Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts — Local services in Vancouver

I do not know where to begin!!

My 20 year old son signed up for the two year Grand diploma + industry CO-OP Program starting September 2025. We put the required deposit down, which was around $5,900 USD. Seann Parcker was incredibly kind and supportive, at first.

We contacted immigration and continued making plans.

Fast forward to after the election. Trump, who we did not support nor did we vote for, started to ruin the relationship between our two countries!

I decided not to send my son to Canada. Plus, he was no longer interested in going, so I contacted Seann Parcker on February 3rd, 2025 to cancel his enrollment. I apologized profusely, but his demeanor was much less kind. He said he would contact me with the instructions.

I somehow missed the email he sent. Twenty days had passed! I immediately sent him the wire information and watched closely every day for any communications from him or anybody from Pikachef.

I bought a Magic Jack so I could call the school directly.

I chose to call the finance department instead of relying on Seann to help me.

The first guy in the finance department knew my name! So I know he had spoken with Seann! He was also very cold towards me. He told me that Pikachef was not in the business of stealing money from international students! I told him that I've definitely wasn't insinuating that! I have been very patient for weeks. He said it will take about another week.

It's been two weeks!

I called today and spoke with a different person in the finance department. She saw NO request for a tuition refund for my son and asked me for the wire information AGAIN. I told her I sent it to Seann Parcker. She said i will take care of this today.

I did not vote for Trump. I feel horrible what is happening between our two countries, but that is no reason to ignore my calls, ignore my requests for a refund, or be unkind to me.

I'm sorry this happened, but Seann told me that other than a few administrative fees, I should get most of the tuition refunded. I had no idea that six weeks later I would have to make the request all over again! They took almost $1000 from me!!!! There was $1000 of administration fees. We put a down payment and had a zoom interview. Wow!!! That cost $1000.

I'm so upset that they have treated me this way. I do not know what else to do!!! I haven't been rude. I haven't shown any disrespect. I've apologized and apologized that I'm from America, but I am not responsible for what is happening.

Update: Now they are claiming I did not cancel his enrollment until...

Some of the tastiest food we've had in a long time! The room was also mercifully quiet most of the time although some sort of gathering was happening in a back room and the clamour often intruded up the hallway to our table which was positioned right next to it. Curiously, the online menu bore no resemblance to the menu that was presented to us just before 6pm nor to the one that strangely replaced it shortly after 6pm with no explanation. The soup of the day (mushroom and which was excellent) and the student surprise dessert (which was indeed a rather curious although tasty but small) bore no price on the menu but of course the total came to the set menu price anyway. I ordered the goat cheese ravioli but found nothing that resembled goat cheese unless it was the thin sauce contained in the pockets and I would have called it 'ravioli in tomato bisque with a few veg on top' - definitely nouvelle cuisine and definitely a smaller amount than I would have thought the $20 assigned to its value was worth. The waiter/maitre d' was extremely polite, responsive and attentive but I did suspect he was also aware that the food was arriving at a very slow pace, with great gaps of time between courses although we were a party of 6 extremely talkative people so perhaps he was just reflecting the fact that we wanted to enjoy a very leisurely meal. Finally, after concluding everything well after 9pm an umbrella was inadvertently left behind, though we figured since we were the last ones out that we could collect it the next day without difficulty but unfortunately it was nowhere...

I have been fortunate enough to have two events held here for clients. This is a very unique and great team building exercise as one of the events they offer is an iron chef challenge. The basis of this activity is that you are put into teams and tasked with the difficult and creative job of cooking a appetizer and entrée using a secret ingredient that has to be incorporated in both dishes. They hosted our clients professionally and with care which was much appreciated. The experience can come in at a little bit high of a price however, it has been a very successful event and our clients seemed to love it (which is the main goal!). You have to cook for one hour and have access to the kitchen and ingredients and can talk with some of the students that are there as well. It feels very high pressure and depending how you cook or eat it could be either very creative or a little bit overwhelming but it’s all in good fun. After that, the head chef tries out all the dishes and scores everyone. Don’t fret, you do not have to only eat your concoctions after the cooking challenge. You are then presented with a three course meal done by the students. One thing I do wish they offered was perhaps a Feedback card (I understand this is difficult for a client event but could be coordinated to the organizer). The dishes we got for good, the portions were a bit small and some of the dishes were a bit over salted in my opinion but overall it was a great meal and event. There is limited parking and just have to register your car with the business beforehand, otherwise be prepared...