From Zagat: Top NYC Restaurants

New York Survey Results Are In!

Once again, Gramercy Tavern proved the Most Popular

Photo: courtesy of Gramercy Tavern

Ready for an epic reveal? Our 2011 New York City Restaurants Survey results are in! This year, 40,569 surveyors rated 2,115 restaurants, and all signs indicate that the dining scene is still sluggish two years after the Great Recession. Of the 123 noteworthy newcomers, the majority are casual in style and modestly priced. Even with the abundance of low-cost options, 27% of surveyors report dining out less than they did six months ago. Still, restaurants dished out plenty of meals – so let’s take a look at some winners!

This year, Eric Ripert’s French seafooder Le Bernardin took the Top Food category, while Gramercy Tavern took the Most Popular title for the sixth time in 10 years. Asiate in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel was No. 1 for Decor, while Per Se won top honors in the Service category. The No. 1 rated newcomer of the year? Maialino, located in the Gramercy Park Hotel.

Fette Sau, Top Barbecue winner

Photo: Noah Kalina

Brooklyn expanded its bona fides this go-round with an unprecedented number of top cuisine winners. According to surveyors, the best barbecue in town is in Williamsburg, at Fette Sau. The borough’s Mile End overthrew perennial winner Barney Greengrass in the Top Deli category, while Pacificana was named Top Chinese. Even though the culinary scene across the river is rapidly transforming, some things never change. Peter Luger was named the city’s best steakhouse, for the 27th year in a row.
Food-truck fans will be happy to note that the category is new to this year’s Survey – 26% of respondents report eating from a grub-slinging vehicle at least occasionally. The top three trucks are Wafels & Dinges, Street Sweets and Van Leeuwen Ice Cream.
If you want to dig your teeth into some other statistics, check out the numbers below. And remember, Tim Zagat will be at Zabar’s on October 7 to sign copies of the new book. Get info about that here.

• The Health Department’s new letter-grading system is popular, with 83% of our surveyors approving of it.
• 42% of surveyors think that the government should require restaurants to reduce the amount of salt in their dishes, but 49% oppose a tax on sugary drinks.
• 81% of surveyors feel it’s acceptable to take pictures of their food, but 64% say it’s “rude and inappropriate” to text, e-mail, tweet or talk on a mobile phone at a restaurant.
• Surveyors rated overall hospitality in the dining scene a 17, up from 15 during pre-recession times.
• The average cost of a meal in New York is $41.76, a marginal decrease from $41.81 last year. That’s the first decrease since the post–September 11 slump in 2002.

To read some of the wackiest comments from our survey, check out the results of our Wittiest Surveyor contest.