Top 100
Independents

The restaurants in this year’s Top 100 Independents ranking had total food and beverage revenues of roughly $1.8 billion in 2015. It’s a number in focus, especially amid chain restaurants’ current state of slumping sales. Yet independents aren’t without their own challenges—labor top among them. Those that endure are an example to all operators that being nimble, resilient and thoughtful about guests and employees is a formula fit for the times.

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Top 100 Independents: The Ranking

Click each concept to see more data.

Rank	Restaurant	Sales	Average Check	City	State	Meals Served
1	Tao Asian Bistro	$47,941,106	$96	Las Vegas	Nev.	22,704
2	Joe’s Stone Crab	$36,837,000	$80	Miami Beach	Fla.	350,000
3	Tao Downtown	$33,822,962	$77	New York	N.Y.	450,000
4	Carmine’s (Times Square)	$32,015,788	$32	New York	N.Y.	395,000
5	Old Ebbitt Grill	$30,568,157	$47	Washington	D.C.	650,802
6	Lavo New York	$27,508,162	$75	New York	N.Y.	260,000
7	Smith & Wollensky	$25,584,000	$101	New York	N.Y.	298,417
8	Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse	$23,636,657	$73	Chicago	Ill.	356,051
9	Prime 112	$23,600,000	$115	Miami Beach	Fla.	220,000
10	Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab	$23,600,000*	$76*	Washington	D.C.	290,800
11	Tao Uptown	$23,357,631	$79	New York	N.Y.	304,689
12	Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab	$22,300,000*	$78*	Las Vegas	Nev.	285,900
13	Bottega Louie	$21,732,696	$41	Los Angeles	Calif.	479,316
14	Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab	$21,600,000*	$76	Chicago	Ill.	276,000
15	Junior’s (Times Square)	$21,501,008	$23	New York	N.Y.	950,000
16	Buddakan	$20,960,758	$84	New York	N.Y.	250,416
17	Carnevino Italian Steakhouse	$20,400,000*	$180*	Las Vegas	Nev.	113,000
18	Bazaar Meat by Jose Andres	$20,100,000*	$105	Las Vegas	Nev.	191,400
19	Bryant Park Grill & Café	$20,000,000	$50*	New York	N.Y.	400,000
20	Fulton’s Crab House	$19,900,000	$48*	Orlando	Fla.	414,000
21	SW Steakhouse	$19,900,000*	$130*	Las Vegas	Nev.	151,000
22	The Hamilton	$19,314,488	$49	Washington	D.C.	391,140
23	David Burke Primehouse	$19,300,000*	$95*	Chicago	Ill.	203,000
24	Sparks Steak House	$18,600,000*	$92*	New York	N.Y.	202,000
25	St. Elmo Steak House	$18,460,067	$87	Indianapolis	Ind.	212,184
26	Bob Chinn’s Crab House	$18,426,078	$36	Wheeling	Ill.	518,273
27	Blue Fin	$18,400,000*	$70*	New York	N.Y.	263,000
28	The Smith (Lincoln Square)	$18,250,000	$43	New York	N.Y.	492,392
29	Prime Steakhouse	$17,900,000*	$155*	Las Vegas	Nev.	116,000
30	Del Posto	$17,900,000*	$160*	New York	N.Y.	112,000
31	Mon Ami Gabi	$17,400,000*	$68*	Las Vegas	Nev.	256,000
32	Spago	$17,400,000*	$63*	Las Vegas	Nev.	276,000
33	Angus Barn	$17,345,034	$65	Raleigh	N.C.	264,963
34	Shaw’s Crab House	$17,300,000*	$65*	Chicago	Ill.	266,000
35	Quality Meats	$17,263,000	$98	New York	N.Y.	179,422
36	Chicago Cut Steakhouse	$17,200,000*	$75*	Chicago	Ill.	230,000
37	Abe & Louie’s	$17,167,589	$106	Boston	Mass.	194,047
38	'21' Club	$17,167,544	$175	New York	N.Y.	119,667
39	Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar	$17,000,000*	$42*	New York	N.Y.	405,000
40	Tavern on the Green	$17,000,000*	$60*	New York	N.Y.	280,000
41	Taste of Texas	$16,959,863	$55	Houston	Texas	368,520
42	Beauty & Essex	$16,880,985	$117	New York	N.Y.	268,012
43	Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse	$16,868,128	$70*	Rosemont	Ill.	256,892
44	Aria Cafe	$16,860,000*	$22*	Las Vegas	Nev.	767,000
45	Lavo Italian Restaurant	$16,730,072	$114	Las Vegas	Nev.	160,796
