Atelier Sucre — Local services in New York

I just left this course “learning” how to make Napoleon and Madelines with Chef Samantha. We were with my partner and his mother, as her Mother’s Day gift. Figured the reviews are good, so this is a good team activity. Wrong.

First: The class confirmations states to show up 10 mins before class. Chef Samantha was late, did not open class until 5 mins past the time, everyone for class was waiting outside. Figure it’s minor, not a big deal. But then things add up.

Second: we are a group of 3 and there are two other individuals taking the class next to us. For our group, we received ingredients that would amount for 2 people. For the other two individuals, they received the correct ingredient amounts. I was confused, since we paid for 3, why are we NOT getting 3 portions? Instead of having an actual response, Chef Samantha begins arguing stating we don’t have anything to give you and if you don’t like it, speak with Simon. She seemed like she showed up late and stressed to begin with, now she was being rude and it takes the fun away from this place.

Third: The rest of the class I had to just sit on my hands since there’s nothing for me to do. We only had enough ingredients for 2, so only 2 of us could do anything.

Fourth: Chef Samantha (who started by stating her resume, “I’ve been doing this for 15 years yata yata”, does NOT know how to bake puff pastry. She had it at the wrong temperature and removed it twice from the oven, overcooking the pastry. The puff pastry for the napoleons came out burnt (truly) and hardened to a rock. Mind you, we didn’t even make our own puff pastry (you get it premade), so this really wasn’t much of a cooking class - you learn more from YouTube - with less attitude.

Fifth: They give you a recipe for the items you are baking in the beginning of the course and it shows a list of ingredients. They did NOT give us the full ingredients in class, they skimped out on several ingredients and gave us the bare minimum to make the pastries. We were supposed to make 4 portions each and we could only really make 3 portions each with the amount of cream and everything else provided. The other individual students had to use Chef Samantha’s cream because they ran out. We didn’t ask for more since she already had an attitude, no need to ruin my Sunday due to her lack of respect, so we passed. Figured we take the loss on that.

Overall, not great. I’m reading the other good reviews and it’s really over hyped what they are stating. Idk if there’s a better chef in this kitchen (that works there) but Samantha is NOT great, nor is her attitude. Book elsewhere and especially if you plan on doing this with friends, just don’t. They will not give you the ingredients you need. We paid a little over $300 and they couldn’t give me an extra $7 puff pastry and argued that they just can’t provide the portion that I deserved, as a paying customer taking this course.

Don’t kill your day, just go...

Saturday morning, as a couple, we were so excited to take this class, which is definitely meant to be fun, extroverted and feel welcomed. We started by saying good morning and barely received a hello from J. Carey, the Chef, started calling names and assigning tables, but never saying "you and your partner or party of 2 or sometjing go here or there" just one person go to table 2..this other one to table. 5... etc... so because we were not hearing our partners' names and didn't want to "assume" we asked if we will be seating together.... OMG.. this woman turned to me in such a rude manner, saying in a very challenging way in front of the rest of the people.. "did I call your name?".(attitude and rudness added). my answer" yes"... "did I assign you a table.. my answer yes ..(like a child) "so there you go" .. which I said.. I am asking because you only said my name ..which she answers "I only have one name, wouldn't know the other name"... Even my guy said "are we at school"? I mean.. was it so difficult for her to be respectful and nicely say "yes, your party of 2 is seating in table X" but no.. instead challenged me with 3 questions.. was rude.. didn't make us feel welcomed and totally messed up our fun. I completely shut down... didn't enjoy..and didn't want to ask/say anything. Even othet people whispered "I'm afraid to ask now"...even one girl asked about spreading the yeast and first reaction from her was to tell her she was not gonna clean all that.. couldn't just say.. you do it this way or that way? Never again! We don't wanna go back to be treated this way.... We were also hoping to learn and enjoy from someone with professional manners.. maybe...

Sublime! After living in France and being spoiled with easy access to classes taught by some of the world’s most famous pastry chefs, we were desperate to find something similar in the US. New York has some decent options, but none that are that super easily accessible. A friend recommended checking out Chef Simon and Atelier Sucre. Our friends hired Atelier Sucre to host one of their company’s team outings and loved Chef Simon’s approach to teaching and also how warm and friendly the experience was. We signed up online and went on a Tuesday night for one of his pastry classes. We had so much fun! The class is kept to a small size, there was plenty of room and it’s incredibly organized. All materials were provided as well as detailed instructions. Chef Simon explained each step in excellent detail and provided notes and tips to keep in mind so that if we forgot a step or made a mistake when we tried to make the recipe again at home, we would feel confident in being able to correct it and move forward without having to throw out the dish and start from scratch. It was such a wonderful experience! Additionally, the pastries we made were delicious!!! We shared them with our neighbors who asked when we’d be making more with perfect timing as we’re just around the corner from the holidays! We will definitely be going back and can’t wait to have our...