dining due to the coronavirus even as winter weather has made outdoor dining difficult.
But not everyone is sold on the dining bubbles. Experts on the spread of airborne diseases say the safest design would feature no more than two walls to allow enough air flow to reduce the potential spread.
Though the bubbles may prevent the spread of germs from a nearby table, people should only dine inside one with members of their social group, such as immediate family.
