Zagat Stats
Friday, September 28, 2007 10:51Like most local foodbloggers, I got the press release announcing Zagat’s 2008 Los Angeles guide.
Included in the release were some interesting statistics about how we eat in Los Angeles. I don’t know the exact scientific method of their survey, so take the numbers with a grain of salt, but here are some of the highlights:
Average Restaurant Meals Per Week
- Houston - 4.2
- Los Angeles - 3.8
- NYC - 3.4
- San Francisco - 3.2
- London - 2.5
Average Meal Cost
- London - $78.57
- New York - $39.43
- San Francisco - $37.07
- Austin - $25.30
Not surprising to me, 72% of people are irritated most by service when dining out. Sadly, I have all but given up on having noteworthy service when dining out.
Italian was the favorite cuisine (25%) followed by Japanese and “American” at 17 and 13% respectively. Presumably, American includes both California style cuisine as well as steakhouses?
Here’s one for hot debate, the three LA Neighborhoods selected as having the “Best Restaurants” are (in order) Santa Monica, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. I loathe the idea of the term “best” when talking about restaurants. Too generic of a term to be applied to rating eateries.
92% of people said that the celebrity patrons have either no effect, or a negative effect on their decision to dine in a particular restaurant. Only 8% of people fessed up that they are star stalkers.
At least 62% of people drink red wine when dining out, 10% skip wine all together.
45% of Angelenos would drive an hour for a good meal (14% would drive more than an hour). That’s good news for this car culture.
Smoking is not coming back to restaurants. 86% of folks said they would eat out less if it did.
I like the Zagat guides for their comprehensive list of restaurants, I don’t put too much stock in their reviews though.
The Zagat PR person offered me (and I’m sure all other foodbloggers) a free book and a free subscription to their website. I didn’t take it.
What is your opinion of Zagat, do you use it? Do you generally agree or disagree with their ratings posted at restaurants?
By Jonah (see more of his posts). Jonah is the founder of la.foodblogging and also created Digesty, a food blog aggregator and Cheww.com, a spam free foodblog search engine.
foodette says:
September 28th, 2007 at 11:18 am
I actually do like Zagat. The first thing I did when I moved out here was buy the nightlife and restaurant books. I actually still reference them. I have found what they say, in their tiny synopses, to be fairly accurate. I appreciate them for their lists, breakouts, $$, and ratings. As a matter of fact, I used to think my dream job would be to work for them (my dream job, aka what i want to be when I grow up, changes constantly).
Taste-Buzz says:
September 28th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
I guess you could make an argument for BH based solely on Spago and Urasawa. But come on. The fact that the Mid-City (home to AOC, both Mozzas, Grace, Angelini Osteria, and Jar) didn’t make Top 3 proves that Zagat still has work to do. And that’s just on 3rd Street and Beverly. Mid-City wins in both quality AND quantity.
Jonah says:
September 28th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
fodette - I agree, the guides do have good reference info which is hard to match. As for working for them, my understanding is that they have a local editor who compiles the reviews from those surveyed. Right now it is Merrill Schindler who recommends places like Buca di Beppo and El Torito on his radio show.
Taste-Buzz: The Zagat “best restaurants” are from their survey, so allegedly these are areas recommended by “the people”. It might just point out that their sample population is more from the Westside than other spots.
foodette says:
September 28th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
Jonah, thanks for the info! I am not sure it would be my dream job now that I have learned I can blog about food. And, no way could I ever recommend El Torito. That is just sad.
Tim K says:
September 28th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
Funny timing for a question like this as I was thinking it was time to pick-up a Zagat again after 5 years. It doesn’t seem like it’d be hard to make a better food reference book than their’s, but sadly I ain’t seen one. Mind you Counter Intelligence has been a bible to me and I know (and own) other great specific LA food guides - BUT none of them can cross-reference worth a damn. When it comes to having something in my glove box to help quickly find a decent meal in Burbank (or some other gastronomic wasteland), only my TomTom does a quicker job of jogging my memory.
Maybe a blog like this fine one ought to put out an Excel spread sheet for us to print out?
H.C. says:
October 1st, 2007 at 8:59 am
I don’t care much for Zagat reviews either… the stringing along of three-to-five word quote phrases from a handful of people is nearly as disturbing and unnatural as the making of Betty Crocker by mangling of the features of 75 women.
Nonetheless, I find it to be a nice out-of-town resource to basics — addresses, price ranges, etc. — since I may not always be hooked onto the ‘Net to do that kind of research.
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