Christine Baker, president of CB

1. r ite a food
How to w
rev iew?
20 11
J our nalism

2. The Job of a food reviewer
The job of a food reviewer is to accurately convey the tastes,
textures, smells, presentation and enjoy-ability of food eaten at a
restaurant.

3. Be Willing to try new
foods.
If not, writing food reviews is not
going to be a good pastime or
career for you.
Be adventurous as a diner. Try
exotic foods that aren’t typical in
the U.S.
Be open minded. Remember, food
can be pretty creative.

4. Consider how you will record the
experience.
You can’t be too obvious because you don’t want the restaurant to
know you are reviewing.

5. Assess the table set up before
you begin the meal.
Pay attention to details of what your table and the restaurant looks
like, sounds like.

6. Order a broad range
Order food that gives as broad an
experience as possible of the
menu in front of you.
Order an appetizer, entrée and
dessert.
Ask for the waiter’s
recommendations.
Pay attention to what other
people are eating.

7. Assess as you eat.
• The presentation - clean,
beautiful or messy and
tired?
• The temperature - was
the warm meal warm or
was it cold?
• The level of cooking -
was the food cooked to
perfection, under cooked

8. Ask questions
Things to try and discern include:
Does the waiting staff know their
food and ingredients? Do they know
where the fish was caught, whether
the vegetables are organic, whether
the beef was grain-fed?
How do they respond if you make a
compliment or a complaint?
Are they able to recommend wine to
accompany the meal?

9. Consider the
ambiance.
Does it seem that people are
enjoying themselves?
Or is the restaurant emptying
quickly or not filling up at all?
Consider overall presentation of
the place and the friendliness of
staff.

10. Talk about the food!
While it’s important to consider
ambiance, staff, comfort,
cleanliness, etc., it’s most vital to
talk about the food!
Describe it. What are your
observations eating it?

11. Don’t exaggerate
Did you like something? Did you
not like something? We want to
know, and the more vivid the
description, the better for those
of us who may not know what the
place is like.
But don't overdo it, either. I'm not
going to believe it if you tell me
that a certain menu item tastes
like blood.

12. More opinions,
fewer facts
There's nothing wrong with telling
us what's on the menu at any
restaurant. There is something
wrong, however, if you don't give
us your opinions on those menu
items, even if it's as simple as "I
haven't tried this before." In the
days of the Internet, it's pretty
simple to just go to any
restaurant's website to see what
they offer.

13. Enjoy the food and get
writing.