Sur La Table — Local services in Carlsbad

Simona is amazing!! Customer service has been on the decline, especially since Covid. I love the experience of specialty shop shopping but a lot of the larger chain stores have created environments where salespeople actually encourage you to figure out the product or look for something online while you’re in the store - When you’re standing in front of them! It’s infuriating and really establishes the fact that there is no reason ti go to the physical store. Especially because the stores usually don’t have the inventory and you’d have saved time and energy ordering from your couch. I digress! My husband and I came in reluctantly because I had ordered a machine on sale that for some reason got cancelled. To add insult to injury I had used a rather large gift card which I knew would now have a zero balance given the order cancellation after the fact. I expected to arrive and have someone tell me to call customer service and then explain slowly and loudly (the tone that insinuates you’re the problem when you’re not) why they couldn’t help me in the store. I only went because my husband dragged me. When we arrived, Simona greeted us genuinely. Ie not so enthusiastic you’re suspect and not in a way that suggested she would rather we hadn’t shown up. Her demeanor was kind and inviting and sincere. When I explained what had happened she listened (big win)! Then, she said she apologized for the frustration that this had caused and told me she would fix it if she could. She didn’t tell me we had to call anyone together (as so many stores require). She didn’t make me do anything. After collecting all of the facts that she needed she excused herself to the back and I meandered around the store. In that time I identified other things I wanted to purchase and had questions about, all of which she had answers to upon her return. She wasn’t gone long at all and once back she had the whole thing fixed (gift card credit returned to the card and new item at the cash register. Same price offered as I found online). It was amazing. She was so nice and generous in her assistance. It was a real pleasure. My husband and I will definitely make a point to go back to the store in future and seek out Simona for help. She is literally the reason someone would go to a store. She embodies the customer service experience that...

Their customer service is a joke. To even call it customer service belittles the definition of that.

I paid almost $600 for a cooking class to celebrate my wife's 50th bday. It was to be the highlight activity of her day... something she's been looking forward to for a long time.

Less than 2 hours before the class (about 30 minutes before we would have been walking out the door), "Yolanda" called me to let me know the chef called in sick earlier in the day and they had been scrambling to get the class covered all day.

She was apologetic enough and didn't hesitate to offer me a refund - which did come through in a timely manner. Well... ummm... yeah. The refund is the absolute least they could have done. And I mean that literally. The only thing less they could have done was NOT refund me.

My issues are: They knew it was a 50th bday celebration per the notes in my reservation. If they knew all day the chef was out, I should have gotten a heads up that the class might be cancelled at the EARLIEST moment. Not the last. Their cancellation policy is pretty strict - cancel with them with less than 48 hours notice and you forfeit your money. Guess that's a one-way street. I've emailed the store and called to speak with their GM "Derek" a few times only to be told he is: in a meeting, unavailable, off for the day or I just get left on hold indefinitely until I give up and hang up.

No accountability. No ownership. No "reading the room" to understand the bigger picture of the situation. A 50th bday is a milestone bday and they completely dropped the ball.

A week or so ago, I might have been open to some compensation or recovery effort from them. I guess they get to live with this review on their wall indefinitely. (Maybe I'll take it down when I'm "done w my...

My wife and I did a date night cooking class here. The class was a menu of Mediterranean food including salmon, couscous, spicy carrots, polenta cake. You get to eat the food when you're done cooking. First of all, the food was delicious. Note that they don't allow alcoholic beverages. The class itself was a group class where we paired up with another couple to complete the cooking. While three other groups of four also did the same recipes. It's fairly light on actual technique. Definitely on the beginner side but still fun. Recipe ingredients are all pre measured for you. But really the whole thing could easily be done with one person much less four. The class and time to eat lasted about two and a half hours which included a break for setup (and of course forcing you to wait around in the expensive cooking equipment store outside the class) after we cooked but before we did final mixing and then eating. Be warned that there is no seating and this is a standing affair. That includes during the break. Overall this is a fun, somewhat romantic evening out. It's best if you enjoy meeting new people and have some patience. We'd do it again but probably...