Six New Thoughts About Zagat

Since 1929, people have been using the Zagat Survey, a quality of life survey in which restaurants are given out grades, to help make decisions on where to go and what to eat. With more than 1.8 million reviews in book form around the world and close to 13 million restaurant ratings on its website, Zagat api has put in a lot of hard work into this survey. However, what everyone remembers best about Zagat is that it is not always accurate because it relies heavily on food service workers who can easily lure people into fake good places, such as those with free meals and drinks or happy hours.

1. Zagat does not always have the best restaurants in town.

This was true when I first started using the survey and over time, this has become more apparent with its lower ratings of new places. In fact, I would argue that Zagat’s reputation for accuracy is so damaged that the Survey cannot handle some of the new places that are opening up in major cities.

2. They can be used as a guide.

Zagat can be used as a guide to give you an idea of what other people think about a place even if your taste buds or budget doesn’t match their suggestions. It is important to realize that the “restaurants” listed in Zagat are not the average Joe’s (such as a McDonald’s or Wendy’s) but instead are mostly high-end restaurants that easily give you a hit of fat and calories.

3. They do not list the best restaurants in town.

Zagat only lists what people who pay money to be a part of their surveys think is great and they can only survey those who frequent high-end restaurants. What does this mean? Well, it means that for the most part, you won’t see your favorite local restaurant on the list.

4. The best restaurants close to you are not listed.

For example, I live in a small city and have never found Zagat include the best pizza places there or even the best Thai place located in a strip mall across from the last place I would go for good pizza. They don’t even list good Chinese food around here and they leave out many of my favorite places like Sushi Ko and Kushi Sushi (I’ve been to both of those restaurants). If you want some diversity in what Zagat thinks is great then maybe you shouldn’t use their survey.

5. They tend to have higher ratings for restaurants near expensive (and touristy) areas.

This was especially true in the past because people who used Zagat had more money to spend and often traveled a lot. Today, Zagat has more national restaurant options so as this is a national survey, it is affected by the overall economy rather than just some particular city’s economy.

6. They are not always accurate.

In 2012, Zagat changed their system for gathering information such that all responses are anonymously collected by phone instead of face to face and any person who volunteers their services as a food service worker () can be easily tempted to spoil anything they try to say bad (and often do). Also, Zagat’s selection criteria for what is considered “good” seems to be as followed:

* Zagat gives high ratings to chains that have a good brand name.  This is why they do not list many of the good local places in town.  In my opinion, the best pizza in Memphis is at the local Pizza Barn and it only has a 3 out of 5 star rating but this is because its brand name is pizza and not because it tastes good.

* The food must be prepared properly. I have seen many cases where a high rating was given to restaurants because the food was prepared properly but the taste of the food did not matter.  This is like providing a good service at a bad motel.  Service is one thing, but if you are going to ask me to pay for it, I want to enjoy my meal too.

* They prefer chains that are limited in their menus and have a corporate brand name.  This way, they do not have to risk damage from people who said the food tasted too good or not at all because people would recognize their brand name nationwide and give them good ratings for it (especially if people are told that restaurant’s food tastes good).  In their defense, they always provide a disclaimer in their book that says “the voice of the people is not the voice of the entire people”.  It is just ironic that they would provide such a disclaimer because the Zagat Survey has been used as an example of whether or not democracy works, even though it can only hear from those who pay to use it.

* They prefer restaurants with reviews in books instead of online reviews.  One problem I have seen is that people are more likely to give bad comments on social media sites but Zagat does not take them into account.

Conclusion:

I could go on and on about all the things that I know are wrong with the Zagat Survey but I think that you get the point.  It is still a useful survey and I personally find it helpful to see what some people think of a restaurant, like knowing how much it costs or what people who visit said about their experience.  However, if people are paying a lot of money to be a part of Zagat’s service, they should not be getting false answers.