Restaurant Review 101

From the Spring Edition
Tri-State Dining
Download your free copy here:

Tri-State Restaurant Reviews (TSRR) was created in 2012 by Kenny Garrett so he could ask his social media friends where their favorite places to eat were. Five years later, there are well over 26,000 people on Tri-State Dining and TSRR doing the very same thing.

In that time, we’ve seen a lot of great reviews! Some are featured in this initial edition of The Tri-State Dining Restaurant Guide. We’ve also seen some that weren’t thought out very well before put into print or posted online. That said, Tri-State Restaurant Reviews is an opinion page and those opinions can be vastly different.

So, when preparing to write a positive or negative review about a restaurant, here are a few suggestions to consider;

You’re painting a picture for your reader. Be specific about things you see and smell;

A. atmosphere
B. décor,
C. aromas in the air,
D. dishes as they pass by

How was the service?

A. Was the staff organized?
B. Were they polite?
C. Did they know and explain the menu?

Take pictures of the food and your surroundings. Food pictures are best without using the flash of your camera. Take a picture before you start eating. There’s nothing worse than reading about someone’s food experience that is going great only to see a half-eaten plate of food. Remember, with food sight and smell come before taste and we can’t taste your food online (yet).

Take a picture of the menu. We have a special place on tristatedining.com for restaurant menus.

Include contact information; Business name, address, phone numbers, website, social media sites listed, hours of operation.

Describe the food.
Tell us about the flavor. Don’t just say it was “awesome”. How was it awesome? Was it sweet like a donut or did it have a spicy flavor of Buffalo Wings?

• Food Quality
• Freshness.
• Temperature

Did you like the food? Tell us why?

If it’s a negative review, was it your first?

Did you try to talk to management?

• If it was your first, consider giving them another try before writing that negative review.
• There’s a huge difference between a negative review and a complaint. TSRR moderates all posts. “Complaint Only” posts are deleted before being seen by the group.
• Talking to management provides them an opportunity to know of and fix and issue
  Social media is just that, social. It helps the customer and the establishment hold each other accountable. Some appreciate that, some don’t.

Pricing

It is common to include what your experience cost you?

Did the price coincide with expected quality and quantity?

We’ve seen first timers’ come onto TSRR with outstanding reviews because they put some thought into what they experienced soon after leaving the establishment, while their  memories are still fresh. Positive reviews are fun, because you can use all of that excitement to pull us into your story.

We hope you’ve enjoyed reading our suggestions for writing a review on TSRR. We enjoy seeing all of your great food pictures and reading about your experiences around the tri-state and across this great country.

We’re looking forward to seeing new restaurants to try in the coming months and years.