Sur La Table — Attraction in Houston

Me and my husband attended the Lobster Ravioli date night cooking class here and were pretty disappointed with what we got for what we paid for. To begin we never got a confirmation email about the date of our class or anything. I had to call and make sure it was for today because it seemed weird to not get an email. Even looking only online wasn't helpful. It just spends what classes you've bought, no other information like time or date is available. We arrived just before the class was starting however the kitchen was not ready. They needed extra time to clean the kitchen and prepare. The kitchen looked very unorganized with stuff everywhere and tons of dirty dishes that needed to be washed. We were finally let in and told to wash our hands and find our name tags. I see our name tags at a table along with 2 others. 4 of us at a table that is meant for only 2. I was excited to make my own pasta dough, however only 1 person could make the pasta dough. We were not given our own bowls of flour and eggs. At $200 per couple we don't even get to make everything ourselves? The "chef" made the balsamic and fig jam and had a volunteer add in the shallots. What?? That's not cooking. Then the salad was already prepared. We were giving a bowl with everything in it, we cut nothing, and instead of the blood orange as the recipe says they substituted grapefruit because they ran out. That's not what we signed up for. All we did for the salad was 1 person smashed some pistachios and made a salad dressing with some oil. Rolling out the dough was the only fun part since we got to each do our own and create 4 sheets. We then added the filling with 1 piping bag for the 4 of us. Me and my husband created different shaped pasta than the other couple in our group so we could tell which was ours. They then took the tray of our pasta to boil while we made the sauce for the ravioli again only 1 person could make it out of the 4. We didn't even get to cook our own. Ravioli, it was done for us. The pasta was added and then the other couple decided they wanted our ravioli instead of their own and took them. This was really upsetting and definitely a reason we should each get to make our own as s couple especially at the price point. I ended up with 4 ravioli that I didn't even make and was upset with the experience as a whole. This is not a coming class, and I expected way better. I even signed up for 2 classes at the same time and now am not looking forward to the next class after my first experience. I hope these classes change the way they are set up because it really should be per couple not working with another couple but I doubt it as there are numerous negative reviews and no attention from the store. It was very minimal cooking and this shouldn't even be called a cooking class when we were giving 80% of the food prepared for us. Highly disappointed and would not...

On 12/9 my partner and I were making plans for date night. We decided to give a cooking class a try at Chef Sur La table. We booked our class 3 hours prior on the day of for 7 pm. Upon arrival the chef on staff who’s name I cannot remember (Caucasian male with glasses/part time chef) was not aware of our reservation. As soon as we showed him our confirmation his assistants began making the necessary arrangements to accommodate us which was much appreciated. The first item that the group was making together was a cake. The chef said we are making a cake which was meant for 12 people but now that we had some last minute people join us and because of that now everyone will get a smaller slice. He then went on to refer to us as “no name tags” instead of asking us what our names were or making us name tags which would have taken a minute. Every opportunity he had, he made a conservative effort to call us out for being last minute additions and made us feel Uncomfortable, not welcomed and out of place. When the batter for the cake was done he was showing everyone the consistency and intentionally stopped at the folks standing next to us as a means to seclude us. As the session went on and we made squash ravioli and chicken as individual groups and we made the most of the night enjoying as best as we could while enduring the pettiness displayed by the chef. When it came to handing out dessert he again bought up the fact that we had to cut 14 slices and upon seeing how uncomfortable we were a few of the other customers responded with kind words saying it’s “no issue at all” and “none of us mind”. This goes to show that the chefs negative attitude and disrespect towards us did not go unnoticed by everyone else.

I understand there is a certain amount of prep that goes into this class before hand. Although there seem to be zero issue in accommodating us for the main entree portion of the class the constant effort to make us feel like outcasts was extremely rude and disrespectful. If accommodating guest late is a challenge then the store should have a cut off period after which no more guests can reserve a spot online. At the end of the day we were paying customers who paid $80 per person just like every one else. We deserved more respect then what was shown. If the dessert was an issue we could have simply been told we will accommodate you but since we were not aware that you would be here unfortunately you will not get a slice of the cake as it only feeds 12 people and not 14. Which would have been understandable and something we would not have a concern with. All in all we were really disappointed in how this situation was handled and the customer service displayed was...

Today at 11 AM. I experience racial discrimination. I went to pick up an order for a company. When I spoke to the sales rep, she was very rude. I did not let this situation agitate me. I then noticed she was nicer to a Hispanic delivery driver who came after me. I observed her rushing customers to check. After i inquired about my order responded “it will out a minute”because someone had to find the order. However, i waited 11 minutes. The man who found the order was racially discriminatory towards me. The Hispanic man and worked for the same company. One employee handed his item to him and the man left without aby questioning. The male who had mine required my ID in order for me to get the bag. Although I just watched the Hispanic man walk out with his without any request for identification verification. So I stated he did not just give y’all his ID. The employee who handed the Hispanic man delivery to him, told the employee who wanted my identification that it was not necessary to get my ID. However, he still held on to the bag. He then stated that he needed to get my signature. I stated that the Hispanic man that just left did not give his signature in order to get his pick up. We both gave our signature to the lady sales rep who took our pick up request. He had this document in his hand and i tried to show him. I then reached for the bag and expressed that I thought this interaction was racially motivated and racist in it’s entirety. Unfortunately I experienced something different from someone who look who looks differently than me. This should not be happening at any location. I urge people to check where they are going and where they are spending their money prior to doing so. The customer service was horrible, but I do think the man who spoke up for me while I was being berated. I hope this is a learning experience. I hope my interaction is viewed by managers and appropriate methods are taken to address inequality and...