 It’s official: London restaurants rank amongst the finest in the world!
According to the recently published annual findings of the Zagat Report 2005, “…(London) is one of the top two, three or four cities – it is hard to say which – for restaurants”.
The highly acclaimed Zagat Survey of London Restaurants, headed by husband and wife team, Tim and Nina Zagat, has been going strong for almost thirty years and is currently extending its surveys to seventy or so other cities, around the globe. But what’s particularly interesting about the format of the Zagat Survey is that unlike many other reports on the restaurant industry, it bases its results on the views of restaurant customers rather than on the opinions of professional food critics.
The 2005 London survey offers feedback on approximately 1,300 London restaurants, although it also includes three top-notch establishments within striking distance of the capital. This year’s team of surveyors was split 42 percent female, 59 percent male; their remit - to rate and review each restaurant for appeal, food quality, décor, service and cost. The opinions of around 4,000 diners were sought. The data that emerged from this latest Zagat survey threw up some rather interesting nuggets of information. Findings included:
Competition
Competition, it would appear, is rife among new and established London restaurants. Exciting, new ventures are clearly vying for the custom of an ever-expanding (and enthusiastic) dining clientele, with a whole new raft of inspirational touches that they hope will make their establishments stand out from the mass. Many new restaurateurs, for example, in a bid to woo new customers - and to keep them coming back for more - have enlisted the help of well-known designers and architects, as well as top chefs who, on the strength of their names alone, can entice curious customers through their doors.
Common Gripes
A staggering 66 percent plus of London diners cited poor service as their major gripe, compared with as few as six percent of customers moaning about the standards of food. Surprisingly, only 2 percent of those interviewed found other people’s mobile phones ringing during their meals, irksome and off-putting.
Smoking
Statistics revealed that more than 33 percent of diners would eat out more often if restaurants practiced a zero tolerance policy towards smoking. Further, a high percentage of smokers and non-smokers alike expressed a dislike for dining in a smoke-laden environment. To quote Mr Zagat, “diners …want to relax in a comfortable environment. Part of being comfortable for many people is dining smoke-free. Even smokers don’t want to be around cigarette smoke when they are eating”.
Tipping
When it comes to tipping, London diners did not fare too well in the survey, compared with diners in other cities surveyed around the world. All in all we’re a pretty stingy bunch where tipping is concerned, with the average London diner forking out around 12 percent of the bill. By comparison, New Yorkers are happy to stump up an average 18 percent in tips.
Cost
According to the 2005 results, the price of an average meal in London is around £30.85. This is the second most expensive of all cities surveyed, worldwide. Top of the list was Tokyo, with an average of £40.55. Paris was third most expensive, at £28.01. As a matter of interest, New York came in at £24.82, San Francisco at £21.52, Chicago at £20.00, Miami at £19.29, and Los Angeles, a modest £19.18.
The overriding conclusion, however, of this year’s Zagat London Restaurant Survey is that London’s dining scene is buoyant. The icing on the cake is that our favourite restaurants are doing “battle with the bigs”, in other countries. London’s dining scene, in the opinion of Tim Zagat is often superior to our age-old rival in the culinary stakes, Paris – the hitherto capital of class cuisine. Referring to the best of what London has to offer, Mr Zagat volunteers that “in many ways I think it is more interesting than Paris”.
But as with any survey, the results suggest that there is always room for improvement. And the way to head off the competition in the restaurant industry is to focus on improving service, as well as customers’ perception of the whole dining experience. Unrivalled service, in the opinion of Tim Zagat, is “the key to customers enjoying their food”… It will be interesting
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