Long-Ailing Pepper Club Restaurant to Close at English Hotel

By Scott Roeben, on November 14 2025
2 min read 0 comments
Downtown Las Vegas Las Vegas Las Vegas Restaurants

A restaurant you’ve never been to, Pepper Club at downtown’s English Hotel, will close at the end of the year.

Technically, Pepper Club closes Jan. 1, 2026. Which is odd, but we should embrace and revel in life’s mysteries.

Despite some well-meaning claims the restaurant had a “long and successful” run, it didn’t. It was long-ailing. Did you just skim our headline? Successful restaurants don’t close in Las Vegas unless there’s a sex scandal. We see no evidence of one at Pepper Club, mostly because Skeevmeister General Todd English hasn’t been involved in the place for ages.

Like many things in Las Vegas, it looked better after dark.

The Pepper Club is located at 921 S. Main Street in the Las Vegas Arts District.

The hotel has Todd English’s name on it, but there’s been lots of behind-the-scenes drama and English hasn’t been seen at the hotel for years, despite the hotel stating everything’s peachy with the scandal-plagued chef. We told everyone about this as far back as 2013, but nobody listened.

Todd English has a long and embarrassing connection to Las Vegas, including the closure of his restaurants Olives at Bellagio and Todd English P.U.B. at Aria due to his well-documented sex scandals. That was back when MGM Resorts had values and scruples and balls, refusing to harbor unsavory celebrities who damaged the reputation of the company. Related: David Copperfield’s show continues at MGM Grand despite being associated with the Jeffrey Epstein saga.

But back to English. Never forget this cringeworthy fiasco we shared exclusively as far as can recall.

Anyway, unrelated. Pepper Club’s location just stinks, and it’s never really had a solid footing despite a recent attempt to revamp its menu.

We attended a media gathering there not too long ago and the food was fine. It wasn’t good enough to go back, but it was fine.

The neighborhood vibe was appealing, but “fine” wasn’t exactly packing them in (despite a push by local influencers) and couldn’t keep the restaurant afloat.

Here’s a gratuitous photo of the saucy wallpaper at Pepper Club.

Dibs.

Pepper Club will be replaced by another concept, the name of which hasn’t been shared yet.

Anna Olin, an executive with Z Life Co. (often called the Midtown Development Group), provided the short and sweet eulogy for Pepper Club: “While we are sad to say goodbye to The Pepper Club, this transition opens the door to something exciting. We are grateful for the support of our loyal guests, our dedicated team, and the Arts District community, and we extend our deepest thanks to Chef Bruce Kalman for his leadership and creativity.”

Transitioning is the new shuttering.

The English Hotel was named by extras on the set for the feature film, “Witness,” a pop culture reference we now realize is 40 years old.

Pepper Club aspired to appeal to “cultured renegades,” but fell victim to the challenges many restaurants face: Misalignment with audience, overly ambitious cost structure, operational complexity, competition and location, brand confusion and economic timing.

Or as we call it in Las Vegas restaurant circles, Friday.

As always, we feel for the displaced staff, but look forward to something new and shiny to replace Pepper Club.