You took your family to a nearby restaurant. You were disappointed with the meal and wish to complain to the manager. Write a letter to the manager of the restaurant. In your letter, explain why you were at the restaurant describe the problems write about the action you want the manager to take
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I visited your restaurant on 11th May with my family to celebrate my sister’s birthday. We usually enjoy your food but this time it was utterly disappointing. I am hoping that you will keep your food quality intact and take action regarding the bad dining experience we have had. We have always considered your restaurant as the most classy French cuisine place in town. Since my sister lives in France, we dine at your restaurant every time she is in our country. This time it was even more special as we were celebrating her birthday. But the whole event was ruined due to the dishes we were served. I suppose you can imagine our disappointment when we found the onion soup absolutely inedible. It was cold, and it appeared your chef did not stir it well while cooking. Some clogs of flour were visible in the soup. Moreover, the main course was cold and not up to our expectations. They tasted very ordinary and hackneyed but we paid almost thrice for these items! We asked a waitress about the reasons and she had no plausible excuse for that. I am looking forward to hearing that you have taken the necessary steps to maintain your reputation and food quality. Otherwise, you have already lost a customer. Yours faithfully, Elizabeth Harley
IELTS Writing Correction
- 1. Tone control very disappointing
- 2. Tense issue the bad dining experience we had
- 3. Natural adjective classiest
- 4. Sentence boundary This time, it was even more special
- 5. Wrong word Some lumps of flour
- 6. Pronoun reference The dishes tasted very ordinary
- 7. Wrong register uninspired
- 8. Closing tone Otherwise, I may not be able to recommend or return to your restaurant.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Detailed feedback by IELTS writing criterion after the annotated essay.
Task Achievement
The letter explains the occasion and describes the food problems well, but the requested action is too general. A complaint letter should state clearly what the manager should do.
Add a specific requested outcome, such as an apology, refund, replacement meal, or staff follow-up.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas are logically sequenced and the complaint is easy to understand. Cohesion is weakened by one-paragraph formatting and a few abrupt shifts from background to complaint.
Use separate paragraphs for visit details, problems, and requested action.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied and mostly effective for a complaint, but a few words are inaccurate or too strong for the context.
Replace unnatural choices such as clogs of flour and hackneyed with precise food-related vocabulary.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A mix of simple and complex forms is used, with mostly clear meaning, but some tense and pronoun choices are inaccurate.
Check tense consistency in complaint descriptions and make sure pronouns clearly refer to the food items.