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TheBuzz
Erika Engle
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Hawaii’s best eateries for 2008, according to Zagat
America's Top Restaurants for 2008 include nearly 60 in Hawaii, according to
Zagat Survey LLC.
The just-released guide to more than 1,400 restaurants reveals that Honolulu's top food-points were earned by Alan Wong's, La Mer, Hoku's, Roy's and Chef Mavro.
Our most popular eateries are Alan Wong's, Roy's, Hoku's, La Mer and
Duke's.
The eleven top food-point-scorers are on the mainland, but among overall ratings for food, service and decor, many Hawaii back- and front-of-the house crews and interior designers can be proud.
TheBuzz's nearly arbitrary and capricious search found that Zagat rated Alan Wong's food 28, its service 26 and its decor, 20, with an average cost of $58. La Mer got 27 for food and service and 28 for decor with an average $78 cost.
Kitschy Tiki's Grill & Bar got 18, 18 and 21 with an average cost of $30, while popular local eatery and reputed chef-hang Side Street Inn got 23 for food, 15 for service and an understandable 7 for decor -- not that there's anything wrong with duct tape. Its average cost, $22.
Zagat explains online how restaurants can be considered for review, get menus posted and more.
Use the online site map to find the instructions.
Zagat dug deep into diner doings to derive desirable and despicable data for dozens of destinations.
Honolulu tops the U.S. in phoning in RSVPs, at 92 percent, while San Franciscans lead in riz-vipping online, at 43 percent.
Honolulu leaves an average 18 percent tip, while Denver dominates at 19.5 percent.
In Honolulu, 54 percent of 14 possible weekly lunches and dinners are eaten out or are served as take-out.
So what are we eating?
It may shock no one that the favored cuisine of Long Island is Italian, but it is also Honolulu's fave, Zagat says, with a rating of 20 percent.
Our second-favorite cuisine is "other," whatever that means, at 18 percent, followed by Japanese, (17); American, (11); Thai, (10); Chinese and French (tied at 8); Mexican, (5), and Indian food is last at 3 percent -- unless you count the mystery-subcategories in "other."
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4747, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at:
eengle@starbulletin.com