How to Write a Restaurant Review

I love food! I love the texture—the velvety softness of rising bread dough—the smells, the look, the sounds—bubbling and sizzling—and, afterward, when everyone is fighting food coma, the sleepy clinking of dishes as plates are cleared away.

Given this I guess it’s natural that I would love restaurants. I love the way they look, I love getting together with friends and enjoying a meal together. And I love the way a new restaurant holds out the promise of new, interesting experiences.

One of my earliest memories is being driven by a gorgeous restaurant. It was night but since the restaurant’s walls were mostly glass I could see the interior, illuminated as it was by a soft, flickering, light. As my parents’ car whisked me away I craned my neck to peer inside. Each linen-clad table held a candle centered in a pool of soft light, surrounded by smiling people enjoying the sort of community that flows naturally around good food. In my youthful mind that restaurant was an oasis of hope and warmth and beauty.

I’ve gone to a few restaurants since then, nice ones even, but nothing has ever come close to that childhood memory. Of course I’m positive that, were I to swim back through time and walk into that restaurant, I would find it devastatingly ordinary. But over the years that memory has served as something of a beacon.

Given this passion for all-things-food I’ve often thought about writing a restaurant review. I think what has held me back was that I wasn’t sure how to write one!

It’s time to remedy that.

 I’ve decided that this summer I’m going to get out more and review a number of the wonderful, funky, unique, quirky and above all welcoming restaurants that surround me like raisins in a delicious rice pudding. But I’ve never written a review! So I thought this would be a marvelous topic for a blog post.

The Association of Food Journalists: How to Write a Review 

Thinking about it now it makes perfect sense that there’s an Association of Food Journalists, but for some reason that came as a surprise. What follows comes from the Association's infinitely informative article they have graciously shared with the public: Food Critics Guidelines.

The goals of a critic should be to be fair, honest, to understand and illuminate the cuisine about which he or she is writing. A critic should look beyond specific dishes and experiences and attempt to capture the whole of a restaurant and its intentions.

Beautiful! That’s the picture in broad strokes, the overall goal. Now, as my gran used to say, let’s get down to brass tacks.

A review concerns three basic categories:

a. Service
b. Menu/Food quality
c. Atmosphere
d. Value

When you write a restaurant review you are doing journalism and journalists have guidelines. For instance:

1. Visit twice. If you are writing a full length review try to visit the restaurant at least two times. If you can only visit the restaurant once then note this in the review.

2. Play fair. Order what the restaurant is known for. If they are known for their tasting menu then,  if possible, order that. If they are known for their deserts then order the desert, if they are known for their seafood then order the seafood.

3. Dish evaluation. Discuss each of these elements (Service, Menu, Atmosphere, Value) with reference to what the chef was trying to accomplish. For example, if they were experimenting with a fusion dish then it’s not fair to complain it wasn’t authentic!

4. Be comprehensive. While it goes without saying you don’t have to order every item on the menu, do try to order a complete meal, from appetizer to dessert. Keep in mind that you shouldn’t mention an item that you haven’t tasted.

5. Try a variety. Order dishes that were created using: a) different cooking techniques (steamed, deep-fried, sautéed, and so on), b) different ingredients (fish, beef, seafood, vegetables, etc.) and c) different styles (traditional, modern, fusion, etc.).

6. Be sure. If you visit the restaurant twice and the first time a particular dish stood out as either wonderful or terrible, then order it again to see if you have the same experience.

7. Be generous. Give a new restaurant one month to work the kinks out before eating there, at least if your visit will be part of a review. If you need to write a review within that first month make the review more descriptive than critical. If possible, call it a “sneak preview” rather than a “review.” Highlight things like the clientele, the decor, the chefs background and be sure to mention how long the restaurant has been open. Naturally you will discuss the menu but try not to concentrate on it as much as you would in a normal review.

8. Re-review. If you’ve reviewed a restaurant and it changes owners, if it hires or fires its chef or if it moves to a new location then it’s important to review it again.

