Zagat has released its 2012 America’s Top Restaurants Survey, covering 1,578 of the nation’s top restaurants across 45 major markets. The new guide incorporates the votes of over 156,000 food lovers who dined out an estimated 25 million times in the past year. Here are just a few of the highlights:
-
81% of consumers are in favor of restaurants being required to
post their health department letter grades and a majority of diners in
major cities say letter grades influence their dining decisions and most
will eat only at restaurants that earn a B or better.
-
The national average of meals out per week is 3.1. Texans eat
out the most, with Houston (4.0), Austin (3.8), Dallas/Ft. Worth (3.6)
and San Antonio (3.5) leading the national pack, while diners who eat
out the least hail from the east coast: Washington, D.C. / Baltimore
(2.6), Philadelphia (2.5) and Boston (2.5).
-
U.S. diners are spending an average of $35.65 per meal, a
slight increase from last year’s average of $35.37. The most expensive
dining in the nation is in Las Vegas, with an average meal cost of
$47.53.
-
Looking at the 20 most expensive restaurants in each city, New
York leads with an average cost of $163.34. The most affordable dining
can be found in New Orleans at $28.36.
-
New Orleans diners are the nation’s best tippers, leaving an
average of 19.7% vs. the national average of 19.2%. West Coast diners
(San Francisco, Seattle, Hawaii, Los Angles, Sacramento and San Diego)
remain the least generous tippers at 18.6 to 18.9%.
-
While service again tops the list of dining-out irritants,
cited by 66% this year, complaints about noise/crowds, is now at 16%, up
from 12% five years ago.
-
40% of diners say a famous chef makes them more likely to dine at a restaurant, while 57% say that has no effect.
-
Although French and Japanese claim the top food spot in more
than one-third of the 45 markets covered in the survey, Italian is the
most popular cuisine, with 27% of respondents nationwide citing it as
their favorite, followed by American (18%), French (12%), Japanese (10%)
and Mexican (10%).
-
When dining at a restaurant that does not take reservations,
67% of diners nationwide would be willing to wait no more than 30
minutes for a table, while 12% said no more than an hour.
