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705-805 (Hard)|   Strengthen|      
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Restaurant reviewer: In response to lagging sales based on a 01 Mar 2020, 09:10
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Bunuel
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Restaurant reviewer: In response to lagging sales based on a reputation of poor quality, Lanzillotti’s Pizzeria launched a city-wide marketing campaign reintroducing its pizza as being made with organic ingredients and flavorful sauces, evidence of a new emphasis on quality pizza. But after visiting Lanzillotti’s last night I can only conclude that the reintroduction was simply empty advertising language, as my pizza tasted no better than the pizza I had eaten at Valvano’s earlier in the week.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the reviewer’s conclusion?

A. Valvano’s Pizza is not known for using organic ingredients in its pizzas.
B. Other diners on the same evening also reported that Lanzillotti’s pizza was no better than Valvano’s.
C. Valvano’s Pizza is not considered among the highest-quality pizzas in town.
D. The reviewer ordered the most popular pizza that Lanzillotti’s offers.
E. Lanzillotti’s appetizers and desserts were not made with organic ingredients.

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VERITAS PREP OFFICIAL SOLUTION:



C. The gap in logic in the author’s argument is that he uses the premise “Lanzillotti’s pizza is no better than Valvano’s pizza” as evidence that Lanzillotti’s pizza has not raised its quality. But this is a generalization – if Valvano’s is the best pizza in town, then Lanzillotti’s has made huge strides to get to that level. Accordingly, answer choice C is correct, as it removes the flaw in that argument. If Valvano’s is not the highest-quality pizza, then being on the same level as Valvano’s is not necessarily indicative of high quality in itself.
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Bunuel, VeritasKarishma and KyleWiddison,

I have a doubt: option C says " Valvano’s Pizza is not considered among the highest-quality pizzas in town", but Valvano’s Pizza can be counted as one of the good quality pizzas(not one of the highest but just good). So if Valvano’s Pizza is a good quality pizza and “Lanzillotti’s pizza is no better than Valvano’s pizza” then Lanzillotti’s pizza becomes a quality pizza. Hence, option C fails to strengthen the argument. Option C creates ambiguity - one hand, it supports and on the other hand, it does not. Do you experts really think GMAT will allow this much ambiguity?
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Restaurant reviewer: In response to lagging sales based on a 18 Mar 2020, 06:12
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VeritasKarishma
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VeritasKarishma In option C valvano pizza is not among the highest quality pizza but it can be among good quality pizza..So how can C be correct

Option (C) doesn't say that Valvano is not THE highest quality pizza. It says it is not among the highest quality pizzas so presumably there are quite a few pizzas in that category. It is just another way of saying that Valvano is not considered that high in quality either. So if Lanzillotti’s isn't better than Valvano, Lanzillotti’s isn't that high quality either.
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VeritasKarishma,

The argument says the restaurant advertised to project that the quality of the pizza at the restaurant is improved. However, reviewer says that quality/taste at L is no better than V. Option C says that V's quality of pizza is not among the highest quality. Are we comcerned with highest quality?
What we are concerned about is better and improved quality, quality that is better than the quality before the advertisement campaign.

why C is the correct answer?

Can you please help me resolve the doubt?

Thank you.
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Restaurant reviewer: In response to lagging sales based on a 18 Mar 2020, 22:44
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Balkrishna
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VeritasKarishma In option C valvano pizza is not among the highest quality pizza but it can be among good quality pizza..So how can C be correct

Option (C) doesn't say that Valvano is not THE highest quality pizza. It says it is not among the highest quality pizzas so presumably there are quite a few pizzas in that category. It is just another way of saying that Valvano is not considered that high in quality either. So if Lanzillotti’s isn't better than Valvano, Lanzillotti’s isn't that high quality either.


VeritasKarishma,

The argument says the restaurant advertised to project that the quality of the pizza at the restaurant is improved. However, reviewer says that quality/taste at L is no better than V. Option C says that V's quality of pizza is not among the highest quality. Are we comcerned with highest quality?
What we are concerned about is better and improved quality, quality that is better than the quality before the advertisement campaign.

why C is the correct answer?

Can you please help me resolve the doubt?

