Sur La Table — Local services in Miami

We recently did a cooking class at this location after having done one last year and the quality of the class could not have been more night and day. We had a good experience at our first class, but after our most recent experience, we do not plan to return.

Chef Paolo was rushing through the class, going far too quickly for any of us to follow along and then being snippy at us like “it’s a listening experience!” when we asked for clarification because he was going way too fast. He mentioned this was his last class before a vacation in Belize and it was evident he didn’t want to be there. He would give instructions to one half of the room and I would only know we missed a step when I saw the other table doing something that our table had not been instructed to do. His franticness and disorganization made the experience unpleasant and stressful.

Besides the instruction, it’s a bit insane that after paying $100 per person you and your cooking partner don’t even get to prepare the whole recipe. We had to split the cooking steps with the people next to us, so we didn’t get to do steps like cutting zucchini and preparing the herbed ricotta. It’s not like we were making something with extravagant ingredients - for $100 per person, I expect to have my own zucchini to cut! Furthermore, we did not cook the donuts at all. The description of the class said that we would be learning to make bomboloni, but the dough was prepared ahead of time and Chef Michelle did all the frying and dusting with sugar. We didn’t do anything! I thought this was a cooking class?

Lastly, the food was just not good. The herbed ricotta pasta was completely flavorless. The donuts were cold and flavorless and the insides were not fully cooked. I had to add extra salt to my pasta to try to get it to taste like anything. We ended up going to Popeyes afterwards because it was so unsatisfying.

We did have a pleasant experience at Sur La Table the first time we visited, but this experience was so bad I can’t in good faith recommend anyone take a class here. Save your money and follow a YouTube recipe - at least then you’ll be able to actually cook the...

REVIEW OF MASTERING MEDITERRANEAN CLASS, MIAMI SUR LA TABLE Review Title: Fantastic Class with Chefs Erick, Paolo, and Dagny The Mastering Mediterranean class I took in January 2024 at the Miami Sur la Table was absolutely fantastic on all counts and far exceeded my expectations. The whole team of teacher chefs – Chef Erick (who expertly taught this class), Chef Paolo (who assisted this time around and made sure we students were well taken care of) and Chef Dagny (head chef who worked behind the scenes in the kitchen for this class) were all knowledgeable and extremely hard-working for the entire 2 ½ hours we were in class. In addition to taking us meticulously through each step of the recipes, Erick explained basic kitchen skills (I thought I knew the proper way to hold a knife – I was wrong) and answered all of our questions (I had tried every way I knew of to skin garlic cloves, each of which never efficiently worked, and learned in this class the best way to do it in one fell swoop); he remained lively and attentive throughout the entire class. Every minute of this class was fun and informative. The other plusses: each of the ingredients had been prepared in advance and were ready for our mixing and spreading, all of the recipes were emailed to us in advance along with our reminder about class instructions, our work stations were beautifully prepared, all of the students in this class (we were 9 in total) were really nice – there seems to be a self-selected group of down-to-earth, affable people who take these classes – everything was cleaned up for the students both during prep and after class, nobody was hectic or stressed – the atmosphere was both serious-cooking and fun – and at the end we all ate our lovely Mediterranean meal around a big table together. After many years living in Miami, I had gotten used to companies and services promising the moon and delivering nothing; the chefs at Sur la Table provided a beautiful surprise: top-notch quality in the company of nice people. I’ll be taking...

Beyond pleased and no words to describe the two STARS of the entire shopping plaza: Catherine the store manager and Cesar the lovely assistant manager. Without a doubt these two can give lessons and a course on customer service. I moved to a new place and it was my first time shopping for kitchen appliances and all other kitchen needs and all I can say is I am WOWed by the patience and customer service of these two. They spent hours going around the store catering to my every need and answered each and every one of my questions with patience, elaboration, and a smile. They had an amazing attitude and are beyond knowledgeable about every single product they sell. On my first visit Catherine waited for me to resolve an issue on the phone even after her scheduled work hours and suggested helping me carry all the shopping bags to my car. I said thank you so much and she replied “oh don’t worry at all I am here for you.” What a kind statement to make. On my second visit, I went to the store because the stickers on the silverware and kitchenware I purchased were not being properly removed. Cesar, washed each one of them with special sticker remover AND washed each dish and each spoon, knife, and fork after he removed the stickers. He actually did my dishes and offered me cappuccino afterwards. That is on top of patiently catering to all my needs and questions. I mean, WOW is all I can say! Who does that these days? Honestly, what a team! These two need not be in store but in charge of operations and customer service of entire company. Trust when I say it. These two are the one. They really are above and beyond. They raised the bar so high I cannot even think about buying from anywhere else. Highly recommend - do not go...