Review of a Local Café
Write a short review of a café or restaurant near your home for a local website: the food, the place, the prices and your rating.
- Time
- 20 min
- Length
- 80-100 words
Writadia · A2 · Reviews
NameClassDate
The situation
A local website, "Eat Here", asks young people to review cafés and restaurants in their town. Each review has a star rating from one to five.
Your task
Write a review of a café or restaurant you know. Include:
- the name and where it is
- what you ate or drank and what it was like
- the place, the service and the prices
- your star rating and who you recommend it to
Writing toolkit
Open these only when you need them. Try the first draft on your own.
Plan it in steps
- Name the café and say where it is.
- Describe the food with two or three adjectives.
- Say one good thing and one not-so-good thing.
- Give a star rating and recommend it to someone.
Useful phrases
Introducing
Food
Place and service
Recommending
Tap a phrase to add it to your text. Gaps (…) are selected so you can type over them.
Vocabulary
- delicious
- very good to eatThe cake was delicious.
- staff
- the people who work in a placeThe staff were friendly.
- cosy
- warm and comfortableIt's a cosy café.
- reasonable
- not too expensiveThe prices are reasonable.
- recommend
- say that something is goodI recommend the pancakes.
Model answer (96 words)
Read it after you’ve written your own version. Notice the highlighted parts. The numbers explain why they work.
Mavi Kafe is a small café on Atatürk Street, next to the library.1 I went there with my sister last Saturday.
I had a chocolate milkshake and a cheese toast. The milkshake was delicious, but the toast was a bit cold.2 The staff were very friendly, and the café is cosy, with lots of plants and old books. The prices are reasonable for students.
It's quite noisy at the weekend, so it's not great for studying. I give it four stars out of five. I recommend it to students who want to meet friends after school.3
- Name and place first.
- One good thing and one not-so-good thing makes the review fair.
- Rating + who it's good for.
Teacher notes
Focus: adjectives for food and places; but to balance opinions.
Activity: students read three classmates' reviews and choose where they would go. Why?
Extra challenge
Write a one-star review of an imaginary terrible café. Make it funny but polite.
Lesson plan
- 5 minWarm-up
Show the situation on the classroom screen and ask: “What would you write in this situation?” Take two or three quick answers.
- 6 minWord pool
Open “Word pool” on the classroom screen. Students make one sentence each with: delicious, staff, cosy, reasonable, recommend.
- 7 minModel text
Reveal the model sentence by sentence in “Model text” mode. At each sentence ask: “What job does this sentence do?” Write these phrases on the board: “... is a small café on ... Street.”, “I had ... It was delicious / a bit cold / too sweet.”, “The staff were friendly and fast.”.
- 15 minWriting
Start the timer. Students write their own text; anyone stuck can use the plan in the toolkit. (80-100 words)
- 5 minPeer review
Students swap texts and fill in the peer-review sheet.
- 2 minWrap-up
Set the extra challenge as homework.
The task’s own teacher notes give extra ideas for the warm-up and focus.
Assessment rubric
| Criterion | 4 · Excellent | 3 · Good | 2 · Developing | 1 · Beginning | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Task | All the requested information is there. | One point is missing. | Several points are missing. | Little connection to the task. | |
| Organisation | Sentences in order; and, but, because used well. | Mostly in order. | Order is confusing. | Unconnected sentences. | |
| Vocabulary | Topic words used; most spelled correctly. | Simple but enough. | A lot of repetition and spelling errors. | Words do not carry the meaning. | |
| Grammar and mechanics | Capitals, full stops and basic tenses correct. | A few errors, meaning clear. | Frequent errors, meaning sometimes lost. | Hard to understand. | |
| Total | / 16 | ||||
Each criterion scores 1–4 (total 16). Use the task checklist below to tick what the student actually did.
Task checklist
- I named the café and said where it is.
- I described the food with adjectives.
- I wrote one good thing and one not-so-good thing.
- I gave a rating and a recommendation.
Teacher comment
Peer-review sheet
Students swap texts and give each other feedback with this sheet.
Before you finish
Before you finish
- I named the café and said where it is.
- I described the food with adjectives.
- I wrote one good thing and one not-so-good thing.
- I gave a rating and a recommendation.
Writadia · A2 · Reviews
Assessment rubric: Review of a Local Café
| Criterion | 4 · Excellent | 3 · Good | 2 · Developing | 1 · Beginning | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Task | All the requested information is there. | One point is missing. | Several points are missing. | Little connection to the task. | |
| Organisation | Sentences in order; and, but, because used well. | Mostly in order. | Order is confusing. | Unconnected sentences. | |
| Vocabulary | Topic words used; most spelled correctly. | Simple but enough. | A lot of repetition and spelling errors. | Words do not carry the meaning. | |
| Grammar and mechanics | Capitals, full stops and basic tenses correct. | A few errors, meaning clear. | Frequent errors, meaning sometimes lost. | Hard to understand. | |
| Total | / 16 | ||||
Each criterion scores 1–4 (total 16). Use the task checklist below to tick what the student actually did.
Task checklist
- I named the café and said where it is.
- I described the food with adjectives.
- I wrote one good thing and one not-so-good thing.
- I gave a rating and a recommendation.
Teacher comment
Writadia · A2 · Reviews
Peer-review sheet: Review of a Local Café
WriterReviewer
Read your partner’s text carefully. Be kind and specific: say why, not just “good”.
Task checklist
| Yes | Partly | No | |
|---|---|---|---|
| I named the café and said where it is. | |||
| I described the food with adjectives. | |||
| I wrote one good thing and one not-so-good thing. | |||
| I gave a rating and a recommendation. |
Questions
- Does the text give all the information asked for?
- Does every sentence start with a capital and end with a full stop?
- Did the writer use and, but or because? Copy one example.
Two stars and a wish
★ Something I liked
★ Another thing I liked
→ One suggestion
Writadia · A2 · Reviews
Lesson plan: Review of a Local Café
- 5 minWarm-up
Show the situation on the classroom screen and ask: “What would you write in this situation?” Take two or three quick answers.
- 6 minWord pool
Open “Word pool” on the classroom screen. Students make one sentence each with: delicious, staff, cosy, reasonable, recommend.
- 7 minModel text
Reveal the model sentence by sentence in “Model text” mode. At each sentence ask: “What job does this sentence do?” Write these phrases on the board: “... is a small café on ... Street.”, “I had ... It was delicious / a bit cold / too sweet.”, “The staff were friendly and fast.”.
- 15 minWriting
Start the timer. Students write their own text; anyone stuck can use the plan in the toolkit. (80-100 words)
- 5 minPeer review
Students swap texts and fill in the peer-review sheet.
- 2 minWrap-up
Set the extra challenge as homework.
The task’s own teacher notes give extra ideas for the warm-up and focus.
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