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January 2024 by Carissa Zaffiro
The store and facilities are beautiful, but the cooking class was disappointing for the price. We signed up for a dim sum class and the chef didn't seem to know what he was doing, even needing to be corrected by students in the class on occasion. The final product tasted fine but you would be much better off watching YouTube tutorials at home for real instruction. Wouldnot go this route for a quality cooking class!
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January 2024 by Kristen Derix
My husband and I went to a cooking class at the Old Orchard location in Skokie, IL. We were very disappointed by the cooking class. When we arrived we weren’t greeted nicely by the staff leading the class. We also had to wait past 4pm to start our class because the staff wasn’t prepared. When we were inside the cooking space, we noticed several flies that were all over the kitchen. We finally started the class and we only got to sear the meat. That’s it. We didn’t get to cook or do anything else. We didn’t get to prepare the potatoes, Brussel Sprouts or the sticky toffee pudding. We went to a cooking class to learn something and we only got to sear meat?!?! It was ridiculous. On top of that, there was a staff member that was preparing food without her hair pulled back, and she continued to play with it during the whole class. She also continually touched her face and was picking her nails during the time she was assisting with cooking the things that we should’ve been allowed to cook. I will never go to another class at this location. It was not a good experience. This was not worth the money that we payed for the class.
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January 2024 by Mihir Shah
Poor return policy. Look up whatever you want from the store on Amazon and buy it from there. The cost is about the same and at least this way you can return it without a hassle.
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December 2023 by Candice Macis
The person who helped me buy over $400 in cooking items was great. The other employees could not be bothered and one actually refused to help me when I asked about a knife set. She said the carrying cases that aren’t prefilled are over there and pointed. I was like “I’m also looking for knives” as I came to purchase as a gift. She yelled through the store to get someone to help “her.” In the front, as I waited for items to brought up from the back, one lady waved me away from her and said “the line is over there.” Like wow. I understand maybe you are tired but learn some manners.
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December 2023 by Khrystyna Lindeman
My friend and I signed up for a Homemade Pasta Workshop at the Old Orchard location on 11/29/23 at 7pm. We chose the class based on the recipes, how anyone chooses a cooking class, and were really looking forward to it. We've taken cooking classes with The Chopping Block and were prepared for a fun and educational evening after work. Unfortunately, the class was a complete mess for the following reasons:- Chef had very poor time management skills. The class was supposed to be until 9pm/9:30pm. Typically, that extra 30 min is for finishing touches and eating your meal. At 9pm, we had not even started cooking. The class lasted until past 10pm. While this may have been fine for a Friday night, we are both nurses and have to be up at 5am for morning shifts. Quite simply, we would have never signed up for a class that ended past 10pm during a weekday.- The recipes we had chosen to learn and eat were not the recipes that were prepped or taught in the class. We signed up to learn how to make Pappardelle with Tuscan Sausage and Caramelized Onion Ragu, Farafalle with Walnut Pesto, Lemon and Goat Cheese and Limoncello Gelato. Sounds delicious right? We thought so too! That's why we signed up for the class. Unfortunately, what was waiting for us were recipes we had not chosen, and quite frankly would not have chosen to make or eat. Instead, we were told we would be making Silky Spaghetti Carbonara and Orecchiette with Sausage and Sweet Peppers. Disappointment again.- Even the substituted recipes were not made correctly. The Orecchiette with Sausage and Sweet Peppers was missing the sweet peppers, we had bell peppers instead. There were no crushed red pepper flakes and no basil leaves. The sherry vinegar was completely forgotten about until a student asked about it AFTER the dish had been completed. Chef was taken by surprise. Onion was prepped and added to the dish for no reason since it wasn't included in the recipe and we were already using shallots. The worst part? The whole thing was practically inedible as the pasta was completely hard and raw once we bit into the "finished" meal. After not eating since lunch and *finally* getting to eat past 9pm, this was a complete and utter disappointment.- We were barely hands on for the second meal. The class was running very much behind. The chefs took it upon themselves to prep the whole second meal. They very briefly explained what they had done before we were told to cook the second meal aka saute bacon and boil pasta. We saw the chef use jarred chopped garlic which is something no self respecting chef would ever do. We had already prepped fresh garlic and if I wanted to whip together a fast pasta meal with jarred garlic, I would have stayed home in my pajamas and done so.- The dessert was forgotten. When someone mentioned the limoncello gelato, the sous chef was able to quickly make it for us to enjoy after our meal, but we got absolutely zero instruction, explanation and hands on experience. We were really excited to learn how to make gelato, it was one of the reasons we chose this class, it was a huge disappointment.We left the class stressed and hungry. The exact opposite of what we should have been feeling after a cooking class. Also the exact opposite of how we felt after leaving a Chopping Block cooking class.I have contacted sur la table customer service and have gotten no response at all. If you want a fun cooking class, pay a bit extra and make the trip into the city for the Chopping Block, it’s worth it and won’t be a waste of time.