Thank you.
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L's pizzas have been considered "low" quality. The marketing campaign says that L's pizzas are high quality now.
The author says that this is not the case because L's pizza was no better than V's pizza.

If we know that V's pizza isn't high quality, we can say that L's pizza isn't high quality as well.
The point is not whether there has been a 1% or 2% improvement - the point is that the image change from low quality to high quality is not justified. So the marketing campaign is a gimmick. Option (C) helps further this notion.
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Restaurant reviewer: In response to lagging sales based on a 19 Mar 2020, 04:17
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VeritasKarishma,

Thank you for your quick response.

Does the option say high or highest? Does this distinction make any difference. Let me give you an example of how the distinction can make the difference.

A's image, regarding her intellect, among her relatives was declining. So, she has started telling her relatives how hard she has been studing from last few months. A advertised to her relatives her brilliance, emphasising her scores in the latest math test.

I find that A's advertisements were just quackery, because when I asked A few questions of math, I found that A no better than B. 

What is my assumption is here? My assumption is that B's intelligence is not significantly higher than or is even lower than the earlier intelligence of A. I don't need to say that B's intelligence is not among the highest intelligence to support my claim. All I need to say is that B's intelligence is not better than earlier intelligence of A.
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Restaurant reviewer: In response to lagging sales based on a 20 Mar 2020, 04:55
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Balkrishna
VeritasKarishma,

Thank you for your quick response.

Does the option say high or highest? Does this distinction make any difference. Let me give you an example of how the distinction can make the difference.

A's image, regarding her intellect, among her relatives was declining. So, she has started telling her relatives how hard she has been studing from last few months. A advertised to her relatives her brilliance, emphasising her scores in the latest math test.

I find that A's advertisements were just quackery, because when I asked A few questions of math, I found that A no better than B. 

What is my assumption is here? My assumption is that B's intelligence is not significantly higher than or is even lower than the earlier intelligence of A. I don't need to say that B's intelligence is not among the highest intelligence to support my claim. All I need to say is that B's intelligence is not better than earlier intelligence of A.
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You are reading too much into it. The conclusion concludes about L not being good based on the fact that it was no better than V. The argument mentions nothing about the quality of V. So the assumption is that V isn't high quality either. The only option that gives us this is option (C). I would worry more about it if it had said that V is not the highest quality pizza in town. Then I would say that one doesn't need to be the best to be good. But (C) says the V is not among the highest quality pizzas so V is not among the top quality ones. That is enough to say that V's quality isn't very good either.
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Restaurant reviewer: In response to lagging sales based on a 19 Oct 2021, 00:01
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This question should be modeled as explain the discrepancy rather than find the strengthener. The premise is based on "quality" of the pizza but the conclusion is based on the "taste" of the pizza. Quality should not be simply construed with the taste as a generic perception (we are typically suggested not to bring in generic understanding in CR), as one of the posted arguments suggests for.
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Restaurant reviewer: In response to lagging sales based on a 20 Oct 2021, 23:50
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Restaurant reviewer: In response to lagging sales based on a reputation of poor quality, Lanzillotti’s Pizzeria launched a city-wide marketing campaign reintroducing its pizza as being made with organic ingredients and flavorful sauces, evidence of a new emphasis on quality pizza. But after visiting Lanzillotti’s last night I can only conclude that the reintroduction was simply empty advertising language, as my pizza tasted no better than the pizza I had eaten at Valvano’s earlier in the week.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the reviewer’s conclusion?
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A. Valvano’s Pizza is not known for using organic ingredients in its pizzas.
it's known may be because they hid it from the public when we scrutunize that angle we get that it has no stromg implication on the argument therefore out

B. Other diners on the same evening also reported that Lanzillotti’s pizza was no better than Valvano’s.'
This reporting doesn't give us anything strong to hold on and make decision therefore out

C. Valvano’s Pizza is not considered among the highest-quality pizzas in town.
This definitely helps us in strengthening the conclusion about the quality therefore let us hang on to it

D. The reviewer ordered the most popular pizza that Lanzillotti’s offers.
THe most popular pizza doesn't have to be the highest quality therefore out

E. Lanzillotti’s appetizers and desserts were not made with organic ingredients.
This not doesn't help us understand whether the quality was complromised therefore out

Therefore IMO C
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Restaurant reviewer: In response to lagging sales based on a 22 Jun 2022, 06:33
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I'm not with option C here. It says the highest quality. We can consider Michelin restaurants as the highest quality. Besides those, there must still have some other restaurants of High quality. To support, we only need to compare if it improved from low to high, instead of to highest, which might take extra efforts.

