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November 2024 by Adriana
Staff is extremely rude and stuck up. Walked in with my two teenage daughters and they were immediately approached by a woman named Nancy who asked them if they were shopping (they said no and that they were with me) she then told me daughters that there was no loitering and that they would need to wait by the door or outside. When I confronted Nancy about it she said "it's policy" and walked away. As a black woman with two mixed daughters this was extremely off putting and ruined my shopping day and experience at sur la table. I suggest that management take a closer look at the quality of their employees.
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October 2024 by Sierra Reigns
I ventured to Sur La Table on the recommendation of a friend who raved about their cooking classes. The first class I participated in was the American Doughnuts class taught by Randy Bauman. Randy proved to be an amazing teacher who gave excellent instruction and was very attentive to cleanliness, something that is extremely important to me. I really appreciated how she told us not to touch our phones whilst working with food and made anyone whom she caught on their device go straight to the sink.
What also made this class enjoyable is the fact that we got to make our own separate batches of donuts, as the high level of sharing food items with strangers is often a point of contention at this establishment, which you’ll gather from other reviews. Though we did have to work on the main dough as a group, meaning sometimes I had nothing to do and had to be a spectator, we divided the completed dough into mostly equal portions and got to work with only our dough from that point on. However, this was not the case for the second class I took, Festive Bread.
My second class really highlighted the issues with this establishment. First, I never learned my teacher’s name during the 2-hour class. She never properly introduced herself, and I only later learned that her name was Alisa from the email she sent later in the day containing the recipes we used. Unlike Randy, Alisa was much less attentive to cleanliness. I watched as people constantly checked their phones and didn’t make one move to the sink. I even caught some of my fellow students tasting things with their fingers. What made this absolutely reprehensible is that we were, in fact, sharing the entire bread making experience and end product.
My first class was only 5 or 6 people, but this class had like 16. I had to work with a couple and one other person on a single bread wreath. Bread-making is, of course, extremely hands-on, so you can imagine my dismay at all the poorly washed hands touching the same bread dough.
It was clear to me and the friend who accompanied me that the was completely overbooked. Sur La Table should strive to keep class sizes small, as this would improve customer experience tremendously.
Bolstered by that realization, I realized that I wouldn’t be going back once I looked around and saw how unkempt the space is. Don’t get me wrong, the kitchen is modern and beautifully designed; I’m just saying that kitchen is in need of a deep cleaning. I didn’t realize it so much during my first class due to my viewing angle, but my second class gave me a wider perspective and I saw how the screens and spaces in the room were coated in multiple layers of dust.
I don’t know about you, but I can only cook and eat in a pristine space. For these and a few minor reasons, I’m very unlikely to return.
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October 2024 by Jarred Fairchild
Erin answered the wild number of questions I had, and was just genuinely a wonderful person! First time in but I'll be back.
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October 2024 by Jeanette Fugate
My husband and I did the cooking class and we were disappointed. Although the chef was very nice and knowledgeable it was not a cooking class. Since you work with 2 additional people you mostly stand around as there is not something for everyone to do at the same time. For $99 a person I feel everyone should have something to do all times. The steaks were very rare, which I do not like my rare (especially very rare) so I could not eat it. We were to have a beet salad, but “instacart” delivered radishes. A grocery story is in walking and they should have got the correct ingredients. Sounds like this happens a lot. They should use another service. Would have been nice to sit down to eat. The ice cream we made was good, but received about a tablespoon or 2 of it and it wasn’t cold enough and overly soft and almost a liquid. Save your money and go to a nice steak restaurant, you will get much better food and experience for the price. I had to go get an appetizer afterwords as I was still hungry.
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October 2024 by Jayden Dover
Overall very disappointed in our cooking class we did here (if you can call it a “cooking class”).
We received a gift certificate to sign up for a cooking class here. We were excited to come into the “Savor Italy” class and learn a new skill or two about making fresh pasta or cooking in general.
When we arrived, my wife and I made our way to our name tags. We had a nice big area to work with. There was another couple that complained about the place they were at, and the leader of the class booted us out of our spot into another spot- with about 1/4 of the space.
