Zagat Lists 10 Signs a Restaurant Is Good. We Think It's 10 Signs They'll Rip You Off

By Besha Rodell Wed., Aug. 29 2012 at 9:00 AM

Zagat published a story on Monday that lists the "10 Telltale Signs of a Good Restaurant." And either these "good restaurants" are stuck in a time warp, or they're seriously trying to get you to spend as much money as possible.

Apparently, good restaurants are the kind that fold your napkin every time you get up, have a coat check, stock expensive soap in the bathroom and have a "bread sommelier."

The problem is, those things aren't necessarily the signs of a good restaurant; they're the signs of an expensive restaurant. If the last 10 years have taught us anything, it's that the best places aren't necessarily the fanciest. I'd rather the restaurant was paying for decent ingredients than spending money on the wages of a napkin folder/bread sommelier.

Other apparent signs: "designer ice" in the cocktails and a menu printed in all lowercase type. Again, not signs of good -- just signs of trendy. Often not the same thing. They might as well say that the staff should be smokin' hot and there should definitely be a beet salad on the menu.

I can just hear the phone calls now. "Hello, I'm looking to make a reservation, but first I have a few questions. Are your cocktails chilled with regular ice or designer ice? What kind of font is your menu printed in? What's your napkin policy?"

There's only one foolproof sign a restaurant is good: The food is delicious.

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Tags:

Besha Rodell, Zagat

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jbehnken

The Zagat article was only half-bad. They had a few things right. Warm bread and room temp butter doesn't require a bread sommelier - just some attention to detail, which, I might add is all part of serving great food. I also get royally pissed when I'm forced to retain my silverware. That's service 101. On the other hand, designer ice, and lower-case fonts on your menu are pretty much ridiculous when measuring restaurant quality.

Dave_Lieberman topcommenter

Well... I'll let the designer ice slide, because I've actually done experimentation with fancy ice drinks vs. the same drinks with shell (non-fancy) ice and the difference is huge. However, that's a good sign of a great cocktail bar, not necessarily a great restaurant.

ChubbyChineseGirl

I couldn't agree more! and most times I like hand written menu or at least computer fonts that look it... makes it fee more personal... but I'd admit, an array of breads brought to the table and explained is quite irresistible!

SarahColson

A 'font' is something electronic on a computer screen. A 'typeface' is what you would refer to on a printed menu.

APLA

1 Like

@SarahColson Not quite. A font is the physical embodiment of a collection of letters, numbers, and symbols. A typeface is the way that collection looks, i.e., its design. There are typically multiple typefaces for a font, e.g., bold, italic, light, heavy, dark, etc. In other words, a font is what you use; a typeface is what you see.