I'm with B
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Restaurant reviewer: In response to lagging sales based on a 03 Sep 2022, 11:40
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But don't you think that "highest-quality" is a bit extreme--- it may not be in the highest quality bracket but it may still be in good bracket you never know. I still feel it has a bit of flaws in the options..


KyleWiddison
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Very tough.
I chose A.
Both A and C basically say the same thing with a subtle difference: A talks about known ingredients, while C talks about quality in general.
I chose A, because we are trying to find out if the L pizza is using organic ingredients (something that apparently affects the taste)...
Can someone help out with this?

This really does come down to a debate between A and C and you have to determine which point most strengthens the argument. The argument states that the Lanzillotti’s pizza is struggling due to poor quality. Notice they say poor quality, not a lack of organic ingredients. Customers don't necessarily stop buying because the pizza isn't organic, it just isn't good. [I guess you have to assume that general quality in the pizza world is pretty focused around taste.] In order to change the perception in the minds of the consumers, Lanzillotti’s pizza started a marketing campaign around organic ingredients and flavorful sauces, to provide some evidence that the company is focused on the quality of the pizza. Again, the end result or focus of the chance is the quality of the pizza, not the inclusion of organic ingredients. In the conclusion, the author states that the Lanzillotti’s pizza tasted no better than Valvanos - again that is an overall quality assessment. The author did not talk about the level of organic ingredients when compared with Valvanos - he talked about the overall quality of the pizza and equated it to Valvanos. Choice C states that Valvanos isn't particularly good, so matching Valvanos in terms of quality means that quality of the pizza hasn't really improved after all. C is the correct answer.

KW
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Restaurant reviewer: In response to lagging sales based on a 26 Feb 2024, 23:20
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 Option C is the best and addresses the logical gap between premise and the conclusion.
However it is based on the further assumption that being not considered among the highest-quality pizzas is equivalent to using empty advertising language or non quality pizza or poor quality pizza.­
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Restaurant reviewer: In response to lagging sales based on a 14 Aug 2025, 12:03
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There are a couple of glaring problems I have with option C. It says V Pizza is not considered among the highest quality pizzas in town. Let's say there are 10 of these (high quality pizza outlets in town) and V ranks as the 16th best. So L Pizza is also 16 or worse in quality (lower rank). But that doesn't say that they didn't improve their quality of pizza. Maybe they were rank 30 before the advert and now they are rank 17 - a notable jump. So the advert wasn't "empty advertising language" as the reviewer says, L Pizza did make considerable improvements. Nowhere in the passage do we say that L claimed that their pizzas are now amongst the best.

If option C had instead stated that V Pizza was among the worst in town, then this option would have been more compelling. Cause now L Pizza is also amongst the worst in town and probably didn't make much of an improvement from before.

All options seem to be pretty poor. Option A is also riddled with flaws as we have to make assumptions that addition of org stuff increases quality of food etc etc.


KarishmaB
bb

akhil911
Restaurant reviewer: In response to lagging sales based on a reputation of poor quality, Lanzillotti’s Pizzeria launched a city-wide marketing campaign reintroducing its pizza as being made with organic ingredients and flavorful sauces, evidence of a new emphasis on quality pizza. But after visiting Lanzillotti’s last night I can only conclude that the reintroduction was simply empty advertising language, as my pizza tasted no better than the pizza I had eaten at Valvano’s earlier in the week.

Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the reviewer’s conclusion?

A. Valvano’s Pizza is not known for using organic ingredients in its pizzas.
B. Other diners on the same evening also reported that Lanzillotti’s pizza was no better than Valvano’s.
C. Valvano’s Pizza is not considered among the highest-quality pizzas in town.
D. The reviewer ordered the most popular pizza that Lanzillotti’s offers.
E. Lanzillotti’s appetizers and desserts were not made with organic ingredients.

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Restaurant reviewer: In response to lagging sales based on a 23 Oct 2025, 08:18
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A. Valvano’s Pizza is not known for using organic ingredients in its pizzas. - This doesn't say anything about the sauces hence this is somewhat incomplete for an answer.

