restaurant review

In addition to blogging your community, you have now written two formal papers about Metro Detroit: an analysis of a place or artifact and a profile of a community member. As yet another way to use writing to engage with your local community, your next assignment requires you to review a local restaurant. I hope that you will have some fun with this assignment.

Since all of our writing this term centers on Metro Detroit, I ask that you choose a restaurant unique to our city, a non-chain restaurant (avoid McDonald’s, Olive Garden, etc.). In fact, I would urge you to pick a place that you think has character that reflects something about Detroit. For example, why not review an ethnic restaurant where the food and atmosphere has the potential to teach you something about a community-within-our-community? The Dearborn area has numerous middle-eastern restaurants, of course, but you can also find soul food joints all over Detroit. These are just a few possibilities. Let me also suggest that you choose something inexpensive. College students are generally on tight budgets, and one positive outcome of this activity can involve your classmates trying out places you recommend.

Restaurant reviews are an ideal place to employ descriptive language—as long as it does not become too inflated or flowery. As with other types of persuasive writing, your review should be clear and concise while you support general statements with specific examples. When you write a restaurant review, your job as a critic is to comment on five basic areas: food, service, atmosphere, price, and cleanliness.

---Food
*The quality of the food is typically the main thing that a reader looks for in a restaurant review. And quality can be judged on both the ingredients and their preparation.
*As part of your analysis of the food in an ethic or regional restaurant, you might consider authenticity. Or have recipes been modified to fit the taste of the local region? For example, most Americans would not be pleased if a fried egg and slice of beet were served on top of their McDonald’s hamburger. But consumers in New Zealand would be disappointed if that were not the case. You might be amazed to learn what passes as McDonald’s food outside of Livonia, Michigan. (Fishstick)

---Service
*Service involves how you were treated during your dinning experience. Were people polite to you? Did you have to wait for your order? Was it prepared correctly?

---Atmosphere
*Sometimes called ambiance, the atmosphere includes how the restaurant is decorated and its general mood. When evaluating atmosphere, you need to consider context. For example, it would be unfair to criticize a sports bar for having a noisy atmosphere.
*One factor in atmosphere is history; either the history of the restaurant or its location.

---Price
*If price were not a factor, we would all eat at five star restaurants. In your restaurant review, you should at least give a price range for a typical meal. And you might want to comment whether or not the money is well spent.

---Cleanliness
*In your review, comment on the condition of the bathrooms, the silverware, and floors.

Report Your Experience with Evidence! As a critic, you are reporting your own experience and using specific examples to prove your point. For example, Jane Slaughter (2004) is critical of Pampas Churrascaria in Birmingham, Michigan because “The rib eye, sirloin, skirt steak and pork were all overcooked.” On the other hand, Molly Abraham (2004) reported that at Pampas Churrascaria “The beef, appropriately enough, is the star of the show, tender, juicy and not at all overcooked.” It might be interesting to read both of their reviews to see what evidence they used to support their conflicting claims about the restaurant.

References and Resources

Abraham, Molly. “Brazilian Restaurant in Birmingham is Hard to Pronounce, but Easy to Swallow.” 10 December 2004. Detroit News. 2 March 2005.

Detroit News Restaurant Guide. nd. detnews.com. 2 March 2005.

Fishstick. “The Love Burger, Seaweed Fries, and Other Curiostities” nd. Tiki Fish. 2 March 2005.

Slaughter, Jane. “Sounds Like Pompos.” 29 December 2004. Metro Times. 2 March
2005.

Here are some essential websites:

The Metro Times “Taste” Section (see the links under “Recent Reviews”):
http://www.metrotimes.com/taste.asp

The Detroit News Restaurant Guide:
http://info.detnews.com/restaurants/index.cfm

Due Dates:
Tuesday, March 6 (bring three copies of a first draft to class today)
Tuesday, March 13 (one copy of a final draft to hand in to me; you should also have
your review posted on your blog by this date)

This assignment adapted from Schoolcraft College Writing Program: http://www.schoolcraft.edu/fellows/default.asp