9. Negative reviews. If you have an all-around terrible experience at a restaurant and feel it would be irresponsible NOT to write about it then make sure your review is based on more than just two visits. Also, make sure your review is based on a representative sampling of the menu. That is, make sure you’ve tried appetizers, various main courses as well as desserts. Also, make sure you’ve sampled a variety of food (red meat, chicken, pork, vegetarian, and so on) prepared using different methods (sautéed, steamed, roast, and so on). If you do use a rating system, showing exactly how the negative review was earned can help minimize pushback.

10. Edit, edit, edit. Double-check your facts. Confirm the spelling of the restaurant’s name, of the chef’s name, of the restaurant’s contact information as well as the names of the dishes you reviewed.

Ratings

You don’t have to employ a ratings system, but if you do the key is consistency. If you are set on using a ratings system, The Association of Food Journalists recommends the following:

4 stars: Extraordinary. The standard by which you judge other restaurants.

3 stars: Excellent. Great food, wonderful atmosphere, good service, all around wonderful experience.

2 stars: Good. A solid example of a particular kind of restaurant (e.g., sushi, Italian, and so on).

1 star: Okay. The restaurant did one thing well. Perhaps one dish was delicious, or the restaurant had a fabulous waitstaff, or you enjoyed the atmosphere. Still, you’re not going to hurry back to a 1 star restaurant, but you would go again.

0 stars: Poor. Nothing about the restaurant made you want to return.

Personally, I think I would simplify matters and go with thumbs up or thumbs down! But that’s just me. Thumbs up would mean I’d go back while thumbs down would mean the opposite. I have a feeling I wouldn’t employ a rating system because the overwhelming number of restaurants I’ve been to I would gladly go again.

The Actual Writing

1. Hook the Reader With the First Sentence

It seems to me that writing a restaurant review is remarkably similar to any other piece of writing. The most important thing is to open your review with a sentence that will hook the reader.

2. Make It Personal

When it comes to food journalism, Nigella Lawson is my idol. Take, for instance, her March 2014 article for The Guardian: Why I Became a Cookbook Writer. Here’s her first sentence: “I never intended to be a food writer.”

Bam! It is unexpected. Honest. And I don’t know about you, but it certainly grabbed me.

Lawson is open about the fact she is self-taught. She writes, “if you needed a professional qualification to cook, human beings would have fallen out of the evolutionary tree a long time ago.” So true!

She goes on:

“In How To Eat I thought aloud about food, shared my enthusiasms and prejudices and tried to explain how and why I cook any one dish at any time. It is an intensely personal book: any authentic collection of recipes is in part autobiography; and in my case, many of these recipes were a kind of memorial to the food cooked by my mother, Vanessa, and my sister, Thomasina.”

You see how Nigella Lawson seems to be speaking right to you, her reader. She is brutally, beautifully, honest, baring her soul. You are girlfriends, a bit tipsy perhaps, sharing secrets as you sip wine and eat something sinfully delicious.

In other words: make it personal. Write from the heart. Although he meant something a wee bit different, I think of what Westley said to Prince Humperdinck at the end of The Princess Bride: To the pain! Expose yourself. Write the painfully personal. Write your heart.

Good writing is good writing, whether you’re writing about your initiation into adulthood or a good fritter.

3. Be Objective

It sounds counterintuitive at first but it doesn’t matter whether you like the food. I remember reading a blog post by a former literary agent in which he talked about how whether he personally liked a book was beside the point. What he was looking for was whether there was a market for the book. (Of course if he loved the story then there definitely would be a market: all those readers like him!)

The question your asking yourself is whether your readers would like this food. Yes, of course, share your personal preferences with your readers—that’s part of being honest, of being personal—but also share whether you like that kind of food.

Personally, I don’t like dry ribs but I realize that most people like them just fine. So if I were to have a dish of dry ribs I would evaluate them against other dry ribs I’ve had and so could say, truthfully, these are the best dry ribs I’ve had even though I didn’t personally care for them. Also, I would try to eat with friends who loved dry ribs and ask for their opinions.

