It turns out that not only diners�but also restaurateurs�were more than happy to express themselves electronically. By the close of voting in December, over 4,500 people had joined the online discussion, including over 450 restaurateurs. 

Surprisingly, the Survey found that both sides of the table have strikingly similar opinions on food service standards, overwhelmingly endorsing all of the nine proposed rights:
 

In announcing these results, Tim Zagat stated �I think restaurant professionals and patrons alike will be amazed to see how closely they mirror one another on the basic tenets of good service. Over 90% of restaurateurs supported five of the nine proposed rights. We are also pleased to see how receptive visitors to our Web site were to online voting and commenting, since we plan to conduct regular net-based surveys in the future.�

Although diners and restaurateurs came within a few percentage points of one another on most of the proposed rights, it�s notable that restaurateurs were even more willing than diners to accept special dietary requests as well as to accept the need for sanitary facilities and healthful food (Nos. 3 and 4). On the other hand, restaurateurs were more conservative than their customers respecting rights (No. 2) to be seated within 10 minutes of a reservation, (No.  5), to return �unsatisfactory� food or beverages and to refuse a tip (No. 9).

�Of course, the fact that 83% or more of restaurateurs support these four planks is remarkable,� Tim Zagat stated.

The only plank to receive less than overwhelming approval was the right for diners to bring their own wine (No. 7). Restaurateurs argued against this as a clear revenue loser and also as something prohibited by local law in many states.

�It turns out that nearly as many diners don�t see this as an inalienable right either,� Mr.  Zagat noted. One restaurant owner asked rhetorically, �Why not allow customers to BYO food?�

�The Bill of Rights vote shows that diners and restaurant professionals actually agree on most elements of service,� Nina Zagat said. �Far from being an adversarial relationship, it�s simply good business for any restaurant to make sure its patrons are happy.�

Dining Tips Introduced 

Based on the above results and after holding a conference with some of the nation�s leading restaurateurs to discuss them, Zagat Survey is introducing a new �Dining Tips� section into each of its upcoming restaurant guides for 2000. The section includes specific advice on making special menu requests, reservations, and of course, how to deal with service problems and tipping.

According to Tim Zagat, �our goal in adding this new segment to our guides is to assure that the customer gets the best possible dining experience. We know that�s what any decent restaurateur wants as well.�

Among Zagat�s Tips for achieving the Diners� Rights are the following simple guidelines:
 
 

�Communication is just as much part of good dining as elegant food presentation,� Tim Zagat said. � The truth is that diners have more power than they may assume. Every restaurateur wants to satisfy customers, since that�s the ticket to a successful business.  Rather than the combatants they sometimes appear to be in the midst of a crowded, overbooked Saturday night, diners and restaurateurs are natural allies�both want the same outcome, and each can help the other achieve it.�

The Right to Make Salty Comments

In addition to voting, the Zagat surveyors submitted their views on each of the nine proposed rights. Here is a sampling of the nearly 40,000 comments received:

1) The right to courteous, hospitable, informative service, starting with reservations handling

• If I wanted to feel like a burden, I could get a free meal by imposing on friends or family. 
• Only French restaurants should be allowed to be effete. 
• All dollars are created equal, whether from a first-time visitor or from a celebrity�s expense account. 
• Patrons exercise rights with their feet and their dollars. 
• I thought it was the customer who chooses the restaurant, not the other way around. 
• To see me again, treat me well. Give me grief and watch me walk. 
• Get rid of the �hold� button and the music! If your restaurant is so popular, hire more help.  
• Don�t promise what you know you cannot deliver. 
• Bad service ruins excellent cuisine. Great service warms up even the most humble fare. 
• I�m tired of hostesses and maitre d�s that act as if they control the gates of heaven. 

• Don�t you measure your self worth by whether or not you rate prompt service? 
• If I want to run up a bar bill, I�ll go to a good bar! 
• At least airlines compensate you if they overbook�so should the restaurant, with a free meal or entree. 
• A reservation should be just that�I didn�t accept an invitation to come down and wait. 
• Maybe 20 minutes would be fairer. I know I�d want some leeway when I am late. 
• Good things come to those who wait�I�d be more suspicious if I was seated the moment I�d arrived. 
• I have �reservations� about returning to any restaurant that can�t seat me on time. 
• If it�s going to be an hour, don�t tell me, �It�ll just be a few minutes.� 

• I get faster service from my doctor than at most restaurants these days. 
• A restaurant is basically renting your eating space�it�s up to the diner to keep their allotted time slot. 

