What makes a good review? | Cane and Table

When you're blind or have low vision, a new place is a list of unknowns. That's why your visit is worth writing down. The details that helped you, or that you wish someone had told you, are what let the next person walk in already knowing what to expect.

The short version: write what you'd have loved to know before you went.

Your experience is the point

You're the expert on your own visit. Start with two questions. What stood out? What would I have wanted someone to tell me beforehand?

A review doesn't need to be long. It needs to be specific and honest, about what worked as much as what didn't.

Lead with what you can't see in a photo

Most people reading this site can't use a photo of the dining room. What they can use is everything else.

What you heard. Loud or quiet? Could you make out what the staff said?
What you felt. Was the layout readable with a cane, or a maze?
What you smelled and tasted. The food, the room, the coffee machine by the door that tells you where the counter is.
How you oriented. Clear paths? Tactile flooring? Anyone around to ask?

Describe your photos

If you add photos, describe them. Every photo on this site needs alt text before it goes live, and the reason is simple: a photo nobody can describe is a photo half the audience can't use. "Braille menu on the counter beside the till" does more work than the image does.

Start with the overall shape of the visit

A short paragraph up front: was it welcoming, could you find your way, did you feel independent or did you need help the whole time.

Something like: "Staff met me at the door and offered a hand straight away. The layout was simple enough to get to the counter and to a table on my own. No braille menu, but they read the specials out without being asked."

Then the practical detail

Getting there. Easy to find? What transport is nearby? Tactile signage or announcements at the stop? Anyone to help between the street and the door?

Access. Could you tell where the entrance was? Hazards for a cane or a dog — steps, sandwich boards, planter boxes? Large print or decent lighting? Did the layout make sense or did you need to be walked through it?

Toilets. Is there one for customers? Signed clearly? Braille or tactile signage? Unlocked, clean and findable?

Staff

People remember how they were treated more than the room they were in.

Did staff offer help without being patronising? Were they comfortable talking to someone blind or low vision? Did they seem to have had any training?

"Staff gave me a verbal orientation without being asked" is a short sentence that decides someone's Saturday.

The small things

Whether the menu was read out or available digitally. Whether the lighting helped or hurt. Whether a guide dog was welcome or merely tolerated. Whether you could carry food to the table safely. Whether the music made conversation impossible.