Voting for our Readers’ Choice Restaurant and Bar Awards has started, so we asked two top chefs to guide us through this contentious debate: What makes a restaurant the best in town?

Sean Jorgensen from Avalon

Generally speaking, the headliner in any Shanghai restaurant is the food, with a distant second being the value of service. That’s not how it should be. Most restaurant service in China sucks (get over it–it’s a cultural thing). But fear not, for there are islands of impeccable service in this sea of mediocrity. The overall restaurant scene is slowly getting the idea that service is just as important as the food on the menu. It may not be the main reason diners come, but it’s one of the main reasons they religiously return.

First, let’s get this straight: just because you are an old restaurant doesn’t necessarily mean you are a good restaurant. Just because a place is a “Shanghai institution” doesn’t mean you want to eat there; it simply means there is one thing (probably location) that keeps it from going under.

The restaurants I have the fondest memories of are the ones where I remember the impeccable quality of the service. Some of these are gone now, but not due to a lack of effort. The best restaurants in town are the ones with skilled managers training their staff and a management team that values their employees like family.

You can’t put a price tag on good service, but you can show your appreciation when you vote. At the end of the day, the best restaurants employ people who give a sh*t, bring it every day, and possess a keen ability not only to entertain but also to make people want to come back.

An equation I use when I grade restaurants is this: quality + service / price = value. A lot of the cheapies (i.e. English teachers) will assert that the best restaurant is the one they can afford, but most people want more than RMB10 noodles. Value is the core reason why certain restaurants are successful, and service is as much part of that value as the food on your plate.

Most hotel restaurants have great service, and to discount the value they bring due to the automatic 15 percent service charge is absurd. Hotels train service staff rigorously, and it shows. But that service, as regimented and good as it is, sometimes misses the friendliness aspect, the connection with the guest that privately owned restaurants aspire to attain.

Personally, I’m looking forward to the day when a local restaurant gets Restaurant of the Year. But for now I know which restaurant I endorse–come ask me. I love to name the names of all the great service restaurants and especially the restaurants where I see guests treated like lepers, but we’ll save that for another time. The name of the game is value. Value for money, no matter how much cash that may be. Good luck to all.

Austin Hu from Madison

Call me closed-minded, call me a purist, call me what you will, but I am what I am. I think the defining factor in voting for the Restaurant of the Year is the food. Perhaps it’s because I cook for a living or perhaps it’s my fascination with all things fried, but the bottom line is that a restaurant provides diners with a meal–you go to a restaurant to eat. Service and consistency are certainly important, and they can often make or break an experience, but I can tolerate a lot of things if the food is brilliant.

When I use the term “brilliant” in regards to food, I’m not limiting myself to Western dining. A perfectly crafted xiaolongbao, gushing with high-quality pork, savory without being greasy and encapsulated with uniformly thin and just-elastic-enough dough takes my breath away.

When I choose to eat out, I am choosing product, the rest be damned. Give me the best product: dumpling, sushi, foie gras, whatever it may be. Want me to wait in line for two hours to eat a bowl of life-changing noodles? I’m there. I don’t mind the splinters from substandard disposable chopsticks, I don’t mind the guys hovering behind me, psychically urging me to hurry up and finish. I am one with my food. (Yes, I know, it’s very Zen.) You can give me the views and the gorgeous décor and I will appreciate it all, but if–and only if–the food can keep up.

My second deciding factor echoes Sean’s thoughts: I want value, or bang for my buck. Good food comes in all forms and at all price points. If you want a five-star dining experience, be prepared to pay for it. In return, any fine dining institution in the running for Restaurant of the Year should deliver an experience worthy of your money. You want great food for RMB50 a person? You can get it, but make peace with the service and décor that comes at that price point. You want to impress your parents? It’ll cost: location, good service, nice plates all cost, especially in Shanghai. Everyone loves a deal, but in a market of rising food costs, rents and salaries, there is only so low we can go.

Whatever establishment gets your vote, please do them a favor: support them, grace them with your lovely presence, introduce them to your friends. An award looks great on the wall, but it doesn’t pay the rent. I’ve heard many sad stories of great little restaurants going under, and usually when I ask the lamenter when was the last time they went there, they can’t give me a straight answer. So show your favorite spot some love and they will return in kind with (hopefully) many years of good times.

Do you agree or disagree with our chefs? What do you think makes a restaurant the best in town?

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