Top 100
Independents

While this year’s Top 100 Independent Restaurants’ aggregate food and beverage revenues of $1.8 billion in 2016 were not significantly changed from 2015, the list does include five that are less than 18 months old, and one that wasn’t open the full year and still did enough volume to qualify. In a year when independents were closing, these money makers fought against challenges and changes to stay alive.

Meet the Leaders

Top 100 Independents: The Ranking

Click each concept to see more data.

Rank	Restaurant	Sales	Average Check	City	State	Meals Served
1	Tao Las Vegas	$43,447,100*	$93*	Las Vegas	Nev.	230,668
2	Joe's Stone Crab	$35,860,000	$70	Miami Beach	Fla.	306,000
3	Carmine's (Times Square)	$35,155,786	$34	New York	N.Y.	430,773
4	Tao Downtown	$34,337,000*	$98	New York	N.Y.	320,600
5	Old Ebbitt Grill	$33,749,638	$72	Washington	D.C.	1,462,781
6	The Boathouse Orlando	$33,030,849	$43	Orlando (Disney Springs)	Fla.	790,174
7	Lavo Italian Restaurant & Nightclub	$27,412,000*	$88*	New York	N.Y.	206,000
8	Bryant Park Grill & Cafe	$25,900,000*	$53*	New York	N.Y.	422,000
9	Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse	$25,414,213	$78	Chicago	Ill.	357,897
10	Smith & Wollensky	$25,407,000	$103	New York	N.Y.	285,542
11	Balthazar	$25,000,000*	$80*	New York	N.Y.	1,000,000
12	Tao Uptown	$23,782,000*	$88*	New York	N.Y.	292,342
13	Junior's (Times Square)	$23,478,798	$20	New York	N.Y.	1,202,191
14	Vandal	$23,444,108*	$83*	New York	N.Y.	213,320
15	Prime 112	$23,400,000	$125	Miami Beach	Fla.	202,000
16	The Hamilton	$23,048,871	$61	Washington	D.C.	782,486
17	Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab	$22,800,000*	$85*	Washington	D.C.	280,000
18	Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab	$21,700,000*	$87	Las Vegas	Nev.	260,000
19	Angus Barn	$21,659,790	$69	Raleigh	N.C.	313,910
20	Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab	$21,300,000*	$82*	Chicago	Ill.	265,000
21	Buddakan	$21,156,072	$85*	New York	N.Y.	260,000
22	Bottega Louie	$20,729,140	$46	Los Angeles	Calif.	408,663
23	Carnevino Italian Steakhouse	$20,600,000*	$182*	Las Vegas	Nev.	110,000
24	Maple & Ash	$20,342,976	$85	Chicago	Ill.	210,223
25	Bazaar Meat by Jose Andres	$20,300,000*	$108*	Las Vegas	Nev.	194,000
26	RPM Steak	$20,250,000*	$98*	Chicago	Ill.	206,900
27	SW Steakhouse	$20,100,000*	$133*	Las Vegas	Nev.	152,000
28	Paddlefish	$19,500,000*	$45*	Disney Springs	Fla.	410,000
29	Komodo	$19,500,000	$93	Miami	Fla.	220,000
30	St. Elmo Steak House	$19,472,840	$92	Indianapolis	Ind.	239,725
31	The Smith (Lincoln Square)	$19,250,000	$45	New York	N.Y.	554,929
32	Parc	$19,110,230	$58*	Philadelphia	Pa.	440,000
33	Quality Meats	$18,739,000	$106	New York	N.Y.	175,378
34	The Smith (NoMad)	$18,600,000	$46	New York	N.Y.	460,357
35	Abe & Louie's	$18,398,313	$88*	Boston	Mass.	223,000
36	Le Diplomate	$18,370,665	$60*	Washington	D.C.	309,000
37	Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse	$18,279,234	$77	Oak Brook	Ill.	267,387
38	Sparks Steak House	$18,200,000*	$93	New York	N.Y.	210,000
39	The Smith (Midtown)	$18,150,000	$47	New York	N.Y.	440,301
40	Bob Chinn's Crab House	$18,133,238	$42	Wheeling	Ill.	575,567
41	Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse	$18,070,922	$75	Rosemont	Ill.	257,847
42	Del Posto	$17,900,000*	$163*	New York	N.Y.	111,000
43	Founding Farmers (D.C.)	$17,888,388	$37	Washington	D.C.	560,662
44	Mon Ami Gabi	$17,650,000*	$69*	Las Vegas	Nev.	315,000
45	Acme Feed & Seed	$17,604,313	$19	Nashville	Tenn.	951,584
46	‘21’ Club	$17,550,313	$195	New York	N.Y.	114,570
47	Tavern on the Green	$17,500,000*	$74*	New York	N.Y.	262,000
48	Chicago Cut Steakhouse	$17,400,000*	$88*	Chicago	Ill.	211,000
49	Shaw's Crab House	$17,350,000*	$68*	Chicago	Ill.	270,000
50	Quality Italian	$16,805,000	$93	New York	N.Y.	175,301
51	Aria Cafe	$16,700,000*	$27*	Las Vegas	Nev.	690,000
