About a month ago a Rand McNally survey about “America’s Best Small Town” was being hyped on the city’s Facebook page. At the time I pointed out the irony of this survey overall, being that Burnsville’s elected officials/staff do not believe the city is a “small town”, and neither do most of its residents. However, the survey which is looking at the topic areas of: most beautiful, most patriotic, most fun, friendliest, and best food has continued and the low response rates have catapulted some of these towns, many unknown to the rest of the outside world, to the top of a completely worthless survey’s results.
Now, while the topic should have died following the original post, the StarTribune went ahead and published an article entitled, “Burnsville dining is no joke”. However true that statement may be to the various restaurants listed in the article, especially Burger Jones Burnsville location which is currently running at an astoundingly poor 50% rating on Urbanspoon, as you can see from the table below, the vast majority of restaurants in Burnsville which have been reviewed by Lazy Lightning are mediocre at best:
| Year | URL | Rating |
| 2011 | Burger Jones | Average |
| 2011 | Morgan’s on Nicollet: A New World Tavern | Average |
| 2011 | Taqueria Hidalgo | Below Average |
| 2010 | Juniors Sports Cafe | Average |
| 2010 | Porter Creek Hardwood Grill | Excellent |
| 2010 | Rack Shack BBQ | Average |
| 2010 | India Palace | Average |
| 2009 | bd’s Mongolian Grill | Average |
| 2009 | Roasted Pear | Average |
| 2009 | Cam Rahn Bay | Average |
| 2009 | Tacolmeca | Excellent |
| 2009 | Taqueria La Hacienda #3 | Excellent |
Of the twelve open restaurants reviewed since 2009 in Burnsville, three (25%) rate as excellent (only one of which is mentioned in the StarTribune article). One (8%) rates as below average and 8 (67%) rate as average at best. While there was an astounding 47 people (0.0779358604% of the city’s population, and yes, that’s a %) voting for Burnsville to be rated for “Best for Food”, this is more of a ridiculous popularity contest–which has been a major flop on all accounts–than a datasource worthy of anyone’s time, let alone the StarTribune.
From the article:
Burnsville officials are ecstatic over the selection, especially the publicity it is generating around the country.
“What this story does is that it furthers the case that, at least in the southern metro area, Burnsville is a restaurant hub,” said Skip Nienhaus, economic development coordinator for the city. “There’s kind of a restaurant for every taste.”
It’s true, Burnsville has a diverse food culture. Unfortunately it consists largely of average eateries serving mass-marketable entrees out of chain-backed storefronts. While that is fine, the highlights of Burnsville’s dining scene as noted in the table above, come out to be just about average and the low turnout for this survey shows just how few people care about Burnsville at all–let alone as a food destination.
The fact that Burnsville’s CVB is so excited about this survey and the fact that the StarTribune would waste their time composing nearly 600 words about it makes Burnsville, and especially the newspaper, look like a real joke.
So what do you think about Burnsville’s food culture? Do you agree that the majority of Burnsville’s restaurants are average at best or do you really believe it deserves to be in the running for “Best for Food”? Are you disappointed that the StarTribune printed what is little more than a Burnsville CVB press-release-as-an-article about such a ridiculous survey with a response rate which is about 50% of a typical Lazy Lightning weekly poll? What about the survey itself. Are the categories a worthy test of “Best Small Town”? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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June 15th, 2011 at 7:23 am
In a vacuum, your list doesn’t tell me much about the quality of Burnsville restaurants. I would be interested in seeing how the Burnsville list stands up against lists of restaurants you have reviewed in other cities. Maybe you are a bit fussy, and the Burnsville ratings are very good compared to other cities where virtually everything was “below average”. Maybe you have low standards and Burnsville really sucks because every other city has a majority of their restaurants in the “excellent” category.
June 15th, 2011 at 7:40 am
You can see the data mapped out here: http://www.lazylightning.org/lazy-lightning-restaurant-review-map
But! Thanks for pointing out what I intended above. Because the cities are all over the country and, sometimes, are unknown it’s difficult to accurately compare something like dining to show that Burnsville is truly a beacon of “Best for Food”.
Basically Rand McNally offers random cities the ability to have people like them but offers no ability to compare and contrast locally or even across the groups. If they offered 10 MSP cities and let the voting filter up from there then perhaps this would be valid.
That said, my vacuum is just as meaningful as their methodology.
June 15th, 2011 at 8:18 am
It’s understandable, even forgivable for any city official to hype their city. However, I am very suspicious when Rand McNally gets into the city rating business. More puzzling, why RM has any cred on dining is beyond me – when was the last time you went to any RM product to find a good restaurant?
As to Bill’s restaurant ratings, sometimes I agree with him, sometimes I don’t. After all it’s just one persons opinion, really. But to rate Burnsville as a great place to dine… you’ve got to be joking! Here, I completely agree with Bill, it’s a ridiculous proposition.
June 15th, 2011 at 8:24 am
Rand McNally should stick to printing road maps and the “47 people” (I’m guessing 4 people with ties to the City government voting multiple times) need to get out more.
June 15th, 2011 at 8:39 am
I’ve never thought of Burnsville as a culinary destination. It’s not bad, but I’d be surprised to see it rank so high in a professional, formulaic review. Unfortunately I think there are a few too many people here whose favorite restaurants are Applebee’s and Old Country Buffet.
June 15th, 2011 at 8:58 am
The survey looked at cities of less than 150,000 so you can’t compare it to either Mpls or St. Paul dining. Is it more of a destination than Bloomington, Eagan or another other suburb? I say no. Is the dining better than any other small city around the nation? I don’t travel much but I would expect the answer is no to this as well.
