Zagat is a public survey where anyone can express his opinion and provide ratings to a restaurant. It produces ratings based on the experience of thousands of people. Zagat’s restaurant survey now covers United States, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, London, Paris, Major Cities in Europe, Tokyo, and Shanghai. Note that the system only indicates relative rating among restaurants within a particular region. It cannot be compared across different regions.
Zagat’s restaurant rating system is on a 30-point scale for each of the three categories: Food, Décor, and Service:26-30 |
extraordinary to perfection |
20-25 |
very good to excellent |
16-19 |
good to very good |
10-15 |
fair to good |
0-9 |
poor to fair |
In the New York City Zagat 2010, there are 38,868 participants on 2,358 restaurants. Only 12 restaurants received a score of 28 or above in Food, 3 with a score of 28 or above in Décor, and 6 with a score of 28 or above in Service. Here are some of the top rated restaurants in New York City (Food – Décor – Service):
| 29 – 29 – 29 | |
| 29 – 24 – 28 | |
| 28 – 28 – 28 | |
| 28 – 28 – 28 | |
| 28 – 27 – 28 | |
| 28 – 27 – 28 |
In 1979, while having dinner with some friends, Tim and Nina Zagat’s guests were complaining about a food review in a New York daily. Tim and Nina suggested they all made up a list of their favourite restaurants. Very soon the circle was expanded to some two hundred people. Tim and Nina, former corporate lawyers who had graduated from Yale, have started their road to success.
Initially, Tim and Nina published their survey at their own expense and distributed copies all over New York, laying down the foundation of an empire. Now selling in more than 70 cities around the world, in addition to restaurants, they have guides for hotels, resorts, family travel, entertaining, shopping, nightlife, movies, music, theater, and golf. Zagat has become the most well-known brand name of a democratic rating.