Sur La Table — Local services in Canton

I don’t often post negative reviews because I typically believe you should give places the benefit of the doubt, but this was one of the most horrific cooking classes (if you want to call it that) I have ever seen. We arrived at 6:50 for a 7pm class. We checked in and were told to shop around while the chef prepares for us and we probably got started 10 or so minutes after 7pm. We were all told to wash our hands and throw on an apron.

We were told we were going to start by baking the cake so the chef threw on the kitchen aid mixer and started throwing in bowls of pre-measured ingredients. He asked for one volunteer (out of 14 people) and they helped dump in a bowl of flour. Said individual went back to their table and basically one person “baked” the dessert by dumping in a bowl of flour. That concluded the dessert portion. Around this time, if you looked around the room and observed, I’d say people were a little fidgety. Why, you ask? Probably because each couple paid $180 for their date night and we watched a demo of the dessert course without doing a SINGLE.THING.

Now let’s move of to the pasta shall we? Sounds fun, right? Let’s start by saying they made the bolognese sauce before we all arrived. I’m not professionally trained but I have taken enough pasta making classes in the world to know what should happen. SLT you wildly missed the mark. You’re chucking flour and eggs into a bowl and using a dough hook to mix. I get that that’s more efficient but now the 14 people who paid to have a hands on experience didn’t get to touch an egg or flour. We were told they made it earlier for us so it could rest (fine). Everyone was given a baseball sized ball to stick through the kitchen aid pasta maker. Having it on a max speed seems kind of dangerous and the second machine got gunked up presumeably because of the lack of direction. Next you were given a knife to share (large knives should never be passed around in my opinion). You’re asking for an injury there. Finally we cut our pasta by attachment and made little nests, only you had us place them on top of a baking sheet with semolina instead of dusting the pasta with it before placement. Can anyone tell me what happens if it’s not dusted with semolina?? It sticks…

So now they tell us to take a break and shop. If you came to a class before Covid, they give you a mug and make you a beautiful little cappuccino. Not anymore- just a little 2 oz Dixie cup from the show room.

Then we went back to make our salad. We reached under our table and pulled out a bowl of I think lettuce, apple and some other veggie? I don’t know because I didn’t see them in full form or chop anything. Then our table of 6 got to make the dressing and by that I mean one person whisked while the other dumped the “already measured by the chefs before the class” ingredients. Finished.

So at this point I’ve touched dough but nobody has any idea what went into it or the sauce, or how to knead, one person helped make the dessert and four people in the room stirred up the dressing. THAT’s it. And you should know the site says classes are 2-2.5 hours in length but ours was just over an hour (concluding at 8:15pm?) so I guess that’s should tell you something? I have more to say but I’ll conclude by saying I was disappointed and left feeling uncomfortable. Save your money on this one.

Two stars because the...

5 stars to my cooking class experience this past weekend (Little Italy). From the moment we walked in, we were greeted with a smile from everyone. They offered us while we waited a few minutes to have some water or enjoy a mini coffee in the back by Sue at the coffee machines. Rebecca was pleasant and checked us in to class. We had chef Brian, Marty and Joy there, all wonderful people and did a good job to get people engaged. We made pasta and we all really enjoyed it. They had volunteers help mix things up on the stove while Chef Brian explained cooking the meal, tips and tricks. The dough was made and rested so we did the rest from there which works for me and saves time. Making the pasta was the fun and best part was getting to eat it. Overall, I appreciate the time and efforts made to make the class enjoyable and hands-on on and get people interacting with one another. I was very full at end of meal! You can also bring your own alcohol or beverages which is great !

I will say, this is more enjoyable if you like to interact with others.We had the best table mates and enjoyed talking with them and others in our class. This is very hands on, your sharing your equipment with others but washing hands very often. Your taking turns with prepping the meal. If you an introvert or a germa phobe then this might not be for you, and that's ok.

This store is located in a busy shopping outlet so plenty of parking and lots to do. This class was better than anticipated and I highly recommend it and will definitely do it again ! As long as they are taking any feedback into consideration into enhancing guest's experience than these classes will thrive for sure.

It was a little pricey but my spouse was more than pleased with their birthday plans so it...

This is a classic example of a store that’s gotten “too big for its breeches.” The products themselves are very good at the store, however the knowledge is essentially like going to a very high priced Walmart of kitchenware. I always go to this store to find the highest end kitchen supplies for weddings and significant birthdays, but upon asking for a diamond steel knife sharpener, I had a sales person who had no idea what kind of “knife” I was looking for (when I consistently stated it was a sharpener). I find the knowledge at the store to be more akin to that of a Walmart employee versus Verizon if, for example, one were looking for a mobile phone. They are not specialists in any area nor do they understand what inventories they’re currently carrying and what’s coming in next month (or even where you can get what you’re looking for). Everytime I go in this store, the girls are gossiping to each other, no one is walking around “working” and no one seems to know anything about the products. If you ask them they just say “yeah, this is a great product” but they don’t have any details as to what makes it better than getting it somewhere else or what makes it better than the thing sitting on the shelf next to it. You better know what you’re looking for when you go...