Several high-profile Ruth’s Chris locations have closed in recent years. New York City. Chicago. San Francisco. Boca Raton. Singapore. The list is long enough to make any regular customer wonder if the whole chain is winding down.
The short answer: no, Ruth’s Chris is not going out of business. But there is a real story behind these closures, and it’s worth understanding what’s actually going on — especially if you have a location nearby.
Ruth’s Chris Is Not Closing — Here’s the Current Status
Ruth’s Chris Steak House is now owned by Darden Concepts, Inc., which completed its acquisition of the brand in 2023. The chain currently operates over 100 steakhouse locations across the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
There is no company statement, credible news report, or financial filing indicating a chain-wide shutdown or bankruptcy. What’s happening is something different: individual locations are closing for specific, identifiable reasons.
This distinction matters. Closing a restaurant in Times Square is not the same as closing a restaurant chain. These are two very different things, and it’s easy to confuse them when high-profile closures happen in cities like New York or San Francisco.
Which Locations Closed and Why
Here’s a factual breakdown of the closures that have fueled most of the concern.
New York City (W. 51st Street)
This location closed on April 22, 2023, after roughly 30 years in business. The reason was a lease expiration — the company chose not to renew. It was not a financial failure or emergency shutdown.
Ruth’s Chris has publicly stated it is looking for a new Manhattan location. Employees at the closed site were offered positions at nearby locations in New Jersey, Westchester, and Long Island. This is a relocation story, not an exit from New York.
San Francisco
The San Francisco location permanently closed on March 28, 2020. The timing was COVID-19. High downtown rents combined with a lasting drop in office foot traffic made reopening economically unviable. The restaurant issued a public statement directing guests to other Ruth’s Chris locations.
Chicago River North (431 N. Dearborn)
This location shut down during the pandemic and never reopened. Its permanent closure was confirmed through Illinois WARN Act reporting — a state law that requires companies to notify authorities about layoffs and shutdowns. Like San Francisco, this was a pandemic-driven closure tied to a location that depended heavily on business diners and office crowds.
Boca Raton / Mizner Park
This location is closing on May 11, 2025, after nearly 25 years. Darden described it as a “difficult business decision.” Importantly, Darden also stated there are no plans to close other Florida locations at this time. This closure is isolated, not part of a Florida-wide pullback.
Singapore (Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay)
The Singapore location closed on January 24, 2024, confirmed by the regional headquarters. This reflects broader shifts in the local food and beverage market, not a global brand exit from Asia.
Charleston, SC
The Charleston location on Market Street permanently closed and issued a direct notice to customers. No unusual circumstances have been reported beyond a standard business closure.
What the Darden Acquisition Actually Means
When a large restaurant group acquires a brand, the first thing it typically does is review every location in the portfolio. Which units are profitable? Which leases are too expensive? Which markets are underperforming? This is standard operating procedure — not a warning sign.
Darden already owns Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, The Capital Grille, and Eddie V’s. It knows how to manage fine-dining brands at scale. When Darden closes a Ruth’s Chris, it’s applying the same logic a CFO uses when cutting a product line: keep what works, remove what doesn’t.
Think of it this way. If a retail brand closes its Times Square flagship but still has 100 other stores operating across the country, that’s a lease decision — not a brand collapse. Ruth’s Chris closing its W. 51st Street location after 30 years fits exactly that description.
Closures after an acquisition are expected and common. They are not distress signals on their own. You need to look at what’s happening across the whole portfolio, and in this case, Ruth’s Chris continues to operate over 100 locations.
Operational Changes Customers Have Noticed
Some customers feel that Ruth’s Chris has declined in quality since the Darden takeover. Review-based criticism is real, and it’s worth acknowledging. But it’s a separate issue from whether the brand is closing.
One concrete change: Darden CEO Rick Cardenas announced during a late-2023 earnings call that the company would eliminate lunch service at Ruth’s Chris locations “wherever possible” starting in 2024. This is a margin optimization move. Lunch service at a high-end steakhouse often generates less revenue than dinner while carrying the same staffing and overhead costs.
If your local Ruth’s Chris stopped offering lunch, that’s why. It’s a business efficiency decision, not a sign that the location is struggling or about to close.
Why High-End Steakhouses Are Closing Locations Broadly
Ruth’s Chris is not alone in making these kinds of moves. Other premium steakhouse chains — including Morton’s, Shula’s, and Nusr-Et — have also closed long-running locations in recent years. The pattern reflects industry-wide pressure, not individual brand failure.
The forces driving this include rising food and labor costs, expensive urban leases, a shift in business dining habits post-COVID, and remote work reducing weekday lunch and dinner traffic in downtown cores. A steakhouse that thrived on business lunches in 2018 is operating in a very different market today.
When you see multiple closures at Ruth’s Chris and other chains, you’re watching the restaurant industry adapt to a changed environment — not watching one brand fall apart.
For a broader look at how corporate restructuring affects consumer brands, Alpha Business Daily covers business trends and company news that help readers separate market noise from real signals.
How to Check If Your Local Ruth’s Chris Is at Risk
If you’re worried about a specific location, here’s a practical way to find out what’s actually happening.
- Check the official Ruth’s Chris location finder on their website. If a location appears there with active hours, it’s still operating.
- Search for local news coverage. Most confirmed closures have been reported by local outlets — ABC News 4 for Charleston, CBS Chicago for River North, the Palm Beach Post for Boca Raton. If there’s a closure coming, local press usually covers it.
- Look for landlord or redevelopment announcements. Lease expirations tied to building redevelopment often signal a restaurant closure before the company makes an official statement.
- Check the restaurant’s social media pages. Locations that are closing typically stop posting or post farewell messages before shutting down.
If none of those sources show a closure announcement, your location is almost certainly fine.
The Bottom Line
Ruth’s Chris Steak House is not going out of business. It is a 100-plus-location chain operating under Darden Concepts, Inc., with no indication of a brand-wide shutdown or bankruptcy.
What has happened is a series of individual location closures, each with its own specific cause: lease expirations, pandemic-related economics, and strategic decisions made after Darden’s 2023 acquisition. These are real changes, and for customers in affected cities, they’re genuinely inconvenient. But they are not the same thing as a brand closing.
The confusion is understandable. When iconic locations — 30 years in Times Square, 25 years in Boca Raton — close in the same general period, it feels like a collapse. But looking at the actual reasons, location by location, tells a different story: a large restaurant group managing a diverse portfolio in a tough market, making targeted cuts while keeping the broader brand intact.
If your local Ruth’s Chris is still open and serving dinner, the evidence suggests it’s going to stay that way.
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