UAE is in need of a "Zagat" equivalent dining out rating system

Over the past two years, I have visited the big apple (New York City) five times. Every visit was a unique experience on its own in the sense that I nearly never did the same thing twice. Of course, this was possible thanks to my wonderful friends over there who always took care of me when I'm in town (you know who you are  :) ).

One interesting thing I recall being introduced to by my friends is a website called Zagat (www.zagat.com). Zagat is a survey established as a way to rate the collective dining experiences of customers. The way it works is that thousand of people share their opinions through featured surveys. Zagat then uses the results of these surveys to create ratings and review which in turn get published online and in Zagat guides.The guide initially covered restaurants in New York but has expanded ever since to cover over 30 states within the US along with 9 other cities outside the US. In fact, most restaurants I visited in New York proudly post their Zagat rating on the door so lost diners such as myself can know what type of experience to expect once they walk in.

Anyone who follows me on twitter (@JaberRami) knows that I usually share my experiences in the UAE. Thing is, I have to admit that these experiences are based on an individual's experience (i.e. me) and may at times be biased depending on how that one visit went. Once during this Ramadan, I positively reviewed one of the venues because, of course, based on my one visit to them, everything went perfectly well! I tweeted and posted on facebook a really good review about them. As a result, around 40 of my friends decided to try it out based on my recommendation, who in turn gave me quite an opposing negative feedback on the venue. 

This establishment is a new one and also temporary given the purpose it was setup for, so it may be expected that performance and experiences fluctuate over time, but what I believe harmed the review of this particular establishment was poor management. Simply because the main negative feedback I received were unstable minimum charge policies (especially during the first week of operation), and also insufficient inventory as the venue informed some of the guests that they ran out of tea! Who runs out of tea during Ramadan? Lol!

Many other well established restaurants/cafes rely on this, the fact that they are older/bigger, more established, which in many instances, proves nothing more than a compromised quality of service. As quality customer service is attribute to successful tourism, I believe that it is time for those establishments to become more accountable to the level of service they provide to customers. Why not establish a Zagat-like rating where the main feedback comes from thousands of experiences shared by diners? I think that it should become mandatory that those ratings be posted on the doors of those establishments so un-expecting customers know exactly what to expect as an experience, and so those establishments know that the better level of service they provide, the better it will be for their business. What do you guys think?

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