'Destroying my life': Owner of famous Toronto restaurant has popular patio shut down by city
The owner of one of Toronto’s longest-standing restaurants, who was using his patio as a means of keeping his business alive during Ontario’s most recent COVID-19 lockdown, says the city has forced him to close the popular outdoor space.
“I don’t know how to run my business anymore,” Café Diplomatico owner Rocco Mastrangelo Jr. told CTV News Toronto over the phone. “Every day, we’re on pins and needles. We don’t know if [we’re going to be ordered to] close or open. Like, this is really screwing with people’s heads and livelihoods.”
Mastrangelo took over the College Street landmark 27 years ago that his father, Rocco Mastrangelo Sr., who died last year at 88, started back in 1968.
Since the pandemic began, Mastrangelo explains he’s been trying to navigate the ever-changing nature of Ontario’s COVID-19 public health restrictions, and says his employees and his bottom line have paid the price.
“I had to lay off [my employees] for the first time in March 2020. It was the hardest thing to do. Not only that, I have to lay them off again now,” Mastrangelo said.
Following the latest round of public health restrictions announced by the province on Jan. 5, which forced restaurants and bars to halt indoor dining until at least Jan. 26 (now extended to Jan 31), Mastrangelo decided to open his patio, which he says he’s invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into over the years.
The heated space, which also happens to house a fire hydrant that Mastrangelo said was never a problem until recently, was a hit. Lines were regularly seen out the door and customers even braved sub -20 degree Celsius weather earlier this month to grab a seat.
However, according to the Reopening Ontario Act (ROA), outdoor patios are only permitted so long as two full sides of the area are open to the outdoors. If the patio has a retractable roof, which Café Dip does, and the roof is retracted, the patio must have at least one full side of the outdoor area open to the outdoors.
The patio was shut down last week by the city, and Mastrangelo said he’s been served with notices to comply and notices of violation.
Mastrangelo acknowledges that the space was not in compliance with those rules, and says he is working to reopen the space on Jan. 31, but admits the space is virtually useless if temperatures drop significantly.
“This is destroying my life, my family, my wife, my kids, my mother’s getting sick,” Mastrangelo said. “If I’m doing something wrong, which I agree I was, I was doing it to come back and be viable, give my staff employment so that they can feed their families and give my customers a place to go.”
“People are tired of this. It’s ridiculous.”
In a statement to CTV News Toronto, Toronto Public Health’s enforcement team said, “the City of Toronto continues to use an educational approach to provide operators and businesses with information and regulations under the ROA.”
They said they were unable to provide any additional comments specific to the closure of Café Diplomatico’s outdoor patio as their investigation into the business is ongoing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Saskatchewan households will continue to receive carbon tax rebate: Trudeau
Households in Saskatchewan will continue to receive Canada Carbon Rebate payments, despite the province refusing to remit natural gas levies to the federal government, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer still haunted by death of Toronto police officer
'We hoped for this day, but we were scared that it would not never ever come because it took so long.' That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.
Senate expenses climbed to $7.2 million in 2023, up nearly 30%
Senators in Canada claimed $7.2 million in expenses in 2023, a nearly 30 per cent increase over the previous year.
Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko won't play in Game 2
The Vancouver Canucks will be without all-star goalie Thatcher Demko when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
Pedestrian, baby injured after stroller struck and dragged by vehicle in Squamish, B.C.
Police say a baby and a pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a vehicle struck a baby stroller and dragged it for two blocks before stopping in Squamish, B.C.
North Bay doctor accused of assaulting patient, threatening another
A North Bay doctor is facing charges after allegedly assaulting a patient with a weapon and threatening another person at the hospital, police say.