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Restaurant Guides: Has Zagat.com Met Its Match?
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Advantage: Zagat.com.
BONUS FEATURES: Zagat.com subscribers receive ZagatWire, a monthly update on new restaurants and other entertainment news in Boston, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Make sure to opt out if you don't want to receive ZagatMail (the company's monthly newsletter) and periodic promotions. Not included in the subscription but also available from Zagat.com is Zagat to Go, for ratings access via mobile phones and PDAs ($24.95 per year).
Tabs at the top of the page for the Restaurant Guide will connect you instantly to the online material from Food & Wine and Travel + Leisure magazines (plus you can toggle between the sister magazines via links at the bottom of the page). "The World's Best," the latter publication's annual guide to, well, you know, includes T+L 500 (its take on the best restaurants, hotels, etc.). Food & Wine lists its picks for the year's best new chefs from coast to coast.
Advantage: Toss-up. We like the PDA option from Zagat.com but travel articles are more fun to read than . . . more listings.
BOTTOM LINE: If the thinking is that nothing beats a free service, then the Restaurant Guide is a great online destination. We liked the inclusion of recipes (and loved the inspiration offered by links to features such as "A Cook's Vietnam Journal"), but it seems more for the armchair traveler than a handy reference for those on the go -- part of the appeal of an I-can-find-it-anywhere-there's-Internet guide.
For digestible information, ease of use, streamlined presentation and opinions presented with a just-the-facts-ma'am attitude, Zagat.com remains the master of the online restaurant listing. But is it worth the $19.95 for a year's subscription? For foodies and frequent travelers who like their road food with ratings on the side, we'd say yes.
-- Anne McDonough
Zagat Survey: http:/
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