Zagat's: How to get in?

[Lreda]

This is getting ridiculous for me. I haven't been able to get in Zagat's despite the fact I've been open for almost 9 years. I'm at a loss to figure this out as :

1. My customers actually started a grass roots campaign to get me in and sent emails to the Zagat's website with the proper form.

2. Granted, perhaps I should have hired a PR firm during this time, I see restaurants that have been open only a short time get in Zagat's.

3. I have been fortunate enough to have received favorable reviews on this website( and anyone that knows food in NJ posts or lurks here).

4. While I know some folks here don't give much credence to NJ Monthly readers Pool, The Grill has won awards the past few years and no, I don't think it has to do with advertising as I only advertise 3-5 months out of the year.

Just curious and blowing off some f***ing steam

Lou

Now back to the wine

Edited May 26, 2003 by Lreda (log)

[jhlurie]

I've noticed that Zagat's reviews--at least in the state of New Jersey--tend to follow on the heels of newspaper reviews.

[Aurora]

I've noticed that Zagat's reviews--at least in the state of New Jersey--tend to follow on the heels of newspaper reviews.

A number of people who write review's for Zagat's also write reviews for newspapers. That might account for the coincedence.

Hang in there, Lreda.

[menton1]

This has always been a pet peeve of mine with Zagat. They say it is 100% a reader survey, but that really is not true. THEY decide what restaurants are on the ballot; they give you an option of a write-in, but we all know how that doesn't work, especially at the voting booth.

Over the years, I have seen several dozen restaurants mysteriously absent from Zagat; Also, up until a couple of years ago, they actually listed Boston Market and Outback in the listings!! I complained vociferously about that, as I guess did many others, so they removed them. But they are really in control.

[prasad2]

This is getting ridiculous for me. I haven't been able to get in Zagat's despite the fact I've been open for almost 9 years. I'm at a loss to figure this out as :

1. My customers actually started a grass roots campaign to get me in and sent emails to the Zagat's website with the proper form.

2. Granted, perhaps I should have hired a PR firm during this time, I see restaurants that have been open only a short time get in Zagat's.

3. I have been fortunate enough to have received favorable reviews on this website( and anyone that knows food in NJ posts or lurks here).

4. While I know some folks here don't give much credence to NJ Monthly readers Pool, The Grill has won awards the past few years and no, I don't think it has to do with advertising as I only advertise 3-5 months out of the year.

Just curious and blowing off some f***ing steam

Lou

Now back to the wine

Lreda:

I am in the same boat just like you.

Been in this location over three years. No mention in Zagat's yet. Have sent press kits to them evry year. Last year my manager was contacted by Zagat and I was under the impression we were going to be listed. Believe me, I was furious to see myself not mentioned there.

In the mean time my customers said to me that they would like to vote for me but had no luck of finding my restaurant on Zagat's web site.

I picked up the phone and was able to speak to the operator and this is what I was told.

Log on to Zagat's and vote for yourself as a write in voter, and do it as many times as you could. I was amazed to find out that people vote for their own restaurants!!!

Now on this same thread, Mention1 quoted " They say it is 100% a reader survey, but that really is not true. THEY decide what restaurants are on the ballot; they give you an option of a write-in, but we all know how that doesn't work, especially at the voting booth. " Mention is right, I met this person apparently who actually writes for Zagat and she told me that I should have been in the last year's book, but somehow I was misplaced!!.

She thinks I will be in their next book and also thinks Zagat's is basically a mess since they went online.

I am waiting .......... for Sept or whenever.........

[viejo majadero]

Zagats just did their new survey and the book should be out about now or already out. I assume it will be 2003. I did the survey on line. But timing should be noted. The 2000 survey book shows commentary from A. Clurfield editor, in Aug 1999. I have no 2001 book nor 2002 but do have a 2001/2002 combined with commentary by A. Clurfield in June of 2001.

Andres and Chelsea Grille are listed in the 2001/2002 but are not yet rated. How did they get in the book with no rating and I guess no survey is the question. Both are relatively new.

I don't take the reviews very seriouslyanyway. To me popularity is not an assurance of content. All Zagats is a restaurant listing for me to use as a guide no different than many restaurant listings.

Lou, you have a real issue. If Zagats won't give you an answer that truely explains how restaurants make the list then they leave the issue open to thoughts like -- for example -- there is a payoff required. I would think that they would not want speculation as I suggested.

Viejo

[jhlurie]

Yes, Zagat's is demanding an expose in one of the many newspapers which will never dare print it.

[glenn]

Log on to Zagat's and vote for yourself as a write in voter, and do it as many times as you could. I was amazed to find out that people vote for their own restaurants!!!

I'm amazed that you're amazed :)).

[=Mark]

You must have pissed off Andrea Clurfield. She is editor at NJ Zagat and reviewer for Asbury Park Press.

