Top 100
Independents

While the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the restaurant world, especially for independents, 2019 was a good year for many, and still worth recognizing. Restaurants in the Top 100 grossed nearly $1.8 billion in a tight labor market amid increased competition, outearning the prior year’s total. But 2020 has presented even greater challenges, and RB takes a look at how indies are weathering those as well.

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	Carmine's (Times Square)	$39,080,335	$40	New York	N.Y.	469,803
2	The Boathouse Orlando	$35,218,364	$43	Orlando	Fla.	820,819
3	Old Ebbitt Grill	$29,104,017	$33	Washington	D.C.	892,830
4	LAVO Italian Restaurant & Nightclub	$26,916,180*	$90*	New York	N.Y.	198,500
5	Bryant Park Grill & Cafe	$26,900,000	$62	New York	N.Y.	403,000
6	Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse	$25,409,952	$80	Chicago	Ill.	348,567
7	Top of the World at the STRAT	$25,233,543	$103	Las Vegas	Nev.	246,054
8	Maple & Ash	$24,837,595	$99	Chicago	Ill.	210,832
9	Balthazar	$24,547,800*	$87*	New York	N.Y.	519,000
10	Smith & Wollensky	$24,501,000	$107	New York	N.Y.	257,364
11	Angus Barn	$24,268,160*	$75*	Raleigh	N.C.	315,000
12	Prime 112	$23,800,000	$135	Miami Beach	Fla.	206,000
13	Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab	$23,660,000*	$86*	Washington	D.C.	277,850
14	Junior's (Times Square)	$23,640,652	$23	New York	N.Y.	914,500
15	The Hamilton	$23,138,062	$33	Washington	D.C.	700,861
16	Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab	$22,981,600*	$91*	Chicago	Ill.	252,500
17	Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab	$22,859,400*	$81*	Las Vegas	Nev.	286,000
18	Gibsons Italia	$22,749,232	$108	Chicago	Ill.	252,962
19	Komodo	$22,500,000	$98	Miami	Fla.	265,000
20	Buddakan	$22,395,577	$67	New York	N.Y.	221,059
21	Bazaar Meat by Jose Andres	$22,181,607*	$119*	Las Vegas	Nev.	190,000
22	SW Steakhouse	$21,523,650*	$149*	Las Vegas	Nev.	145,700
23	St. Elmo Steak House	$21,422,141	$99	Indianapolis	Ind.	192,774
24	RPM Steak	$20,853,300*	$102*	Chicago	Ill.	202,900
25	Mon Ami Gabi	$20,120,210*	$76*	Las Vegas	Nev.	319,200
26	Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse	$19,831,818	$81	Oak Brook	Ill.	276,444
27	Paddlefish	$19,829,500*	$48*	Orlando	Fla.	417,500
28	Taste of Texas	$19,530,159	$55	Houston	Texas	375,241
29	Parc	$19,379,153	$35	Philadelphia	Pa.	486,219
30	Bob Chinn's Crab House	$18,687,601	$48	Wheeling	Ill.	625,907
31	Quality Meats	$18,678,000	$115	New York	N.Y.	165,148
32	Del Posto	$18,625,033*	$194*	New York	N.Y.	95,000
33	Shooters Waterfront	$18,601,433	$57	Ft. Lauderdale	Fla.	409,752
34	Bottega Louie	$18,521,000	$36	Los Angeles	Calif.	322,562
35	Le Diplomate	$18,490,719	$38	Washington	D.C.	363,609
36	Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse	$18,483,056	$79	Rosemont	Ill.	252,419
37	Lavo Italian Restaurant & Lounge	$18,386,262*	$97*	Las Vegas	Nev.	115,500
38	Prime Steakhouse	$18,248,030*	$173*	Las Vegas	Nev.	113,600
39	Makoto	$18,216,906	$54	Bal Harbour	Fla.	256,830
40	Original Joe's Westlake	$18,159,612	$35	Daly City	Calif.	473,492
41	Shaw's Crab House	$17,965,500*	$72*	Chicago	Ill.	270,000
42	Founding Farmers (Washington, D.C.)	$17,910,045	$33	Washington	D.C.	648,096
43	Junior's (49th Street)	$17,834,390	$22	New York	N.Y.	798,000
44	Chops Lobster Bar	$17,816,450*	$106*	Atlanta	Ga.	168,000
45	Chicago Cut Steakhouse	$17,743,720*	$95*	Chicago	Ill.	211,000
46	Swift & Sons	$17,637,400*	$119*	Chicago	Ill.	195,343
47	Harris Ranch Inn & Restaurant	$17,599,468	$29	Coalinga	Calif.	611,928
48	Sparks Steak House	$17,519,030*	$100*	New York	N.Y.	198,200
49	Quality Italian	$17,519,000	$95	New York	N.Y.	177,337
