Zagat Survey which has become the world's most trusted source to help consumers make informed decisions about restaurants, nightspots, hotels, attractions and other leisure activities has been acquired by Google.
 
Started as a hobby in 1979, Zagat Survey is now the world's leading provider of consumer survey-based information on where to eat, drink, stay & play worldwide.

With ratings and reviews based on the opinions of over 350,000 surveyors from around the globe and over the years, Zagat Survey has won universal applause.

For example, the Newhouse Syndicate has called Zagat Survey "the most up-to-date, comprehensive and reliable guides ever published," while The New York Times called Zagat Survey "a necessity second only to a valid credit card."

The company now employs approximately one hundred full-time staff at its Columbus Circle headquarters in New York City.

In addition to becoming the world's best-selling publisher of restaurant guides, Zagat Survey has developed business relationships with hundreds of prominent companies. Acura, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, Diageo, Merck, Merrill Lynch, MGM, Microsoft, Pfizer, Sony, Toyota, Verizon, Visa, WellPoint and many others have commissioned customized guides for their customers or have sponsored Zagat content in various media.

Google was excited on their blog and stated: "With Zagat, we gain a world-class team that has more experience in consumer based-surveys, recommendations and reviews than anyone else in the industry. Founded by Tim and Nina Zagat more than 32 years ago, Zagat has established a trusted and well-loved brand the world over, operating in 13 categories and more than 100 cities. The Zagats have demonstrated their ability to innovate and to do so with tremendous insight.

Their surveys may be one of the earliest forms of UGC (user-generated content)—gathering restaurant recommendations from friends, computing and distributing ratings before the Internet as we know it today even existed. Their iconic pocket-sized guides with paragraphs summarizing and "snippeting" sentiment were "mobile" before "mobile" involved electronics. Today, Zagat provides people with democratized, authentic and comprehensive view of where to eat, drink, stay, shop and play worldwide based on millions of reviews and ratings."