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 am a regular diner at your restaurant on Madison Avenue. DeleteToday, I am writing to express my dissatisfactiondiscontent with the meal that my family and I hadthe meal that I and my family had at your restaurant last Thursday. I am hoping that you will take the necessary action to improve your food quality and maintain your reputation. Recently, I have been promoted to Senior Internal Auditorpromoted to the Senior Internal Auditor in my office, and to celebrate this event, I took my family out to your restaurant on Madison Avenue. We ordered four servings of shrimp fried rice, but we were shocked to discover that the shrimp in our servings werethe shrimp in our serving was undercooked and had a pungent odour. After complaining about it to the supervisor, we were told that the restaurant had run out of shrimp, which was not a valid excuserun out of shrimp - not a valid excuse for a distinguished restaurant like yours. You can understand my frustration when my family and I had to leave the restaurant on empty stomachsleave the restaurant empty stomach and with greatutter disappointment. My intention in writing this letter is to ask you to investigate the incident and apologise to usissue a "show cause notice" to the supervisor at your restaurant, and instruct your staffdisseminate instructions to all your staff to keep enough stockhold a modicum of buffer stock for every item, just in case the restaurant runs out of that item and so that no customer has such a disappointing experienceexperiences a humiliation. Yours faithfully, Muhammad Sameed
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter’s strongest feature is its clear coverage of the occasion, the faulty meal, and the action sought, supported by vivid, precise complaint vocabulary. Its main limitation is that the requested disciplinary response feels excessive, while the single dense paragraph and several awkward phrases reduce polish. Prioritise a realistic remedy such as an investigation, apology, refund, or staff training, and present the complaint in three focused paragraphs.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The complaint clearly explains the visit, the problem with the meal, and the action requested from the manager. The tone is mostly formal, but the requested action is slightly unrealistic and harsh for a customer complaint.
Ask for a practical remedy, such as an investigation, apology, refund, or staff training, instead of internal disciplinary action.
Coherence and Cohesion
The response is logically sequenced from background to problem to requested action. However, it is one long paragraph and some sentences carry too many ideas.
Use three short paragraphs: purpose and occasion, food problem, and requested action.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied, with effective words such as "undercooked", "pungent odour", and "reputation". A few choices are unnatural or too formal, such as "discontent", "empty stomach", and "disseminate instructions".
Keep precise complaint vocabulary but choose natural service-related phrases for the action you want.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A range of complex sentences is used and meaning is clear. Errors with pronouns, article use, and singular/plural forms keep the grammar below a higher band.
Proofread noun phrases and pronoun agreement, especially when referring to the family, servings, and the overall experience.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
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
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.