They read the instructions off to the class, and discuss that it’s a public cooking class. We were well aware of this beforehand- it says online when signing up: “you will work with other students in groups of 4, sharing workstations and equipment”. When I read this while signing up, I thought to myself “oh, so we are going to be sharing some pots and pans and the pasta maker machine. No worries.” We were unpleasantly surprised that we would be making the dishes as a group of four, sharing ingredients and the final dish. I’m a little bit of a freak about cleanliness- while cooking, I wash my hands as well. To me, it’s a little weird that I’m supposed to be eating food that’s prepared by a stranger. This needs to be explicitly stated on the website- that you will be sharing “food and ingredients and the final dishes”, rather than just “equipment and workstations”.
Going back to my original paragraph, I was hoping for a “cooking class”, but what we got was a recipe class. All the instructor did was tell us to combine ingredients to make a final dish- that’s not cooking, and I could have done that at home for about a 1/4 of the price. I wanted to learn new cooking skills- how to sharpen knives, how to properly cut/handle knives. I walked out of this with no new cooking skills.
The equipment we used as well was disappointing. The knives we used were DULL. I had to put a lot of force into cutting my food- which is not safe and can cause injury. I would think that they would want to give us nice items to use in the class to persuade us to purchase them in store.
Finally, I am disappointed in the “Savor Italy”, making fresh pasta. In the description, it states “learn the art of crafting fresh pasta dough”. We didn’t learn the art of creating pasta dough- it was dough that was already made for us. When I asked the “chef” while she was demonstrating to us how to make the pasta dough at home “what’s the general ratio of flour to eggs,” She responded “I don’t really know. That’s something you can look up.” How are you going to lead a pasta making class if you can’t tell me the basics of making fresh pasta?
The food we made tasted good, but overall the experience was poor and definitely not what we expected in a “cooking class”. Class was a 1/5 with the food being a 3/5.
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August 2024 by Rachel Ragland
Customer service could improve.
Workers were just standing behind the cash register just talking away, didn’t even realize I walked in. Wanted to ask about the cooking classes but didn’t want to interrupt their conversation.
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July 2024 by Carrie Kennedy
I normally will not write a negative review. I prefer to talk to a manager to express a less than positive experience, but Chef Ryan left me no choice. When I called Sur la table in Carmel, IN to speak with a manager, I was told Chef Ryan – Resident Chef - would call me back to discuss my concerns regarding a recently attended cooking class. In speaking with her on the phone I barely got a couple of sentences out of my mouth pertaining to class size too large (16 people) and portion sizes too small, when she said, “let me stop you there”. She rudely began telling me how this was a public class and I should have booked a private class. Even though we all paid the $89/person just like everyone else in the room. She said, “your group did not listen and treated this session as if it were your own event, and if you plan to do another class with us I suggest you book a private one”. As to portion size she said, “this was a tasting”. Then Sur la table should call it a Midsummer Steak Tasting, not Dinner as advertised. I am sure I do not need to tell anyone who understands the value of customer service that this will be my first and last cooking class at Sur la table. Instead of listing to my concerns she felt the need to degrade me and the others I brought with me to this event. Shame on Chef Ryan. Not sure Sur la table should have someone who treats a customer like this at the helm of their cooking classes.
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July 2024 by Laura Spiller
Not very good at basic customer service
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April 2024 by Ahnicka L.
I wasn't going to write this review, but I thought it might help others navigate whether or not they want to participate in one of their cooking classes. I attended the 9am Parisian Bakery class with my sister on 4/20, where we learned to make croissant dough, croissants, croissant donuts, and kouign-amann. We first started with premade dough (which I now assume was a product from the class before us), and we learned to make the three desserts mentioned above. Going into this, I expected to be working with others, so that was no surprise. My sister and I loved working with the people at our table, and we actually had amazing teamwork skills! If you are looking to interact with people and get out of your comfort zone, then this is the style of class for you. Things, however, took a turn near the end. The girls paired with us had to leave 30 minutes before (which was fine). My sister and I were left to prep the croissant dough that we made at the end of the class -- we ended where we started. I found it a bit odd that they had us make the dough for them... but I think they will be using the labor for their next class. Anyway, my sister and I ran into an issue with our butter, dough, and folding, which the instructor made us feel like absolute idiots for by saying, "I really don't even know what you guys did" and "I guess I can try and fix this, but it's bad", and literally proceeded to simply kneed and add flour lol. I hesitated to write a review for this reason, but I paid to partake in the class. Not only that but nowhere did it say it was an "advanced" course; everyone there was also learning for the first time. The instructor wasn't the most pleasant, but she never targeted my group up until that point. She was increasingly impatient and practically rushed us all. The table across from us got the brunt of the attitude, but it still sucked to be yelled at like a child by another adult. This ended up ruining the remainder of the class. She really is why I gave it this rating. Overall, the only positive experience was the customer service at the store entrance, learning, and socializing. I plan on giving this place one more try, but I may try a different location. I want to learn without being scolded next time, lol.
