Four North End restaurateurs filed a motion to dismiss their outdoor dining lawsuit against Mayor Michelle Wu on Wednesday, walking back their complaints of “anti-Italian discrimination” and the lack of al fresco seating in the neighborhood this summer.
The owners of Vinoteca di Monica, Monica’s Trattoria, Antico Forno, Terramia Ristorante, and Rabia’s Dolce Fumo had originally claimed that the Wu administration was applying restrictions to outdoor dining unfairly to the cohort of largely Italian-American businesses.
In the lawsuit, they pointed to the 2022 St. Patrick’s Day breakfast when Wu said she was “getting used to dealing with problems that are expensive, disruptive, and white.” They also called out a video for the city’s All Inclusive tourism ad campaign, which they said included “many people in various settings, though none being white male, outside of three (3) Red Sox players, or Italian American.”
Each was seeking $1.5 million in damages.
In a statement, a city spokesperson denounced the case altogether.
“The charges in this lawsuit were completely without legal merit, and the plaintiffs are right to abandon their legal path to nowhere,” the statement said. “We will continue dialogue with residents and restaurants across the City to improve outdoor dining, including in the North End.”
The motion to dismiss marks the presumed end of a years-long battle between businesses in the dense Italian enclave and City Hall.
The two parties first fought over the rules for outdoor dining in the spring of 2022, when Wu imposed a $7,500 fee for the 90-something North End restaurants allowed to seat people outside under pandemic-era rules. Debate picked up again this spring after the administration announced in February that al fresco dining would be severely curtailed in the North End.
This season, restaurants are only allowed to put up tables on public streets and sidewalks with “adequate” width, which means either five or eight feet from the road, depending on crowds in the area. But North End businesses are banned from using streets for seating, and few of its sidewalks fit the width restriction.
Several restaurants have erected patios since the outdoor dining season began in Boston on May 1. The city has yet to release a complete list of businesses with approved al fresco seating.
Diti Kohli can be reached at diti.kohli@globe.com. Follow her @ditikohli_.