Kitchen Conservatory — Attraction in Brentwood

For Christmas, I opted to give mom an experience instead of junk. Search their calendar of events on their website to find your next date night, girls night, or family night. Make sure you filter by classes with openings, or you'll find yourself with a serious case of FOMO. You can choose a class thats hands-on or a demo. We opted for a hands-on class with the Chinese New Year theme.

The chef had recipes printed out for each dish for each member of the class to take home (12 people allowed in our class). We each were given an apron and name tag and then proceeded to the kitchen counters. Each station had a recipe in front of it. Instead of each person making each recipe, we divided and conquered.

In our class, we were making lots of items that needed chopping, a few items that needed marinating, a few items that needed dipping sauces, and a few items that needed some hands-on assembly. When you and your partner finished one task, there was another task you could work on. I do wish that it was more clear who would do what task. It seemed that when we finished one thing, we would have to ask multiple people multiple times what still needed to get done. We found our rhythm by the end of the class, but it was very frustrating when we started. At the end of the night, we all ate together the meal we had prepared together: Mu Shu pork (lots of chopping) with handmade pancakes (lots of rolling out the sticky dough), steamed Shu Mai with handmade filling and sauce assembled by everyone, Chinese pork buns assembled by the group, Pork Fried Rice (lots of chopping), and Ginger Ice Cream. We also shared a cocktail at the end of the evening.

Overall, what a great location to host many cooking classes. There are several more classes that I want to sign up for now that I know what to expect. This really was a great gift to share with mom- experiences over...

I bought my wife a cooking class for her birthday. Having been a long time customer of Kitchen Conservatory I felt comfortable that this would be a good experience for the both of us, but was clearly wrong. A couple of days before the event, my wife had an accident and had to go to the ER because she had injured her finger. Clearly not something we could have foreseen, nor something any chef would want in their kitchen as clearly this would be a health issue.

Having every intention of going to a cooking class and giving Kitchen Conservatory our business in the future, I called to see if we could reschedule. After speaking with two different employees, and finally even the owner, I was informed that the company has a very strict cancellation policy and that they could not reschedule us. I asked if there was any way they would work with us to find a solution that might benefit both parties given the circumstances, but the owner had no sympathy and would not entertain the idea. I offered to bring proof that we actually did have an emergency just to show them that we were not trying to short-change them. I even asked about paying for the cost of the event we would miss, just so that they wouldn't lose money and we could still afford to come to another event, but she was still unwilling to work with us. The most they offered was to open up the spots and see if anyone else happened to purchase them.

I understand that they are in business to make money and that some policies need to be in place to help keep their business afloat, but I cannot understand why Kitchen Conservatory would be unwilling to work with us given that our attendance would put their business at risk given the event is a hands-on event and my wife would not be able to participate without contaminating the food for...

So, overall the course was fun and the food was good. I won't lie it wasn't my favorite experience and I would question if it was worth the money since they didn't even have enough cutting boards for the people who were there, but it was enjoyable.

Now, it got two stars for a reason besides the cutting boards. First the ad was misleading. It read "Missouri grass-fed beef mixture of chuck, brisket and boneless short rib to create a griddle-seared burger." However, not all the beef was Missouri grass-fed. So, needless to say I could not eat all the meat due to dietary restrictions. Now, this was sad, as there is no way I would have paid $60 for the class if I couldn't eat dinner, but I was having a good time still. I was going to take the burger I made home for my boyfriend. However, at the end of the cooking experience the staff informed me I could not. When I asked why, the manager/owner? told me "because we are not a restaurant" and then stated that the point was for me to have the sample I made. I was fully aware they were not a restaurant. I informed her I was just having the sample I made and due to the misleading nature of the ad I had not gotten to eat any dinner. She was not concerned about this at all and was overall very patronizing. I may have been slightly agitated at that point, so my tone of voice probably wasn't the most pleasant, but she didn't even appear concerned that I did not get to eat anything.

The saddest thing is that we were already talking about coming back for other courses. I was going to learn how to make fish (which I also don't eat) for my family, and maybe even for a souffle course. Realistically between me and my family, they could have had a lot of money. Now I am just overall angry at the...