As summer nears its end, restaurant owners in Dorchester are making the most of their outdoor dining options.

Ben Johnson, owner of the Blarney Stone in Fields Corner, said the restaurant’s large patio has proven extremely popular with patrons. “People love to eat outside, and we have a nice patio with some tree coverage, so it doesn’t get all sun,”he said. The Blarney Stone’s setting allows for dappled sunlight to filter through the foliage overhead, so customers stay cool and comfortable.

The Harp + Bard in Savin Hill offers a patio in the form of a small enclosure, like a secluded castle garden with room for just a few tables. But the space is uniquely charming, with fairy lights draped overhead and vines growing up the walls. Peter Simonelli, the restaurant’s general manager, said it provides a little escape from city life.

“I like that it’s three walls,” he said, “so you kind of forget where you are for a little bit.”

Each table is equipped with a bright blue umbrella, and with the high walls for protection, patrons have been known to stay outside even when showers and thunderstorms roll in. The walls protect diners from “crazy wind and sideways rain,” Simonelli said.

The Harp + Bard has been around since the 1960s, and for Simonelli, it’s important to be “good neighbors.” When the kitchen closes, the patio closes. Simonelli doesn’t want to rack up noise complaints from their neighbors. “We really like to describe the bar as a neighborhood bar, and in that, we mean everybody is welcome,” Simonelli said. “It’s not an Irish bar; it’s not a young bar; it’s everybody’s bar.”

At ester in Adams Village, owner Eleanor Arpino echoed that sentiment. “The atmosphere is all-inclusive,” she said. “It isn’t a young crowd; it isn’t an old crowd; it isn’t a business crowd; it isn’t an Irish crowd.”

Arpino takes a pride in fostering a welcoming atmosphere — “no cliques, no clubs,” she said. “I live not even a five-minute walk away, and I’ve lived in the neighborhood about 40 years,” she said. When she was younger, Dorchester residents had no options, no choices. The lack of a high-quality local watering hole led Arpino to open ester.

The patio area is especially important to Arpino. With colorful flowers blooming around the edges of the space, string lights criss-crossing overhead, and umbrellas and trees providing shade for every table, the outdoor area provides another way for Arpino’s Lower Mills neighbors to connect.

“I wanted to have a neighborhood place, so everyone in the neighborhood felt comfortable, and it was local, and it was reflective of the neighborhood,” Arpino said. “I think it’s a dying concept. … The world has become so small. People are more interested in celebrity than they are in their place.”

Simonelli, who lives in Savin Hill, is still growing into his role as general manager at the Harp + Bard, but he says that it isn’t too different from when he was a customer. “I was a regular here for about five years, six years,” he said, laughing. Now nearly three months into his managerial role, he values input from his customers, frequently bouncing ideas off of them. He likes the bar’s neighborhood feel.

“You know all the folks; you get the handshakes and the hugs,” Simonelli said.

Chris Douglass, owner of Ashmont Grill, said much of his business is based on regular patronage, too. “We have about 40 seats out there, and a lot of people who dine at Ashmont Grill know each other,” he noted.

When Douglass opened the restaurant in 2009, he wanted to create a place where people could gather. While he values high-quality food, his focus is less on fine dining and more on fostering a comfortable local atmosphere.

“It was to have a neighborhood restaurant — and really, a place, and at the time, this didn’t really exist — but a place for lots of community folks, people who live in the neighborhood, to have them have a place to hang out,” Douglass said. “It was always meant to be a neighborhood restaurant.”

He contrasted Ashmont Grill with a restaurant he had in the South End called Icarus. The venture closed in 2009 after 31 years in operation. Over time, it had become “fancier and fancier,” Douglass said, leading him to shutter it. He then renewed his commitment to neighborhood dining through Ashmont Grill, as well as nearby Tavolo.

“We’re just being that neighborhood place,” he said. “We have a wood-fire grill that gives our food a lot of character, I think. We’re committed to scratch cooking, doing interesting food, so that commitment remains.”

