COMMUNICATION

Reviewing
a restaurant

LEVEL NUMBER LANGUAGE

Intermediate (B1) EN_B1_2023X ENGLISH

www.lingoda.com
 Learning outcomes

● I can write a restaurant review

using a range of vocabulary.

● I can recognise and recall a

variety of structures to
emphasise a point in English.

2
 Warm-up
Brainstorm adjectives to describe these elements of a restaurant.

1 2 3 4

Food Service Atmosphere Price

3
 What’s your favourite restaurant?
1. Prepare two to three sentences about your favourite restaurant.
2. Tell a partner in breakout rooms or your whole class about your favourite restaurant.
3. For breakout rooms, briefly present your partner’s choice when back in the classroom.

• What kind of food do they serve?

• What’s your favourite dish to order?

• How good is the service?

• Is it expensive?

4
 Reading
Read these three reviews for the Lotus Palm, a Mediterranean bistro in San Diego, CA.

Came for lunch. Fantastic staff and, overall, extremely good value
for money. Ordered the special: the beef filet. It was so tasty!
Brian

Had such a disappointing meal here. Fish was undercooked and

quite overpriced. Our server was also very rude to us.
Sheree

Not sure about the Lotus Palm. Some dishes are absolutely
wonderful, others are just awful. Jury’s out on this one!
Tamisha

Which review is Which review is Which review is

How can you tell?
positive? negative? mixed?

5
 Reading
Read the bistro’s reviews again. For each review, find examples of the language listed in the
boxes below.

Came for lunch. Fantastic staff and, overall, extremely good value
for money. Ordered the special: the beef filet. It was so tasty!
Brian

Had such a disappointing meal here. Fish was undercooked and

quite overpriced. Our server was also very rude to us.
Sheree

Not sure about the Lotus Palm. Some dishes are absolutely
wonderful, others are just awful. Jury’s out on this one!
Tamisha

Describing food Describing service Describing cost Adverbs ending in

-ly

6
 Using adverbs of degree
Look at the adverbs of degree highlighted in the sentences below.

The Lotus Palm is extremely good value for money.

Some of their dishes are absolutely wonderful.

Deciding which adverb of degree to use

● In which position in the sentence do depends on the adjective that follows it.
these adverbs go?
● Which adjective above has a meaning
● How do they change the meaning of that is already extreme and cannot be
each sentence? made weaker or stronger?

● (Hint: look at the word they modify) ● Do we use absolutely or extremely with
this kind of adjective?

7
 Making a point stronger
Use an adverb of degree (either absolutely or extremely) to make each point stronger.

The dining room was absolutely

1 Dining room – freezing
freezing!

2 Fried chicken – crispy

3 Service – terrible

4 Duck – tasty

5 Portions of food – tiny

6 Café – noisy

8
 Comparing so and such
Look at these sentences from the the text about the Lotus Palm. Complete the blue boxes.

Ordered the lunch special: the beef filet. It was so tasty!

Had such a disappointing evening meal at the Lotus Palm.

● What kind of word is tasty?

● Listen to your teacher pronounce
these sentences. ● What kind of word is evening meal?

● Which word do they stress?

● We use _______________ + adjective or
adverb.
● What effect do these words have on
the sentence? ● We use _______________ + a + noun
phrase.

9
 Real-life language

We had a super
disappointing meal
there!

The salad was super

tasty!

Native speakers often use these

words in informal speech.
What could you replace super with
in each of the examples above?

10
 Using so and such
Complete the gaps with the correct word. Which opinions are positive and which are negative?

1 I was _______________ unhappy with my food there. They need to get a new chef ASAP!

2 It’s _______________ a nice place to just grab a coffee and watch the world go by!

3 My husband was _______________ disappointed with his salad. It was only lettuce and tomato!

4 This restaurant serves the best noodles in town. _______________ a good discovery!

5 They brought the food to our table _______________ quickly. What fantastic service!

11
 What do these customers think?
Here are some more customer ratings for the Lotus Palm. Choose one of them and write a
short review as if you are the customer.

Jane Paul Helena

Food Food Food
Service Service Service
Price Price Price

Now, compare your reviews as a class. Would you like to try the Lotus Palm? Why or why not?

12
 Look back at your first writing task
Return to the sentences you wrote about your favourite restaurant on slide 4.
Can you improve them using vocabulary from today’s lesson?

