You and some friends ate a meal at a restaurant to celebrate a special occasion, and you were very pleased with the food and service. Write a letter to the restaurant manager. In your letter: - give details of your visit to the restaurant - explain the reason for the celebration - say what was good about the food and the service
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing this letter to express my appreciation for the outstanding dining experience my friends and I had at 'The Keg Steakhouse & Bar' in Toronto that eveninglast Friday evening. We had gathered to celebrate my best friend John’s 25th birthdaybest friend’s 25th birthday, and your restaurant played a significant role in making the occasion truly memorable.
We went to your restauranteatery at around 6:30 pm6.30 pm last Friday to celebrate my friend John's birthday. From the moment we arrived, we were warmly welcomed by your staff and shownguided to a beautifully arranged table. The service was impeccable, with our server being both attentive and knowledgeable about the menu. The highlight of the evening, however, was the food. The prime rib was cooked to perfection, incredibly tender, and bursting with flavour, while the lobster tail was fresh and succulent. The moltenMolten chocolate lava cake we ordered for dessert was the perfect way to end the meal.
We were also impressed by the ambianceambience of the restaurant, which created an elegant yet relaxed atmosphere. Please pass on our gratitude to our server and the kitchen teamPlease pass on our gratitude to your team for their hard work and exceptional service.
We look forward to dining at your establishment again soon.
Yours faithfully,
William Scott
Why this response received Band 8.0
The letter is persuasive and complete, using a consistently appropriate formal tone, vivid food descriptions, and clear progression to convey genuine appreciation. Its main limitation is minor repetition of the birthday details, alongside a few small capitalization and wording issues. Prioritise concise editing: mention the celebration once, verify dish names and capitalization, and, if available, add a specific staff or booking detail to make the praise even more concrete.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter fully addresses the task: it gives visit details, explains the birthday celebration, and describes both food and service positively. The tone is consistently appropriate for a formal appreciation letter.
To strengthen it further, add one specific staff member name or booking detail if known.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response is clearly paragraphed and progresses naturally from purpose to details, celebration, praise, and closing. There is slight repetition between the first and second paragraphs about the birthday.
Avoid repeating the same reason for celebration twice unless the second mention adds new detail.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is precise and varied, with strong collocations such as "outstanding dining experience", "impeccable", and "bursting with flavour". Minor capitalization and word-choice issues remain.
Keep the descriptive range but check restaurant terms and capitalization, such as dessert names.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Grammar is accurate across a range of simple and complex structures. Only minor issues with redundancy and capitalization are noticeable.
Proofread for small mechanical issues after drafting, especially names of dishes and repeated time details.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
You and some friends ate a meal at a restaurant to celebrate a special occasion, and you were very pleased with the food and service. Write a letter to the restaurant manager. In your letter:
- give details of your visit to the restaurant
- explain the reason for the celebration
- say what was good about the food and the service
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.