clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Three Restaurants on the Las Vegas Strip Now Add a COVID-19 Surcharge to Diners’ Bills

The new charges cover the costs of personal protection equipment, sanitation, rising food prices, and more

Patio dining on the Las Vegas Strip
Mon Ami Gabi
Mon Ami Gabi [Official Site]

A new service charge is making its way onto restaurant receipts to offset the cost of COVID-19-related expenses.

El Segundo Sol at Fashion Show Mall, Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab at the Forum Shops at Caesars, and Mon Ami Gabi at Paris Las Vegas now add on a 4 percent surcharge. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that the charge on a guest check reads: “To help offset restrictions on our business resulting from the COVID-19 crisis, a 4% surcharge has been added to all guest checks. If you would like this removed, please let us know.”


Parent company Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises out of Chicago says the added cost of personal protection equipment, new sanitation practices, the rising price of food, and 50 percent occupancy forced the company to add the new surcharge. Lettuce Entertain You president R.J. Melman tells the newspaper that the optional surcharge is “a necessary step during a time when unanticipated costs have jeopardized the survival of our business.”

Last year, Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab landed the top spot among Las Vegas restaurants in Restaurant Business magazine’s list of top grossing independent restaurants in the country. The magazine estimated the restaurant made $22,264,200 in sales with a $77 average check and 260,000 covers in 2018, landing in the No. 18 spot on the list.

The new surcharge doesn’t just find its way onto restaurant bills on the Strip. Tacoman Grille, a Henderson Mexican restaurant, and Roberto’s Tacos also started adding a surcharge for beef. Tacoman charges an additional $2 for any beef items ordered on its menu.

Lotus of Siam, which reopened its location in the Commercial Center, tacks on a 3 percent surcharge to pay for health care costs for its employees, the RJ reports.

Since 2016, restaurants such as Beer Park, Hexx Kitchen & Bar, and Alexxa’s Bar at Paris Las Vegas, Cabo Wabo Cantina at the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood Resort, and Chayo Mexican Kitchen & Tequila Bar at the Linq Promenade added a concession and franchise fee to their customers’ bills. The fees fall in the neighborhood of 4.7 to 4.85 percent tacked on to the bill, and then taxed. JRS Hospitality owns all of those venues, and a spokesperson for the company at the time said the charges “partially offset increasing operations and labor costs in the high-impact resort corridor.”

3 Las Vegas Strip restaurants add optional COVID-19 surcharge [LVRJ]

Why Some Restaurants and Bars on the Strip Charge a Concession and Franchise Fee [ELV]

How Coronavirus Is Affecting Las Vegas Food and Restaurants [ELV]

Cabo Wabo Cantina

3663 South Las Vegas Boulevard, , NV 89109 (702) 385-2226 Visit Website

Fashion Show Mall

3200 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV 89109 (702) 784-7000 Visit Website

Beer Park

3655 South Las Vegas Boulevard, , NV 89109 (702) 444-4500 Visit Website

The Linq Promenade

3545 South Las Vegas Boulevard, , NV 89109 (702) 322-0550 Visit Website

Alexxa's Bar

3655 Las Vegas Blvd. S., Las Vegas, NV 89109 Visit Website

TacoMan Grill

10100 South Eastern Avenue, , NV 89052 (702) 202-2610 Visit Website

Forum Shops at Caesars

3472 Las Vegas Blvd. S, Las Vegas, NV 89109 (702) 893-4800 Visit Website

Commercial Center

953 E Sahara Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89104 (702) 737-3478

Hexx Kitchen & Bar

3655 Las Vegas Blvd. S. , Las Vegas, NV 89109 (702) 331-5100 Visit Website

Paris Las Vegas

3655 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV 89109

Lotus of Siam

620 East Flamingo Road, , NV 89119 (702) 735-3033 Visit Website

Mon Ami Gabi

3655 South Las Vegas Boulevard, , NV 89109 (702) 944-4224 Visit Website

Miracle Mile Shops

3663 Las Vegas Blvd South, Las Vegas, NV 89109 (888) 800-8284 Visit Website

El Segundo Sol

3200 South Las Vegas Boulevard, , NV 89109 (702) 258-1211 Visit Website

Chayo Mexican Kitchen + Tequila Bar

3545 South Las Vegas Boulevard, , NV 89109 (702) 691-3773 Visit Website

Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab

3500 South Las Vegas Boulevard, , NV 89109 (702) 792-9222 Visit Website