1 Reading
a Read the reviews and tick (✓) the correct column.
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Review A |
Review B |
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1 The reviewer really enjoyed the meal. |
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2 The service wasn’t very good. |
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3 The quality of the food was good. |
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4 The review of the restaurant is positive. |
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Review A: ‘The tastiest Italian food in London?’
I took my Italian friend here for his birthday and he absolutely loved it. The atmosphere was really relaxing and the waiters were friendly and extremely helpful. All the food was really fresh and the portions were generous. The tiramisu that we had for our dessert was absolutely delicious. Paolo says it’s the best he’s ever had – apart from his mum’s, of course! Although our meal was rather expensive, we didn’t mind paying a bit more than usual because the food was so good. I’d definitely recommend this restaurant if you want to eat lovely food in a relaxing atmosphere. EMMA T
Review B: ‘Not the most relaxing evening …’
A colleague at work recommended this place but we thought it was rather disappointing. First of all, the atmosphere wasn’t very relaxing. It was a bit noisy, perhaps because it was a Friday night and the restaurant was rather busy. Also, the music was too loud so it was hard to talk. Secondly, although the waiters were very friendly, there weren’t enough of them when we were there and so the service was slow. Unfortunately, when our food eventually arrived it wasn’t very good. Our steaks were a bit overcooked and the salad wasn’t very fresh. Finally, the portions weren’t very big and we thought the meal was rather overpriced. All in all, I’m afraid I wouldn’t recommend it. DAVID M
b Read the reviews again. Are the sentences true or false?
1 In Emma’s opinion, the service was good.
2 Emma didn’t enjoy her dessert.
3 Emma thought the price of her meal was too high.
4 There weren’t many people there when David went to this restaurant.
5 David had to wait a long time for his food to arrive.
6 David was rather disappointed by the quality of his food.
Answer
a 1 A 2 B 3 A 4 A
b True: 1, 5, 6; False: 2, 3, 4
2 Writing Skills – Positive and negative language; Adverbs
Underline the correct words to complete the sentences with a ‘strong’ or a ‘weak’ adverb, following the instruction in brackets.
1 The chocolate cake was fairly / absolutely delicious. (strong)
2 Unfortunately, all the vegetables were rather / completely overcooked. (weak)
3 The food in that new restaurant was extremely / a bit boring. (weak)
4 I thought the portions were absolutely tiny / rather small. (weak)
5 That new café is extremely / fairly expensive. (strong)
6 I thought the tomato soup was rather / completely tasteless. (strong)
7 The staff in the hotel were reasonably / really friendly. (weak)
8 When we were there the service was quite / terribly slow. (strong)
Answer
2 rather 3 a bit 4 rather small 5 extremely
6 completely 7 reasonably 8 terribly
3 Writing
Write two reviews, one for each of the restaurants in the fact files below. One review should be mostly positive, the other mostly negative.
RESTAURANT FACT FILE
NAME: Chez Pierre
LOCATION: city centre
TYPE OF FOOD: French e.g. meat (steak, lamb, etc.), fish / seafood, salads
QUALITY OF FOOD:
ATMOSPHERE:
MUSIC:
TYPE OF CUSTOMER: businessmen and women, romantic couples
SERVICE/ATTITUDE OF WAITERS:
PRICE: ££££
VALUE FOR MONEY:
WHEN BUSY: Weekday lunchtimes, weekends
RESTAURANT FACT FILE
NAME: Villa Borghese
LOCATION: at the beach
TYPE OF FOOD: Italian e.g. pizzas, pasta risotto, fish, meat, ice cream
QUALITY OF FOOD:
ATMOSPHERE:
MUSIC:
TYPE OF CUSTOMER: families and groups of young people
SERVICE/ATTITUDE OF WAITERS:
PRICE: £
VALUE FOR MONEY:
WHEN BUSY: every evening
Answer
Suggested answer
Last Saturday I took my girlfriend to Chez Pierre for her birthday. It’s a new French restaurant in the city centre. The atmosphere was really relaxing and although there was classical and French music it wasn’t very loud so it was easy to talk. The waiters were extremely friendly and the service was good. Our fish was absolutely delicious and the salad was very fresh and tasty. For dessert I had a lovely apple tart with cream and Anna had ice cream. All the portions were extremely generous and although the meal was rather expensive I would definitely recommend going there for a special occasion.
A friend of mine recommended the Villa Borghese restaurant to us. It’s an Italian restaurant just by the beach and they serve mostly Italian food such as pizzas and pasta. Unfortunately, it was a bit disappointing. The restaurant was extremely noisy because there were lots of young children and loud pop music so it was rather difficult to talk. Because of this, the atmosphere wasn’t very relaxing. We went on a Friday evening and the restaurant was completely full but there weren’t enough waiters. The service was awful – we were there for nearly an hour before anyone took our order. We ordered pasta but it was rather overcooked and the sauce wasn’t very tasty. Our meal was fairly cheap but the food wasn’t very good so I definitely wouldn’t go there again.
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