A new tropical-style patio is gracing the front of Avocado Grill downtown, the first of what some city leaders hope will be several new sidewalk dining spaces enlivening the streets of West Palm Beach.

The patio space — complete with faux-wood flooring, rattan chairs and a yellow roof supported by wooden beams — was planned and built with financial support from the city’s Downtown Development Authority.

The popular Datura Street eatery has had an outdoor eating space on what used to be two street parking spaces for several years. It and several other eateries were granted leeway by the city to construct them during the COVID-19 pandemic to allow diners to reduce infection risk by eating outdoors.

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But money from a DDA grant allowed the restaurant to build a more permanent structure, switching out tables, shade umbrellas and artificial grass for a proper patio with tropical décor.

Dining parklets add 'ambience and excitement'

Christos Pavlakis, Avocado Grill’s director of operations, said the new patio has proven popular with diners in the weeks since its unveiling. The roof provides much more shade than the table umbrellas, and short walls separating tables from the street offer greater intimacy.

“People love it,” he said. “It’s something that draws you in.”

The parklet program started during the pandemic but its popularity endured, and in 2023 the city approved new regulations to formalize the program, city spokesperson Kathleen Joy said.

Where are the dining parklets in West Palm Beach?

Currently, Avocado Grill is one of two restaurants downtown with a city-approved parklet, Joy said. The other is Pistache French Bistro on Clematis Street.

An eatery in Northwood Village has an application pending, and another one has one under review.

Restaurants must pay $250 application fees and cover the cost of leasing the parking spaces that the parklets occupy, which can run to $400 a month per space downtown.

Avocado Grill’s patio is the first one built with help from the DDA’s parklet grant program, said Teneka James-Feaman, the DDA’s executive director.

A second restaurant that James-Feaman declined to name is in the process of building one as well through the DDA’s grant program. Unlike Avocado Grill, which used the money to improve an existing parklet, this one will feature a new parklet, expanding the range of outdoor dining options in the city.

A 'parklet' with a painted barrier and a roof surrounds what was once a metered parking space outside Avocado Grill in downtown West Palm Beach, Fla., on June 20, 2025. Dining seats and tables are elevated above the asphalt in the former parking space and situated as a parked car would be wtth passing traffic on Datura Street. The Parklet Grant Program is part of the West Palm Beach Downtown Development Authority (DDA) who provided funding to downtown businesses to upgrade or install a parklet, according to the DDA website. Avocado Grill opened the parklet in early June.

The expanding use of parklets to create more and better outdoor dining options helps remind restaurant-goers that “we are living literally in the center of paradise,” she said.

But outdoor seating doesn’t just benefit diners. Having more people on the sidewalks helps to breathe more life into the city center, making it a more appealing public space for other passersby.

“You don’t have to be inside,” she said. “Having people use the café seating — as pedestrians, it just adds to the ambience and excitement of downtown.”

James-Feaman said she hopes the unveiling of Avocado Grill’s patio will inspire more restaurants to apply for the DDA’s parklet grants and expand their outdoor dining options.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: 'It adds to the ambience': Dining 'parklets' are popping up in downtown West Palm Beach