She has had a contentious affair with Casa Comida, the largest and oldest (est. 1981) Mexican Restaurant in Monmouth County for over a dozen years. Casa Comida was listed in all previous editions of the NJ Zagat. When Clurfield took over as editor, Poof! The review of Casa Comida dissapears. Coincidence?

[Lreda]

You must have pissed off Andrea Clurfield.  She is editor at NJ Zagat and reviewer for Asbury Park Press. 

She has had a contentious affair with Casa Comida, the largest and oldest (est. 1981) Mexican Restaurant in Monmouth County for over a dozen years.  Casa Comida was listed in all previous editions of the NJ Zagat.  When Clurfield took over as editor, Poof!  The review of Casa Comida dissapears.  Coincidence?

Sorry Mark, don't know her, just her rep. When I hit the B&N to pick up the new Zagat's and saw I wasn't in I didn't buy it.

can you blame me?

By the time the anger has subsided ( somewhat ), I tried to find her email address but was unable. If as a reviewer she holds grudges, that's not responsible journalism. It also lends credence to Viejo's comments about how restaurants make the list.

[viejo majadero]

Maybe management should get the Zagats to do questions and answers in one of the forums?? That would be nice for all.

Viejo

[jhlurie]

Maybe management should get the Zagats to do questions and answers in one of the forums??  That would be nice for all.

Viejo

They'd probably go "eGullet who?", despite the fact that eGullet coverage has probably gotten several NJ restaurants newspaper reviews, which have been followed--naturally--by Zagat's reviews.

[Jason Perlow]

Maybe management should get the Zagats to do questions and answers in one of the forums??  That would be nice for all.

Viejo

Its a nice idea, but I don't think its going to happen anytime soon. Lets just say they don't like us very much over there, for a number of reasons.

The Zagat Effect, from Commentary magazine.

[hscottk]

Jason,

That link was quite an eye-opener.

[glenn]

From Shaw's article....

>>AS THEIR empire has grown, Tim and Nina Zagat have increasingly stepped outside their roles as pollsters and have positioned themselves as power brokers in the industry upon which they report. When they dine out, they expect restaurants to treat them like royalty, however obnoxious their behavior. According to press reports, they are in the habit of appearing unannounced at the most exclusive establishments and demanding to be seated ahead of ordinary, reservation-holding citizens—so much for democracy—or charging into the kitchen without permission in order to talk to the chef. Because they are the two individuals most feared by the American restaurant industry, their demands are invariably accommodated by fawning owners and maître d’s.<<

I can personally vouch for the veracity of this as I have witnessed it in 2 places I've worked.

Despite being mostly a bunch of propaganda and only useful primarily for getting phone numbers and addresses, it is amazing what a pervasive effect Zagat's has, at least in NY.

[Lreda]

Shit, I wonder if my participation in egullet could be the reason for my being left out of Zagat's.

Oh well, if that's the case and it was a choice of the one or the other I simply state " I don't need no stickin Zagats"

[Rachel Perlow]

This discussion of the Zagat guide was moved from the NJ forum.

[Fat Guy]

They'd probably go "eGullet who?"

I'd be in serious breach of our user agreement if I wrote what they'd say.

[=Mark]

Down here around Exit109 many establishments have window stickers that say: "Zagat Rated." Period. They don't say what the ratings were, just "Zagat Rated."

[glenn]

If I'm not mistaken, the Zagat rated signs indicates a less than stellar review. Otherwise, the restaurant would have the review posted instead of that sticker. It's not just NJ.

[prasad2]

I think Zagats sholuld be banned or a negative campaign should be started against Zagar for general public to let know what Zagat is all about !!

[WHT]

The Zagat Effect, from Commentary magazine.

I loved the article. It goes to address things that others and I have suspected for some time. I heard it said once that encyclopedias and reference books are often inaccurate at the point of publication do to time lag. I think Zagat’s falls under this model.

[menton1]

Fat Guy and Tony Bourdain should team up to do an exposé on those rats!

[ferdlisky]

To me, this is a great newspaper feature. Consumers really aren't well served by it, and obviously restaurateurs without the right connections are not well served. So who benefits? (or is that a rhetorical question?)

[jhlurie]

Fat Guy and Tony Bourdain should team up to do an exposé on those rats!

Really, the question I posed before still holds: would any major media outlet (any by that I mean NY Times, CNN, Network News, Washington Post, WSJ) actually care (or dare) to do an expose? I kind of doubt it.

And even if they did, it would get swallowed up in the great miasma of news we are glutted with everyday and probably wouldn't really affect the day-to-day operations or policies of Zagat all that much. Even a third rate P.R. person would know how to handle it--ignore it. The people who religiously buy the guides and follow their direction like lemmings aren't the kind of people who use a website like this, and if they DO read the Food section of the Times, they'd probably skip over an item like this.

The only thing which might make a "major" story of it, is if there was some provable pattern of money changing hands in return for Zagat noticing them, and that would be going a bit further on a dirt-digging expedition than has already been suggested. And it STILL wouldn't affect their sales or the "value" of those stupid red signs much, I'll bet.