Dine About Town
So it’s time for San Francisco's Dine About Town during January 1-31, where participating restaurants offer specially prepared 3-course prix fixe lunch for $21.95 or dinner for $31.95
I've gone through and generated a list based on a metric of food score vs. $$ cost. (I've only done it for dinner since I won't be able to sample the lunch offerings) For the most part my food scores and prices are drawn from Zagat.com with minor reference to Yelp.com and the (gasp) Michelin guide where Zagat entries were missing. This isn't an endorsement of Zagat's listings per se, rather an attempt to use a standard metric with enough granularity to prioritize my selections. I find the Yelp ratings to be over-inflated based on my experience for specific restaurants; so I used a conversion factor (YelpStars/5 x25=approx Zagat score). Yelp also doesn't list a cost, which is essential for this analysis. For the lone Michelin entry I used a conversion factor (MStars x 30=approx Zagat score) but ended up adjusting it to the Yelp score; thus this entry may be under-ranked.
In general my strategy is to target high food scores that are also fairly expensive. I've colour coded based on score and then sorted by score within the price category. If the average price is less than $40 it falls below the red line. This means you could go to this restaurant anytime and not spend as much as the prix fixe offer. I've included them for completeness but given the constraints of time and so many restaurants...
Pay attention to days where the offer is valid. Reservations are recommended. Oh yeah they say you need to pay with VISA, but I don’t think anyone is enforcing that.
I'd love feedback, comments and suggestions.
Enjoy and I'll see you around town.