Introducing the Brownstoner Restaurant Ratings Feature
Recognizing the significant role that restaurants play in shaping the character and desirability of a neighborhood—and the fact that the major review sources have yet to comprehensively cover Brooklyn—we’re launching a new feature today. Every day at noon, we’ll run a post on one Brooklyn restaurant that will include a mash-up of existing reviews along…
Recognizing the significant role that restaurants play in shaping the character and desirability of a neighborhood—and the fact that the major review sources have yet to comprehensively cover Brooklyn—we’re launching a new feature today. Every day at noon, we’ll run a post on one Brooklyn restaurant that will include a mash-up of existing reviews along with menus and other vital statistics, and then invite readers to comment and rate the restaurant. Over time, the hope is that we’ll have a robust user-generated guide to dining in Brooklyn. Helming this project is Kara Zuaro, author of I Like Food, Food Tastes Good and, some of you old-timers may recall, the former editor of The Brooklyn Record (remember that?). Anyway, we urge you to participate, being as honest and fair as possible. And now for the first restaurant…
This is a very good idea. I would love to make a recommendation to start: Rasputin Restaurant. It’s a well established Russian restaurant that I went to last month for my friend’s 30th birthday. It was unbelievably decorated with great meat, soups, cold cuts, and salads. We also enjoyed the cabaret show and then live European dance music ‘til 3 in the morning.
This is a very good idea. I would love to make a recommendation to start: Rasputin Restaurant. It’s a well established Russian restaurant that I went to last month for my friend’s 30th birthday. It was unbelievably decorated with great meat, soups, cold cuts, and salads. We also enjoyed the cabaret show and then live European dance music ‘til 3 in the morning.
Kara! I love your book!
I love it! Keep the new useful features coming.
Great idea…looking forward to Clinton Hill/Fort Green reviews.
Hi Kara,
Thanks for the response. Years of reading the Brownstoner comments section has made me skeptical but I do hope that the restaurant reviews workout.
Your five point scale is three negative responses and two positive responses (one of which is the what I expect response):
you are setting up the reviews to be negative for the most part.
Left Hook: I understand your point, but I do believe that our new restaurant feature can offer one thing the other food sites can’t. It allows Brooklyn restaurants to be rated against each other – by people who actually live here. On those other sites, our mom-and-pop shops are held up against some of the best restaurants in the world. And so many local hang-outs are reviewed in regard to whether they’re “worth a trip to Brooklyn.” Personally, I just want to know how neighborhood restaurants compare to the other options in the general vicinity – and whether they’re worth walking a few extra blocks. I hope some of you feel the same way.
You may not think this counts for much but I think there is a major difference between the readers a real estate blog and the readers of a restaurant review or food site. The latter reader, I would expect, tend to be specifically looking to expand there gastronomical knowledge where as brownstoner readers are primarily seeking to expand their understanding of Brooklyn real estate or to pump the real estate prices of their neighborhood. Personally, I would trust the Zagat reviewer before I would trust the Brownstoner reviewer. But hey, there are some real Brownstoner believers on this blog who I know will disagree. Just saying…