Zagat's: How to get in?

[menton1]

Oh, great, we could also do a YAHOO! Group!!

[=Mark]

I get a file not found error for that link.

[Jason Perlow]

I get a file not found error for that link.

That was a joke. But feel free to start the blog!

[Pan]

In the Riverdale Garden thread, the fact that that restaurant is one of only twelve Bronx eateries in the Zagat guide was mentioned. I wouldn't put much stock in Zagat's negligence of the Bronx. I don't think Zagat's Manhattan-centricity is based on quality, but on their bias and the bias of their reviewers, a group which I tend to think still skews toward Manhattanites and others who eat out much more often in Manhattan than in the "outer boroughs." I recall from the time that I used to be one of those reviewers that there was also a somewhat laughable Upper West Side bias over downtown locations, and I figure that at that time, it had a lot to do with the fact that in my parents' big apartment house on West End Av. (and presumably other such big apartment houses), lots of blank Zagat survey forms were left in the lobby, whereas none were to be found in a tenement like I and so many other people live in downtown. Nowadays, Zagat reviewers use online forms, but there is probably carryover from people who starting reviewing by paper checkoff lists.

[dknywbg]

Here's how the midtown Manhattan restaurant I used to work at got in, after years of lobbying and being ignored: Tim Zagat whizzed past in a cab one night just before the book closed for the year, and saw that we had a huge crowd outside. It was a private event, but it made it look like we were a hotspot. He whipped out his cell phone and called an editor from the cab. The guy contacted me for info/details the next day, and we were in.

Silly, but true.

[tanabutler]

Here's how the midtown Manhattan restaurant I used to work at got in, after years of lobbying and being ignored: Tim Zagat whizzed past in a cab one night just before the book closed for the year, and saw that we had a huge crowd outside. It was a private event, but it made it look like we were a hotspot. He whipped out his cell phone and called an editor from the cab. The guy contacted me for info/details the next day, and we were in.

Silly, but true.

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How'd you know when to stage the party so he'd be whizzing by in a cab? Wow!

[bentherebfor]

Personally, I stick to using the zagat "guide" as a phone book, not as a review guide. I have to say, as a restaurant phone book its gets 3 stars for price and 4 for efficiency. No stars as a guide.