Outdoor restaurant furniture

A terrace is the room guests ask for first on a warm evening and the room that asks the most of its furniture. Across 301 pieces you will find the terrace's chairs, tables, stools, shade, warmth and matched sets. The usage line on each listing comes first: a patio listing clears a piece for the open air, and a handful ask for a roof overhead.

What belongs outside

Two hundred sixty-one pieces here carry a patio listing, and plenty double as indoor seats, which suits a club that moves seats between the dining room and the terrace with the weather. Six pieces are marked for a covered patio only, under an awning or a roof. Anything without a patio listing stays indoors. Timber frames and padded seats suffer in the open, and our warranty excludes indoor furniture used outdoors.

Frames run mostly to metal and aluminum, with resin close behind and a group of aluminum frames finished to look like bamboo. Seats come in metal, resin, woven faux rattan and plastic teak. A rooftop in full sun and a shaded courtyard ask different things of a seat, so think about where the afternoon light falls before you choose metal over resin or weave.

Start with chairs and tables

A terrace is seated like a dining room, and the same arithmetic applies: tables first, then the chairs that fill them, then the aisles. Patio chairs is the largest group, with 114 chairs, and patio tables holds the tops and bases listed for outdoor use. A terrace bar needs patio bar stools. If the whole space is new, outdoor furniture sets save matching one piece to another.

Stacking matters more outside than in. Of the 301 pieces, 124 are listed as stackable, and a terrace that is cleared every night or every winter needs somewhere dry for the stacks.

Shade, warmth and the end of the season

Patio umbrellas and patio heaters stretch the hours a terrace can seat. Pair each umbrella with a base that suits its canopy, and close it when the wind rises.

Even patio pieces need care. Hose them down, let rain run off the seats and tops, and put them under covers or into storage once the terrace closes for the year. Our warranty on patio chairs, tables and stools runs 6 months, and it excludes outdoor pieces nobody looked after. Single pieces start around $58. Plan the terrace as its own room in venue plans, separate from the dining room it opens onto.