When Google bought Zagat in 2011, it seemed logical to assume that we’d see the granddaddy of restaurant guides remade in an image more befitting of Silicon Valley: modern, sleeker, easy to download to your phone.
Five years later, it’s finally happening.
Google is relaunching Zagat today, rolling out a new mobile app, a new logo and – finally – a new ratings system. Zagat has ditched its old, iconic 30-point ratings system for the five-point scale that is used by Yelp.
(We downloaded the app today and played around with it for a minute. It’s pretty nice! We give it a 4.4 or 4.5).
It makes sense that Zagat, which was founded in 1979 by Tim and Nina Zagat, would decide to change its grade scale to better align itself with the ratings system one typically sees online, whether shopping for restaurants or hotels or for someone’s home where you can crash. “Zagat lost some of its luster during the digital age, restaurant-industry insiders and observers said, as online competition intensified,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
But also, Zagat’s old rating system made no sense. A restaurant scores a 22 rating, which sounds awesome! But is it?! What does a 19 mean? Or a 26? All these scores sound pretty high!
So now when a restaurant scores a 2 on Zagat you know it’s a place you aren’t taking a first date. But if it scores a 4 or 5? That’s definitely a place to carry on an awkward conversation with a stranger who you will probably never talk to again.
Photo: Zagat