NEW BEDFORD — The Airport Grille recently added a tiki-inspired "Layover Lounge."

"We wanted something fun and something exciting for the crowd to just hang out and enjoy the area," said Joycelin Hernanadez, general manager of the restaurant located at the New Bedford Regional Airport.

Hernandez said the new exterior bar area, which gives patrons a front row seat to the airport's runway, will give people the opportunity to sit and watch the planes come in while having an opportunity to relax.

"We have some nice lights going on underneath there, once it starts getting a little dark, too," she added.

Last month, due to issues with sound interference with the airport's control tower and the grille's booked bands, they had to move the music to the side of the restaurant leaving their bandstand area empty. 

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"The one thing we don't want to do is interfere with the air traffic controller," said Steve Furtado, co-owner. "We don't want to interfere with the planes landing. Safety is the most important thing."

Thus, they decided to use the emptied-out area to create the tiki bar.

Reopened under a new team three years ago, the Airport Grille has continued to make changes to accommodate and intrigue its guests such as a newly renovated outdoor space with tables, Adirondack chairs, a fire pit and corn hole.

The menu, also recently updated, includes a little bit of everything according to Hernadez. However, the margarita, mimosa and sangria towers, an 88-ounce long-tubed dispenser, has been the restaurant's recent hit.

"I've worked in restaurants since I was 16 years old, and by far this environment, the space that they've created outside is wonderful, and I love working in it. I have so much fun," said Deaven DeFrancisco, a bartender who has worked at Airport Grille since its reopening three years ago.

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DeFrancisco said she has been happy to see all the changes happening at the restaurant and cannot wait for people to experience the new bar area. 

The Airport Grille will host an opening event starting at 1 p.m. for its new bar on Saturday, July 23, featuring an outdoor barbecue and live music at 6 p.m.

"It's very cool to be able to be right on the runway like this, I've always wanted us to have an outdoor bar," she said.

"This place just keeps getting better and better, bigger and bigger."

Standard-Times staff writer Seth Chitwood can be reached at schitwood@s-t.com. Follow him on twitter: @ChitwoodReports. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.