Sur La Table — Local services in Carmel

Overall very disappointed in our cooking class we did here (if you can call it a “cooking class”).

We received a gift certificate to sign up for a cooking class here. We were excited to come into the “Savor Italy” class and learn a new skill or two about making fresh pasta or cooking in general.

When we arrived, my wife and I made our way to our name tags. We had a nice big area to work with. There was another couple that complained about the place they were at, and the leader of the class booted us out of our spot into another spot- with about 1/4 of the space.

They read the instructions off to the class, and discuss that it’s a public cooking class. We were well aware of this beforehand- it says online when signing up: “you will work with other students in groups of 4, sharing workstations and equipment”. When I read this while signing up, I thought to myself “oh, so we are going to be sharing some pots and pans and the pasta maker machine. No worries.” We were unpleasantly surprised that we would be making the dishes as a group of four, sharing ingredients and the final dish. I’m a little bit of a freak about cleanliness- while cooking, I wash my hands as well. To me, it’s a little weird that I’m supposed to be eating food that’s prepared by a stranger. This needs to be explicitly stated on the website- that you will be sharing “food and ingredients and the final dishes”, rather than just “equipment and workstations”.

Going back to my original paragraph, I was hoping for a “cooking class”, but what we got was a recipe class. All the instructor did was tell us to combine ingredients to make a final dish- that’s not cooking, and I could have done that at home for about a 1/4 of the price. I wanted to learn new cooking skills- how to sharpen knives, how to properly cut/handle knives. I walked out of this with no new cooking skills.

The equipment we used as well was disappointing. The knives we used were DULL. I had to put a lot of force into cutting my food- which is not safe and can cause injury. I would think that they would want to give us nice items to use in the class to persuade us to purchase them in store.

Finally, I am disappointed in the “Savor Italy”, making fresh pasta. In the description, it states “learn the art of crafting fresh pasta dough”. We didn’t learn the art of creating pasta dough- it was dough that was already made for us. When I asked the “chef” while she was demonstrating to us how to make the pasta dough at home “what’s the general ratio of flour to eggs,” She responded “I don’t really know. That’s something you can look up.” How are you going to lead a pasta making class if you can’t tell me the basics of making fresh pasta?

The food we made tasted good, but overall the experience was poor and definitely not what we expected in a “cooking class”. Class was a 1/5 with the food...

I ventured to Sur La Table on the recommendation of a friend who raved about their cooking classes. The first class I participated in was the American Doughnuts class taught by Randy Bauman. Randy proved to be an amazing teacher who gave excellent instruction and was very attentive to cleanliness, something that is extremely important to me. I really appreciated how she told us not to touch our phones whilst working with food and made anyone whom she caught on their device go straight to the sink.

What also made this class enjoyable is the fact that we got to make our own separate batches of donuts, as the high level of sharing food items with strangers is often a point of contention at this establishment, which you’ll gather from other reviews. Though we did have to work on the main dough as a group, meaning sometimes I had nothing to do and had to be a spectator, we divided the completed dough into mostly equal portions and got to work with only our dough from that point on. However, this was not the case for the second class I took, Festive Bread.

My second class really highlighted the issues with this establishment. First, I never learned my teacher’s name during the 2-hour class. She never properly introduced herself, and I only later learned that her name was Alisa from the email she sent later in the day containing the recipes we used. Unlike Randy, Alisa was much less attentive to cleanliness. I watched as people constantly checked their phones and didn’t make one move to the sink. I even caught some of my fellow students tasting things with their fingers. What made this absolutely reprehensible is that we were, in fact, sharing the entire bread making experience and end product.

My first class was only 5 or 6 people, but this class had like 16. I had to work with a couple and one other person on a single bread wreath. Bread-making is, of course, extremely hands-on, so you can imagine my dismay at all the poorly washed hands touching the same bread dough.

It was clear to me and the friend who accompanied me that the was completely overbooked. Sur La Table should strive to keep class sizes small, as this would improve customer experience tremendously.

Bolstered by that realization, I realized that I wouldn’t be going back once I looked around and saw how unkempt the space is. Don’t get me wrong, the kitchen is modern and beautifully designed; I’m just saying that kitchen is in need of a deep cleaning. I didn’t realize it so much during my first class due to my viewing angle, but my second class gave me a wider perspective and I saw how the screens and spaces in the room were coated in multiple layers of dust.

I don’t know about you, but I can only cook and eat in a pristine space. For these and a few minor reasons, I’m very...

This review is exclusively for the poor management and lack of communication for the cooking classes. I purchased in-store cooking class as an anniversary present for me and my husband, and was charged $158 on my credit card. We reached the Carmel location for the class in heavy rain only to find that the store was locked but there were some other people waiting for the cooking class, so we thought maybe the instructor is running a bit late due to the rain. At 9:10 AM, an employee came. She told us that she cannot let us in but basically, there is no cooking class. She mentioned that the cooking class was canceled a week ago due to unavailability of the instructor and after checking the roster, she told us that someone may have tried calling me and would have left a voicemail. First, I didn’t have any missed call or voicemail in the past 10 days that I did not know about. Second, I was not refunded. This should’ve been the first thing they should've done if cooking class was canceled a week ago. Third, the person should have tried calling the alternate phone number (which I checked was there on the roster) or tried sending me an email to make sure the message was conveyed. It's been 4 days and I have still not received the refund. I have followed up with the store over email and have not heard back. I finally called their customer service today and a gentleman told me that in the system, he does not see that the cooking class was cancelled, so he is unable to issue a refund but he is escalating this to a team so they can review my case and follow up, which I appreciate. I am not sure if there is disconnect between the corporate and store management, but a client should not have to pay for this nonsense. You wasted our time on the day of the cooking class and are still withholding our refund for your lack of...