The number and the fire icons are popularity ratings, and shouldn't be expected to say a lot about quality. That value is derived from a set of automated signals that can be considered proxies for popularity. For most markets we typically see a couple of stand outs, and "the rest". One major flaw is also that we don't know venue capacity, so this probably does bias towards bigger venues

For NYC specifically it could be many factors playing in.. Perhaps we don't really have the right venues listed? Maybe the city favors small neighborhood bars over bigger destinations? etc..

I just recently added the number behind the icons, but one of my concerns was that it would then be interpreted as a review rating. Might re-consider the UX of this now. Thanks for feedback!