review essay about restaurant

A restaurant review

Learn how to write a restaurant review.

Do the preparation task first. Then read the text and tips and do the exercises.

Preparation

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Vega, New York

Reviewed yesterday

Great mains, pity about the chips

Came for lunch with my sister. We loved our Thai-style mains which were amazing with lots of flavour, very impressive for a vegetarian restaurant.

But the service was below average and the chips were too terrible to finish.

When we arrived at 1.40, we had to wait 20 minutes while they got our table ready. OK, so we didn't have a reservation, but the restaurant was only half full. There was no reason to make us wait at all.

We ordered the chips as a side dish and they looked delicious. But, when we tasted them, they were overcooked and swimming in oil so we left most of them. We expected a lot more for $10!

When the waiter asked if everything was ok, we said we really didn't like the chips and he said 'That's funny, I love them' and that was it. He didn't offer us anything else or take them off our bill. Also, when we didn't leave a tip, he looked annoyed.

I was really excited about visiting Vega, and the mains were just fantastic, but the rest of the experience was really disappointing.

• Use an informal or semi-formal style.
• In the title, give the main idea or opinion.
• Write about the important parts of the experience, not every detail.
• Organise your ideas into paragraphs.
• Write about the good and the bad.

Have you ever had a bad meal in a restaurant?

Language level

Yes, I once had a terrible meal at a local restaurant. The food was cold, the service was slow, and the overall experience was quite disappointing. It's a reminder of how important good service and quality food are to a pleasant dining experience.

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Gourmet Restaurant

For my sister's in law birthday, our familiy organized a dinner at a gourmet restaurant. It was my first time in a restaurant like that. Everyone was delighted. The service was excelled and  the waiters was very welcoming. 

As for the dishes, for me the portions were very small. But I think that's normal in gourmet restaurants?  

I had a wonderful evening with my family in law. 

one year back me and my pakistanian friend went a restaurant in Alqiusomah, Hafar-Albatin, KSA in order to had our dinner there, we have chosen this unnamed restaurant because it was looking very beautiful and attractive with a lot of dishes sticker, lights, and car parking from outside.

However, we entered the restaurant which was very quiet, clean, and some painting on the walls, air condition was working fine, then we checked the menu and ordered two prost chicken one spicy and other one is normal not spicy which it will contain, cheeps, sauce, and other relevant things. Furthermore, we have waited approximately for more than one hour surfing our mobile phones and speaking to each other.

suddenly, after more than one hour orders come a long with all other relevant things, but the chicken was looking in more red color not normal cooking color, and because I was starving I did not imagine or expect for a moment this red color is chili powder, so we start eating and from first bit of the taste we begin to cry in silent mode tears and running nose without voice, Hhhhhhhhhhh.

actually we were unable to eat even my friend wasn't too because of too much chili powder, additionally we spoke to the manager regarding what has happened, but unfortunately he did not took any action, promise to improve their services or offering discount for this orders while it was clear on the receipt that we ordered one spicy dish and one normal dish not spicy.

it was a bad experience for me because I did not enjoyed my dinner on that day, also we have paid approximately 34 riyals and left the restaurant and our orders there and have has biscuit and tea only for dinner, hhhhhhh.

A restaurant meal review 

I went to the restaurant with my boyfriend, which doesn't know anything about my country. He lived in the United states and I live in Somalia. We decided to go and eat something. When we arrived the restaurant it was having two halls.

The first hall was full so we decided to go to the next one .The first hall view was nice but the second one was terrible. I didn't like it . There were no view gardens or flowers.It was like a room.

I decided to order shuwarma chicken and strawberry mojito. For my boyfriend he ord red sweet caramel and cold coffee . When the order arrived in our table it looks like so delicious and having aroma smell. 

I started eating the shuwarma chicken but it wasn't smelling good it was terrible. The chicken inside the shuwarma was smelling in bad way like leftovers. The drink was nice.

For my boyfriend he was not complaining about anything. He ate his Caffe and ate his sweet. 

