When comparing Zagat vs Yelp, the Slant community recommends Yelp for most people. In the question“What are the best Android apps for finding a place to eat?” Yelp is ranked 3rd while Zagat is ranked 9th. The most important reason people chose Yelp is:
Lets you know what the dishes actually look like, not what it looks with an Instagram filter on.
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Separates scores into food, decor, and service
Pro Gives the exact price
Instead of a some symbolic price range, the price for a typical meal is provided.
Pro Large collections of candid customer photos
Lets you know what the dishes actually look like, not what it looks with an Instagram filter on.
Pro Search filters allow a lot of customization
"Most Reviewed" for popular restaurants, "Highest Ratings" for well-received restaurants, use the # of reviews the popular restaurants as an anchor for had to evaluate the restaurants with the highest ratings. For example, if popular restaurants have ~1000 reviews, then well-received restaurants with >4.5 stars and >200 reviews is pretty good. A restaurant with 5 stars an 20 reviews might not be as solid.
Pro Huge repository
It's hard to find any food-related business who doesn't have a page on Yelp. (If it doesn't, that's a bad sign)
Pro Review keywords are helpful for menu must-orders
If enough people have posted reviews repeating the same key words (e.g. tiramisu), Yelp will highlight them. A good sign of something you should definitely order if it's your first time at the restaurant, or something that the restaurant does particularly well.
Cons
Con Smaller restaurant selection
Zagat mostly reviews sit-down, mainstream restaurants.
Con Not up to date
Post-Google acquisition, Zagat has been integrated into Google, but it's unclear where it's headed.
Con Opaque rating system
Ratings are assigned by some number of critics/reviewers, but who and how many reviews taken into consideration aren't revealed.
Con Confusing 30-point scale
With so many points to give, restaurants that fall below 24 all become questionable. Either that, or users are forced to convert it to a 5 point scale in their head, 24 = 4 stars, 18 = 3 stars, etc.
Con Best Match is rarely the best match
The best match is usually the result of some continuous feedback loop of recommending the same set of restaurants to people over and over again, instead of the best restaurants in the area.
Con Android app lacks certain features
The iOS app allows you to use all the filters of the desktop site, but users can't sort by most reviewed or highest rating on Android devices.
Con Awkward photo presentation
They show from oldest to newest, even though the newest photos are more relevant. The desktop version of Yelp also has an old photo display system where you have to click to reveal each page of photos.