A few of my favorite cookbooks:

How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking, by Nigella Lawson.
Barefoot Contessa Foolproof: Recipes You Can Trust, by Ina Garten.
Everyday Super Food, by Jamie Oliver.

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Every post I pick something I love and recommend it. This serves two purposes. I want to share what I’ve loved with you, and, if you click the link and buy anything over at Amazon within the next 24 hours, Amazon puts a few cents in my tip jar at no cost to you. So, if you click the link, thank you! If not, that’s okay too. I’m thrilled and honored you’ve visited my blog and read my post.

Today I’m recommending what I think is an amazing book: Hidden Figures, by Margot Lee Shetterly.

From the blurb: “Before John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as “human computers” used pencils, slide rules and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space.”

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Are you going to write a review? If so, I would love to read it! Please leave a link to it in a comment.

That’s it! I’ll talk to you again tomorrow. In the meantime, good writing!

Writing an Effective Book Description: 7 Ways to Turn Browsers Into Buyers

Descriptions are important. I used to think the sole purpose of a description was to summarize or describe a book. And, of course, that’s part of it! But, primarily, the job of your book’s description is to sell the book. This means that, like our heroes, we must go beyond passive description to inform potential readers how this book can change their life for the better. (I go into more detail about this, below.)

Now, you might think: well, that’s all fine and good for Non-Fiction, but I write FICTION! I agree that it’s a bit easier—or at least more straightforward—in the case of non-fiction, but this principle applies to fiction as well.

For example, look at the description of 1984, by George Orwell. The following is an excerpt from the first three sentences (note that potential readers see this without having to click the “Read more” button): “...[Orwell’s] dystopian vision of a government that will do anything to control the narrative is timelier than ever” and then comes the following quotation:

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

I’d like to stress that I’m NOT discussing politics here. Whichever side of the (sizable!) political divide you personally come down on, you can see the hook here, and it’s a powerful one.

Of course you might think: but 1984 is a classic! I write light-hearted romance.

It doesn't matter! The same principle applies.

Why do people read your book? What does it do for them? Perhaps it helps them forget how ordinary their life is. Perhaps it allows them to vicariously experience exotic locales as well as the thrills and chills of being swept off their feet by a handsome stranger.

I’m sure you’ll be able to come up with a classic example of this—and if you’ve got one in mind PLEASE leave the book's title in a comment!—but this comes from the description of The Red Door Inn by Liz Johnson:

Step into the Red Door Inn, a lovely home away from home tucked along the north shore of fabled Prince Edward Island. It's a place where the wounded come to heal, the broken find forgiveness, and the lonely find a family. Won't you stay for the season?

That’s quite the invitation! By the way, at the time of writing, this book sits at #460 in the paid Kindle Store. According to the Kindle Best Seller Calculator this works out to about 194 copies sold per day. At a 35% royalty this means the book earns about $103 per day. Not bad!

In any case, enough preamble. Here are 7 tips for writing a book description that will show your work in its best possible light and, because of this, turn browsers into buyers!

7 Tips for Writing a Book Description That Will Turn Browsers Into Buyers

Before we get into this let’s look at what I think is an effective non-fiction book description. It’s from Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, by Angela Duckworth.

In this instant New York Times bestseller, pioneering psychologist Angela Duckworth shows anyone striving to succeed—be it parents, students, educators, athletes, or business people—that the secret to outstanding achievement is not talent but a special blend of passion and persistence she calls “grit.”

Drawing on her own powerful story as the daughter of a scientist who frequently noted her lack of “genius,” Duckworth, now a celebrated researcher and professor, describes her early eye-opening stints in teaching, business consulting, and neuroscience, which led to the hypothesis that what really drives success is not “genius” but a unique combination of passion and long-term perseverance.

1. Hook Readers With the First Sentence.

Does the first sentence grab readers? Does it hook them? Does it pull them in and compel them to read the next sentence?

