IELTS Speaking Part 2: Describe a restaurant you like

Restaurant cue cards often turn into a menu recitation. Stronger answers spend less time on the food itself and more on one specific visit, one dish, and one reason the place matters beyond taste.

The cue card

Describe a restaurant you like.

You should say:

  • where it is
  • what kind of food it serves
  • who you usually go there with
  • and explain why you like this restaurant

60 seconds to prepare · speak for 1–2 minutes

Your one-minute prep plan

  1. 1Name a specific, small restaurant, not a chain, so the description sounds personal rather than generic.
  2. 2Note one dish by name and one detail about how it's served or cooked.
  3. 3Note who you typically sit there with and one small ritual — the same table, the same order.
  4. 4Note a reason for liking it that isn't just 'the food is delicious'.

Band 9 model answer

The restaurant I want to describe is a small place called Cheezious... actually no, let me talk about a proper one — a tiny family-run spot near my old university called Al-Waha, which serves grilled meat and mostly Lebanese-style food, though the owner is Pakistani, so the menu is a strange but brilliant mix. It's tucked between a pharmacy and a tailor's shop, and there are only about six tables, so you often end up waiting outside on plastic chairs. I usually go there with my two closest friends from university, and we've had the same order for years now: a mixed grill platter and this garlic sauce that they clearly make in huge batches because they're never stingy with it. What I actually like about the place isn't really the food, even though it's excellent — it's that the owner, an older man named Rashid, remembers exactly how each of us likes our meat cooked and starts preparing it before we've even sat down properly. There's something about being known like that, in a city where most places treat you as one more customer, that makes the food taste better than it probably objectively is. We've celebrated results there, commiserated over bad exam scores there, and it's become this fixed point that hasn't changed while everything else about university has. That continuity, more than the grilled meat, is why I keep going back.

The same answer at band 7

I would like to talk about a small restaurant called Al-Waha, near my old university. It serves mainly Lebanese-style grilled food, like kebabs and mixed grill, although the owner is Pakistani. It is a very small place with only about six tables. I usually go there with my two close friends from university, and we always order the same thing, a mixed grill and garlic sauce. I like this restaurant because the food is very tasty and also because the owner, whose name is Rashid, remembers what we like and treats us very well. It feels friendly, not like a big commercial restaurant. We have gone there many times over the years, so it also reminds me of my university days.

The band 7 answer names the restaurant, food and people clearly with accurate grammar. The band 9 answer adds a self-correction that sounds spontaneous, a wider range of vocabulary ('tucked between', 'stingy with it'), and reframes the 'why' bullet around being recognised rather than just good food.

Phrases worth stealing

“It's tucked between a pharmacy and a tailor's shop.”
Specific location detail that makes a place sound real.
“We've had the same order for years now.”
Shows habit and history in one line.
“What I actually like about the place isn't really the food, it's that…”
Redirects to a deeper reason, useful for the 'explain why' bullet.
“They're never stingy with it.”
Informal, natural phrase about generous portions.
“There's something about being known like that…”
Reflective phrase that lifts an answer beyond description.
“It's become this fixed point that hasn't changed.”
Good closing image linking a place to personal continuity.

Part 3 questions that usually follow

Why do you think eating out has become so popular?

Give a lifestyle reason and a social reason, then compare briefly with how people ate a generation ago.

Do you think fast food restaurants are bad for society?

Avoid a purely negative answer; concede convenience and affordability first, then raise health or cultural concerns.

How do you think restaurants will change in the future?

Mention one specific trend, such as delivery apps or automation, and hedge your prediction rather than stating it as certain.

Mistakes to avoid

Now say it out loud

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