The 2005/06 Zagat Survey of New York City Nightlife hits stores this week – and it may give some New Yorkers a chuckle. Once again, among the nightspots with the highest appeal rating is a strip joint: the Penthouse Executive Club. With an appeal rating of 27 (out of 30), the pleasure palace is on par with such highbrow haunts as the Metropolitan Museum Roof Garden and Cafe Carlyle. The top-rated overall bar is the pricey Rainbow Grill, above Rockefeller Center.

All of this makes one wonder: What bunch of expense account-wielding CEOs on a weekend bender voted on this stuff? While the Most Popular list seems accurate, and the editors’ What’s Hot list makes good sense, the list of Top Overall Appeal is the least useful in planning a night on the town.

At the Rainbow Grill, for instance, drinks average $15 a pop. The Zagat entry suggests that it’s as a good spot for tourists and for lovers popping the question. Which makes it a decidedly un-fun place for local singles.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Roof Garden closes about half an hour before the museum does. On weekdays, that means 4:30, a time when most Manhattanites are still digesting lunch. On Saturday and Sunday, it shuts down at 8:30, just in time to start calling your friends and firm up a plan.

The Met’s early-bird spot scored as high as Bemelmans Bar and King Cole Bar, two watering holes that can please business-types and grandmothers alike. The one hip place with high appeal is Milk and Honey, but that spot is so “cool” it doesn’t give out its phone number, which you need to call to reserve a booth.

“They all have one thing in common: They’re very swanky. They’re urban, classic bars,” survey editor Curt Gathje said. “Our surveyors acknowledge that. Whether or not they go there every night is another thing.”

The spots with the highest appeal numbers are essentially places that New York’s upand-comers would go to if they could afford it, rather than do go to on a regular basis. According to Zagat, 43% of the respondents to the survey are in their 20s, 37% are in their 30s, and just 20% are 40 or older.

Also, the Top Overall Appeal list is a broad category, roughly equivalent to the Top Food category in the Zagat Survey of New York restaurants. In the eatery guide, the Top Food places match up fairly closely with those on the Most Popular list. (Survey respondents are asked for a list of their top five favorite places; the list is calculated according to those answers.)

By contrast, none of the 10 Most Popular bars – led by Pastis – made the Top Overall Appeal list in the nightlife guide. It’s a disparity that makes the What’s Hot list the more (for some, the most) useful part of the guide.

“We felt it was important to add. The Most Popular list did not address the trendiness of New York nightlife,” Mr. Gathje said.

Ironically, that list is compiled by the editors, rather than the survey respondents. But the editors are right on. They tap places such as Freemans, Pink Elephant, and Employees Only as au courant. And though going out isn’t always about going to the hottest place in town, you’re in for a let down if you’re heading to Sakagura – which scores an appeal rating of 27 – to find the nerve center of New York nightlife.