I really disappointed, thanks 

Yes, I have had a really bad meal in a restorant once, we went with my brother to a restorant near a place where we were working at that time and I’ve made the wrong choice to order a dish with some sheep guts in it, but unluky for me, the guts were undercooked and after a short time, I’ve started to feel sick with a strong stomach ache, so I wasn’t able to finish the job that day and I was feeling sick the rest of that day.

Thanks for the lesson.

Great site!

When I was in Syria ten years ago, my collegues and I decided to have lunch in family house restaurant which was amazing that time. When we arrived, the tables wasn't cleaned and we had to wait about 15 mintues. some ingredients on the menu wasn't ready yet, so we ordered one beefberger and one cola for each one. Also we ordered the chips as a side dish becuase they looked delicious. after half an hour waiting, the orders came and looked cold. we were shocked when we tasted the chips which were  overcooked, oiled and terrible. we expected a lot more for 24$. this expereince was one of the worst of my life. we haven't tried this restaurnt once more.

I tried this restaurant this summer because it had vegetarian dishes (as shown on a large sign outside the place) and wanted to eat healthy.

With great surprise on the menu for vegetarians there were only pizza and chips so I tried the pizza that was really very good as well as beer.

The bill was 15 € and so everything went well, except for the appearance of healthy food.

So if you want to eat a good pizza this restaurant is fine, but if you are looking for a real vegetarian meal do not go there!

yesterday, me and my family visited in the x city. in the middle of our trip, we felt so hungry and we had to find a nearby restaurant. but, because we are in rare places, we didn't find a good restaurant. Honest review the restaurant is very dirty, uncomfortable, and pricy. the service is bad and the dishes are not good. So I and my sister preferred to not eat the dish and were still hungry, we were so disappointed and never went to back that restaurant again.

I went to Bora Bora Hotel during my vacation. When I was planning a trip I  looking for hotels based on reviews. I paid attention on location because I want to find near a sea (the first line). I read all comments and chose the hotel.  When I went there I was very happy because I saw the sea with my window. And I was able to heard the sound of the sea.  However I didn’t like breakfasts the service was below average and numbers of the dishes were very small. There were few vegetables and fruits. A watermelon was not sweet. I thought that they had a bad variety of watermelon, but when I went shopping I bought one and it was very tasty and sweet. There also  was a restaurant in the hotel. I ordered food and waited them for very long time. When I asked why I was waiting so long, the waiter answered that we had one cook. The next  days I was seeing that the restaurant was empty.  Conclusion if I come back in this country I won’t stay at this hotel. 

A cafe review

Disappointing 

I went to a cafe a few months ago and I ordered a cappuccino and a piece of correct cake.

 My order got ready after 20 minutes. I told to the waitress I had my coffee wit out sugar but unfortunately it was put sugar in it and it was cold and tasted funny. The carrot cake was too sweet for me. it wasn't my cup of tea. 

I paid for a cappuccino and a piece of cake around $15! They are too pricy. 

My experience was disappointing and I'll never get back this cafe and don't recommend to everyone.

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How to Write a Restaurant Review Essay

You’ve probably been to a restaurant, whether it was for dinner with family or friends or just because you were craving some delicious food. But have you ever stopped to think about what makes a great restaurant?

There are so many different things that can make or break your experience at a restaurant. It could be the ambiance, the food taste, or even how quickly it arrived at your table. And sometimes, you cannot know all these unless you read a restaurant review.

But even if you do not know how to write one, this article covers all you need to know about writing a restaurant review. Further, you will learn what makes a restaurant review stand out, be valuable, and score a high grade if asked to write one by your professor.

Generally, a restaurant review essay consists of three major parts; the introduction, body, and conclusion. Each section can be one or more paragraphs and has a distinctive role and information. Let’s see how these three parts play out and make the entire essay.

Major parts of a restaurant review essay

The introduction.

This is the first part of the review essay and gives a brief background on the spot. The information includes the name of the restaurant, location, and contact details in case you need to make reservations or get more information about the place before visiting it.

New Service Alert !!!

We are now taking exams and courses

Ideally, this is one paragraph, although sometimes it may be longer. However, aim for a concise section because it is a pacesetter to the review.

The body section is where you talk about what makes this place unique. You can start with an overview of the food served here by describing each item on their menu, followed by its price range.

Further, you can mention how good their service is compared to other restaurants in the city or state. You can also mention some interesting facts about this establishment, like whether they have won any awards from local authorities or not.

The Conclusion

The conclusion is the last part and sums up the entire review. It is also the section you restate your opinion and verdict about the joint.

How to Write an Effective Review

Even if it is your first time writing, or you have not perfected your art, these tips will help you to write an effective restaurant review essay

Choose a Restaurant

It is common knowledge the first step in writing an effective restaurant review essay is choosing a restaurant. However, your choice should be meticulous so that you do not find yourself lacking material to write about.

Ideally, you should choose one that has been around for some time, has received good reviews from others, or has received several awards from local newspapers or magazines. Further, look for an establishment offering different cuisines such as Chinese or Mexican. This way, you won’t be limited by only having one type of food to write on.

To find a restaurant, you can research the restaurant by visiting it, checking its website, or asking your friends if they have ever been there. You can also read online reviews from other customers who have visited this place. In addition, make sure that you check out each review carefully before deciding whether or not they are credible enough for you to use in your paper.

Start with a Draft

Now that you’ve chosen a restaurant, it’s time to write your review. You may be tempted to jump straight into it, but before writing anything down, take a few minutes to think about what you want to say.

What did you like and dislike about the food? How was their service? Did they have a great ambiance? Was it expensive or cheap? Write down these thoughts to be fresh in mind when writing your final draft.

If you’re unsure how many stars out of five this place deserves, just guess for now. Later, you can go over each section individually and decide exactly how many stars each rating should be worth.

Give background information about the restaurant

Spot reviews must have crucial details which help readers know where to find the place and what to expect.

Thus when writing a restaurant review, you’ll want to give your readers some background information about the restaurant. This includes;

• The name of the restaurant
• The location of the restaurant
• What kind of food do they serve (e.g., Asian fusion)
• How long they’ve been open and how popular they are

Clearly state your stand and view about the restaurant

If you have had a personal experience with the restaurant, it is recommended to express your viewpoint. But even if you have not, state it but be objective and professional by quoting other credible reviews.

To be perfect in this area, follow the following tips.

• Be honest with your review.
• Be fair with your review.
• Be specific about what you liked and disliked.

Avoid Using the “I” Pronoun Constantly

Despite a review being about your experience, excessive use of “I” makes it appear subjective. This is because when writing a restaurant review essay, the goal is to focus on the restaurant itself, not necessarily your personal experience with it.

However, you can include brief comments on your personal feelings, but they should be limited and used only when relevant and helpful to the reader. Your primary focus should be on describing what happened at the restaurant and how it affected you rather than focusing on yourself as an individual.

Include pros and cons

Your review must be objective and not subjective, which is achieved if you give both sides of the story. If you don’t like something about the restaurant, don’t be afraid to say But if there are some things that are great about the restaurant, make sure you mention them too.

Furthermore, ensure your paragraphs are well-structured and easy for readers to understand. For example, if there are three reasons why people should visit this restaurant, explain them one by one instead of all at once.

This separation helps readers understand each reason clearly without confusion or distraction from other points made in the paragraph before or after.

Restate your Stance in the Conclusion

The final paragraph of a restaurant review essay should restate your opinion and provide readers with a summary of the strengths and weaknesses you have identified. The last sentence of this paragraph should clearly state whether or not you would recommend this restaurant to friends and family.

Further, restating your stance is helpful because it helps you to reinforce your point. The reader will likely be able to recall what you have said in the beginning and then apply it to what you have said later on in this paragraph.

We hope this article has given you a better understanding of how to write a restaurant review essay. Remember that it’s always important to have an open mind when reviewing any business to give accurate information about your experience.

However, remember you can always revise your essay after you have completed it to add any other information or opinions that may have come up since you wrote the first draft. That way, by turning in your paper, your essay will read as though a restaurant connoisseur and chief critic wrote it.

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Vera is a Senior Content Writer at a Singaporean lifestyle publication, ConfirmGood where she covers stories on all things food, lifestyle, and perspectives.

Throughout my career as a content writer at various lifestyle publications in Singapore , many a time have I been tasked to write a review for a restaurant .

A review of a restaurant is incredibly important to the business. Given that 94% of diners refer to reviews before making a decision to eat somewhere, the power reviews have to sway the consumer’s decision is immense.

Having been in this profession for a while now, I can safely say that I’ve seen my fair share of good and bad examples of restaurant reviews. And boy, do I have something to say!

But before I go into the details, let’s start with the basics. How should you structure your restaurant review article?

Restaurant review format

1) lay the table.

Just as how you’d set up the table in preparation for every meal, you need to set up your article in preparation for your readers’ eyes.

Provide some background information about the restaurant, its owner(s), and what it specializes in. Check out the opening paragraph of our Carne Burgers Singapore Review : 

The reader is immediately hit with some key facts that establishes the restaurant as a reputable business. If a sustainability-focused restaurant run by a Michelin star chef doesn’t entice you, I don’t know what does.

A well-written introduction is essential as a hook to capture your reader’s attention right from the being and keep them engaged til the end of your review.

2) Start serving your mains

Now that you’ve invited your readers to the table, it’s time to show them what the restaurant has to offer.

A majority of the body of your restaurant review should showcase the best dishes the establishment has to offer. Check out what we showcased in our Seoul Garden a la carte menu review .

As a buffet restaurant, Seoul Garden has a wide selection of cooked and uncooked food items on its menu. But we only featured the most popular and best-looking items. And these are the Wagyu Picanha and Salmon slices.

You should always feature the best items that the owner wants to feature and take good pictures of them ot feature in your restaurant review. The first impression always counts 👀

Some things that should be in in this part of your review include what the dishes are, why you ordered them, and what makes them great. Describe the sight , smell , flavours , and texture of the dishes you’re reviewing. You’ll be surprised by how effective these descriptive paragraphs can be in selling the restaurant.

Quick tip 💡 Prepare an arsenal of words you can use to describe food so you can easily pull them out to use in your article.

3) Wrapping things up

End off by summarizing why you enjoyed (or did not enjoy) the food. I’d strongly recommend adding some quirky final thoughts to leave your readers with a cute aftertaste. 

You can look at what I wrote for my review on Restaurant Salt.

Tips on writing great restaurant reviews

1) learn from the best restaurant review sites.

As with learning any new skill, look at what others have already done. 

A great source of restaurant reviews are lifestyle publications. They are generally divided into different sections like travel, finance, and food. ConfirmGood’s food blog showcases some of the best places to it in Singapore.

Check out the various articles we’ve put out to learn how to write great restaurant reviews. Learn the vocabulary, structure, and writing style.

2) Look at Tripadvisor and Google restaurant reviews

This one may come as a surprise to some of you. Why would you want to refer to reviews left behind by random people? After all, these aren’t professional food writers . What’s there to learn from?

If you take a look at the list of reviews you see on such sites, you’ll notice that some of these reviews are exceptionally well written. You can pick up pretty useful vocabulary from them. I guess some people really take writing reviews on Google really seriously 🤣

Another reason why you should look at restaurant reviews is because you get to learn about what is important to a customer. Perhaps being led to the table properly is important to some. To others, it’s really just the quality of the food. See what pops up most often and take note of it.

If a restaurant hires you to write a review about them, you should include these factors in your article when promoting the business.

3) Take the best photos

Taking great pictures of the food you are reviewing is absolutely necessary. Words alone cannot do the job of convincing your readers to eat at a particular restaurant. 

Humans are visual creatures and well-taken shots of the restaurants’ best dishes can help sway your readers’ decision.

4) STOP USING “DELICIOUS”, “GREAT”, “GOOD”

Expand your food vocabulary.

If you want to write great restaurant reviews, you can’t describe that flaky pastry that oozes creamy custard fulling as delicious.

You aren’t doing the melt-in-your-mouth tender steak any justice by calling it amazing.

So just stop ❌

Again, refer to the article I listed above for some good examples of words and phrases you can use to describe food.

5) Include the restaurant’s story

A restaurant is more than its menu.

It’s also about its history, its owners’ histories, culture, and even purpose.

Establishing the restaurant’s story in the introduction of your review can help pique your readers’ interest in the place.

6) Pay attention to cultural nuances

To add to my previous point, you should always be mindful when writing about food.

Do not refer to dishes as ‘ethnic’, ‘exotic’, or worse, ‘oriental’.

Food carries with them the long history of struggle and achievements of the culture which they are from. You need to be respectful of that.

7) It’s ok to not like the food

You don’t have to lie when writing restaurant reviews.

This may even cause the restaurant to receive harsher negative reviews as they were overhyped by your article. So don’t be afraid to be honest about how you find their food. Just don’t trash them unnecessarily. 

You’re all set to start writing an awesome restaurant review !

Those are my top 7 restaurant review writing tips. I hope you’ve found them useful. Becoming a food writer is not going to be easy. But this article is a great start for you!

To get more writing tips to help improve your writing, check out Writing Wildly’s amazing writing blog !

More resources

How to write an awesome & engaging blog post for a business, top 21 finance & investment blogs in singapore, 10 reasons why content writing is important for business & marketing.

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Quick guide to an evaluation essay

Contributor: UWSC Staff

Ever read a restaurant review or movie review? These types of reviews are evaluations of businesses, products and/or services. When evaluating, writers should consider the following components:

Criteria for these products/services/businesses

• Without knowing what the criteria are, readers will not have any idea how you (the evaluator) are attempting to formulate your evaluation.
• Service : Attention must be given to the customer.
• Wait time : If it takes two hours to seat me, dinner time has already passed, and now I am starving.
• Timeliness of food arrival/service : Food must be served immediately after having been cooked, with all parties receiving their food at the same time (nothing more awkward than being the only one eating).
• Quality : The food itself must also be fresh and of a high quality—if I can’t stand it, I can’t eat it.
• Cleanliness of the restaurant : If my shoes stick to the floor as I walk to my table, I am thoroughly grossed out.
• Value : Last but not least, what is the value of the food that I am getting? What did this meal cost me, because if I can get the same quality of food at a fast-food place, why am I paying these high prices for low-quality food? One would expect high quality everything for a high-priced restaurant.
• Now, I have just established the criteria by which I will judge restaurant X (and set up my future essay organization).

Writers need to make a clear decision

• Did restaurant X live up to expectations/standards?
• Did it go above and beyond, being worthy of praise, or was it subpar and worthy of criticism?
• Namely, what was the point in reviewing this business/service/product? Have you answered the “So what?” question?

Prove it 

• If your judgment of the restaurant (for example) is coming down on the negative side, your evidence should mostly be about all the negative things that brought you to that decision.
• That said, a concession to the alternative point of view will prove that you are not biased, but that you are open to what might have been positive about restaurant X (just not to the point of sounding wishy-washy and undecided).
• You should be providing your own experience with the business/product/service (for example your experience in the restaurant). Firsthand experience is great for this type of evaluation.
• What do other connoisseurs say? Secondary evidence, which is quoting/paraphrasing what other reviewers/researchers have said about restaurant X, is also important; they may have had a different experience than yours or may provide information about the business/product/service that had previously gone unrecognized.
• What do consumers say about restaurant X? Plenty of places exist to find customer reviews, such as Yelp, to gain the support of actual customers. You could also stand outside restaurant X and do interviews (time consuming, but worthy).

If an evaluation essay does not have criteria by which you are judging something, an actual judgment on whatever it is you are evaluating and plenty of evidence to support your judgment, then readers of your evaluation will ask, “So what? What was the point of me reading this?” This is not the goal. The above listing of criteria will benefit you by setting up your outline and providing you with direction and organization, which is a higher-order concern when writing.

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How to Write A Restaurant Review

Table of Contents

Restaurant Review Essay

The Internet has impacted many sectors in the world and changed the way people approach their daily chores. It has also led to the inception of many industries, for example, the review websites which unsurprisingly keep growing each and every day. Every day, millions of people around the world stream to review websites before they visit a certain dentist, visit a particular city, buy some shoes from a renowned seller, or book a table at an exotic restaurant. The influence of this budding industry cannot be ignored or downplayed because the wave is indeed felt all over the globe. One of the biggest sectors in the review business involves restaurants. A significant percentage of review website visitors frequent the restaurant`s section. Reviews targeting restaurants often seek to help consumers or visitors to locate or discover the best spots or joints near them. These sites also help people avoid some joints. Review writing can be a challenge, but when given such an essay it is essential to focus on the fundamentals and ignore the non-essentials. This article will provide you with some tips to help you understand how to approach this type of review essay.

How to start a restaurant review essay

To write a restaurant review , first of all, you need to gather some background information about the restaurant you wish to review. It would be improper to start writing the pros and cons of a restaurant without first telling the readers where the restaurant is located or what the opening hours of the restaurant are. Therefore, research is essential and must be done before writing the review. The audience needs to be taken through the restaurant’s details slowly before they are given information regarding the best cuisine or the mood or the ambiance of the joint.

Here are some tips to help you write a review essay :

• Offer some background information about the restaurant – it is important for the readers to have information such as the location of the restaurant, the cuisine offered, the phone number of the restaurant, the opening days as well as hours. This information is indeed essential because it makes it easy for potential clients to access the joint faster or to avoid it in case they happen to find themselves within the vicinity.
• Make your stance/view or opinion about the restaurant known from the start – do not make the readers wait for you to finish the essay for them to find out whether you like or dislike the restaurant. Declare your stance or opinion of the restaurant in the introduction and then focus your energy on explaining why you took that position.
• Avoid the use of the pronoun I in every sentence – even though a restaurant review is about your eating experience at a certain restaurant, the use of first-person could give the review a subjective look. The use of the second-person, on the other hand, gives the review immediacy and often makes the readers feel represented in the review.
• Be more creative and avoid superlatives, for example, awesome, incredible, best, etc. – these words often mislead readers and do not provide them with a conclusive representation or evaluation of the restaurant.

How to write the body of a restaurant review essay

The body of an essay often develops from the introduction. Here, the writer mainly supports their assertions in the introduction and builds on the thesis statement. The body section is often bigger and has more paragraphs than the introduction and the conclusion unless you have been asked to write a three-paragraph essay.

In a restaurant review, the fundamentals primarily include food, the service or staff, and finally, the mood or ambiance or atmosphere in the restaurant. These three are often described in greater detail here, a body section, and the writer is expected to be as objective as possible and avoid comparing their experience with another.

Here are tips on how to write the body section:

• Capture the restaurant’s ambiance or mood – the first paragraph of the body section should capture the atmosphere of the restaurant. Here, the writer should focus on how the sound within the restaurant, the sights inside the restaurant, and the smells within the restaurant. A detailed description of the decorations in the restaurant should be provided. Through such information, readers will find it easy to decide whether the restaurant fits their night out, official date, or official duties.
• Provide a detailed evaluation of the staff and the service – regardless of the ambiance and the delicious nature of the food, customer service is always among the top most things people consider before they visit a restaurant. Dedicate an entire paragraph or two and describe how the staff treats people as well as how they handle emergencies. Focus primarily on their politeness, as well as courtesy.
• Review the cuisines offered – for a restaurant review to be termed comprehensive, it is necessary to have a full meal and then offer your view of the same. Mention things like the prices, the texture, the spiciness of the food, as well as the presentation.

How to conclude a restaurant review essay

In essay writing, a conclusion is the second most difficult part of writing. Like the introduction, it should leave a lasting impression on the readers.

Below are tips to help you write a conclusion:

• Reiterate your general stance or opinion of the restaurant.
• Provide a summary of the main points emphasizing the most important ones.
• A majority of reviews also include a section where the writer asks the readers to either visit or not visit the restaurant for review.