- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- Terms and Conditions
- British Council Global
- Accessibility
© 2024 British Council
- Mini English Lessons
How to Write a Review That Stands Out: A Guide for English Learners
Writing an online review is a powerful way to share your experiences and help others make informed decisions.
This guide will help you understand how to write clear and effective reviews that offer valuable insights and help potential customers make decisions.
Things to consider before writing a review
What are you trying to achieve.
Before you start writing, think about what you want to achieve with your review. Are you trying to share a positive or negative experience? Do you want to provide valuable insights to help others? Do you just want to express your feelings?
Your review can influence a business’s online reputation and guide other customers, so be clear about your goal to make sure your review is helpful and effective.
How to format your review
Formatting your review properly is important to make sure it’s clear and easy to read. Start with a brief introduction that summarises your experience. Then, provide specific details about what you liked or didn’t like.
Use paragraphs to separate different points and make sure to proofread your review for any spelling or grammar mistakes. A well-formatted review shows your attention to detail and makes a stronger impact.
Consider your audience
Think about who will be reading your review. Are you addressing the company to provide feedback, or are you writing for other customers to help them make informed decisions?
Shape your language and specific details to suit your audience. For example, if you’re writing a review for other customers to read, focus on how the product or service met your needs and why you would highly recommend it (or not).
If you’re addressing the company, be sure to provide constructive feedback that could lead to improvements.
Types of reviews and how to write them
How to write a book review.
When writing a book review, include specific details about the plot, characters, and writing style. Mention what you liked or disliked and why. Your insights can have a significant impact on other readers.
Book review example sentences:
- “The author’s descriptive writing made the scenes come alive.”
- “I didn’t enjoy the book because it was slow and uneventful.”
- “The plot was engaging and full of unexpected twists, keeping me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire story.”
How to write a movie review
A good movie review should talk about the story, acting, and direction. Share your positive or negative thoughts and provide details. This helps others decide if they want to watch the movie.
Movie review example sentences:
- “The actors delivered outstanding performances.”
- “The direction was sloppy and uninspired, lacking any clear vision or creativity, which made the movie difficult to follow and unenjoyable to watch.”
- “The story was captivating from start to finish.”
How to write a product review
In a product review, describe how the product or service worked for you. Mention any customer service experiences. Be honest and include both pros and cons to give a balanced view. Good reviews are clear and helpful.
Product review example sentences:
- “The product worked perfectly and exceeded my expectations.”
- “I had a terrible experience with customer service, they were very unhelpful.”
- “I would not recommend this product to anyone; it broke after being used once.”
How to write a restaurant review
For a restaurant review, talk about the food, service, and atmosphere. Would you highly recommend the food? How was the customer service from the wait staff? Your review can help guide others looking for a great dining experience.
Restaurant review example sentences:
- “The food was delicious and beautifully presented.”
- “The service was slow and unprofessional.”
- “The atmosphere was noisy and uncomfortable; I would not eat here again.”
How to write a travel review
When writing a travel review, include specific details about the location, accommodation, and activities. Mention what you enjoyed and what could be improved. This helps others plan their trips better.
Travel review example sentences:
- “There were plenty of fun activities to do, and all within walking distance.”
- “I highly recommend this beautiful destination to other travellers.”
- “The hotel was hard to find, with poor signage and confusing directions, and once we finally arrived, it was not worth the effort due to its outdated facilities.”
How to write a customer service review
A customer service review should focus on the quality of service you received. Did the staff respond to your needs? Were they helpful? Customer reviews that highlight good or bad service can influence a company’s online reputation.
Customer service review example sentences:
- “The staff responded quickly and resolved my issue.”
- “Everyone was friendly and went above and beyond to make sure we had a good time.”
- “I’m very disappointed with the service. The staff were unresponsive, and my issue was not resolved despite multiple attempts to get help.”
Leave us a review in the comments section below!
Now that you’ve learned some top tips on how to write a review, it’s time to practice your skills! Leave a comment below and tell us what you thought of this article.
If you enjoyed these tips and want to improve your English even more, explore our English Online courses – they come highly recommended, as you can see in the review below!
Explore English Online courses >
British Council Online Course – the best course I have ever had
I am happy with the course as it is informative and educative. It has helped me to improve my knowledge of the English language. English is my second language. I’ve become a much more confident speaker of the English language thanks to this course.
I have enjoyed having classes in group as well as doing pre-class tasks on my own. I am happy that our group has had different teachers as we can improve our listening skills while listening to a new teacher and stay more focused on the material of the lesson. British Council teachers are professionals who help us a lot with learning and understanding the topics better. British Council, thank you for your work. 🙏
This review was posted on Trustpilot on 27 Apr 2024. See the original review here.
Leave a comment Cancel reply
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Related Posts
- Social English
From Noob to Pro: Gaming Slang to Level Up Your Language Skills
If you’ve already checked out our first guide on 25 English Gaming Phrases and What They Mean, you’re well on your way to understanding […]
Incomplete Idioms: 5 Famous Phrases That Don’t Mean What People Think
Ever wonder if that phrase you’re using really means what you think it does? You’re not alone! Over the years some of the most […]
26 Deliciously Descriptive Words to Describe Food
Food is a big part of life, and knowing how to talk about it is important. Whether you’re talking with friends about your favourite […]
Get Exclusive access to offers and promotions
Enter your email address below to join the english online mailing list..
Personal details will be held by the British Council and will only be used in relation to your request. Please read our terms of use for more information.
SEO & Content Copywriter
Social Media Content Writer
Copywriting Services
— SaaS & Tech Content Writer
— LinkedIn Profile Writer
— Email Content Writer
— Food Content Writer
— Ad Copywriter
— Travel Content Writer
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.
Freelance SEO blog content writing
— Freelance B2B SaaS and tech writer
— Freelance food writer
— Freelance travel writer
Freelance Social Media Content Writer
— Freelance LinkedIn profile writer
— Freelance email writer
— Freelance ad copywriting
© Writing Wildly
IMAGES
VIDEO