Sushi Ota in Zagat's America top 25 for 2013

[karaethon]

Wow, I'm absolutely amazed that Sushi Ota somehow made it into the Zagat top 25:
(check out #20)
http://blog.zagat.com/2012/11/america...

Moreover, the sushi in that photo looks inedible. I guess they got the rushed service and other negative aspects correct though in the comments section (but I still don't know how the service can be rated 21)

[scottca075]

Zagat, like any survey site (Yelp, UrbanSpoon or a local newspaper's "best" list) is only as good as the data they get in. Kaito has 3 Zagat reviews vs Sushi Ota's 565 reviews. While Kaito does better on Yelp, 202 reviews vs Ota's 1376, Ota is still the more well known and popular.

The rating is based on getting the highest ratings in food, decor, service & cost. That means there may be restaurants with higher rated food (Addison?), but they get knocked down because of cost or something else. A great place like Shimbashi Izakaya may not have ANY votes because no one has ever added it to a site like Zagat.

Any of the food sites, Chow included, are fun for stimulating conversations, but it isn't like any of them have real answers as to what the "best" or "top" anything is.

[Beach Chick]

What I'm blown away by is that it surpasses #21 Gary Danko in SF...one of the best restaurants in the US.
Horrid pic.

[bizzwriter]

Hey BC -- this list is not a "top-25 in the U.S." -- it's actually a "#1 in 25 different cities in the U.S." list. They're not stacking up Danko vs. Ota, nor any other restaurants on the list. So Danko is #1 in SF, Ota is #1 in SD, Robuchon is #1 in Vegas, etc.

[Beach Chick]

My bad..

[karaethon]

sorry - my post title was probably a bit misleading

[RocknB]

Yes, thank you for the clarification.

[Rodzilla]

I'm surprised by the number of Japanese restaurants in general. I don't disagree, just surprised to see it.

I don't know why you would ever use a photo of a caterpillar roll for a top-tier sushi spot.

[RhonelyInsanediego]

Who knows ??? Avo + Seafood = San Diego ???

[karaethon]

It looks like a photo someone took with their cellphone and submitted to the site. I still find it a little sad that is the best photo they can come up with.

[bizzwriter]

So...the #1 resto in San Diego according to Zagat? Really? That's news to me.

[chetatkinsdiet]

What would you put ahead of it?

[bizzwriter]

Well -- focusing on sushi, I have had as good or better at both Toshi-San (RIP) and Kaito.