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I have a more senior non analyst POV, so take what I say with that in mind.
Pay: Evercore=PJT>>>Lazard
Culture: Lazard NY is pretty awful IMO, but that's a personal decision due mostly to my personal interactions and how most people I know fucking hate it. It's a sweatshop with assholes who yell at you and everyone thinks they are in the 1980s. Evercore and PJT guys are all generally nice chill people that don't work you to death for no reason. You either have something to do thats not bullshit and worthwhile or you aren't working. Evercore has more defined processes (of which they are best in class), PJT is still very much a start up in a lot of ways and in terms of preferred ways to do things, which can mean more ownership for you. Evercore tends go be more serious and buttoned up, PJT tends to be more bro-ey and relaxed. Good perks at both.
Deal Flow: Good Deal flow at all, but in terms of large scale transactions in the news it's currently Lazard>Evercore>PJT. For ownership on executing good deals, it's pretty much awash. All do cool stuff, Evercore and Lazard have more established relationships and deal flow. PJT is growing rapidly and adding partners with new relationships every day. All three do cool shit, though the difference between being a generalist or not might sway you, because if you don't end up in the right group the deal flow can suck.
Exit Opps: From my vantage point it's pretty much a wash, but as someone who's never been an analyst I never really spent too much time looking at the minute differences between firms.
Personally, I would cut Lazard and make the decision between Evercore and PJT based on what you wanted to cover and group preferences.
Just spent a summer at Lazard and want to clear some stuff up. I'm not particularly gung ho about the firm and actually enjoy shitting on it, but I think there's a ton of misinformation on this forum regarding Lazard's culture from people who haven't worked there.
The people at Lazard are actually really nice, fun to work with, and generally respectful of your personal life. I think this evil image of Lazard stemmed from its nasty culture in the early 2000's (I wouldn't know), but whatever it is, you guys should be mindful that you are incorrectly shaping a lot of undergrad students' views. It certainly made me wary coming into the summer, and now I feel stupid believing everything I read.
The only thing I would say is that people in some groups get worked really hard, but no more than Evercore and certainly less than Moelis. Don't know much about PJT.
As far as deciding between the three, I would weigh how well you get along with the people more than anything else. The same analyst can achieve the same outcomes from any of them
The difference between EVR/PJT pay, over BB, as an associate 1 is as much as 100k depending on the BB, closer to around 50k to LAZ from what I've heard. I expect that gap widens in future years, at least through associate/vp/director years when you aren't bringing in business.
Benefits of Evercore are that culture is good, pay is good, exits are good. Downsides are that it is expanding into a more of a bulge (I prefer boutique) and deal teams are not as lean as they say they are (I've heard they sometimes will staff multiple analysts on a deal).
Benefits of Lazard are that brand name is very prestigious, good exits, and culture is much better than before (notably in the TMT group). Downsides are that it still isn't as chill as Evercore and the pay is 30-40k lower than PJT and Evercore.
Benefits of PJT are that it is being recognized as BX's advisory arm now, pay is good, exits are on par with Evercore, lean deal teams, and many other benefits. Very little downsides to PJT - the only one I can think of is that you might not work on the super large deals that Evercore and Lazard have access to but I say within 3 years, PJT will be working on those kinds of deals.
All in all, I would choose PJT's strategic advisory service. It has a true boutique bank culture, they don't over work analysts, and they are slowly rebuilding their old BX brand. But you really can't go wrong with either bank.
EDIT: Some people on this thread think that Lazard has a terrible culture - this is just not true anymore outside of the restructuring team. TMT is a bro-fest, Healthcare is pretty casual, Industrials is decent. Point is that every bank has chill and hardcore groups and for some reason this website gives Lazard a really hard time.
PJT has crazy good exits
Lazard > evercore >>>>>>>> pjt
If it was 5 years ago
Blackstone > evercore> lazard
EVR = PJT > Lazard