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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Reading text

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.

Tips

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.

Discussion

Have you ever had a bad meal in a restaurant?

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Language level

B1 Intermediate

Yes I had a bad meal in a street resturant long time ago . It was selling a coocked liver . It trasty so dab and also nasty.

Hello, I went once to a restaurant and I had a bad experience. The main dishes were very salty and very oily. The waiter was not very polite and the manager of the restaurant was also very rude. Finally, the food was very expensive. I wouldn't go there again. Nikolaos

Hi ! Could you tell me, please the expression mains is that American? As far as I know in the UK people say main dishes. English people are using a lot the expression, switch off at the mains ( electricity) Thank you Nikolaos

Hello again Nikolaos

When the reviewer says 'mains', it is an informal way of saying 'main dishes'. I lived in the US for many years, and I don't think I ever heard anyone there says 'mains' in this way. This and the fact that the reviewer speaks of 'chips' (where Americans would say 'fries') makes it quite clear the reviewer is British.

In context, some Americans might understand 'mains' to mean the electricity, but I think most would not. In American English the most common words for this are 'power' and 'electricity'.

All the best

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Yes, I had a bad meal in a restaurant. Last year, my boyfriend and I went to a very striking restaurant. We went because I had insisted on its decoration, which I thought was the house of Dragon Ball Z. To our surprise, the food was really fresh and the waiter was terrible. We ordered a plate of sushi and rice with vegetables. The sushi had no flavor and the rice was swimming in oil. We waited a long time after eating, but the waiter never brought the drinks. We didn't have to wait for a table because the restaurant was empty, now I understand why.

Externally fantastic, internally not Me and one of my friends went for dinnar by viewing excellent review from online about 'X' restuarant. But, restaurant meals were not up to the mark especially 'mutton curry'. Planned for dinnar with my friend. We searched restuarants via online and got one named 'X' restuarant. Review was good enough. Moreover, there website was so amazing to attract anyone. The mains were fantastic and well-pictured. Came at 9:00 pm and got a quick reservation though there was a crowady environment. A waiter surved our foods. We started tasting the food and found 'mutton curry' undercooked and oily. Furthermore, salad was not provided. We tried to make attention to the waiter a couple of times while he was busy with another reservation. My friend got annoyed for such a bad service. We didn't eat fully. The waiter came here for taking bill off and we gave the bill without leaving a tip. The waiter looked unhappy. Expecting a great dinner, we got a bad one.

I had a bad meal during my trip to Thailand. it was the first day I went to Thailand and when I arrived at the hotel it was night so I decided to have dinner at the hotel. but their food is bad, I don't know because I'm not used to their food or their food is bad but that made me very disappointed in the first place. On the other hand, it's very expensive

As far as I can remember, I haven't experienced this situation, so far.

Month ago I was in Chinese restaurant in Moscow. Usually when I come to similar restaurant I prefer to order tom yam. Its a real quest for me to find a good tom yam in Moscow. After 30 minutes waiting for my meal, waiter brought me something looked like a chicken bouillon with one or two squid rings floating in it. No shrimps, no mushrooms, no chili pepper, for a second it seemed to me like it was soup from the hospital for diabetics. As a result, on that day I was very upset and hungry.

We have had a bad experience in a local restaurant near my house, which was the best option for sundays in the past. However today this restaurant is the worst of the Block because the food is oily, burnt and Cold.

A restaurant review

Preparation

Vega, New York

Great mains, pity about the chips

Tips

Task 1

Task 2

Task 3

Discussion

Language level

Online courses