• Healthful isn�t necessary, but sanitary is! That�s why I still stop at McDonald�s, too. 
• You can poison me with artful fat, sugar and salt, please! Just don�t kill me with germs. 
• I do prefer my soup without the fly.  
• I refuse to return to restaurants with dirty toilets. 
• Grade restaurants on cleanliness like they do in California�and post the grades on the front window. 
• Servers, keep your hands off the rims of glasses, the tines of forks. 
• If I wanted a dirty table and spoiled leftovers, I�d go to my mother-in-law�s�she doesn�t even charge.  
• Some food was never meant to be healthful. That�s why I eat at French restaurants. 
• If I want to scarf down a lot of cholesterol, that�s my business. 
• Hey, it�s the law, isn�t it? 

• Even Burger King says, �Have it your way.� 
• The right to know what ingredients are in your food is more important�and safer for food allergics. 
• If you can�t find something on the menu that suits you, perhaps you�re in the wrong place. 
• Within reason, restaurants should have lactose-, fat-, oil-, egg yolk- and peanut-free products on hand. 
• Remember Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally? That degree of pickiness shouldn�t be tolerated. 
• Call ahead with special requests. 
• Most establishments will usually bend over backwards to satisfy customers� special needs. 
• Fussiness is one thing, but for diners with nut and other food allergies, special requests are vital. 
• A restaurant isn�t a grocery store. 
• Some requests are difficult to meet, but we�ll always try. 

• If the food is inedible or not prepared to my order, then the establishment should �eat� the problem. 
• Restaurants shouldn�t have to take back unsatisfactory food or drinks that are more than 20% eaten. 
• After the third try, I get to punt my food back to the kitchen. 
• Mom always said, �You ordered it, you eat it.� 
• Just make sure to check your check at the end of the meal�some places charge for the new item. 
• I�m always afraid to send back�who knows if new dish won�t be contaminated as an act of revenge. 
• Give customers what they like. It�s not worth letting them leave and dissing you. 
• Only if the food is spoiled or unfit, not if you change your mind. You are responsible for what you order. 
• Some customers always complain�the ones with the biggest mouths, so it�s a Catch 22 for restaurants. 
• Quit whining and eat your food. You might learn to like something new. 

• I�d like to start smoking again so I could blow smoke at people talking on cell phones. 
• Why get annoyed at cell phones�it�s like eavesdropping with a microphone. 
• All right, so cell phones are rude, but people who complain publicly act as if they�ve been poisoned. 
• For generations restaurants accommodated smoking�there should still be a way to do this. 
• Cell phone etiquette is long overdue, but there are legitimate emergencies for which cells are necessary. 
• Get a grip and move out of the Stone Age. Welcome to technology. 
• At least now my babysitter never has trouble reaching us. And we always turn the ringer down. 
• What�s next�X-ray scanners at the door? 
• Smoking is a health issue; cell phones are a courtesy issue. 
• Restaurants should offer kid-free, perfume free, shooting fire and jerk-free sections. 

• What�s a reasonable corkage fee? $5, $10, $20? 
• Only for special occasion wines, or if they don�t have the same vintage on the menu. 
• I suppose we�ll soon have a right to bring our own food subject to a plate fee? 
• This should not be a right�bringing your own wine is illegal in many states. 
• I live in Dallas�we need the right to bring your own six-packs. 
• There are plenty of otherwise excellent restaurants with very mediocre wine cellars. 
• Only if the restaurant is dry, or if the same wine and vintage isn�t offered on the list. 
• I�d rather see restaurants stop adding a 200% mark up on their own bottles. 
• Why do prices for the same wine vary so much from one place to another? 
• What about scotch, champagne, vodka, gin and rum? 

• Remember�the problem is to resolve the problem, not blow steam and make a spectacle of yourself. 
• You shouldn�t have to go through three people telling the same story over and over. 
• How can good managers operate unless they know of possible problems? 
• Just be tactful and discreet�the whole restaurant doesn�t need to know you have a problem. 
• Sure you can complain, but they don�t have to listen. 
• Let�s amend the U.S. constitution�every American has the right to complain to a manager. 
• If I have a complaint and there�s no manager in sight, I never go back, period. 
• Elementary, my dear diner. 
• Rule 1. The Customer is always right. Rule 2. When a customer is wrong, see Rule 1. 
• A letter afterward will bring better results. 

• Tips should be earned, not expected. 
• OK, but will you leave a double or triple tip if the service is extraordinary? 
• A cheap tip will make as strong an impression as no tip at all. 
• This is a very satisfying way to voice your protest - and I am a former waiter. 
• Tip means �To Insure Proper Service�. It should not be automatic. 
• It�s a tip, not a cover charge. 
• Voice your dissatisfaction first. A waiter has to be pretty rude and unhelpful to warrant nothing. 
• Bad service flows from bad management. Next time, take your money elsewhere - all of it. 
• This should be a divine right, but I don�t always have the courage to exercise it. 
• Quality of food should not be a factor - that�s not the waiter�s fault. 
• There are unreasonable, fiscally tight cheapskates who look for any excuse to downgrade the tip.