The basic structure of a restaurant review
There are some important aspects to consider when you are going to write a restaurant review (no matter the language that you use). This is essential to build the structure of the text and to avoid forgetting any important details. We can classify these aspects into five basic points:
- El nombre del restaurante y su localización, cómo llegar…
The name of the restaurant and its location, how to arrive… - La comida. ¿Cómo es?
The food. How is it? - El lugar: ambiente, decoración…
The place: ambient, decor… - El servicio
The service - El precio
The price
Here you can see different adjectives that you can use to describe the food, the restaurant, the service and the price. Try to use different adjectives, verbs, etc. whenever you can. This will show that you have a rich Spanish vocabulary and will make the text more interesting and less repetitive.
First step: make a quick draft
The first thing that we have to do is to make a quick draft of the review based on these five points and making short notes. We are going to see how to proceed with an example. Imagine that you are going to write a review about a Mediterranean cuisine restaurant called “Sol y Arena”; this could be a quick draft. The black text represents the draft, the green text in parentheses are explanatory notes.
Please, note that all the names of restaurants and addresses on this post are fictional.
Quick draft
- Sol y Arena (this is the restaurant name), Calle Las Petunias, 79 (this is the address), Valencia (the name of a city), Plaza de la Malvarrosa (you can mention places that are close to the restaurant and are well known on the city/town like museums, beaches or other natural entities, parks, famous clubs, stadiums, official buildings, etc.), línea B del autobús (mention ways to arrive to that restaurant by means of transport).
- Cocina mediterránea (type of cuisine), lasaña de berenjena, lubina a la plancha, arroz con leche (don’t forget to mention the dishes that you have eaten in that restaurant), rico, delicioso, exquisito, dulce, salado, frío, caliente, duro, crudo, quemado, suficiente, escaso… (use adjectives to describe the food, the taste, the quantity…)
- Decoración clásica (how is the decoration? Classic or modern? Describe some of the most interesting objects on the restaurant), ambiente familiar y acogedor (say how is the ambient; is it a family-friendly restaurant? Is it addressed to young people?), cerca de la playa (is there around the restaurant anything that may be interesting for clients? For example, a beach, an amusement park, a nightclub… you can mention it in this point if you have not mentioned it in the first one.)
- Camareros simpáticos y rápidos (explain how is the service of the restaurant based in your own experience, using different adjectives related to the speed of the service and the way of serving customers).
- 15€ (mention the exact price you paid for the menu), barato, buena relación calidad-precio (use adjectives to give a final appreciation of the value for money).
Second step: write your review
After writing your draft, you have to review the notes of these five points quickly in order to get a general idea of what you are going to write. Don’t forget that it’s a draft, with short notes. You need to start to write your review as soon as possible, specially if you are in an exam and your time is limited. If you write too many details on the draft, time will run out and you will rush on your final review, and chances to make mistakes are higher.
So you have your draft. Now is time to “connect” all these notes in a way that makes sense. Look at the example.
Sol y Arena
My restaurant review
Cerca de la Playa de la Malvarrosa, a tan solo 500 metros, encontramos el restaurante Sol y Arena. Este restaurante está localizado en la calle Las Petunias, número 79, en la bella ciudad de Valencia. Llegar es muy fácil: puedes coger/tomar la línea B del autobús, que tiene una parada frente al restaurante.
Este restaurante nos ofrece una cocina mediterránea en la que destacan los platos de verduras y de pescado. En mi visita pude degustar una rica lasaña de berenjena como primer plato y una exquisita lubina a la plancha como segundo plato. Como postre, pedí un arroz con leche que estaba delicioso. Sin duda, el postre fue lo que más me gustó de todo el menú.
La decoración del restaurante es sencilla. Las mesas y las sillas son de madera blanca, las paredes son de color azul claro y están decoradas con fotografías de playas mediterráneas. El ambiente es muy acogedor, por ello muchas familias con niños suelen ir a comer a este restaurante los fines de semana. Por su cercanía a la conocida playa de la Malvarrosa, también es un restaurante frecuentado por familias con niños que están de vacaciones de verano.
Los camareros del restaurante son simpáticos, te informan sobre los ingredientes del menú si tienes alguna duda y te hacen recomendaciones. También son muy rápidos, ya que el primer plato llegó a la mesa en apenas cinco minutos.
El precio del menú son 15 euros. A pesar de que la cantidad de comida en algún plato puede resultar escasa para algunas personas, creo que en general la relación calidad-precio es excelente por ofrecer un menú bueno y barato, y también por el rápido servicio. La mayoría de restaurantes de la zona tienen menús más caros. Recomiendo este restaurante a la gente que esté en Valencia, sobre todo a familias con niños. Yo fui a este restaurante con mi marido y mi hija, y todos quedamos satisfechos con el menú y el servicio, así que volveremos en nuestras próximas vacaciones.
Quick tip
Read restaurant reviews in Spanish. 
If you want to write better restaurant reviews in Spanish, read more reviews in this language (with a critical eye). This may be obvious, but there are people who forget how useful is this. On these days Internet is full of foodies, and therefore, the Internet is full of restaurant reviews: TripAdvisor, Google Reviews…, and some of them (I repeat, some of them, not all) are great because they use a wide variety of adjectives related to the dishes, the decoration… and this can inspire you with your restaurant review in Spanish. Only inspiration! Be original 😉 And something very important: there are also people who write reviews that make misspellings in Spanish, so don’t forget to check anything you read!