52	Prime Steakhouse	$16,700,000*	$160*	Las Vegas	Nev.	113,000
53	Beauty & Essex (New York City)	$16,665,500*	$88*	New York	N.Y.	195,717
54	Grand Central Oyster Bar	$16,650,000*	$60*	New York	N.Y.	308,000
55	Lavo Italian Restaurant & Lounge	$16,512,000*	$88*	Las Vegas	Nev.	139,000
56	Harris Ranch Inn & Restaurant	$16,502,654	$28	Coalinga	Calif.	593,803
57	Chops Lobster Bar	$16,300,000*	$104*	Atlanta	Ga.	196,000
58	Taste of Texas	$16,222,119	$55	Houston	Texas	363,650
59	Keens Steakhouse	$16,200,000*	$93*	New York	N.Y.	180,000
60	Top of the World	$16,150,000*	$99*	Las Vegas	Nev.	175,000
61	La Sirena	$16,100,000*	$83*	New York	N.Y.	225,000
62	Morimoto Asia	$16,050,000*	$68*	Orlando (Disney Springs)	Fla.	499,000
63	Delmonico Steakhouse	$16,000,000*	$95*	Las Vegas	Nev.	148,000
64	Zehnder's of Frankenmuth	$15,902,244	$17	Frankenmuth	Mich.	965,039
65	Junior's Restaurant (49th Street)	$15,498,945	$19	New York	N.Y.	797,270
66	Swift & Sons	$15,125,746	$98*	Chicago	Ill.	153,693
67	The Lobster House	$15,000,000*	$41*	Cape May	N.J.	320,000
68	Hugo's Frog Bar & Fish House	$14,982,768	$77	Chicago	Ill.	187,768
69	Frankenmuth Bavarian Inn	$14,979,373	$18	Frankenmuth	Mich.	848,141
70	Makoto	$14,969,539	$63*	Bal Harbour	Fla.	228,000
71	Harry Caray's Italian Steakhouse	$14,900,000*	$55*	Chicago	Ill.	295,000
72	Franciscan Crab Restaurant	$14,875,522	$59	San Francisco	Calif.	280,000
73	Paradise Cove Beach Cafe	$14,767,831	$43	Malibu	Calif.	410,000
74	Portland City Grill	$14,640,607	$75	Portland	Ore.	304,884
75	Jean-Georges Steakhouse	$14,600,000*	$112*	Las Vegas	Nev.	127,000
76	The Southern Steak & Oyster	$14,576,128	$75	Nashville	Tenn.	352,813
77	Prime & Provisions	$14,540,000*	$95*	Chicago	Ill.	147,000
78	The Bazaar by Jose Andres	$14,500,000*	$96*	Beverly Hills	Calif.	152,000
79	15th Street Fisheries	$14,400,000*	$63*	Fort Lauderdale	Fla.	352,000
80	Scoma's	$14,316,074	$60*	San Francisco	Calif.	335,000
81	Junior's (Brooklyn)	$14,240,043	$23	New York	N.Y.	615,386
82	Coffee Shop	$14,200,000*	$45*	New York	N.Y.	312,000
83	Cliff House	$14,130,000*	$48*	San Francisco	Calif.	286,000
84	The Rustic Inn	$14,113,000*	$29*	Dania Beach	Fla.	510,000
85	Atlanta Fish Market	$14,100,000*	$51*	Atlanta	Ga.	27,300
86	Quartino Ristorante & Wine Bar	$14,081,385	$31	Chicago	Ill.	423,892
87	Carmine's (Atlantic City)	$13,871,386	$33	Atlantic City	N.J.	131,416
88	Virgil's Real Barbecue	$13,815,036	$30	New York	N.Y.	209,650
89	Tavern on Rush	$13,721,225	$75	Chicago	Ill.	350,000
90	Rock Center Cafe	$13,500,000*	$60*	New York City	N.Y.	320,000
91	Timberline Steaks and Grille	$13,415,751	$19	Denver	Colo.	994,442
92	Founding Farmers (McLean, Va.)	$13,244,450	$38	McLean	Va.	404,015
93	Mike's "American"	$13,100,000*	$33*	Springfield	Va.	470,000
94	Le Coucou	$12,959,000	$125*	New York	N.Y.	154,000
95	George's at the Cove	$12,900,000*	$85*	La Jolla	Calif.	265,000
96	BOA Steakhouse	$12,718,968	$106	West Hollywood	Calif.	102,122
97	Cafe Fiorello	$12,700,000*	$59*	New York	N.Y.	238,000
98	Boulevard	$12,500,000*	$100*	San Francisco	Calif.	122,000
99	Beauty & Essex (Las Vegas)	$12,430,000*	$88*	Las Vegas	Nev.	142,500
100	Farmers, Fishers, Bakers	$12,420,373	$36	Washington	D.C.	383,238

*RB estimate

Methodology

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 (although it’s possible a restaurant that shares a name with a chain but is owned and operated separately would qualify, as with Smith & Wollensky in New York City). Rankings are based on gross 2016 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.

Did we miss your restaurant? If your operation had food and beverage sales above $10 million, we want to know about it. Please contact Sara Rush Wirth at swirth@winsightmedia.com to be included in the next Top 100 Independents survey.

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Top 100
Independents