New Zagat guide reviews NYC's bars, cafes, lounges

March 7, 2000
Web posted at: 12:02 p.m. EST (1702 GMT)

In this story: Restaurant bars rate high The best jazz club, favorite dives RELATED STORIES, SITES

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- In the late 1980s it was said that restaurants had become the focal point for New York's vaunted night life.

A new title in the famed Zagat series of restaurant guides, this one offering reviews of more than 1,000 of the city's bars, clubs, cafes and lounges, bears out that idea. Three of the city's trendiest restaurants also host the most popular bar scenes, according to the new guide published on Monday.

Topping the list in popularity were Asia de Cuba, the Blue Water Grill and Balthazar, the latter having staked out a bold-faced claim among the city's gossip columns.

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From sports, Irish and "dive" bars to trendy lounges, biker bars, comedy clubs, discos, jazz spots and gay bars, some 3,000 club crawlers in the city that never sleeps -- and where it seems everyone has an opinion that just has to be expressed -- rated the city's watering holes.

In the ratings of New York nightspots, age was a factor, with 20-somethings gravitating toward microbrew pubs, barbecue joints and sports bars, while folks in their 30s and 40s preferred restaurant bar scenes, the survey found.

"It's not that the young people have lost their appetite," said Zagat founder Tim Zagat. "You could sort of get the impression that people in their 20s drink and the ones in their 30s and 40s eat," Zagat said.

"Places like the Gramercy Tavern," one of the city's top restaurants which placed six in the bar guide, "never existed before," he said. "The front of the house is all singles and younger people having the tavern menu and drinking, and the back is a serious restaurant."

Zagat also noted, "Younger people have a lot more money than they used to. Many of these places are not inexpensive."

But the guide lists plenty of places for nighthawks to prowl without having to mortgage their lofts. Included in this category are establishments characterized as dives or Irish pubs, and those found in the so-called "outer boroughs" of Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island.

One, the legendary McSorley's in the East Village topped the list among male respondents who praised its "cheap mugs by the fistful."

At the other end of the spectrum, a martini at elegant spots like the Temple Bar, also in the East Village, or midtown's Whiskey Blue will set you back $9, without tip.

The average price for a mixed drink was $5.85, and respondents said the "vibe" of a place was its primary appeal. A whopping 90 percent said they went out to socialize with friends, while only 7 percent were hoping to meet people.

As with all Zagat guides, it is New Yorkers' strongly worded opinions ("It's SO three years ago," one contributor wrote) that make for fun reading. Zagat guides have gained a loyal following in large part because they are based on comments from thousands of consumers.

Tequilaville is "about as authentic as a $10 Rolex," according to one comment in the new guide. The gay bar 'g,' which topped that category, offers "minimalist elegance and maximum attitude"; and Hooters, of which New York actually has a pair, brings the plea "stop them before they augment!"

Even No. 3 Balthazar is decried for an encroaching "gold-chain, big hair crowd," heaven forfend, while at the top spot, Asia de Cuba some New Yorkers find it "obnoxious."

Among categories, the top bar was Angel's Share, which surveyors found swank and intimate, evoking a "'30s Tokyo film set" despite its curious location on the second floor of an East Village Japanese restaurant.

The top dance club, or disco, was Times Square's Float, which was lauded as "the new Studio 54." Dissenters decried its pounding music and rude door people, which does not exactly contradict its fans' characterization.

The venerated jazz club Village Vanguard was tied with Smalls for top jazz spots, while lounges were led by the Royalton Lounge and Bond St. At the latter, make it past the "pretentious doormen" and you can "overdose on models."

The Cafe Carlyle, where Bobby Short, Eartha Kitt and presently, Betty Buckley, hold court, was the favorite cabaret, while those more comfortable in flannel and shredded jeans might flock to dives such as Times Square's Siberia Bar, with its entrance on the landing of a grungy subway stairwell.

Copyright 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

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