By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN — Devotees of the upscale Zagat restaurant guide may be surprised to find the company's logo, normally reserved for Manhattan's crème de la crème, in a series of recent advertisements for Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The familiar maroon lettering was featured prominently on window signs inside the KFC storefront on 50th Street and Seventh Avenue Thursday, along with the words "#1 Rated…BEST FRIED CHICKEN."
"I think there's something wrong there," Midtown retail worker Rob Ward, 32, commented after patronizing the chicken chain during his lunch break.
"Everything's business these days — I'm sure there was some kind of deal," he said.
Peter Wolsey, an IT specialist who lives in Pennsylvania but regularly travels to Midtown for work, said he shared Ward's skepticism, despite having just enjoyed a box of KFC's popcorn chicken. He noted the vagueness of the claim.
"It depends on what you mean by 'number one.' Number one in popularity? That sounds right. Number one in quality? Certainly not," Wolsey explained. "It's advertising, you've got to be skeptical."
In fact, small print beneath the Zagat logo noted that the "#1" claim was based on an August 2010 survey of the country's major fast food and restaurant chains.
Within the "Mega Chains" category, KFC managed to edge out Popeye's, Church's Chicken and Bojangles' Famous Chicken 'n Biscuits for "Best Fried Chicken."
While some patrons of the Seventh Avenue KFC thought the Zagat logo struck a discordant note with the restaurant's image, Midtown banker and KFC fan Jeff Gebhardt, 30, said he didn't think twice when he saw the the coveted Zagat logo attached to the restaurant chain.
"It doesn't surprise me," the New Jersey resident said while exiting the West 50th Street KFC. "I've eaten at fancier places…[but] I love their honey mustard sauce"
