Zagat Community Guidelines
As part of the reimagined Zagat platform, the Community Guidelines are a living document in a constant state of evolution, created in collaboration and cooperation with our users. Here are some suggestions for reading, posting, and eating together in harmony.
Be honest. Zagat surveys and reviews should be based on your authentic experiences, describing places you actually visited personally and recently.
Be specific. Share what you liked and why. Taste, texture, smell, plating, ambiance—let people know what stood out to you about your experience, and why they should be equally excited to try this restaurant. When’s a good time to go? What sort of occasion is this restaurant perfect for? What stands out about the setting or service, and what do you absolutely have to try off the menu? Zagat reviews are meant to be brief, as each review box is capped at 250 characters. So we ask that you share the best of your experience, including favorite dishes and concrete details. Stick to the highlights that other people will find most useful, interesting, and compelling.
Be visual. Share photos of what you ate. Snap a pic before taking a bite. More photos are always welcome, but keep them focused on the food and the space, rather than your gorgeous self, your awesome friends, or the restaurant staff (they’re working). Photos of wonderful humans that nevertheless do not help and inform other readers may be -- very respectfully! -- removed from the restaurant page.
Be generous. If you have a bad time, pause and think about whether the reasons might be circumstantial or temporary rather than a situation others are likely to experience also. Relentless cheerleading isn’t the objective, but consider whether an off night for a server, host, or chef is the exception or the rule. If any part of your experience—whether positive or negative—feels like information that would be helpful to other diners, then go right ahead. But remember this isn’t a burn book.
Be respectful. Participating in the Zagat community is built on a foundation of respect for one another’s experiences and opinions about what makes a good restaurant. To maintain a safe, honest, sincere, useful, and enjoyable community experience, we explicitly discourage users from engaging in racism, hate speech, bigotry, or xenophobia; defamation, trolling, doxxing, harassment, or personal attacks; misinformation, misrepresentation, impersonation, or fraud; pornography, obscenity, or offensive content; copyright violations or theft of intellectual property; or inappropriate commercial or promotional activity.
Be yourself. Everyone in the Zagat community brings something to the table by sharing their personal experiences when dining out or ordering in. We want to hear from you, and so does everybody else.
Why would your content or user account or survey be removed from Zagat?
Zagat reserves the right to delete any content from the platform or remove any user for not complying with our Community Guidelines & Values. There is a team dedicated to ensuring the authenticity of all submissions. Users or restaurants that violate this rule will be removed from the platform.
See our full Terms & Conditions.