B. Other diners on the same evening also reported that Lanzillotti’s pizza was no better than Valvano’s. - First thing, we don't know how many diners are there but even if we know, it could be just one off thing that that day the pizza was not good, maybe because of some other reason. So, incomplete for an answer.

D. The reviewer ordered the most popular pizza that Lanzillotti’s offers. - Most popular pizza might or might not strengthen the argument because most popular might or might not contain the ingredients as advertised. Hence, incomplete for an answer.

E. Lanzillotti’s appetizers and desserts were not made with organic ingredients. - We don't care about the appetisers, ELIMINATE immediately.


That leaves us with Option (C) as the answer.


When it becomes difficult to pick the answer, we should eliminate the other options. Also, its always better to eliminate if it is possible to eliminate the answer choices and then pick the last one as the answer. But the elimination of the options should be done carefully.
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Restaurant reviewer: In response to lagging sales based on a 28 May 2026, 13:04
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Restaurant reviewer: In response to lagging sales based on a reputation of poor quality, Lanzillotti’s Pizzeria launched a city-wide marketing campaign reintroducing its pizza as being made with organic ingredients and flavorful sauces, evidence of a new emphasis on quality pizza. But after visiting Lanzillotti’s last night I can only conclude that the reintroduction was simply empty advertising language, as my pizza tasted no better than the pizza I had eaten at Valvano’s earlier in the week.

I see confusion between A and C.

C is a bit off to me as it uses superlative degree: it is not among the highest quality.... does this mean it is still high (enough) quality? If so, it is very weak. It would be an obvious strengthener is it said Valvano’s is the worst.

A is indirect: argument defines quality as = flavourful sauces + organic. Last sentence comes back with taste was no better that at Valvano’s (so either Valvano’s has organic or flavourful sauces or both) and campaign was empty (somehow she expected taste improvement linking organic and sauces to taste). A is saying Valvano’s pizzas are not known to be organic. Targets 50% of what we want. But still taste can be impacted only by sauces, not organic. Maybe organic makes no difference.

Amongst the two, I would go with C
Also, I hope not to see this question in the official GMAT ahah
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Restaurant reviewer: In response to lagging sales based on a 21 Jun 2026, 10:12
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I marked A , assuming that the conclusion is of the quality of Pizza, which is directly strengthened if we say A. However, does the quality of pizza actually point toward the taste of pizza and not the quality of ingredients used?
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Restaurant reviewer: In response to lagging sales based on a 22 Jun 2026, 10:22
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Hi shloka30,

Great question, and you've actually put your finger on the exact hinge of this argument. Let me answer your question directly: yes, the "quality" the reviewer is judging is the overall pizza (taste), not the ingredient list.

Here's how to see it from the stimulus itself. The campaign offered "organic ingredients and flavorful sauces" as evidence of a new emphasis on quality pizza. So organic ingredients are just the advertising hook - the thing they pointed to in order to claim the pizza got better.

Now look at how the reviewer actually tests that claim: "my pizza tasted no better than the pizza I had eaten at Valvano's." He never inspected the ingredients. He bit into it and judged the end result. That's the "quality" his conclusion rests on.

Why that sinks A

For A ("Valvano's is not known for using organic ingredients") to help, you'd have to smuggle in two outside assumptions: that organic = better taste, and that the reviewer's comparison was about ingredients. But the stimulus never links organic to taste, and the reviewer's comparison was a taste comparison. So A speaks to a measuring stick the reviewer never used.

Why C lands

The real gap is: "tasted no better than Valvano's" - "so L still isn't good." That only follows if Valvano's itself isn't good. C supplies exactly that. Matching a not-high-quality pizza means L hasn't truly risen in quality - so the reintroduction really was empty talk.

Quick way to feel the difference: imagine the reviewer had said "the pizza contained no organic ingredients" instead of "tasted no better." Then A would be your answer. The word "tasted" is the knob that turns this toward C.

Answer: C

shloka30
I marked A , assuming that the conclusion is of the quality of Pizza, which is directly strengthened if we say A. However, does the quality of pizza actually point toward the taste of pizza and not the quality of ingredients used?
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