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| - A disclaimer that I have only been to one class here (although I've been to many cooking classes elsewhere), but I don't want to go back for another one. I found the cooking class food, instruction, and overall experience to be very sub-par. I was close to giving a 2-star review.
Summary:
Overall, I am sorry to say that I would not recommend this place - even though I think they have AMAZINGLY creative cooking/baking classes!! I would maybe MAYBE try it again for a totally different class (and a cheaper one), if I heard a particular instructor was amazing.
I SO badly wanted to like this place because I LOVE cooking classes, but my experience was uninspiring because:
1) I didn't learn much at all in the class - the instruction was VERY minimal. It felt like I was paying money to make myself dinner.
2) The class could have been made INFINITELY better with just ONE attempt by the school to show they cared - for example, assign seating so couples can actually sit together; offer each attendee ONE glass of wine, for god's sake; make sure ALL supplies are ready on the table for each item that is being made; or give people CHAIRS to sit in and NAPKINS to use while they eat dinner. Or, if all else fails, at least play French music for our French inspired cooking class.
HOWEVER, you can potentially take my review with a grain of salt (no pun intended), because my experience may be heavily colored by my instructor not putting in any effort.
Longer Review:
I bought tickets to the "French Inspired Dinner Class" for my fiancee as a birthday present. How sweet, right!?! We'll make french food together, drink some wine, and have a nice meal! Not at all. We walked in and a woman brusquely told us "You'll need to sit separately - there aren't enough seats for you two to sit together." I later found out this unidentified, unsmiling woman was our instructor. I may sound bratty but if I pay over $100 for our tickets, we're going to sit together. I'm not going to spend $130 to hang out with random people.
The class unfolded in stark contrast to many other cooking classes I've been to (and actually, the other ones cost less than this one did!) - In other classes, I've been greeted cheerfully, offered a free glass of wine, and shown to a spot where all of the supplies I need are laid out. Here, I was told to basically fight my way into a spot next to my fiancee, never given any option to have a drink, and had to search all through the kitchen for 25% of the supplies I needed. I was supposed to make salad dressing, but many of the measuring cups and whisks I needed weren't laid out. Honestly, it just seemed sloppy and thrown together - Like the school didn't REALLY care all that much.
Then we made the food as a group and everything settled down and I actually DID have a good time - largely because the other attendees were so friendly, and the instructor lightened up...a bit.
However, the instructor gave very few instructions/tips/learnings until I explicitly ASKED her multiple questions (to try to get some of my money's worth). Then she seemed to open up a bit and give more instructions to my group. Additionally, when it came time to eat, she told us "There may be enough chairs - some of you may need to stand." And to my horror, we all awkwardly had to search for chairs and pull them up to the work-space where we had just been cooking to eat. It was so tacky. It COULD have felt very cozy and homey - like eating in a friend's kitchen - if our instructor had framed it that way, rather than saying basically "We're making money letting other people eat in our dining room right now. So ya'll can stand." Instead of staying and relaxing and hanging out, most people ate their food quickly and peaced out. It was so awkward.
Food-wise, we made Frisee Salad with Poached Egg & Crispy Lardons, Vegetable Ratatouille, Potato Dauphinoise, Roast Chicken with Fresh Herbs & Lemon and Chocolate Soufflé. The ratatouille was amazing. The salad was fine. The potatoes were undercooked and soggy, and the chicken was PINK (disgusting).
Le sigh. I was so bummed.
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