VEGAS DINING NEWS: New ‘Restaurant Fee’ In, Bahama Breeze Out

Check your checks, Las Vegas visitors. Some restaurants now charge a fee separate from the price of your food and drinks, tax and tip.

Vegas visitor Dave Larouche recently shared a tweet of the receipt for his bill at Giordano’s at the Grand Bazaar Shops at the Horseshoe on the Strip.

The receipt reveals a 3% “restaurant fee” of $1.37 on top of the $45.75 Larouche was charged for mozzarella triangles, and a stuffed pizza with BBQ chicken, pepperoni and sausage on May 16.

Larouche initially didn’t include the name of the establishment.

“I didn’t want to put them on blast because since my server was nice and took that fee off,” he explained in a follow-up post. “But if Giordano’s is doing it, other places on the Strip are following suit.”

Larouche had a strange method of not putting Giordano’s on blast — tagging the X accounts of Las Vegas Locally and Casino.org’s resident Las Vegas blaster in his tweet. After being notified of the charge, Vital Vegas had some choice words for the Chicago-style deep dish pizzeria.

Casino.org’s news department separately contacted a Giordano’s representative, who described the charge as “a temporary fee to help cover high cost commodities and labor,” adding “that’s what they told us to say.”

When asked how long the temporary fee would last, the representative said she didn’t know.

Another Tropical Tavern Goes Underwater

Bahama Breeze has permanently closed — along with 14 other locations of the brand across the US. The Caribbean-themed frozen Margarita chain operated in the same space (a little over half a mile east of the Flamingo on Hughes Center Drive) for more than two decades.

Its corporate owner, Darden Restaurants — which also owns the Olive Garden and Yard House — released the following statement to the press:

“We continually evaluate the performance of all our restaurants,” it read. “After thorough analysis and careful consideration, we made the decision to close 15 Bahama Breeze locations.”

In other words, the Vegas location underperformed financially, which is the only reason any restaurant (or show) closes in Las Vegas — other than a sex scandal. (We learned that from Vital Vegas, where we learn everything.)

This marks the third topical drinkery to extinguish its tiki torches in Las Vegas in just over a year. (Margaritaville closed last March, followed by Señor Frog’s at Treasure Island on New Year’s Eve.)

Dining Ins & Outs

Jenna and Michael Morton, the restaurateurs behind Crush and Greek Sneek at the MGM Grand and La Cave at Wynn Las Vegas, will open Nudo Italiano later this month at 4390 W. Cactus Ave. in southwest Las Vegas., according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.