Of course one of my favorites was Johnny Ace Palmer when he worked at Green Street Restaurant in Pasadena...

But one of the best restaurant magicians I've ever seen was Cosmo Solano... He worked a few restaurants in Los Angeles area but now is a regular at Gaetano's in Colorado.

Has anyone ever seen his work? He's one of the best in my opinion!

Have you ever seen Michael Close or Chris Kenner?

I have seen both in performance but not in a restaurant setting.

Without a doubt Terry Veckey. He's sort of a shorter, portly version of Johnny Ace Palmer. (Unless Terry has been on a diet! )

Cheers!

When I was but a young magician, John Mendoza worked pizza parlors in my area. He did stuff that just blew us away. After seeing him perform at my table one night, I didn't even have the guts to tell him I was an aspiring magician.

I saw Michael Ammar do his close up routines in person and was equally impressed with his skills, and his interaction with his audience.

I think by far one of my favorite magicians is Michael Ammar. He's great with a Topit. I also like david stone. Doc eason is a bar magician and hes pretty good. One of my friends was on 30 seconds to fame and now performing for a a cruise line. Hes so fast.

Before I got seriously into magic Curtis Kam came to our table at Dave and Busters in Honolulu. He was courteous, polite, and
wow-ed me with his short coin routine concluding with a short ring and string to ring flite combination routine. He inspired me to get back into this awesome hobby! Thanks, Curtis!

Historically, I'd pick the late Michael Skinner (from The Golden Nugget in Las Vegas), Bill Malone and probably Michael Close.

Many greats had great starts in restaurants (and some are still shining there: Johnny Ace Palmer, Dan Fleshman, etc.).