The Permenant Comittee of Saudi Arabia said in their fatwa:

س 32: هل يجوز الأكل في المطاعم التي تقدم فيها الخمور ؟
ج 32 : إذا تيسر له الأكل في غيرها لم يجز له الأكل فيها؛ لما في ذلك من التعاون معهم على الإثم والعدوان، وقد نهى الله
(الجزء رقم : 22، الصفحة رقم: 297)
تعالى عن ذلك، وإن لم يتيسر الأكل في غيرها جاز له الأكل فيها للضرورة؛ لقوله تعالى: وَمَا جَعَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ مِنْ حَرَجٍ وقوله: لاَ يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلا وُسْعَهَا ولكن لا يأكل ولا يشرب إلا ما أحل الله.
اللجنة الدائمة للبحوث العلمية والإفتاء

Question:

Is is permissible to eat in restaurants where alcohol is served?

Answer:

If it is easy for him to eat in other than it then it is is not allowed to eat there, because of what it involves of helping them in transgression and sin. And Allah ta’la prohibited that. And if it is not easy to eat elsewhere then it is permissible to eat there because of necessity due to Allah ta’la statement:

And he (Allah) did not put in your religion any difficult and due to Allah’s statement: Allah does not burden a soul more than it can bear. However, he should only eat and drink what Allah made halal.

Permenant Committee for Academic Research and Verdicts.

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The basis for this prohibition is the hadith:

عن جابر أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: من كان يؤمن بالله واليوم الآخر فلا يقعد على مائدة يدار عليها الخمر

On the authority of Jabir that the Prophet sallahu alayhi wa salam said: Whoever believes in Allah and the last day, should not sit at a table which intoxicants are circulated.

[Reported by Ahmad and Tirmidhi and Al-Albani graded it saheeh in Irwaa al-ghalil]

The hadith is not only prohibiting sitting at a table with alcohol but also a space where it is drunk.

Shaikh Mulla Ali Qari rahimullah said in his explanation of Mishkat:

ومن كان يؤمن بالله واليوم الآخر ، فلا يجلس على مائدة ) : أي لا يحضر في بقعة ( تدار عليها الخمر ) : أي ويشربها أهلها ، فإنه وإن لم يشربه يجب عليه نهيهم عنها ، فإذا جلس ولم ينكر عليهم ، ولم يعرض عنهم ، ولم يعرض عليهم فلا يكون مؤمنا كاملا

“(Whoever believes in Allah and the last day should not sit at a table) that is: he is not present in a spot (Where alcohol is circulated) that is: and its people drink it (khamr) and if he did not drink it, it is obligatory on him to prohibit them from it. If he sits and does not deny them from it, and does not present it them then he is not a complete believer”.

Shaikul Islam Ibn Taymiyyah rahimuhullah said:

قال شيخ الإسلام ابن تيمية في (مجموع الفتاوى): في معنى هجر المنكرات: يراد به أنه لا يشهد المنكرات لغير حاجة، مثل قوم يشربون الخمر، يجلس عندهم، وقوم دعوا إلى وليمة فيها خمر وزمر، لا يجب دعوتهم، وأمثال ذلك، بخلاف من حضر عندهم للإنكار عليهم، أو حضر بغير اختياره

And in the meaning of abandoning evils: it is intended that he does not witness evils without a need, like a people drinking khamr and he sits with them, or a people invite him to a walimah where there is khamr and a horn (instrument). Then it is not obligatory to respond to their invitations and examples like that. Unlike [the situation of] the one who is present with them [who’s duty is] to prohibit them or [one who] is present without choice.”

[Taken from Majmoo’ al fatwaa]

According to Ibn Qudama, if the evil is not present at the time or is hidden then one can sit there if he has no choice:

قال ابن قدامة: وإن علم أن عند أهل الوليمة منكرا لا يراه، ولا يسمعه، لكونه بمعزل عن موضع الطعام، أو يخفونه وقت حضوره، فله أن يحضر ويأكل. نص عليه أحمد. انتهى

Ibn Qudama said: “If he knows that with the people of the walimah there is evil he cannot see or not hear because it is isolated from the place of eating or hidden during the time he is present, then it is upon him to be present and eat. This is a text from Imam Ahmad”.

This is because going to the walimah is a wajib if invited, but going to a restaurant is not obligatory and up to the person.

Some of the above was taken from islamweb fatwa.

Allah knows best.

Translated by

Faisal Ibn Abdul Qaadir Ibn Hassan
Abu Sulaymaan