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April 2024 by Catherine Van Slyke
I had my hinkle steak knives sharpened at clay terrace and they came back damaged with black pits on the blades and they destroyed the fine shiny finish on the blades with deep rub marks. I Called them and the manager couldn't care less and hid behind policy mumbo jumbo. Knife owners please go somewhere else!!!!
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April 2024 by Devon Farmer
We had a wonderful experience with Chef Zuri. It was fun and educational. We prepared the Mediterranean fusion feast, but the steak was incredibly tough, had the entire table shaking trying to cut it even with it being medium rare. The class was two hours long. We were standing the entire time. It would have been nice to at least be able to sit down to enjoy the meal, far too long to be standing in one place.
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February 2024 by Savannnah Neighbors
I want to start by saying I've been to a sur la table cooking class in Florida and it was the most wonderful experience. The cooking class at this sur la table was the exact opposite. We went to a mediterrean class for my dad's birthday, and the chef was the most unprofessional chef I've ever worked with. She didn't know which ingredients she would give to us when we would ask what they were. She didn't know any general questions we would ask her about cooking techniques or things that were prepared previously. We kept having to ask other people in the class what to do and they didn't know either.All of those previous issues were nothing compared to the main issue we had with the class. We a family of 4, mom, dad, brother and myself did the class together and there was just 1 other couple (2 people) doing the class. They gave the 4 of us the same exact portion that the couple got. It seemed like the chef thought that since the 4 of us were together, she could use the other portion (for 2 people)for herself to teach from. However, at the end of the class when it came time to eating, the chef shared that portion with the rest of her staff. Meanwhile, my family got 2 pieces of shrimp each when that was the main meal and barely enough food for everyone to try what we had made.This class was more than 400$ for 4 people and we only got portions for 2 people with an uneducated chef that could not aid in the experience. When I have previously been to sur la table, the chef was able to help with any question we had so we could make the meal at home.My family attempted to make the Mediterranean meal at home and kept guessing at what we were supposed to, because such little instruction and help was given during the class at this sur la table location.
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February 2024 by Joni Heredia
The store is extremely overpriced. I bought the same things at Meijer for less than half the price. I just don't understand needing the amount of kitchen gadgets and things in the store, and their high prices. The reason that I went however was for a cooking class that I registered for online . The cooking classes are very fun, I am going to go back for more. They're very hands-on. Hands-on the chefs are very good and they are for kids, teams, adults, families.
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January 2024 by G Fatima
I visited Sur La Table bread making classes on my birthday and I had such a good time learning the nuances of yeast, proofing and baking bread.We were a group of 4 and we had a good understanding of who would do what. That gave us enough time to learn, bake and then enjoy tasty bread with freshly churned garlic butter. Gosh that was delicious!Chef Alisa was so bright, enthusiastic and energetic. She ensured we washed our hands as soon as we got in, showed us all the vessels and gave us a good understanding of what to expect. She was professional and very thorough.I enjoyed my 2 hour class and went back with a generous portion of garlic rosemary focaccia bread and rustic artisan bread. Fun!
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January 2024 by Fatima G.
I visited Sur La Table bread making classes on my birthday and I had such a good time learning the nuances of yeast, proofing and baking bread. We were a group of 4 and we had a good understanding of who would do what. That gave us enough time to learn, bake and then enjoy tasty bread with freshly churned garlic butter. Gosh that was delicious! Chef Alisa was so bright, enthusiastic and energetic. She ensured we washed our hands as soon as we got in, showed us all the vessels and gave us a good understanding of what to expect. She was professional and very thorough. I enjoyed my 2 hour class and went back with a generous portion of garlic rosemary focaccia bread and rustic artisan bread. Fun!