46	Grand Central Oyster Bar	$16,650,000*	$53*	New York	N.Y.	314,000
47	Le Diplomate	$16,256,705	$52	Washington	D.C.	305,444
48	Spice Market	$16,150,000*	$70*	New York	N.Y.	231,000
49	Blue Water Grill	$16,150,000	$74*	New York	N.Y.	218,000
50	Chops Lobster Bar	$16,126,710	$103	Atlanta	Ga.	193,000
51	Top of the World	$16,000,000*	$95*	Las Vegas	Nev.	175,000
52	Parc	$15,984,068	$56	Philadelphia	Pa.	424,642
53	SkyCity at the Needle	$15,900,000*	$58*	Seattle	Wash.	274,000
54	The Rustic Inn	$15,900,000*	$28*	Fort Lauderdale	Fla.	567,000
55	Keens Steakhouse	$15,900,000*	$87*	New York	N.Y.	182,700
56	Wolfgang Puck Grand Cafe	$15,850,000*	$40*	Orlando	Fla.	396,000
57	The Bazaar by José Andrés	$15,800,000*	$100*	Beverly Hills	Calif.	158,000
58	Quality Italian	$15,622,000	$88	New York	N.Y.	170,107
59	Balthazar	$15,600,000*	$68*	New York	N.Y.	230,000
60	Sequoia	$15,550,000*	$49*	Washington	D.C.	317,000
61	The Boathouse Orlando	$15,211,632	$44	Orlando	Fla.	360,000
62	The Smith (Midtown)	$15,210,000	$44	New York	N.Y.	345,358
63	Harry Caray’s Italian Steakhouse	$15,100,000*	$48*	Chicago	Ill.	314,000
64	Scoma’s	$15,092,497	$50*	San Francisco	Calif.	323,000
65	Boa Steakhouse	$14,870,355	$75	West Hollywood	Calif.	179,917
66	Zehnder’s of Frankenmuth	$14,802,943	$15	Frankenmuth	Mich.	967,298
67	Acme Feed & Seed	$14,765,496	$23	Nashville	Tenn.	640,000
68	Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse	$14,731,787	$72	Oak Brook	Ill.	230,343
69	Hugo’s Frog Bar & Fish House	$14,708,983	$64	Chicago	Ill.	208,648
70	The Lobster House	$14,700,000*	$37*	Cape May	N.J.	306,000
71	Coffee Shop	$14,700,000*	$28*	New York	N.Y.	560,000
72	Portland City Grill	$14,651,911	$71	Portland	Ore.	213,000
73	Jean-Georges Steakhouse	$14,650,000*	$120*	Las Vegas	Nev.	135,000
74	Harris Ranch Inn & Restaurant	$14,625,584	$27	Coalinga	Calif.	541,705
75	Gladstones	$14,500,000*	$49*	Pacific Palisades	Calif.	316,000
76	Delmonico Steakhouse	$14,300,000*	$88*	Las Vegas	Nev.	165,000
77	The Four Seasons	$14,200,000*	$152*	New York	N.Y.	106,000
78	Cliff House	$14,126,100	$53	San Francisco	Calif.	251,000
79	Frankenmuth Bavarian Inn	$14,080,117	$17	Frankenmuth	Mich.	845,921
80	Junior’s (Brooklyn)	$14,073,830	$23	New York	N.Y.	612,000
81	The Source	$14,000,000*	$67*	Washington	D.C.	210,000
82	Carmine’s (Atlantic City)	$13,871,327	$32	Atlantic City	N.J.	101,866
83	Atlanta Fish Market	$13,815,390	$49	Atlanta	Ga.	267,000
84	N9NE Steakhouse	$13,750,000*	$80*	Las Vegas	Nev.	170,000
85	Virgil’s Real Barbecue	$13,681,113	$26	New York	N.Y.	995,000
86	Mike's "American"	$13,650,000*	$29*	Springfield	Va.	460,000
87	Quartino Ristorante & Wine Bar	$13,562,185	$29	Chicago	Ill.	439,245
88	Makoto	$13,428,258	$64	Bal Harbour	Fla.	242,751
89	Tavern on Rush	$13,363,304	$72	Chicago	Ill.	345,773
90	Boulevard	$13,250,000*	$77*	San Francisco	Calif.	179,000
91	Carpaccio	$13,200,000*	$52*	Bal Harbour	Fla.	250,000
92	The Southern Steak & Oyster	$13,158,586	$61	Nashville	Tenn.	424,000
93	George’s at the Cove	$13,150,000*	$88*	La Jolla	Calif.	156,000
94	Cut	$13,100,000*	$125*	Las Vegas	Nev.	106,000
95	Paradise Cove Beach Cafe	$13,033,723	$29	Malibu	Calif.	450,000
96	Franciscan Crab Restaurant	$12,942,913	$51	San Francisco	Calif.	250,000
97	Cafe Fiorello	$12,900,000*	$57*	New York	N.Y.	233,000
98	Daniel	$12,800,000*	$170*	New York	N.Y.	86,000
99	Greek Islands	$12,200,000	$31	Chicago	Ill.	390,000
100	Timberline Steaks and Grille	$12,150,000*	$16*	Denver	Colo.	803,000

*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 2015 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