The Critic

American accent

David Harris had one of the best jobs in the country. He travelled from town to town, ate in expensive restaurants and wrote about the food for a national newspaper. The newspaper paid for his meals, hotels and travel.

But David was not a popular man.

He almost never wrote a good review. He complained about everything: the food, the service, the music and even the clothes the waiters wore.

His readers loved his articles. Restaurant owners hated them.

David enjoyed his power. He knew that one bad review could mean fewer customers for a restaurant.

“I’m only telling the truth,” he often said.

But sometimes he was simply cruel.

One Friday, David arrived in a small town in the north. He had visited it a year earlier and written a terrible review of a family restaurant called The Olive Tree.

He remembered the place well. The food had been good, but the service was slow. A young waiter had dropped a glass, and the owner had looked nervous.

David had called it the worst restaurant in the north.

After his article appeared, the restaurant lost many customers. Two members of staff lost their jobs.

Now David was back. He wanted to see if anything had changed.

When he entered The Olive Tree, the young waitress at the door recognised him immediately. Her smile disappeared.

“Good evening, Mr Harris.”

“Table for one,” David said.

She took him to a table near the window.

In the kitchen, the owner, Marco, was preparing dinner when the waitress hurried in.

“He’s here,” she whispered.

“Who?”

“The man from the newspaper.”

Marco stopped working.

For a moment, nobody spoke.

“Just do your jobs,” he said finally. “And don’t make any mistakes.”

David ordered soup, followed by steak and potatoes. He watched the staff carefully and made notes in a small black book.

The soup arrived after twelve minutes.

Too slow, he wrote.

The waitress brought fresh bread.

Bread too hard.

When his steak arrived, he cut a small piece and tasted it.

It was excellent.

David looked around the room. Other customers were enjoying their meals. The staff were friendly, and everything seemed well organised.

He felt annoyed. There was very little to complain about.

Then he noticed a small mark on his glass.

He smiled and opened his notebook.

A few minutes later, David took another piece of steak. He was still writing when he suddenly began to cough.

He tried to drink some water, but he couldn’t.

Something was stuck in his throat.

He stood up quickly, knocking over his chair.

The waitress came towards him.

“Sir? Are you all right?”

David couldn’t answer. He couldn’t breathe.

His face was turning red.

“Marco!” the waitress shouted.

Marco ran from the kitchen. He took one look at David and understood what was happening.

“Call an ambulance!” he shouted.

He stood behind David and put his arms around him. He pushed hard, but nothing happened.

He tried again.

David felt weak. The room was becoming dark.

Then Marco gave one final push.

A piece of meat flew from David’s mouth onto the floor.

David fell forward, coughing and breathing heavily.

Nobody spoke.

Marco helped him sit down.

“Easy,” he said. “Just breathe slowly.”

When the ambulance arrived, David was able to speak again. The ambulance workers checked him carefully and said he was lucky.

Before leaving, David turned to Marco.

“You saved my life.”

Marco nodded.

“I’m glad you’re all right.”

David looked uncomfortable.

“After what I wrote about your restaurant last year, I wouldn’t blame you for hating me.”

Marco looked at him for a moment.

“I didn’t like what you wrote. We lost customers. My brother had to leave because I couldn’t pay him.”

David looked down.

“But you were a customer in trouble,” Marco continued. “What did you expect me to do?”

David had no answer.

The following Monday, he sat at his desk to write his review.

He could have written a dramatic story about his accident. His editor would have loved it.

Instead, he described the food, the service and the changes since his last visit. He admitted that his earlier review had been unfair.

He didn’t give the restaurant a perfect score. The bread really had been rather hard.

But for the first time in years, he wrote about the people behind the food.

At the end, he added one sentence:

Last year, I judged this restaurant in one evening. I now understand how little I knew.

His editor called him an hour later.

“David, what’s happened to you? You’ve actually written something nice.”

David looked at the small black notebook on his desk.

“No,” he replied. “I’ve written something fair.”

📒 Key vocabulary

• owners – people who own something
• cruel – causing pain or suffering to others
• dropped (drop, dropped, dropped) – let something fall
• staff – people who work for a company or organisation
• whispered (whisper, whispered, whispered) – speak very quietly
• mark – a sign or spot on a surface
• stuck – unable to move or get free
• knocking over – causing something to fall
• breathe – to take air into and out of your lungs
• nodded (nod, nodded, nodded) – move the head up and down to show agreement
• blame – to say that someone is responsible for something bad
• unfair – not reasonable or just
• score – the number of points someone gets in a game

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