Reader's Choice: Best Italian: Mama Mia, So Close!

Two Italian restaurants in Darien showed stronger support than the rest asking readers for the best one in town— and .

(Patch has changed the name of our feature to "Readers' Choice" from "Best of," by the way.)

It was hard to decide between them, and I'm not supposed to declare a tie. In fact, Papa Joe's won by a hairsbreadth. Basically, it came down to readers being specific about what they like at Papa's—it's that parm.

Here's why: Both Pizza, Pasta & Brew came in first in the raw number count of the poll, with 135 votes, or 40 percent of the 333 votes cast, and Papa Joe's had 85, or 25 percent. Cesco's Trattoria and Scena Wine Bar and Restaurant tied for third and fourth place, each with 15 percent, and Bertucci's was in last place at 2 percent.

Not only was the poll one of a number of considerations, it was much less of a consideration in this case because the Pizza, Pasta and Brew votes came in so fast at the end that it seemed like multiple votes were being cast by the same person or persons. Look, we appreciate the intensity of support that shows, but it means the poll can't be decisive.

As I wrote in the original article, poll results are not the only element in this: Comments and ratings of the restaurants also count—in this case those were what decided it.

In our contest story we had two readers who commented about their favorite restaurant (besides a reader who said she was the daughter of one of the restaurant owners, so I'm not including her in my considerations):

Don't forget Pizza, Pasta and Brew. Best Italian food in town.

Pappa Joe's, best Pizza around! Chicken Parm is awesome as well!!

I consulted with an esteemed colleague at Patch about what to do here, and my colleague said that with one comment more specific than the other, it should get the edge. Now this isn't a big difference, but I agree.

It turns out that the same thing happened in the ratings for each restaurant on their Places directory pages:

: ***** "It's the best around!!!"

: : ***** "The veal parm is the best."

Papa Joe, don't change that parmigiana.

Here's an editor's note from Regional Editor Michael Dinan about "Readers' Choice":

An Internet poll is not the most ideal vote-collection system in the world, as we all know. That's why we always strive to be 100 percent clear with our readers at Patch that this is not in any way a scientific poll. Our readers' choice features are designed to be a fun and completely friendly expression of our collective passion for great food, great service or a great product, all close to home. 

It's also a fantastic way for small and medium business owners — the lifeblood of our local economy — to show how much they appreciate their customers.  We take a look at comments, reviews as well as the poll, not just any one aspect, in communicating back to readers who among the group of businesses may rise to the top in readers' minds.

And even if one business mobilizes more "votes" over another, everyone comes away with a lot of visibility, great displays of loyalty and, best yet, our corner of the web now has a great deal more information about local businesses.

We live and shop here too, so if anyone wants to learn more about how they can interact with their customers on Patch or have any suggestions for future readers' choice features, don't hesitate to reach out to your local editor or Regional Editor Michael Dinan at michaeld@patch.com. 

Next up for "Readers' Choice," starting Monday: Preschools