June 15th, 2011 at 10:12 am
Speaking of Burnsville being a joke, if you watched the City Council Worksession last night you would have seen a discussion regarding moving the councilmembers to iPads instead of laptops. Instead of considering the higher costs associated and the admitted lack of functionality as described by Councilmember Sherry, the Mayor continued to push for their adoption and told the staff to, “just do it,” and that they’d arrive in about two weeks.
iPads start at $499 but following Councilmember Kealey’s discussion about how his Sprint card is difficult to deal with, I’m guessing they’re going to have 3G enabled ones bringing the price up over $600. They’ll also have keyboards included which tacks on another $50+.
You can vote on your thoughts about it on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=question&id=10150281115272704 or feel free to discuss below.
June 15th, 2011 at 10:55 am
When we want to eat out, it’s always the same conversation. If we are willing to cross the river and go to a good restaurant, we go out. If we don’t really want to drive for 20 minutes, we usually end up finding something to make at home. We are usually disappointed and frustrated when we eat in these southern ‘burbs. While places like Porter Creek are pretty good, we can get much better for that same amount of money by driving north.
As far as Skip’s quote regarding our restaurants, he said what any responsible representative of the city should say. He’s just doing his job. I just hope that he doesn’t really believe it!
As far as the city council’s laptops go, I’m hoping there’s more to the story – are the laptops really old and in need of replacement anyway? I certainly hope so.
June 15th, 2011 at 10:57 am
sandy,
The specific number of years were not provided however there were complaints from three of the four councilmembers that they were having issues with what they were provided.
June 15th, 2011 at 11:31 am
They should be able to get decent laptops that have the functionality they need for less than $650, and they would be more useful for what they do than an iPad.
June 15th, 2011 at 12:25 pm
Dear Mr. Neinhaus: In my household, we use the term “drinking your own bathwater” to describe someone who believes the claptrap they use to promote themselves.
Coincidentally, I spent a few days last month staying in a suburb of Philadelphia. For the sake of convenience, we ate most of our evening meals in the town of Collingswood (pop. 14,000). Even though the town is dry, so you have to stop at a liquor store just outside of town if you want to BYOB, every little restaurant where we ate was simply wonderful. I don’t know if it’s the best small, foodie town in America — I’m just saying there are lots of better small, foodie towns around than Burnsville.
June 15th, 2011 at 9:21 pm
omg. burnsville best for food. cackle. that is all.
June 16th, 2011 at 4:59 am
[...] are looking late but good this year, Bill Roehl thinks a recent rah-rah Burnsville dining survey is a joke, Heavy Table writer Jason Walker did a great segment on farmers markets and chickens with Esme [...]
June 16th, 2011 at 9:51 am
Burnsville resident of 38 years here. No. Burnsville is not a dining mecca by any stretch. A collection of mostly average is absolutely right. Stephano’s and Porter Creek are the only two decent restaurants, maybe Chianti Grill on a good night for some dishes. But when my family wants a really nice meal, we head to Sul Lago in Prior Lake, to Jensen’s Supper Club in Eagan, or downtown. Burnsville sadly lacks a truly unique, special and fine dining experience.
June 27th, 2011 at 7:02 am
[...] the article goes on to note that iPads would be a consideration. While Burnsville’s mayor pushed hard for iPad adoption instead of laptops for that council, one councilmember who tested the setup noted it was more of a ‘toy’ than a tool. An [...]
June 29th, 2011 at 8:56 pm
I just threw up a little in my mouth: http://burnsville.patch.com/articles/five-minutes-with-the-fun-finders
June 29th, 2011 at 9:44 pm
I’m speechless.
June 29th, 2011 at 10:19 pm
The mayor stayed with them all day, true, but it was to make sure the fun finders didn’t happen to drink any Burnsville city water.
June 30th, 2011 at 10:02 am
You really could not make this stuff up. Awesome is the only word that comes to mind for me.
June 30th, 2011 at 11:23 am
These people traveled from Florida just to taste food from Burnsville. They have Disney World, Universal Studios, Sea World, about 100 water parks in thier state, etc. and they are CALLED “Fun Finders” who found fun in eating crappy food with the woman from the Austin Powers movies.
This is seriously fucked up.
June 30th, 2011 at 11:25 am
And for Reference.
June 30th, 2011 at 11:32 am
Hilarious.
June 30th, 2011 at 3:16 pm
I wonder how many times she told them that she is president of the National Federation of Mayors from around the World?
June 30th, 2011 at 4:36 pm
Disappointing that the comments have taken a personal and nasty turn. Disagree with Mayor Kautz on policies, or the legitimacy of this survey, but juvenile cracks about appearance say more about the commenter than the commentee.
As to her spending the day with them, so what? Mayor is not a full-time position, it’s not like she took time away from city duties. If she is willing to give up her free time or take time away from her business to host a delegation whose work could potentially bring more publicity and/or tourism to Burnsville, she deserves praise, not criticism.
June 30th, 2011 at 5:09 pm
JPS, I think if this had to do with something that wasn’t a joke perhaps we’d take it more seriously but since this is nothing but silliness all around I suggest that you, well, lighten up.
June 30th, 2011 at 6:56 pm
JPS,
You shouldn’t scold me and say you like Jensen’s in the same thread. You completely undermined your credibility there. Calling me juvenile is pretty played here anyway.
That said, how is me pointing out that somebody looks like a famous actress a juvenile crack anyway? I think you just insulted Mindy Sterling of Frau Barbissina fame more than I did mayor BPAC.
All the best,
lefty
October 12th, 2011 at 8:19 pm
From: http://www.startribune.com/local/south/131358983.html
Just so you know, I get more traffic to a single restaurant review than this survey probably got nationwide. If anyone put Burnsville’s restaurant scene on the map it was me ;-)
October 13th, 2011 at 8:27 am
And the world said, “Thanks for nothing.”