• staff • so
• dish • such a
• meal
• wonderful
• absolutely • fantastic
• extremely • good value
for money

13
 Time to talk!
Ask your classmates the questions below. What can you find out about them?

• What are your favourite cuisines? Do

you have any favourite dishes?
• What would your ideal restaurant be
like?
• How often do you check a restaurant’s
reviews before you go there?
• What happens if you see a negative
review?
• Do you ever download a restaurant’s
menu and decide what to eat before
you go?
• How often do you leave reviews for
restaurants?

14
 Let’s reflect

● Can you write a restaurant review

using a range of vocabulary?

● Can you recognise and recall a

variety of structures to emphasise
a point in English?

Your teacher will now make one suggestion

for improvement for each student.

15
End of the lesson

Idiom

Nothing to write home about!

Meaning: to be very mediocre – not exciting or special.

Example: Went to that new Indian takeout on our street. The food was ok, but nothing to
write home about.
Additional practice

Additional practice

17
 The worst-rated restaurant near you
Perhaps you’ve had a horrible experience there, or heard about an extremely bad experience
from a friend. Let’s find out using the power of the internet!
Additional practice

1 Open a new tab in your internet browser.

Type in your search engine:

2
“Worst reviewed restaurant + your town or city”

Take two minutes to find an online review.

3
Summarise the review and tell your class about it!

18
 Extremely or absolutely?
Complete the sentences with the appropriate adverb.
Additional practice

1 The food was _______________ good! I would definitely come back.

a. extremely b. absolutely

2 I love that restaurant! The chef there is _______________ brilliant at what she does.

a. extremely b. absolutely

3 Be careful in the kitchen! Those sharp knives are _______________ dangerous.

a. extremely b. absolutely

19
 Recommending a restaurant
Additional practice

Lucas

Can you recommend any

places to eat for my gf and I?
Your friend Lucas is visiting your town or city
and asks for a restaurant recommendation.
Me

Which place would you recommend? Hi you! Sure I’d

recommend….
Reply to Lucas’ texts with your thoughts!
Lucas

Cool! Thanks! What about

the service and price?

Me

...

20
 Rework the sentences
Add so and such to these sentences. More than one option might be possible.
Additional practice

1 The story was amazing. It was such an amazing story!

2 The experience was really unforgettable.

3 The meal was very tasty.

4 The staff was really kind.

5 It’s very hot today! It’s over 35C!

6 He walks really slowly. It is very annoying!

21
 Answer key

P.5: Positive: Brian’s

Negative: Sheree’s
Mixed: Tamisha’s
P.6: Food: tasty, disappointing, undercooked, wonderful, awful
Service: rude, fantastic
Cost: good value for money, overpriced
Adverbs: extremely, absolutely
P.7: Before the adjective they modify; They intensify the adjective (i.e. make the
opinion stronger).
Wonderful is already extreme; With this adjective we use absolutely, not extremely.
P.8: Suggested answers:
The fried chicken was extremely crispy.
The service was absolutely terrible.
The duck was extremely tasty.
The portions of food were absolutely tiny.
The café was extremely noisy.

22
 Answer key

P.9: Effect: they also intensify the opinion in the sentence.

So + adjective or adverb
Such + a + noun phrase
P.10: 1. so 2. such 3. so 4. such 5. so
P.19: 1. a 2. b 3. a

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 Summary

● When we review a restaurant, we usually give our opinion on various elements:

Ø The quality of the food it serves; the level of service it offers; the atmosphere created, and,
of course, how happy we are with the price of everything.

● When giving our opinion, we can make our point stronger by using:
Ø Adverbs of degree: absolutely and extremely;
Ø So or such a

● When deciding between absolutely and extremely, we need to look at the adjective that follows it:
Ø With ‘extreme’ adjectives (e.g. brilliant, freezing, boiling, terrible) we use absolutely.
Ø With most other adjectives (e.g. tasty, good, fast) we can use extremely.

● When we use so or such a, we also need to look at the kind of word we are modifying:
Ø We use so with adjectives or adverbs (e.g. The service was so fast; They made the food so quickly)
Ø We use such a.. with noun phrases (e.g. We had such a terrible meal there!)

24
 Vocabulary

tasty staff

undercooked meal

wonderful server

fantastic dish

overpriced

rude

awful

disappointing

good value for money

to order the special

25
 Notes

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