The popular hospital-themed Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas may have served its last high-calorie Bypass Burger, Coronary Dog and butterfat milkshake.
The restaurant used large, red text on its website this week to announce that the “Heart Attack Grill will not be renewing its long term lease.”
The restaurant said the decision to pull the plug on the eatery stems from the alleged “reality that major casinos have intentionally priced the average person out of the quintessential American experience of affordable indulgence.”
Corporate greed?
The Heart Attack Grill claims that the “soul of Las Vegas has been replaced by corporate greed.” They added that the restaurant’s core value to “eat big and laugh loud” no longer fits a city peddling $40 “artisanal avocado toast.”
“The honest, heavy-duty calories that built our reputation are now considered gauche by a city that has excluded the middle class and lost its swagger in the process,” restaurant officials said.
Restaurant officials added that they’re proud of their 21-year impact on America’s waistline, adding that “The obesity rate has risen from 30% in 2005 to nearly 45% today, and we pat ourselves on the back for leading the charge!”
“I’m certainly not trying to knock Las Vegas as a community,” owner Jon Basso told SF Gate. “I am only telling the honest truth about the tourist sector. It has become as shortsighted of a business model as I can possibly conceive of.”
Basso added that he will continue to operate his other Las Vegas-area businesses, including drive-thru stand Snappy’s Burger and a drive-in movie theater.
The grill’s next chapter
The restaurant told loyal Heart Attack Grill customers, or “patients,” not to despair because “This is not the end of the world’s most controversial restaurant; it is merely the beginning of a new chapter.”
Restaurant officials said they are seeking new opportunities to continue their high-calorie mission.
“We look forward to finding new communities that still appreciate a Bypass Burger and the freedom to feast without apology,” the eatery said.
Big burgers and spankings
Founded by Basso in Tempe, Arizona, the Heart Attack Grill relocated to Las Vegas Boulevard and Fremont Street in Las Vegas in 2011.
A busy location, a unique theme and gluttonous menu portions helped the Heart Attack Grill get the attention of countless U.S. and international visitors.
Some of the restaurant’s patented menu items included the Single Bypass Burger, Double Bypass Burger, Triple Bypass Burger, Quadruple Bypass Burger, Quintuple Bypass Burger, Sextuple Bypass Burger, Septuple Bypass Burger and the Octuple Bypass Burger.
The menu also offered Flatliner Fries, cooked in lard, and the Coronary Dog. Lucky Strike no filter cigarettes, alcohol, Butterfat Milkshakes, full sugar Coca-Cola and candy cigarettes for the kids were on the menu.
The eatery was known for hospital gown-wearing customers or “patients,” attempting to consume those unhealthy, and oversized meals, also known as “prescriptions.”
If customers didn’t finish their meal, a waitress wearing revealing nurse-themed clothing would spank the foodie offender.
Customers weighing over 350 pounds were invited to unlimited free food, provided they weigh themselves on an electronic cattle scale in front of the restaurant
Restaurant tragedies
In February 2013, John Alleman, 52, a daily customer and unofficial mascot for The Heart Attack Grill, died of an apparent heart attack in front of the restaurant, USA TODAY reported.
Alleman is the Heart Attack Grill’s second unofficial spokesman to die. In March 2011, 575-pound Blair River — known as the Grill’s “Gentle Giant” — died of flu-related pneumonia.
In February 2012, a man was hospitalized with an apparent heart problem after chowing down a 6,000-calorie Triple Bypass Burger. Two months later, a woman suffered from a similar medical problem while reportedly eating a Double Bypass Burger.
Trying the Octuple Bypass burger
Several High Desert residents who’ve eaten at the Heart Attack Grill shared their experience dining at the popular restaurant.
“It’s an experience unlike any other because of how ridiculous it feels with signs telling you how unhealthy the food is while you’re eating it,” said Naader Reda, competitive eater and teacher. “It was a very immersive experience.”
He added that the restaurant definitely fits into Las Vegas, with its over-the-top focus on unhealthy burgers, a scale outside the restaurant, nurses that paddle you and hospital gowns for the customers.
“They won’t even let you sit inside the restaurant unless you put on one of the hospital gowns before ordering your meal,” Reda said. “I ate the biggest burger they sell, which is the Octuple Bypass. It tasted like a really solid diner burger, but to be fair, it was on the pricey side.”
The Octuple Bypass is an eight-meat patty, eight-cheese slice burger with bacon, mayo and toppings that packs nearly 20,000 calories.
Reda said he believes the closing of Heart Attack Grill is mainly due to Las Vegas being a city where the cost to run a business is high.
‘Big, greasy, tasty’ burgers
Jason Michaels said his experience at the Heart Attack Grill included “sexy servers,” serving “big, greasy, tasty” burgers, which led to stomach issues and several trips to the bathroom.
“Eating a giant cheeseburger in hospital garb was weird, but the food was very good,” Michaels said. “It’s too bad they shut the place down.”
Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on X @DP_ReneDeLaCruz
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Owners pull plug on popular Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas
Reporting by Rene Ray De La Cruz, Victorville Daily Press / Victorville Daily Press
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