50	Frankenmuth Bavarian Inn	$17,388,751	$19	Frankenmuth	Mich.	899,284
51	Tavern on the Green	$17,212,800*	$76*	New York	N.Y.	250,000
52	Abe & Louie's	$17,063,477	$106	Boston	Mass.	160,762
53	Rusty Pelican	$16,981,741	$98	Miami	Fla.	182,000
54	Beauty & Essex (New York City)	$16,364,050*	$90*	New York	N.Y.	187,970
55	Grand Central Oyster Bar	$16,304,883*	$62*	New York	N.Y.	296,000
56	Delmonico Steakhouse	$16,154,000*	$103*	Las Vegas	Nev.	133,000
57	Portland City Grill	$16,111,510	$83	Portland	Ore.	268,062
58	Zehnder's of Frankenmuth	$16,063,684	$17	Frankenmuth	Mich.	959,026
59	The Rustic Inn	$15,700,000	$43	Ft. Lauderdale	Fla.	371,000
60	Harry Caray's Italian Steakhouse	$15,680,000*	$59*	Chicago	Ill.	287,900
61	Keens Steakhouse	$15,629,700*	$97*	New York	N.Y.	168,301
62	The Lobster House	$15,450,000*	$43*	Cape May	N.J.	320,000
63	China Live	$15,106,280	$54	San Francisco	Calif.	300,000
64	Prime & Provisions	$15,100,000	$130	Chicago	Ill.	116,154
65	Carmine's (Las Vegas)	$15,067,804	$45	Las Vegas	Nev.	176,221
66	Swan	$15,000,000	$78	Miami	Fla.	225,000
67	15th Street Fisheries	$14,978,103	$69	Fort Lauderdale	Fla.	356,000
68	Atlanta Fish Market	$14,972,300*	$57*	Atlanta	Ga.	274,000
69	Acme Feed & Seed	$14,897,125	$22	Nashville	Tenn.	527,130
70	Hugo's Frog Bar & Fish House	$14,790,123	$80	Chicago	Ill.	190,616
71	Cliff House	$14,465,847	$40	San Francisco	Calif.	199,901
72	Castaway Burbank	$14,407,413	$60	Burbank	Calif.	180,320
73	Matt's El Rancho	$14,381,904	$29	Austin	Texas	495,927
74	Timberline Steaks and Grille	$14,362,103	$37	Denver	Colo.	553,378
75	Beauty & Essex (Las Vegas)	$14,130,500*	$99*	Las Vegas	Nev.	150,000
76	Carmine's (Atlantic City)	$13,987,843	$39	Atlantic City	N.J.	129,630
77	Junior's (Brooklyn)	$13,908,292	$23	New York	N.Y.	359,000
78	Quartino Ristorante & Wine Bar	$13,854,856	$32	Chicago	Ill.	394,582
79	Paradise Cove Beach Cafe	$13,654,113	$39	Malibu	Calif.	312,050
80	BOA Steakhouse	$13,552,485	$110	West Hollywood	Calif.	123,204
81	Original Joe's	$13,177,468	$45	San Francisco	Calif.	267,533
82	Founding Farmers (McLean, Va.)	$13,102,742	$38	McLean	Va.	390,104
83	Siena Tavern	$13,100,000	$55	Chicago	Ill.	238,182
84	Girl & the Goat	$12,894,700*	$82*	Chicago	Ill.	183,000
85	Tavern on Rush	$12,884,000	$72	Chicago	Ill.	178,944
86	Harry & Izzy's Circle Centre	$12,809,921	$66	Indianapolis	Ind.	174,166
87	Scoma's	$12,713,394	$65*	San Francisco	Calif.	292,000
88	Farmers Fishers Bakers	$12,572,109	$37	Washington	D.C.	371,025
89	Southern Steak & Oyster	$12,566,618	$39	Nashville	Tenn.	337,920
90	Big Texan Steak Ranch	$12,505,200	$24	Amarillo	Texas	478,000
91	Park Avenue Summer (Autumn, Winter, Spring)	$12,498,000	$84	New York	N.Y.	164,531
92	Farmers & Distillers	$12,278,839	$36	Washington	D.C.	375,309
93	Virgil's Real Barbecue	$12,245,998	$31	New York	N.Y.	251,800
94	Carmine's (Washington, D.C.)	$12,228,168	$39	Washington	D.C.	148,135
95	Franciscan Crab Restaurant	$12,218,147	$59*	San Francisco	Calif.	240,000
96	George's at the Cove	$12,194,000*	$80*	La Jolla	Calif.	250,000
97	Le Coucou	$12,187,523	$95	New York	N.Y.	87,070
98	Mi Vida	$12,032,014	$38	Washington	D.C.	226,226
99	Upland	$11,965,564	$52	New York	N.Y.	171,825
100	Virgil's Real Barbecue	$11,391,678	$27	Las Vegas	Nev.	208,276

*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, such as Smith & Wollensky in New York City). Rankings are based on gross 2019 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.

They’ve outlasted hurricanes, floods, forest fires, earthquakes, 9/11 and the Great Recession. But nothing prepared the country’s most successful independents for COVID-19. See how they’re handling a year from hell.

Top 100
Independents