Let’s look at the first sentence of GRIT's description:

... pioneering psychologist Angela Duckworth shows anyone striving to succeed ... that the secret to outstanding achievement is not talent but a special blend of passion and persistence she calls ‘grit.’

The book's promise is right there: You don't need talent to succeed! Read this book, discover what grit is, and you too will learn the secret to outstanding achievement."

Here’s another example of an effective description that packs a punch in the first two sentences. It’s from Tim Ferriss’s The 4-Hour Work Week:

The New York Times bestselling author of The 4-Hour Body shows readers how to live more and work less, now with more than 100 pages of new, cutting-edge content.

Forget the old concept of retirement and the rest of the deferred-life plan–there is no need to wait and every reason not to, especially in unpredictable economic times.

Notice that the first sentence is in bold and that it communicates the promise of the book: Read me and you’ll learn “how to live more and work less.” I’ve noticed quite a few descriptions have the first sentence in bold to help it stand out. Some descriptions also increase the font size of certain key sentences in order to draw attention to them.

2. Include Your Book's Keywords in the Description.

Keywords are important because this is part of what determines whether your book will show up for particular searches.

When you publish your book you’re asked for up to seven keywords. Work as many of these into your description as you can. Some authors also bold or underline one or two of the most important keywords.

Many times you can get a good idea of the kind of keywords books in your category use by simply looking at the categories that the best selling books succeed in. If you have the time it's also a good idea to copy, say, 10 of the best descriptions for books in your category and run them through a program that reveals which words are used most frequently.

3. Make Your Book's Description Similar in Style to the Best Sellers in Your Genre/Category.

Does your description look similar to, have a similar style to, the description of the best selling books in your genre/category? If not, study the descriptions of the best sellers. Not all of them will sparkle, but pick the best and see how yours differs. Then tweak yours.

Don't be discouraged if you don't get it right the first time!

Also, make sure your book's description communicates the book's genre and subgenre.

4. Solicit Feedback.

Let friends and your fellow writers read your description and give you feedback. Share your description with your social networks. You can also work up different versions and ask folks to choose which one (A or B) they like better.

One tip I've received is that, for ease of reading, each paragraph should contain no more than 2 or 3 sentences.

5. Remember That a Description Is More Than a Summary, It's an Advertisement!

Here are a few things to consider:

• Does the description highlight the book’s benefit for its intended audience? In other words, did you tell the reader what your book can do for them?
• What is the reader’s problem? Be genuine. Show your readers you've be through what they're going through, that you understand them. How will your book fix their problem? How will it make the reader [insert modifier: wealthier, happier, more productive, etc]? 
• Communicate that these tips are practical. Anyone who reads the book and puts in time and effort can change their life. (I believe this!)
• Make sure you list the benefits a potential reader will get if they read the book and implement the advice. Include bullet points that communicate, say, the 3 most important benefits of your book, the three most important things it can do for readers.
• Why is this book the best book they could read on this topic? Help your book stand out from the crowd.
• Try to make a personal connection with the reader in the book description. If the book is intended for a certain age range, include that information. The more accurately you can target your intended audience, the better.

6. Include an Elevator Pitch.

This point applies more to fiction than nonfiction. Don’t give away too much information. If you have a number of cliffhanger moments in your book (perhaps the first one occurs around the Lock-In) then take the readers up to the first cliffhanger.

See: How to write a kickass book description.

7. Update Your Book's Description.

Update your bio to reflect the content of your book.

Update your book’s description as you get reviews, etc. Also, if you’re running a promotion, don't be afraid to put it in the description!

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Every post I pick something I love and recommend it. This serves two purposes. I want to share what I’ve loved with you, and, if you click the link and buy anything over at Amazon within the next 24 hours, Amazon puts a few cents in my tip jar at no cost to you. So, if you click the link, thank you! If not, that’s okay too. I’m thrilled and honored you’ve visited my blog and read my post.

