OTTAWA -- -[if gte mso 9]>

Many restaurants in Ottawa are getting creative in order to welcome customers once again by expanding their patios or creating new ones.

"The demand has been pretty good since we opened," said Dominic Santaguida, the co-owner of Vittoria Trattoria. 

At its Rivergate Way location, 38 seats have been added outside on a patio that extends to part of the parking lot. 

"We've always been licenced for outside, we haven't used the patio space in decades, but we're fortunate that we kept the licence over the years and we're able to expand out quickly," Santaguida said. 

Santaguida said while it is helping the bottom line, it's still not enough to make up for the massive losses as result of the pandemic and having to shut down dine-in service. 

"It's not really enough but I think until we're able to open up inside something is better than nothing."

OCCO Kitchen in Orléans has also taken up some of the parking lot in order to set up a patio with tables spaced two metres apart.

"It's going to be a contactless menu," explains co-owner Caroline Côté. "You'll scan a QR code we'll also have copies for people who don't have access to phones and data but we are trying to make it as contactless as possible."

"The people attending to your table…are considered our "clean servers" so they won't be touching anybody else's dirty cutlery, plates or anything, we'll have dedicated staff doing that," Côté added. 

The patio is expected to be officially open on Wednesday. 

At Jonny Canuck's Bar & Grill, the existing patio has been extended to the grass. 

"[There are] 22 tables out here so we're not quite the full amount that we had inside but we're pretty close to it," said server John Devlin.

Tables are spaced six feet apart, servers wear masks and along with enhanced cleaning, hand sanitizer is also available, Devlin added.

"We feel totally safe, distanced from everybody," said customer Natashia Pos. "The servers have got their cloths to wipe everything down, they have their masks on, so everything is just as it should be on a beautiful day."