What restaurant was rated as America's most overpriced? Hint: It's coming to Elk Grove!
The study found Oakland ranked as the most overpriced restaurant city, joined in the top five by San Jose and Fresno, with Sacramento coming in 12th place.
Love or loath them, algorithms can provide you with information you might not otherwise discover or, for that matter, want to discover.
This weekend, a story from the food website Eat This, Not That titled "7 Restaurants Named 'Most Overpriced' in New Study: 'What a Rip-Off'" showed up in my Google News feed. Intrigued about why this story would appear in my feed, I took the bait and clicked through.
Subtitled "Customers were not happy at these eateries," I guessed it was about overpriced chains or longtime nationally recognized independent restaurants like Peter Luger's in Brooklyn or Brennan's in New Orleans.
On both accounts, I was wrong. Instead, it listed seven regionally famous restaurants.
Much to my surprise, the number one overpriced restaurant was California-based. Furthermore, it has recently generated buzz locally based on plans to take over a much-ballyhooed restaurant.
That's right, according to an analysis, Eat This, Not That, reported the most overpriced American Restaurant is Oakland's Horn Barbecue.
The story noted that the study was conducted by Preply.com. Preply's story, titled "Study reveals the cities with the most overpriced restaurants," said, "We conducted a language analysis of 57,245 Google reviews of over 10,000 restaurants in the top 50 major U.S. cities. By analyzing the language reviewers use, we identified the most overpriced and fairly priced restaurants across America."
Topping the list was Horn's Barbecue. In what could be a verification of Horn's rating, the study also found Oakland ranked as the most overpriced restaurant city, joined in the top five by San Jose and Fresno, with Sacramento coming in 12th place.
In its description of Horn, Preply wrote, "While barbecue joints tend to have higher prices due to the cost of meat, reviewers like Beto Salgado say the prices at Horn aren't worth it, "A bit overpriced, had better for less $."
Earlier this week, an Elk Grove News reader shared a very favorable review of the new Horn Barbecue outlet in the Bay Area community of Lafayette. The story included an image of prices, which can be seen below.
That review indicates Horn has a superior grasp on the BBQ business compared to Slow and Low, the now-closed establishment they will occupy in Old Town-Historic Downtown Elk Grove. By most accounts, Slow and Low had inferior food at premium prices.
Ultimately, customers will pay a premium for a top-quality product with limited regard to pricing. However, if the food quality doesn't meet expectations, overpriced menu items will waylay Horn, just like Slow and Low was.
