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Zagat is garbage. I put zero stock in their ratings. I'd rather poke around on Chowhound and find out what people are saying.
Zagat is garbage. I put zero stock in their ratings. I'd rather poke around on Chowhound and find out what people are saying.
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I prefer City Search.
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Zagat is entertaining and the most useful source for information dining in large cities. I pay more attention to the commentary than the ratings. The commentary is quite pointed, often witty, and is very accurate.
As far as the celebrity treatment for the Zagats -- why care? They don't make the ratings or provide any commentary. It's a pure survey of contributors (like me)
Zagat is utterly irrelevant to me. I had never even heard of it until I started reading Consumerist. You New York City folk pretty much live on a different planet, don't you?
Dang, pestie, I'm in Chicago (flyover central!) and I know Zagat's pretty well. What's with the NYC hate?
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Wow. I had no idea that restaurants paid for their plaques from Zagats. If this information gets out there, it will endanger the Zagats brand. Sort of like the way the \"Good Housekeeping\" seal of the mid-century is no longer relevant-- manufacturers paid to have this on their products, and consumers eventually caught on.
This \"central authority\" model is completely outdated in the Internet age. Yes, this is self-serving viewpoint. :)
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It's Cosmopolitan city-hate. Us country bumpkins out in Ohio never have heard of such things.
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Restaurant business is a vicious business. I'm trying to remember if it was Zagat's or AAA Diamond that published its guide a few years back, giving raving reviews to two restaurants in Europe that HADN'T OPENED YET. (Sorry, couldn't find the reference to the article.)
Chicago is an actual, honest-to-God city. I grew up in East Bumfuck, Massachusetts and moved to West Bumfuck, Florida. I'm not really one of those \"city hater\" types, but I do often marvel at the fact that people who live in big cities seem to take so much for granted that much of the rest of the world hasn't even heard of.
As far as the celebrity treatment for the Zagats -- why care? They don't make the ratings or provide any commentary. It's a pure survey of contributors (like me)
Actually, read the article. It says that it is not even remotely a \"pure survey\" and that certain resturants are excluded or included. I would go into more detail, but the article really does to a really good job of it.
Yelp is a far better resource for finding quality restaurants than any other source I've tried using. Not sure if its of any use outside of big cities though.
Some one needs to investigate how zagat does not let their customers cancel their online accounts online. They have to call in to a place that only has three people answering the phone.
Zagat is best used as a guide to which restaurant (s) your out of town guests/clients will be most impressed with.