Best of 2011 Results

Congratulations to all of these amazing nominees--each one are businesses and organizations we're incredibly fortunate to have in Astoria. And of course, a big thanks to everyone who voted!

These unscientific polls were open to all members from 12/1/11 through 12/31/11. Duplicate votes have been removed in an attempt to achieve accuracy.

Since we have so many categories this year, we've broken them down into three posts.

 

Best place to watch sports

  1. Dillingers (49) 30%
  2. Astoria Brewhouse (40) 25%
  3. Canz (31) 19%
  4. Blackbirds (20) 12%
  5. McCanns (20) 12%
Total Votes: 160


Best date spot

  1. DiWine (78) 38%
  2. Sweet Afton (59) 29%
  3. Rapture (22) 10%
  4. Hell Gate Social (16) 7%
  5. Leng Thai (13) 6%
  6. MexiQ (13) 6%
Total Votes: 201


Best happy hour

  1. Sweet Afton (177) 29%
  2. Rapture Lounge (115) 19%
  3. Hell Gate Social (108) 18%
  4. Dillingers Pub (80) 13%
  5. Sunswick 35/35 (75) 12%
  6. Gleasons (43) 7%
Total Votes: 598

Best trivia night

  1. Dalys Pub (108) 40%
  2. Sunswick (51) 18%
  3. Irish Rover (49) 18%
  4. Break (32) 11%
  5. N/A (29) 10%
Total Votes: 269

Best place for standup comedy

  1. Astoria Brewhouse (123) 43%
  2. Waltz-Astoria (62) 22%
  3. The Creek (52) 18%
  4. The eGarage (43) 15%
Total Votes: 280

Best manicure

  1. Blossom in Astoria (127) 32%
  2. Athenas (113) 28%
  3. Kiki Nails (78) 19%
  4. N/A (42) 10%
  5. Salon Tiara (18) 4%
  6. Natura Spa (15) 3%
Total Votes: 393


Best local theater

  1. The Secret Theatre (238) 50%
  2. Astoria Performing Arts Center (203) 43%
  3. The Chocolate Factory (23) 5%
  4. Queens Theatre (13) 3%
Total Votes: 477


Best beer-lover bar

  1. Sunswick (250) 42%
  2. The Sparrow (93) 15%
  3. Queens Kickshaw (85) 14%
  4. Mosaic (67) 11%
  5. MexiQ (59) 9%
  6. Mad Donkey (39) 6%
Total Votes: 593


Best pizza

  1. Sacs (222) 34%
  2. Rizzos (196) 30%
  3. Michael Angelos (82) 12%
  4. Albas (70) 11%
  5. Basil Brick Oven (52) 8%
  6. Rosarios (39) 6%
Total Votes: 661


Best interior renovation

  1. SugarFreak (196) 39%
  2. Hell Gate Social (62) 12%
  3. Queens Kickshaw (56) 11%
  4. BareBurger (Ditmars) (53) 10%
  5. Mosaic (51) 10%
  6. Pachanga Patterson (36) 7%
  7. William Hallet (43) 8%
Total Votes: 497


Favorite local charity

  1. Handcrafting Justice (97) 45%
  2. New York Cares (69) 32%
  3. Hour Children (23) 10%
  4. Riis Settlement House (17) 7%
  5. New York Foundling (7) 3%
Total Votes: 213


Best burger

  1. BareBurger (397) 37%
  2. 5 Napkin Burger (364) 34%
  3. Sweet Afton (190) 18%
  4. Astor Bake Shop (64) 6%
  5. Bistro 33 (31) 2%
Total Votes: 1,046


Best brunch

  1. Grand Cafe (262) 38%
  2. DiWine (146) 21%
  3. Sanford's (130) 19%
  4. Locale (71) 10%
  5. Dillingers Pub & Grill (64) 9%
Total Votes: 673


Best dessert

  1. SugarFreak (175) 38%
  2. Astor Bake Shop (120) 26%
  3. Omonia Cafe (107) 23%
  4. Ornella Trattoria (25) 5%
  5. Bugatti (24) 5%
Total Votes: 451


Views: 2726

Tags: award, best, best of astoria, wla

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Comment by Vantage Properties on January 10, 2012 at 10:23am

We really love this list of the best of the best in Astoria! So many places we haven't visited.

Comment by Nique on January 9, 2012 at 9:05pm

McCann's... 50 TVs, none of them in HD! Gotta love'em hahaha.

Comment by Kyra D on January 9, 2012 at 11:50am

I'm surprised Planet Fitness didn't make it up there. Every other people I know either goes there or the rock

Comment by Ran Craycraft on January 8, 2012 at 1:43pm

Part 2 posted!

Comment by Hollie Klem on January 8, 2012 at 1:05pm

where is the rest of the polls? I am so excited! 

Comment by DiWine on January 7, 2012 at 6:13pm

Thanks for all the support everyone!

Comment by Jenny on January 7, 2012 at 5:55pm

I would be happy to help in 2012 with collecting nominations during a certain time frame and them giving them to you to post  all nominations in a category before it goes live.  That might alleviate some of the  " but what about this place" comments.  Also lets each and every voter and venue see the full range of competitors.

With that said  thanks Ran for organizing this every year.  I know I have tried new places based on  the best of results.  Both winners and runners-up.

Comment by Hollie Klem on January 7, 2012 at 1:43pm

WOOT!

Comment by Ran Craycraft on January 7, 2012 at 1:05pm
Hi Ali, thanks for the note. You're absolutely right, there is a lot of room for improvement--is that an offer to help??? As you know, I'm a one-man-show, so extras like the Best Of and the Weekender take an unbelievable amount of behind the scene effort.

As for the nominations, it's definitely not my own personal picks. I opened up a discussion inviting categories and nominees and also added several nominees that people suggested even after the polls opened.

As you can imagine this poll and many other Best Of's from media across the City are unscientific--each requires some level of curation. Bottom line, these are fun and are maybe better described as "Most Popular", rather than "best of". Regardless, thanks for your feedback and participation in this year's poll.
Comment by Ali on January 7, 2012 at 12:07pm

question - why is there not a better system for nominating?  It seems like whoever creates the poll just picks their top choices, and there is no way to add other choices that a lot of people may have preferred to vote for.

If you want this to actually seem like an annual tradition that really shows a true "best of" I think there is a lot of room for improvement on the nomination side specifically...

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