LOS ANGELES, May 18, 1998 -  Grill Concepts, Inc. (Nasdaq: GRIL) today announced the restaurant opening of The Grill on the Alley at the prestigious San Jose Fairmont, a five-star luxury hotel in the heart of Silicon Valley. This is the second The Grill on the Alley, marking the rollout of the company's world renowned Beverly Hills-based flagship restaurant originally opened in 1984.

The Grill in San Jose also marks the company's initial entry into a hotel venue, as well as its first venture in Northern California. Seating 280 people, the restaurant covers 8,000 square feet, including two full-service bars, private dining room and a private wine room. The dicor draws upon the exclusive dinner houses of the 1930s and 1940s, with dark wood paneling and spacious rich leather booths contrasted by natural oak flooring, designed by Richard Shapiro, one of the founders and partners of Grill Concepts.

Robert Spivak, president and chief executive officer of Grill Concepts, said that as an incentive to open The Grill on the Alley in the San Jose Fairmont, the hotel provided facilities and equipment valued at more than $1 million, which enabled the company to build the restaurant for less than $2 million. He said typical total costs would be in the $2.5 million - $3 million range.

"We are excited about our relationship with the San Jose Fairmont and our new restaurant in their hotel that provides guests, local businesspeople and residents with a truly world class dining experience," said Spivak. "We believe this venture represents outstanding growth potential, and we are exploring additional venues, possibly to include syndications that would involve local area investors."

The San Jose project was financed through the formation of a partnership with private investors, including Lewis N. Wolff and San Jose native Matt DiNapoli, prominent real estate investors whose investment entity owns the San Jose, Dallas, San Francisco and New Orleans Fairmont properties, as well as other grand hotel properties including The Ritz Carlton, St. Louis, the Four Seasons Santa Barbara Biltmore, Four Seasons properties in Austin, Toronto and Nevis, and the Fairmont Management Company, operator of the Plaza Hotel in New York, the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago and the Copley Plaza Hotel in Boston.

"We are proud to be partnering with one of America's finest dining establishments and are confident that The Grill on the Alley-San Jose will be a major success," said Wolff. "It is our goal to seek additional Grill restaurant venues among our luxury hotel properties throughout the nation."

The Grill on the Alley has achieved national acclaim and has been acknowledged as one of the nation's best restaurants. It was inducted in Nation's Restaurant News' Fine Dining Hall of Fame in 1995. The Grill on the Alley in Beverly Hills is a Southern Californian landmark, set in the traditional style of the old-time grills of New York and San Francisco.

Grill Concepts currently operates nine Daily Grill restaurants in Southern California and Washington, D.C., in addition to The Grill on the Alley in Beverly Hills and San Jose. The company also operates restaurant properties in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Certain statements in this news release, including rollout plans for The Grill on the Alley and other matters, are forward looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. They involve a number of risks and uncertainties, and, therefore, there can be no assurance that such statements will materialize in the future.