It's not as bad as it used to be. Every time residents make noises about turning the liquor board out into the street, they ease up regs a notch or two. When I first turned 21 the only place you could get a cocktail was in a restaurant's lounge that could only be X percent of the Y in floor space, so some of these spots were the size of a closet. Was actually nice, because if you managed to get a table, by last call chances were you'd have a girl or two on your lap for lack of seating space. (I miss the 90's.) It was a good way to make friends fast.

There was also a rule that outdoor beer gardens could only be for ONE week out of the year and were beer & wine only and could only be like 10'x10' or some such bullschit.

Remember when you could sit down and enjoy a cigar?