When I first heard about Zagat I thought it had potential. However I've eaten at a lot of lousy restaurants which have had the Zagat logo proudly displayed in the doorway.
I associate Zagat with mediocre restaurants and a de-emphasis on food quality in favor of decor, etc. In other words, a Zagat sign on the door is a neutral or negative signal in most cases.
The problem is that the fact that a place is "Zagat rated" doesn't tell you a whole lot any more than "reviewed by The New York Times" tells you much. The Zagat rated logo doesn't tell you what the rating was. In any case, tastes differ and restaurants change--though overall I find Zagat to be pretty reliable subject to the limits of a few aggregated numbers and short quotes from reviewers.
Comments
When I first heard about Zagat I thought it had potential. However I've eaten at a lot of lousy restaurants which have had the Zagat logo proudly displayed in the doorway.
I associate Zagat with mediocre restaurants and a de-emphasis on food quality in favor of decor, etc. In other words, a Zagat sign on the door is a neutral or negative signal in most cases.
The problem is that the fact that a place is "Zagat rated" doesn't tell you a whole lot any more than "reviewed by The New York Times" tells you much. The Zagat rated logo doesn't tell you what the rating was. In any case, tastes differ and restaurants change--though overall I find Zagat to be pretty reliable subject to the limits of a few aggregated numbers and short quotes from reviewers.