With the surge of trendy restaurants opening in Boston, Arpino worries that ester appears too similar to them. Her restaurant features an extensive brunch menu, events like Sunday morning yoga, and the light, airy color scheme favored by Instagram influencers. “That’s basically what people want,” she said. “We’re hoping people have the ability to distinguish between [trendy restaurants].”

Arpino doesn’t want to lose the community feeling that has fueled ester. However, she has a steady and diverse patronage that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

“I would say the majority of people who come here are regulars,” she said. “We have couples who will come in either with their kids or as a couple, just them.” A few days later, a mom would have brunch with some “girlfriends,” she added, or a dad would have some beers with “a group of guys.”

Ester’s side patio can be reserved for events like birthday parties and baby showers, and nonprofits can book it for free. Ashmont Grill’s patio can be reserved, too. Douglass said, noting that recent patio events have included Saturday morning yoga and a ticketed lobster bake.

“It’s like one big party,” said Douglass. “Everybody’s doing the same thing.”

Simonelli at the Harp + Bard hopes to expand the patio a bit, maybe introducing “acoustic Sundays” or other events. Already, the restaurant lets patrons reserve the patio along with its back room. On July 29, the restaurant hosted a fund-raiser for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Dorchester with a “Backyard BBQ.”

With summer dining come summer drinks: the “Lower Mills Lemonade” at ester, the “Marilyn Monroe” mimosa at the Harp + Bard, and a pomegranate and habanero margarita at Ashmont Grill, among others. “I don’t personally like patio dining at all,” said Johnson of the Blarney Stone. “I like patio drinking.”

The Harp + Bard opens its bar at 11 a.m., which Simonelli says is only made possible by regulars. “We’re one of the few bars around here that is open early every day,” he said.

Ester has an outside bar, and many of the cocktails served there have an added local touch. The side patio features a milk crate garden, modeled after Green City Growers’ “Fenway Farms” garden on top of Fenway Park. Basil, chives, and mint are among the herbs growing there. If you order a mojito at the bar, you can drink knowing that the mint came from the garden a few feet from you; same if you order a basil martini, Arpino said.

She grew up in West Newton on an acre of land that she remembers as filled with vegetable gardens and flowers. Her love for gardening hasn’t faded wih time. Although many of the plants surrounding ester’s patio are hooked up to an irrigation system, some are not, and some need more water still. Enter manual watering, something Arpino is extraordinarily committed to.

“I have a rule that you cannot water the plants unless you like plants,” she said. “You cannot be indifferent, because the plants will know. And the other thing is, they like music.” She puts a variety of music on outside — from The Killers to Lifehouse — even if no humans are on the patio.

Outdoor dining is not without its challenges. At the Blarney Stone, opening the patio is like adding an extra room with 15 tables. At least two extra servers need to be brought in, and reservations can be a strain on the kitchen, said Johnson. While many people travel during July and August, during late spring and early fall, the restaurant tends to fill its inside and its outside seating.

For the Harp + Bard, the charming patio brings with it marketing opportunities. Simonelli said the restaurant recently re-launched its Facebook page and Instagram, both adorned with photos of the patio from the summer season. “It looks really cute at night with the lights, too,” he added.

Most of the restaurants only keep their patios open from late spring to early fall. The Blarney Stone is licensed from April through October, for example, and Ashmont Grill tends to close sometime in October, although Douglass said that decision is weather-dependent. Some patrons brave the cooler weather, and Douglass’s staff tries to make sure they stay warm.

“We’ll keep it open as long as we can, and as long as people want to be out there,” Douglass said. “We try to have heat lamps and a fire pit and blankets, and have people get comfortable.”

Arpino said that when she opened ester, one of the first things she did was make sure that the restaurant had a year-round patio license. It has winter-specific events, like a winter solstice party with a tarot card reader and caroling, and a “puppy love” event near Valentine’s Day in partnership with nearby Pooped Pooch.

“We have blankets, little small throws,” Arpino said. “In New England, during the winter, if it’s 60, people want to be outside.” But, she added, if it drops to 60 in the spring, summer, or fall, northeasterners huddle inside.

“We so desperately need to be outside, because our summer is so short,” she said.