Seven Las Vegas Restaurants Named Among Top-Grossing in U.S.
Las Vegas was built on “Go big or go home,” and that applies to our restaurants, too.
Restaurant Business Magazine recently published its list of the top-grossing restaurants in America and seven of the biggest earners are in Las Vegas. Spoiler alert: Top of the World Steakhouse at The Strat, Cafe Americano at Caesars Palace, Cafe Americano at Paris, Barry’s Downtown Prime in Circa, Beauty & Essex at The Cosmopolitan, Cabo Wabo Cantina at Miracle Mile Shops and Mercato della Pescheria in The Venetian.
That’s pretty much the whole story, but if you think we’re going to just provide facts without some snarky commentary, you do not know this blog at all. We need to justify our exorbitant compensation after all. More words!
First, the housekeeping. It’s a little murky how accurate or current this list is.
The publication in question, Restaurant Business Magazine, says this on their Web site: “RB’s Top 100 Independents ranking is a measure of the highest-grossing independent restaurants. Only restaurant concepts with no more than five locations are considered ‘independents’ for the purpose of this list. Rankings are based on gross 2023 food and beverage sales. Information was gathered through surveys. When data wasn’t provided, sales were estimated based on public information, similar concepts and other factors.”
Yeah, it says 2023. There’s a drop-down on the site that says the list is for 2024. We wrote to the publication for clarification, but haven’t heard back yet. We’re fairly sure this is just a case of a Webmaster being asleep at the wheel, but such sloppiness can breed skepticism, so take this publication’s facts with a grain of salt.
Snarky version: “RB might not have the meat.”
Complicating matters further, “information was gathered through surveys.”
That means some restaurants provided their own revenue numbers. Zero opportunity for fudging there! In many cases, restaurants didn’t give the publication any information. In those cases, Restaurant Business estimated.
Snarky version: We’re going to need a bigger salt dome.
Today, we learned salt is stored in domes or sheds. We used “dome” for our joke because it is funnier. As a layperson, you are not equipped to know why dome is funnier than shed, but we will tell you. “Dome” is short, round and punchy. “Shed” is plain, practical and a little sad. “Dome” is not only intrinsically funnier than “shed,” it’s made even funnier when combined with something mundane and incongruous, like salt.
Anyway, dubious science aside, let’s take Restaurant Business’ list at face value and look at how our Las Vegas restaurants rank and why.
Snarky version: It ain’t necessarily because of the food.
The top (wait for it) money earner in Las Vegas is Top of the World at Strat, ranked 16th on the list of 100. The restaurant had an average check of $135, with 190,842 “meals served” (also known as “covers” in the business).
Top of the World Steakhouse is a perfectly fine restaurant, but people don’t go there for the food. It’s not among the top 25 steakhouses on The Strip. So, then, why does the restaurant generate so much revenue? It’s the view.
Next on the list are two forgettable restaurants, Cafe Americano (24 out of 100) at Caesars with revenue of $23,826,031 and an average check of $33 (708,353 meals served) and Cafe Americano (#41) at Paris with $19,819,246 in sales ($29 average check, 675,579 meals served).
These numbers are starting to give more red flags than a Pyongyang military parade.
There is almost no scenario where one can have a meal at either of these Strip restaurants for $29 or $33.
Snarky version: In Las Vegas, you’ll pay more than that just for saying the word “sandwich” out loud.
Next up, Barry’s Downtown Prime at Circa, ranked 42 out of 100, with $19,500,000 in revenue, an average check of $145 and 134,500 meals served. Barry’s was 54th the year prior, it’s first year on the list.
How has Barry’s jumped into the fray, competing with Strip restaurants with infinitely more foot traffic? The answer is word of mouth. When the place opened, there were some consistency issues, but those were hammered out and the restaurant is now among the best in Vegas. And it has zero view.
Try the lobster mac and cheese, and we are not a lobster person.
Cosmo’s Beauty & Essex comes in at number 59 with an estimated $14,987,127 in revenue, an estimated average check of $169 and 184,114 meals served. Those are oddly specific for estimates, but it’s a tasty restaurant, and the only place on the top 100 list with a “pawn shop” attached. It doesn’t get more Las Vegas than that. (Note: We put “pawn shop” in quotation marks because while you can buy things in the shop, we’re pretty sure you can’t pawn anything.” It’s for show.)
Our least favorite restaurant on the top 100 list is Cabo Wabo Cantina (#80) in the Miracle Mile Shops. The revenue is an estimated $12,976,111, with an average check of $59 and 450,000 covers.
We don’t recommend Cabo Wabo Cantina for one simple reason: They have a bullshit CNF charge. That’s a charged tacked onto your bill for literally no reason. Well, not literally, because the reason is to dupe unsuspecting tourists out of their money.
Snarky version: You know, dumbassery.
Rounding out the list of Las Vegas restaurants generating the most revenue is Mercato della Pescheria (#87) at Venetian, with $12,320,402 in sales, an average check of $55 and 221,286 meals served. It’s exceptional, despite the terrible name. Oh, and don’t get your hopes up with that price point unless you plan on ordering a glass of water on the rocks.
Those are the restaurants printing money in Las Vegas. Remember, these aren’t necessarily the most profitable restaurants. Sales (revenue) isn’t profit.
This definitely isn’t a list of the best restaurants in Las Vegas, but they are some of the busiest.
There are a lot of Las Vegas restaurants with mid food but huge profit margins. Looking at you, Hell’s Kitchen.
The top 100 list is missing Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab at Forum Shops, which is weird. It was #25 on the list in 2022 and #16 in 2020. Did business just fall off a cliff? Answer: No. Are we going to investigate this omission through dogged journalistic persistence? Answer: You’re kidding, right?
Joe’s is not only a fantastic restaurant, they definitely generate enough sales to be on the Restaurant Business Magazine list.
Snarky version: Restaurant Business Magazine is online only, so is it even really a “magazine”?
We hope you have enjoyed this ramble through the biggest earning restaurants in Las Vegas.
There have been some big restaurant openings on The Strip recently, so we look forward to seeing who’s on the list next year.
We feel obligated to give a hat tip to the Las Vegas Review-Journal for pointing us in the direction of this story (despite it being publicly available every year) because they gave us credit for scoop recently and we want everyone at the paper to follow the example of Jonathan L. Wright, who seems to be the only RJ writer who understands attribution costs nothing. It’s also just the right (pun intended) thing to do.
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