Elements of an Effective Restaurant Review

Restaurant reviews are a great way for you to express your feelings about a restaurant in your hometown or one you visit while traveling another city, or even another country. What you write in that review will be influencing others who may want to eat at the same place. So when you're eating at a restaurant you will be writing about later, you will want to share several aspects of your visit with your readers.

The first step in writing any good restaurant review is to take note of the location. Even if you have to look it up later, make sure you know what city the restaurant is in, the street address, and directions on how to get there from various nearby points. The restaurant won't get any new business if people don't know where to find it.

The name of the restaurant is the most important part, as well as how long it's been open. Is this a chain restaurant coming into a small town, or are you eating in a big city restaurant, such as New York City's Hard Rock Café? Include any special facts, such as if it has been around for notable anniversary years (10, 15, 20, etc.) Figure out what kinds of people it attracts: Are customers tourists who have never or rarely been to such a place or students from a nearby college campus?

What type of cuisine does it offer? Fine dining, casual dining, a specific kind of food (such as Mexican or Italian), and family style meals are all examples.

When you are looking over the menu, determine the overall affordability for all courses. Include specific prices for whatever you and your dining companion(s) have chosen to order. Also, look at the table signs or ask your server for information on any specials. Look for new items that have recently been added to the menu, as well as special menus for people with dietary needs and kids' meals. If this is not your first visit to a particular restaurant, how often do they change their menu?

The restaurant staff is one of the major factors that influence where people will eat out. Remember your server's name and how attentive he or she was to you during your meal. Did they handle your requests promptly? If any problems arose, how did they handle them? Were you impressed or turned off by their personal appearance (in terms of cleanliness)?

Of course, the food is the main highlight of your visit. Was everything cooked the way it was described or the way that you requested it? How long did it take for you to receive your order? How was the overall taste? Take into consideration things such as the amount of seasoning, tenderness, and crispiness when making judgments. You can also add more to this list depending on what you ordered.

Other things to mention:

The overall appearance of the restaurant: Was it well cleaned or were the tables and chairs still dirty when you were seated?

Were napkins and condiments well stocked?

If you spoke with a manager during your visit, how did he or she handle themselves? What were you speaking to them for to begin with? Was there a problem or just a routine check in from a manager?

Were there any comment surveys available? How did you fill it out? Did you receive anything such as a coupon for completing it?

Depending on the kind of place you visited, not all of these elements may be necessary and you can choose to add and take off from this list as you wish. However, these will make your restaurant review more thorough and give people a better impression of whether or not they want to go there themselves. Happy reviewing!