Today I want to recommend a book by one of my favorite writers: Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman. 

From the blurb: "Through Gaiman’s deft and witty prose emerge these gods with their fiercely competitive natures, their susceptibility to being duped and to duping others, and their tendency to let passion ignite their actions, making these long-ago myths breathe pungent life again."

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That's it! I hate writing descriptions. Sometimes I think the description is more difficult to write than the book! I hope this was of some help. If you'd like to share what's worked for you, please share your tip in the comments, I'd love to hear from you. :-)

I'll talk to you again on Wednesday. In the meantime, good writing! :-)

The Structure of Character

Most of the time I focus on story structure rather than character structure.

Now, you might wonder: Is “character structure” really a thing? Do all the different elements that go into making up a fictional human have a structure?

I think they do, though it’s not as clear cut as it is with story structure. By the way, I’m not putting this forward as the way things are, I’m musing aloud. In what follows I lay out my reasoning, and I would be very interested in what you folks think! :-)

Motorboat Example

To make things easier, I’m going to refer to the following diagram in what follows:

In this figure you see three things:

- A shark
- A man driving a motorboat
- An island

When we talk about character, the following terms are often used:

- Motivation
- Goals
- Desires (internal & external)
- Flaw
- Wound

I want to try and explain what I mean by each of these terms with reference to the above diagram.

MOTIVATION: The shark is the man’s motivation for heading to the island.

DESIRE: The man’s desire sets his goal. We can’t actually see the man’s desire. In this case it’s something like, “Stay alive!”

GOAL: The island is the man’s goal. If the man reaches the island he’ll be safe from the shark.

FLAW/WOUND: Flaws come in many different varieties. The character can have a physical imperfection: a sprained leg, a scar, a physical wound, and so on. The character can also have a psychological flaw. He could be depressed or his anxiety levels could be so high he can’t think straight. Or perhaps he’s lost someone he loves. In terms of the motorboat example, if the man had a broken arm it would be more difficult to steer the boat toward the island.

Desire vs Goals

Some folks talk about internal desires and external desires—and that’s great! An example of an internal desire would be the desire to be loved. An external desire, on the other hand, would be wanting Handsome John, the crown prince of Egodia, to ask one out on a date. This way of talking about things is fine—great!—but I prefer to simply think about these things in terms of desires and goals.[1]

A desire, at least in the sense I’m using it here, has the following connotations:

• It is about the heart rather than the head. 
• It is personal vs impersonal.
• It has to do with “unkickables”; that is, things you can’t take a picture of—things like the desire to be loved or to be a success.
• It is broad vs narrow.

A goal, on the other hand, is very different:

• It is about the head more than the heart.
• It is impersonal vs personal.
• It is “kickable”; tangible. That is, you could take a picture of it. This covers things like winning the lottery and climbing Mount Everest.
• It is narrow vs broad.

The way I think of it, a goal is a specific, concrete, expression of a desire. While the desire is broad, general, even nebulous, the goal is concrete. One could take a picture of the character accomplishing it.

For example, if a character—let’s call her Jane—has the desire to be rich, there are several concrete, specific goals she COULD have:

• Buy a lottery ticket.
• Go to school and become a lawyer.
• Become a day trader.
• Rob a bank.

And so on. Jane’s personality, skills, background and environment will no doubt influence which goal Jane selects, but that GOAL will be an expression of her DESIRE to be rich.

Of course, you could think about desires differently. For example, Jane could have a specific desire (e.g., I want to get rich by becoming a day trader). That’s fine. Think of desires and goals however makes the most sense to you!

The Structure: Incompatible Desires

When I talk about the structure of character I think about how desires and goals relate to one another. Specifically, how the secret to making a lifelike character is to give her incompatible desires (which, in turn, translate into incompatible goals). In a well-structured story this will eventually force the character to prefer one desire, one goal, above another.

