Top Independent Restaurants in DC
Since 2014, Restaurant Business has been putting out its annual Top 100 Independents restaurant rankings. Independent restaurants across the United States are ranked based on their annual sales, and DC restaurants regularly make the list.
While the rankings only consider the amount of sales for each restaurant, they also include the number of sales and average check.
Numbers Over the Years
When I first saw this, I immediately wanted to know how the sales of DC restaurants have changed over the years. I was surprised that Old Ebbitt Grill (a go-to for tourists) had such a high average check this year at $97, while Le Diplomate (a go-to for special occasions) had a comparatively low average check at $68.
Going back over the years, I was surprised to see some restaurants on the list. I always knew that places like Sequoia and Founding Farmers were huge, but I didn’t expect them to be some of the top grossing restaurants in the country.
I also wonder what Mi Vida locations count for these calculations. Other restaurants were listed by location, but since they have multiple locations in DC, I’m not sure which one (or ones) were used for these calculations.
Visualizations
I was surprised to see Old Ebbitt Grill not included on 2022 or 2023’s lists, and come back with a vengeance for 2024 and 2025.
I think that’s interesting is that you see a lot of restaurants that are popular tourist restaurants like Old Ebbitt Grill, The Hamilton, and Carmine’s dropped off the list during some of the hardest tourism years, but Le Diplomate stayed on the list. Perhaps that’s because Le Dip is a destination restaurant for locals in the DMV more than tourists.
It blows my mind that Old Ebbitt Grill served over 1.4 million meals in 2018. I didn’t think that Le Dip was large enough to go over 400,000 meals in 2025, and I would be curious to know if meals includes bar-only tickets.
I really want to know how Old Ebbitt increased their average check by so much. I wonder if they changed their methodology for counting the average check/number of meals served and that impacted the increase. It’s and outlier versus the other restaurants.
