Sur La Table — Local services in Kirkland

I'm writing to express how disappointed my husband and I were of the Beginner Baking Class that the Sur La Table Kirkland, WA store ran today January 2, 2023. Specifically, we find the baking Chef Jason to be very rude to paying customers and the response of the store GM Erica to be inadequate.

Chef Jason told everyone in class to add cocoa powder to a flour mixture, a direction that I followed to the letter. He then came to the table I shared with my husband and two other paying customers and proceeded to tell me that I shouldn't have done so. When I tried to correct Chef Jason, he repeatedly said that is not what he meant, but that we can continue. The next 20 minutes were filled with Chef Jason repeatedly coming back to our table and loudly stating that the mixture that we are working with was wrong and won't turn out as planned. Chef Jason clearly sensed my discomfort in having been the person who followed his direction to add the cocoa powder to the flour mixture, yet Chef Jason proceeded in repeatedly humiliating me in front of the other paying customers.

When my husband pulled Chef Jason aside to explain that the entire table had heard him directing the addition of the cocoa powder to the flour mixture, Chef Jason apologized to my husband. When my husband told him to apologize to me, Chef Jason loudly yelled across the room to me that he "apologized if there is a miscommunication". That is when I untied my apron and left the class halfway through the session.

Chef Jason clearly doesn't have the professional mannerism needed to deliver a cooking infotainment service to paying customers. Moreover, he doesn't have the baking knowledge required to deliver a Beginner Baking class. When asked why the recipe needs baking powder AND baking soda together, Chef Jason claimed he didn't develop the recipe. When he was asked if the sour cream can be substituted with cream cheese, Chef Jason didn't know the answer either. He also chose the wrong baking tin for the bake, resulting in the overflow of the first cake the entire class has worked on a quarter way through the baking time in the oven. Clearly, this person is the wrong person to deliver a baking class priced at $89/person.

When my husband took after me, a store employee who witnessed the entire thing stopped my husband for details and contact information. Store GM Erica called my husband a few hours later and my husband repeated the incident. She was apologetic, yet only offered a 50% refund instead of 100% refund for what was a terrible, humiliating, wholly unpleasant experience.

When I compared this to PCC Market in-person cooking class that are priced similarly, the experience with PCC is completely the opposite. The instructor and the wait staff there went above and beyond to make us feel welcome, to speak clearly, and to know the ins- and outs- of their recipes very well. Our money is well spent there and I will take PCC Market classes again, as well as recommend PCC classes to others. The opposite is true with Sur La Table classes, I don't think my husband and I will give our business to Sur La Table ever again - which is sad because we are not first time customers.

Adieu...

I have not taken a cooking class at Sur la Table or anywhere before attending the tour of Spain. I came with a date and it was an interesting night; an experience for sure. If you’ve read salt fat acid heat or on food and cooking and know how to not cut your fingers off; this class is NOT for you.

What went well? I’ve bought lots of stuff from the store before for myself and others and the store was very nice with a wide variety of product as you’d expect. 5/5 The staff was supper helpful. 5/5 The cooking class was the chef and 2 support staff and they were both AMAZING. Lin was everywhere, she has like 10 hands. 7/5 We got right into cooking from the jump. Chef joked around a bit and we started. 5/5 The recipe was missing ingredients and the chef had to come add some to bring all our stuff together, a good teachable moment.

What didn’t go well? I blame an equal share of this on me and the company, I should have done more research and read reviews. BUT the website explicitly says you’ll be sharing a workstation and equipment in groups of four. HOWEVER, 48 hours before; after the cancellation window, they send an email saying you’ll be sharing food as well. This defeats 99.9% of the class and makes this a $0 value add. Instead of learning to cook anything you are arranged in a random order to start and if you’re not on the skillet you basically get to watch some other people cook. I’ve gotten better value from youTube. Basically Save your money. The food was inedible. I feel bad, I told my date not to eat a huge lunch figuring we’d be making a lot of food. But the food was so over spiced and the chef happened to walk by and just add a little bit more for good measure; I couldn’t eat it. She powered through, as the French say, hunger is the best sauce? This is a cooking “class” or so I thought which would mean you’re experimenting and trying to push understanding. Ha, not here, just follow the recipe, and the chef but there is 0 time to ask questions as he’s running around checking on the 5 groups. He tried but you can’t have 1 chef, 14 students and 2 hours and get anything meaningful from him. He did try a little but Masterclass is a better value. After 1.5 hrs of cooking which could have easily been 45 min, we got to eat, standing up in the kitchen. Wasn’t an issue for me I didn’t eat but watching everyone else was funny. Weird setup. I know chefs like to add lots of fat and salt to everything so it tastes better, but my station wasn’t about that life. The chef went hard on adding LOTS of oil and salt to everything. Again I get it but for me, I’d never cook this way so again just not super useful.

If you are new to cooking it might be a good class. You do have a chef there to make sure you don’t burn down your house and the food was eaten by most people. For the $200 or so for 2 hours I’d say go shop, set some candles out and follow a YouTube. You’ll be done faster, it’ll taste better and you’ll actually get to cook everything. Even if it’s a complete failure, you’ll have had the hand on experience of...

As a long-time Sur La Table customer (going back 20+ years to the original store in Seattle), it pains me to say that the local Kirkland store employs several ladies that just don't seem to be interested in serving the clientele with decorum, patience, or joy. Our last 4 trips into the store have all been marked by a total indifference to a customer's level of interest in a product, or the customer's needs for service. In each occasion the employees seem to be much more interested in talking to each other than engaging with clients. They are haughty at best, and confrontational at worst. As someone who has spent over $10,000 with the company over the years, I'm stunned at this change in attitude. What used to be a place to browse, learn, and enjoy our hobby as foodies has become a place where the employees just don't seem to care about the community they serve. If it had only been one occurrence I could haver written it off to a bad day. If it had been two events with different people, I would have given them the benefit of the doubt. But four times in a row is the sign that something has gone rotten at this store. We recognize that the company has had a significant set of changes (in ownership structure, etc.) over the years, but this core brand element of the experience and focus on customer care should have carried through in some way - even if it was a feint echo of prior years. It is a shame because we now live walking distance from the store, and we were excited when we moved to the neighborhood to have them this close. I hope that they can conduct an honest 360 review of their customer experience and make the appropriate changes to process / training / technology / people to bring back the joy we used to feel when...