Heart Attack Grill closes Las Vegas location

Heart Attack Grill shut its downtown Las Vegas restaurant on May 18, ending a run of about 15 years at Neonopolis on Fremont Street. The restaurant said on its website that it would not renew its lease and blamed rising costs and what it called “corporate greed” in Las Vegas. USA Today reported the closure on May 19, and local television outlets and the Las Vegas Review-Journal said the site had gone dark for good. The company said it was looking for other places to continue its business. ### When did the Las Vegas restaurant actually close? Neonopolis owner Rohit Joshi told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Heart Attack Grill closed at 9 a.m. on Monday, May 18. News 3 Las Vegas also reported that the restaurant was no longer operating as of Monday morning. (usatoday.com) The Las Vegas location opened in 2011 after the original Tempe, Arizona, restaurant closed that year, according to News 3 and 8 News Now. That timeline put the Fremont Street outpost at roughly 14 to 15 years old, depending on how the run is counted. ### What reason did Heart Attack Grill give for leaving? (neon.reviewjournal.com) The restaurant’s website said the decision came from “the reality that major casinos have intentionally priced the average person out of the quintessential American experience of affordable indulgence,” according to News 3 and 8 News Now. In the same statement, the company said, “The soul of Las Vegas has been replaced by corporate greed.” (news3lv.com) The statement also said Heart Attack Grill’s slogan — “eat big and laugh loud” — no longer fit a city “peddling forty-dollar ‘artisanal avocado toast.’” USA Today reported the closure as the company blamed the city’s rising costs. ### What was the restaurant known for on Fremont Street? Heart Attack Grill built its Las Vegas identity around oversized burgers, a hospital theme and deliberately provocative marketing. (news3lv.com) News 3 said cheeseburgers ranged from 8 to 64 ounces, while 8 News Now said the menu ran from a Single Bypass burger to an Octuple Bypass with eight patties. (usatoday.com) The restaurant also offered free burgers to customers weighing more than 350 pounds, according to the Review-Journal and 8 News Now. The Fremont Street site was marked by a large outdoor scale and nurse-themed servers, features that helped make it a tourist draw and a frequent source of controversy. (news3lv.com) ### Did local landlords or nearby businesses say anything else? Joshi told the Review-Journal that lower tourism and weaker spending had affected businesses at Neonopolis. He said downtown traffic was slow, hotel occupancy was low and some tenants had struggled for the past six to eight months. (neon.reviewjournal.com) The review-journal report said Joshi also pointed to broader changes downtown, while adding that some other Neonopolis tenants were performing well. He said the property had new plans coming, though he did not detail them in that report. ### Is this the end of Heart Attack Grill entirely? (neon.reviewjournal.com) The company said on its website that the Las Vegas closure was “not the end” of the restaurant and that it was “seeking new opportunities to continue our high-calorie mission.” News 3 reported that the company was looking for “new communities” that still appreciated a Bypass Burger. (neon.reviewjournal.com) As of May 21, no new location had been identified in the reports reviewed. The next concrete step in the story is whether Heart Attack Grill names a new city or whether Neonopolis announces a replacement tenant for the Fremont Street space. (news3lv.com)