These 7 Las Vegas restaurants grossed almost $130M for 2024
Big beef and big views bring big bucks.
For 2024, the top 100 independent restaurants by sales in the U.S. include seven Las Vegas spots that combined to gross almost $130 million.
Top of the World Steakhouse, the rotating restaurant offering far-flung views from 844 feet up at The Strat, ranks the highest among Vegas places, at No. 16, achieving $25.8 million in food and drink sales, with a check average of $135 and almost 191,000 meals served.
The top 100 is compiled annually by Restaurant Business Magazine, a leading trade publication, using survey responses, public records, comparisons to similar concepts and other information. A restaurant must have no more than five locations to be considered independent, not a chain.
For 2024, independents in the U.S. racked up almost $2 billion in sales. Joe’s Stone Crab in Miami Beach, a perennial big grosser, brought in $49.4 million to lead the list. MILA, the flamboyant Japanese-Mediterranean mashup also in Miami Beach, slid in just behind with $49.1 million in sales for No. 2.
New York City had the most restaurants in the top 100, with 12, followed by Chicago with 11, Miami-Fort Lauderdale with eight and Vegas with seven.
Check averages
All but one those seven lie on the Strip. After Top of the World, the next Vegas places — Cafe Americano in Caesars Palace, at No. 24, and Cafe Americano in Paris Las Vegas, at No. 41 — demonstrate that pricey chops aren’t the only way to make the top 100. Volume works, too.
The Caesars Americano served almost 709,000 meals, collecting about $24 million in sales on a modest check average of $33. Its Americano sibling in Paris served about 676,000 meals, garnering almost $20 million in sales on a check average of $29. Those averages are the lowest by far in Vegas and among the lowest in the top 100.
Eleven Madison Park from New York leads all averages at a staggering $750 per check.
Beauty & Essex in The Cosmopolitan, at No. 59, made the most of its $15 million or so in sales, putting up a check average of $169, the highest for Vegas in the top 100. Barry’s Downtown Prime at Circa at No. 42 , the only off-Strip place among the Vegas seven, brought in more sales ($19.5 million) than Beauty & Essex but had a lower check average of $145, although still the second-highest in the city.
Popular cuisines
Cabo Wabo Cantina, the boisterous spot from rock star Sammy Hagar, comes in at No. 80 with around $13 million in sales. Mercato della Pescheria rounds out the Vegas seven at No. 87 with $12.3 million in sales.
The Vegas restaurants for 2024 were fairly diverse culinarily, though not surprising. There were two steakhouses (Top of the World and Barry’s Downtown Prime), two serving American standards (the Cafe Americanos), and one each for modern American (Beauty & Essex), Mexican (Cabo Wabo Cantina) and Italian (Mercato dell Pescheria).
The full Vegas list
Here are the full entries for the Vegas restaurants in the top 100, shown by rank, name, sales, check average and meals served. Items with an asterisk represent Restaurant Business estimates.
16. Top of the World Steakhouse in The Strat, $25,810,716, $135, 190,842
24. Cafe Americano in Caesars Palace, $23,826,031, $33, 708,353
41. Cafe Americano in Paris Las Vegas, $19,819,246, $29, 675,579
42. Barry’s Downtown Prime in Circa, $19,500,000, $145, 134,500
59. Beauty & Essex in The Cosmopolitan, $14,987,127*, $169*, 184,114
80. Cabo Wabo Cantina in the Miracle Mile Shops, $12,976,111*, $59*, 450,000
87. Mercato della Pescheria in The Venetian, $12,320,402, $55, 221,286
Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram.
