Guy Fieri’s American Kitchen and Bar Top Grossing Restaurant

Despite scathing reviews and general nay-saying, Guy Fieri’s American Kitchen and Bar in New York City appears to be one of America’s top grossing independent restaurants, according to Restaurant Business Magazine.

Who’s laughing all the way to the bank, now?

With an estimated $16 million in sales, Guy’s “off-the-hook” addition to his Flavortown empire is #26 on the list, ahead of such big boys as The Four Seasons in NYC ($13.8m), Boulevard in SF ($12.8 million), Daniel NYC ($11.8m) and even Emeril’s Orlando ($11.3m).

What’s hardly a surprise is that the lion’s share of the restaurants on the list are in tourist destinations like NYC (29/100) Las Vegas (20/100), and California (8/100) with seating for hundreds.

Atop the list: Vegas’ Tao Asian Bistro with a whopping $64million in sales and an average check size of $75. The next closest? Joe’s Stone Grab in Miami with only about half the sales ($35 million).

Guy’s American Kitchen and Bar opened in 2012, and received a legendarily mean review from The NY Times’ Pete Wells. Fans of the Diner’s Drive-Ins and Dives show on Food Network, however, have flocked with an estimated 450,000 meals sold, and an average check size of $37, according to Restaurant Business Magazine.

Our “grain of salt” alarms went off, however, at the tiny asterisks on the list, stating that sales of many restaurants were “estimates” rather than actual statistics.

Regardless, Guy’s American Kitchen and Bar certainly lives up to being “so money” as Fieri claims. Or at least a license to print money.