Want to eat at Zahav without a reservation? There’s now a walk-in-only patio.

Zahav is not only among Philadelphia’s most-honored restaurants, it’s also one of the hardest tables in town to snag, even after 15 years.

Customers line up on the steps at Society Hill Towers before the restaurant’s 5 p.m. opening to land the 16 seats at the bar set aside for walk-ins. Or they go online at 11 a.m. on the first of the month to attempt to cinch tables for the following month before they sell out.

Now there’s an easier path to Zahav — it’s around back, off Third Street on the walkway labeled St. James Place between Spruce and Walnut Streets. This week, owners Mike Solomonov and Steve Cook added a 56-seat patio, roofed and enclosed in cypress wood, with a dedicated entrance, which nearly doubles the restaurant’s capacity.

Unlike the typical experience — a five-course tasting menu for $75 per person plus 20% service charge — the patio’s food and drinks are served a la carte.

The limited menu features hummus bowls with house-baked pita; salatim (salads) including twice-cooked eggplant and a new dish (broccolini with caramelized onions); and mezze such as watermelon and feta, and Moroccan cigars with izak honey and raw tehina.

Besides wines and Pennsylvania beers, drinks include Zahav’s signature lemonnana (now offered three ways, with bourbon, arak, or as a spritz); a desert bird cocktail (like a frozen daiquiri); and zero-proof house-made coconut lime soda.

Hours are 5 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday

Zahav offered a taste of outdoor dining in 2020 with seats on the covered patio behind the restaurant, which served as many as 200 diners a night.

That winter, Zahav extended its outdoor season in a partnership with Amex and Resy that offered 12 round tents with heating. Inquirer critic Craig LaBan called the private yurt setup “one of the peak 2020 experiences of outdoor dining in Philly.”

So why has it taken 15 years to open a patio? “That’s a great question,” Solomonov said.