Saturday, February 20, 2010

Zagat Restaurant Ratings


I love Zagat! It is my first choice to read when wanting to find a restaurant or to find a rating on a restaurant.

Not only do I use the book, published each year, but I subscribe to the online site, which does have a fee to join. This way I can get all the up to date information, such as new restaurants, restaurants which will be opening and special one night dinners at restaurants. Then there is the Zagat Store.

This does comes with a price, and I do not mean the cost of subscribing to the website. What I mean is that you can't take the ratings as gospel. Zagat gets their information from you, the consumer, who eats out and then rates the restaurant. In order to keep current and publish a new book each year, they send out surveys for you to fill out. To be honest, I don't think everyone knows good food or what to expect from an establishment. And to be fair, there are many who know so much more about food than I do, so there is a fine balance.

So when using Zagat, please remember, if a restaurant gets a rating of "21" for food, adjust it a bit downhill just to make sure you are not disappointed.

Over and over again, I have rarely agreed with the numbers given. The ratings include "Food," "Service" and "Decor." Then there is a price, which given the variations of what one could order, I am not sure how accurate that can be. You are supposed to put down a price which would average out, but do you really remember the prices of items on a menu other than what you may have ordered?

Sometimes I just try a restaurant after reading the reviews which are posted, again by us, the consumer. If there are many more positive than negative comments, I will check it out. Some of the things people like or dislike about a place seem irrelevant to me, but it is still better to have an idea of what to expect.

When you are a subscriber, you can get information about restaurants all over the USA as well as many popular international locations. If you are using the book, it is by specific area. This is why it is worthwhile to subscribe, especially if you travel a good deal, for business or pleasure. And don't forget about the APPS for the iPhone.

Where to subscribe: www.zagat.com

Enjoy dinner!

No comments: