How to Make a Restaurant Review

Writing a restaurant review is harder than it looks.

From an outsider's perspective, reviewing restaurants looks like an easy task. You simply show up, eat some food and write about it later. Any real restaurant critic knows that writing the perfect review is a delicate balancing act of praise, critique, and a deep understanding of restaurant mechanics and food preparation. If you want to write a powerful review that is both effective and informative, you have to look beyond the obvious and help your readers experience the restaurant right alongside you.

Instructions

1. Focus on the restaurant. It's easy to get caught up in your personal story, but readers don't care about how you got there or what time you sat down. Your job is to review the restaurant and that doesn't require you to be a character in the review.

2. Describe the exterior surroundings of the restaurant. You don't need too many details, but readers should know what they're getting into before they come.

3. Try to convey the mood the restaurant creates. For instance, is it best suited for intimate dinners or large family parties? Talk about the décor and atmosphere to help readers determine if the restaurant is right for them.

4. Spend some time covering the menu basics. You can discuss in detail about your meal, but you should also give readers an idea of what other menu items are available.

5. Talk about the restaurant's service. Focus on the way the servers reacted to problems rather than the problems. No night is perfect at a restaurant, so the way a restaurant deals with problems is one of the best indicators of its quality.

6. Avoid taking notes or identifying yourself as a food critic. You want to be treated the same as any other patron to be able to write an accurate review of what a normal diner might expect.

7. Try to give your readers the full dining experience. You want them to know what it's like getting into the place, sitting down, eating each course, ordering from the wine list and grabbing the check.

8. Write with descriptive terms to convey the senses you experienced in the restaurant. Remember that your review creates a mood for the reader, and the words you use have a big impact on that mood.

Tips & Warnings

• If you absolutely must take notes, try keeping them in your phone. This raises far less suspicion from the wait staff and is just as convenient as paper.

References

• Menuism; 5 Tips Towards Writing a Great Restaurant Review; August 2007
• Working Author; Restaurant Review Gigs; Rene S. Garcia Jr.; January 2008