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December 2023 by Niki Borom
Booked a cooking class date night with my husband. Upon arrival, we were told they ran out of space. I asked the manager Noah for a refund and he rudely gave me the number for customer service. I have called and spoken to multiple agents with no refund or update. It’s been over a week since ive emailed customer service and opened a ticket through the website with no response or refund. Crazy to spend $200 and have such horrible treatment. Save your money!
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November 2023 by Andrew W.
If -5 was an option that would be the call for the cooking class. It was a piece of steak, a potato and a half and a dessert and you don't get to make the dessert. The guy leading the class was absolutely awful. You couldn't hear him, he frequently disappeared, made no effort to work with anyone or help them, explained things all at once in a rush instead of step by step. They don't have enough stuff or space so you're sharing cooking pans with the others there. The absolute worst though was he spent the class cooking-for the other workers in the store and frequently disappeared to go feed and talk to them. Never seen that in a restaurant before. He would make food, walk out of the cooking room and go to feed them.
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November 2023 by Ed Pizza
You cannot “just look” without buying something. Extremely well stocked shelves, good variety, well designed layout and extremely willing to help employees who are knowledgeable about their products.When you buy at SLT, you are buying quality items that will last the rest of your life and probably get passed on!As the saying goes “You get what you pay for” and at SLT you will pay a bit more but it’s not the plastic c*#p you buy elsewhere that last a short time and then you toss it away and repleace it.AND they offer cooking classes!
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September 2023 by May Affre
Best customer service from Catherine, V, and Noah. All 3 assisted me on the phone. Catherine exceeded my expectations by calling me back to inform me a product I searched was back in stock. All 3 were very polite, knowledgeable and displayed great customer service!!!! I shop at this location for the outstanding customer services & nice selection of products. If a product is not available, the staff always offers to find it online on the website.
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August 2023 by Heather W.
Cooking Class — Cooking with Chef Linda was informative and quirky and so much fun! We definitely learned some techniques and recipes we will use at home. She shared her skills and expertise, let us chop and mix as much or as little as we wanted, and we left with full and happy bellies!
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August 2023 by Rebecca Ohlwein
The worst cooking class we’ve ever done. Not sure if it’s this location but we’ll never be back. We learned nothing and ate nothing because time was wasted and none of the food was cooked.
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June 2023 by Marc Talluto
Uncommunicative- we Signed up for a Friday morning cooking class with my daughter and arrived on time only to find out the class had been cancelled!! No phone call, no email, no text message, no voice mail. However they somehow are able to send me 3 marketing emails every day!!! So I called customer service to request a refund (why this isn’t automatic is a mystery) and asked them why nobody called - they said it was up to the store. So….. store manager , why no communication???
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June 2023 by Daria Plamada
I did not like the chef. We have taken multiple cooking classes as a family at multiple locations/companies and by far this was worse. She was unhelpful, did not manage the class, did not educate us and when I had issues and asked the chef she completely ignored our issues and our merengue came out the wrong texture and didn’t cook properly after double time in the oven. The chef admitted that when I asked if our merengue was wrong- it was in fact wrong- but she didn’t do anything about it. She also completely messed up the butter cream frosting. The instructions she gave were unclear, no one knew what they were doing. On our strawberry short cake the whipped cream came out curdled as she didn’t help explain anything regarding that just left us to do it on our own. We were expecting hands on help- clear directions, and instead we got all three items messed up (with the merengue being not edible). I am extremely disappointed with the quality of class here.
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June 2023 by Marissa Sanchez
Employees are not friendly and don’t know what products they have I was looking for coconut made bowls and they pointed me towards plastics bowls ?, two older employees a man and a women .. and they offered me spa water ?? after all the controversy on the spa water ?
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May 2023 by Daria D.
I did not like the chef. We have taken multiple cooking classes as a family at multiple locations/companies and by far this was worse. She was unhelpful, did not manage the class, did not educate us and when I had issues and asked the chef she completely ignored our issues and our merengue came out the wrong texture and didn't cook properly after double time in the oven. The chef admitted that when I asked if our merengue was wrong- it was in fact wrong- but she didn't do anything about it. She also completely messed up the butter cream frosting. The instructions she gave were unclear, no one knew what they were doing. On our strawberry short cake the whipped cream came out curdled as she didn't help explain anything regarding that just left us to do it on our own. We were expecting hands on help- clear directions, and instead we got all three items messed up (with the merengue being not edible). I am extremely disappointed with the quality of class here.
