Whether it’s part of your job or you just want to help other diners and point them toward a fabulous spot, writing a restaurant review is about sharing your unique experience. If you want to learn how to do it right, this piece is right up your street.
How to Structure a Good Restaurant Review
First, get straight to the point. Let your readers know right away that what you’ll be on about is worth looking into. Introduce the restaurant in question and promise the readers a good payoff. Proceed by providing some details, such as when you visited the place, how you liked the service and overall atmosphere, etc.
Example. It may resemble your average sushi bar, but The Maki Lounge is anything but!
After describing your overall impression of the restaurant, move on to the focal point of the discussion: food. How did you like it in terms of taste, appearance, presentation, texture, and other parameters? If the dessert was ‘fantastic’, don’t neglect the ‘whys’. This will help you avoid vagueness in your narrative.
Example. Their cupcakes looked and tasted great. Just sweet enough and with lots of flavors to choose from. I love that they bake their desserts from scratch. It makes them taste as if your grandma made them.
Summarize your review by briefly explaining why you think others should give the place a try. Bear in mind that you can always use a nicely structured pre-made restaurant review template to save yourself some time.
Tips on How to Write a Review for a Restaurant
Without further ado, here are some useful tips on writing the best restaurant review.
- Analyze the restaurant’s promotional efforts. The way the team behind the place presents itself to the target audience can aid you in pinpointing how successful they are.
- Employ chronology and consistency. Begin with when you entered the place and summarize by when you left. Avoid typos, focus on vibrant adjectives, and don’t neglect vital specificities.
- Cover restaurant-specific details, such as cuisine, price range, working hours, and contacts. Mention whether or not they serve alcohol or allow smoking, touch upon the topic of reservations, and let the readers in on the restaurant’s entertainment service. Add if the place is best for families with kids or suits better for romantic nights.
- Define the parameters of your analysis. Some of these parameters include (but are not limited to): food and service quality, atmosphere, price-quality ratio, as well as exterior architecture and interior set-up.
- Operate in disguise. Avoid telling the restaurant staff that you’re visiting the place as a reviewer. That way, you’ll see the place just the way it is and, therefore, add credibility to your review. If you convince your readers that they can trust you, they’ll eagerly look for your other reviews.
- Mention both advantages and drawbacks. Even the world’s crème de la crème restaurants have disadvantages. Perfection doesn’t exist. With that said, use your phone or notebook to put down all the important details as you notice them. Make notes and take pics. Capture your thoughts while they’re still fresh. This will help your fellow diners easily visualize your entire experience.
- Speak from your first-hand experience only. When reviewing and rating a restaurant, keep a laser-like focus only on the food and drinks you actually tried. Feel free to touch upon other cuisines the place additionally offers, but avoid making your list of dishes endless.
- Remember that honesty is the best policy. This point is self-explanatory and paramount. Planning to write a mostly-negative review? Ensure it brims with the highest level of expertise. Ranting will only reduce your credibility.
- Double-check and correct mistakes. Proofreading is not something you should overlook, even if you’re a professional writer. Read the piece several times and ensure it doesn’t contain any errors. Ask a smart colleague to read it, too. Polish it up if they say you should.
End the review with a direct recommendation. Yay or nay? Ensure your closing thoughts contain an effective call to action.
The Bottom Line
Your review can influence the opinion of many people. And it can influence your reputation as a reviewer, too. Long story short, to write a review for a restaurant, equip yourself with maximum professionalism, accuracy, honesty, and attention to detail.
