Where there’s a will, there’s a way — and after weeks of forced closure followed by weeks of takeout-only business, Bristol restaurants certainly have the will. Some are already blessed with an expansive outdoor space, like the roof deck at Thames Waterside or DeWolf Tavern, whose massive tent, normally busy with wedding bookings, has plenty of space for socially distant — and elegant — seating.

Others, like Aidan’s and Portside Tavern, were able to take existing outdoor spaces and add partitions between them.

With the assistance of local government, which adapted some of its own rules and regulations and temporarily eliminated others, restaurants were able to cut through red tape and get up and running (or rather out and running) within 24 hours of developing a plan. The creative dining solutions popped up everywhere.

Relaxed regulations allowed added outdoor tables at Portside and, up on Hope Street, at Roberto’s, whose tables migrated across the wide sidewalk on the block between State and Church streets. Full tables on the side and front of the Bristol Oyster Bar, steps down from Roberto’s, are lending that block an air of Parisian café culture. Two blocks away, Common Pub found its own creative solution — placing tables in a parking lot across Wood Street, with servers crossing the road with hot dinners and cold drinks.

Meanwhile, weekend afternoons and evenings are finding lower State Street looking like a street fair, with outdoor seating at Judge Roy Bean’s, Bar 31, and the Bristol House of Pizza (bonus points for Bean’s, which added nautical netting to their makeshift pallet “walls”) flowing into the wide adjacent parking areas on the north side of the street.

The result has been good for business and, in many ways, great for a community of people ready to get out and test the waters of getting back to normal living. Judging by the crowds downtown, the reservation requirement isn’t keeping people away.

Down at the Lobster Pot, owner Jeff Hirsh is finding business more brisk than he expected it to be. “There was some chatter circulating that people would not be interested in being in public restaurants,” he said. “But we are finding this to be very false. Our customers were very excited about being able to return to restaurant dining, and they were very understanding about following the regulations.

“They could not have been nicer or more appreciative.”