Zagat Names Daniel Named Top Restaurant in New York City

New York City is a city with a large variety of ethnicities. Of course with the large variety of ethnicities comes a very large variety of restaurants competing to be the best. The winner this year according to the Zagat Survey was Daniel. This is a comeback for the restaurant which had lost the top ranking to Le Bernardin last year. This information was announced in a recent press release by Zagat Survey.

The Zagat survey didn't only announce the most popular New York City restaurant, but it also pointed out quite a bit of interesting information about New York City's restaurant scene that many people might not know. The survey results were based on a record audience of 34,678 diners who participated in the survey. Between those 34,678 diners they accouned for six million meals worth of experience in food consumption.

Overall New York's dining scene scored highly on the Zagat survey as it received a 27 out of 30 points for choice and diversity. It also scored 24 out of 30 for diversity. All the news wasn't good though as it scored lass than 50% as far as table availability (13 out of 30) and just 15 out of 30 for hospitality. The biggest complaint people had about restaurant service in New York City was the service. Half of the survey participants listed that as their biggest complaint, while 34% listed noise and crowds, and only 11 percent listed the prices as their biggest complaints about New York City dining.

It's not surprising prices were low on the complaint level as according to the press release the average cost of meals only rose 3 cents from last year to $39.46. That is still the highest average price per dinner though among U.S. Cities. The high end restaurants saw much higher inflation rates. The top 20 most expensive restaurants average $143.06 for dinner, which is close to an 11.6% increase per year when compared with the $84.45 it costs in 2001.

New York diners are just average tippers at 19% per check. The national average according to Zagat's numbers is 18.9% New Yorkers are also average when analyzing how often they dine out. The average New York City resident dines out 3.3 times weekly which is the same average frequency for U.S. diners throughout the country.

The New York City dining scene offers plenty for the smart diner. They just need to keep their eyes open and look for realistically priced meals. Of course for those looking for an extravagant dinner out there options are there as well. Remember, those 20 highest priced restaurants average $143.06, that means you can easily spend over $200 for a dinner if you wish to impress.

SOURCES:

Prnewswire.com. "Zagat Releases 29th Annual New York City Restaurants Guide, Average Meal Cost Holds Steady, Prices at High End Soar".
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