Perhaps the best way to communicate what I mean is to look at examples:

Example 1: Silence of the Lambs, by Thomas Harris

I’m guessing that you’ve either read the book or seen the movie. If not, what are you waiting for!? If you’d like to read a summary of the story, head over to Wikipedia.[2]

In Silence of the Lambs, Clarice Starling has two main desires:

Desire1: Save lives, help those who can’t help themselves.

Desire2: Gain status, be recognized and valued for accomplishments.

These desires are expressed as the following goals:

Goal1: Save the girl ([name], the senator’s daughter) Buffalo Bill has captured.

Goal2: Climb the career ladder at the FBI. (Graduate and become a full-fledged FBI agent. Be recognized and rewarded for hard work and excellence.)

Before Clarice started working for Jack Crawford her internal and external desires were in sync. She believed her superiors at the FBI were interested in saving innocents, that this concern trumped their ambition.

Another way of saying the same thing is that, in the Ordinary World of the story, Clarice’s goals were aligned. AFTER she begins working for Crawford she realizes her superiors in the FBI don’t care about saving Buffalo Bill’s victims as much as they care about politics—that is, in not ticking off the wrong people and climbing the career ladder.

When Clarice’s internal and external desires come into conflict her life becomes disharmonious. Clarice realizes she must choose, one desire must rule the other. Either she will give up her ambitions and try to save the girl or she will let go of her desire to rescue the innocent in favor of getting ahead at the FBI. Whichever way Clarice chooses it will reveal her character. In the end she does the only thing she can given who she is: she tries to save the girl.

Example 2: The Matrix

For both Neo and Trinity their goals change during the course of the movie. At first Neo is focused on finding Morpheus and figuring out what the matrix is. When he accomplishes that at the Lock-In his desires change. Neo wants to be what Morpheus wants him to be: the One. He also wants to protect the resistance—both the movement and the people within the movement, especially Trinity. So ...

Desire1: Protect and serve the resistance.

Desire2: Become the One.

Early in Act Two these desires are in harmony, but after Morpheus is captured they come apart. At this point Neo believes he has a choice: save Morpheus and die himself or sacrifice Morpheus and live on in the hope he (Neo) will become the One.

Goal1: Kill Morpheus before the agents can extract the codes from his mind and use them to quash the resistance. (Morpheus dies, Neo lives.)

Goal2: Rescue Morpheus and, in so doing, give up his own life. 

Neo wants to save the resistance—and himself—(Goal1), and he wants to save Morpheus (Goal2), but he can’t do both. So he chooses, and his choice reveals his character and sets him apart as a hero. He chooses to give up his own life so that Morpheus might live and the resistance continue.

So, what do you think? Is there a structure to the desires of a well-drawn character?

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Every post I pick something I love and recommend it. This serves two purposes. I want to share what I’ve loved with you, and, if you click the link and buy anything over at Amazon within the next 24 hours, Amazon puts a few cents in my tip jar at no cost to you. So, if you click the link, thank you! If not, that’s okay too. I’m thrilled and honored you’ve visited my blog and read my post.

Today I’m recommending something a bit different. Sometimes I use a voice recorder to start my writing off. I love writing while I walk! The voice recorder I use is the Sony ICD PX333. I’m sure there are better recorders out there, but not for $29.99! I’ve had it for years and I've dropped it, used it out in the snow, the rain, and it still works fine! If someone else would like to recommend another voice recorder, please do!

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That’s it! I was a bit late with this post—there was a lot to think about! I’ll talk to you again tomorrow. Till then, good writing!

Notes:

1. To me this seems like a simpler system, though I likely find it simpler simply because it clicks with me. Each of us is different and so it’s reasonable that we each need to make sense of these concepts in our own way. If my way of thinking clicks with you, great! If not, then ignore it. Do whatever makes sense to you.

2. Although the book and the movie are quite similar there are significant differences. For example, Clarice’s anger plays a much bigger part in the book as does Crawford’s scheming and behind the scenes manipulations.

3. The Oracle has told Trinity that the man she falls in love with will be the One.