I’m looking to find 2 places for eating out tomorrow in New Haven, once for breakfast and once for lunch. They need to be wheelchair accessible, allowing for a wheelchair to get in/out of the restaurants, maneuver around the restaurant, and enter and exit a bathroom. We’re not looking for anything fancy - casual is better, but neither are we looking to have fast food. We want someplace with good food at reasonable (ish, because nothing is cheap any longer) prices in a friendly, not formal, place. We’re not interested (unless it is a last resort) in a pizza place. Ideally, for lunch, there restaurant would have the ability to serve alcoholic beverages and possibly a burger or something similar. We’ve been to a couple of diners in New Haven already, but each has its own problems (lack of friendliness and lack of beverage license in one, adequate, but not really good food in the other).
I realize this is last minute, but I had picked out places for both meals, only to find out when I called that neither was accessible. The first place thought I was joking at first, and upon realizing I was serious, both didn’t seem to know what being accessible meant, and then when I tried to inquire further so that I could make a determination, kept excusing itself in an unfriendly manner: “we’ve a very small place.” The 2nd place provides only high top tables to eat at and when I asked where wheelchair users sat was basically told “they didn’t,” indicating that people in wheelchairs simply don’t go there. I guess at least they were honest, right?
Sorry, bit of a rant, and I don’t know what the specific law is in New Haven, or what has been grandfathered in there, but I’m just somewhat disgusted. Isn’t this 2026?
First off, I’m sorry that you had that experience with these places. Especially the one that thought you were joking. That’s completely unacceptable.
Second, I can’t personally recommend anything, but perhaps I can help a bit: Google Maps does have information on accessibility, although it’s not directly exposed as a search filter that you can tick. But if you put “accessible restaurants” into the search bar it will give you a list of places it has that attribute set for. I’d still call and confirm, but this might help you find some more promising places.
So sorry you had disappointing responses from those you called. I did a quick search (have never been), and came up with these as “wheelchair accessible” from a Yelp link:
I know people in wheelchairs so your/your dining companion’s predicament @Lee, which shouldn’t be a predicament, struck a chord with me. This from NYT food writer Yewande Komolafe was an interesting read. We gotta do better.
It’s awful, but I’m also not surprised given my own experiences looking for accessible places for older companions.
@Lee Yelp has a designation for wheelchair accessible that should provide a filter — you can search more easily in the app, but here’s their overall list for New Haven.
And I don’t know how updated or accurate Wheelmap is for New Haven, but that should provide another filter.
We always call the restaurant as a final check to find out details on exactly what they mean by accessible, how many stairs / what kind of ramp, where the bathroom is, and so on.
