Sur La Table — Local services in Norwood

We were here for a cooking class.

I had mentioned to my husband that we should do something different and I have been wanting and trying to do better in the kitchen so he surprised me with this class. Loved the idea, the actual class.- not so much.

The store is great- clean with super friendly employees... this is a high end supply store so expect prices to be high end but they have some super cool lower priced items as well that are very handy. We got a garlic roller that removes the wrapping on a clove of garlic in no time... I waste a lot of garlic with low patience and cutting off and wasting part of the garlic to remove it normally so this was a score at 5$

In any event, the cooking class is also in a high end store and I would have expected better. I thought this was a couples cooking class and we'd be cooking together. It's fine that we weren't and we met a new friend but our expectations were different because of poor information given. In any event, I am not going to drag this on but we learned nothing (except about the cool garlic roller) and I feel awful that he wasted so much money (158$) for us to go make salted chicken, with very bad collards that were bitter as heck because no one was instructing... We were all disappointed in that and we have never made greens so my husband and Lisa (our new friend) were making them and I think Lisa was the same as us and didn't know when they'd be done. Instructor gave a quick look from across the room and said something indicating they were fine.... yeah, not good enough. She has also had people from the other table before in class and well, we felt left out a bit on their more personal conversations. We went into this thinking it'd be a romantic steak dinner we made ourselves and took away some tips. Instead, we listened to an instructor and cashier talk about a couple that were late and they looked like they were having no mercy on and they never showed so.... well weird that I had to observe that....... it's not like they missed anything...

We did not enjoy at all and we learned nothing with the exception of the garlic roller product.

Also, upscale store and they have no drinks (and I mean to buy) for you for your 158$ class, with the exception of provided water. During the break he was going to grab drinks and maybe a small wine at Whole Foods to use at dinner... he was told to "make sure it doesn't say alcohol" .... not sure what the heck that meant but we skipped it as it sounded shady.

So, we eat out a lot but I have yet to go to Ruth Chris--- take your 158$ and add another 50$ or so and go there as it will certainly be more enjoyable, with better food and if you ask waiter a few questions you would learn more then we did here....

Also -- nope, I am done... had more negative to say but I think you get the gist... For me personally, I love that he cared enough to listen and pick something different for us.... So damn disappointed in this...

Update (and now one star): As can be seen, the store was quick and diligent to publicly respond to this review. I contacted the provided email below right away. Three months later. No response back from them still… I’ll stand by this review, and now, will also probably shop elsewhere too.

The food was outstanding, we learned new skills for sure, and even bought a few cool new things, in a low pressure and discounted way. That’s where the positives end and we’ll give three stars for this.

It was our first time being there, with 4 other people we did not know (who had done classes there before) attending as well. My husband and I were paired up with two others to execute a dish and share the recipe, ingredients and cooking. The other couple there spent the evening working together on their own, with their experience divided in two (which is what was paid for) and ours divided in four - for the SAME price (which felt like we paid the same and had a diluted experience).

We were admittedly quite disappointed to have to share our work station and work with strangers on what was supposed to be a date night. They were lovely thankfully, and absolutely no offense to them. But it was also on a night where with only three pairs present, we could all have been accommodated to work in three pairs of two (FYI, a full class fits 16 we were told).

It just felt lazy and cheap for the price paid. With no guarantee to just work one on one with my partner or seem to get an equal experience as others paying the same price, likely would not spend the money to do this again (plus the money to hire childcare for this rare date night).

Buyer beware: there are other cooking schools/classes that tailor to you for similar pricing. If your goal is to get out there and meet people, possibly this is for you. However, this is NOT a good date night option in our opinion - unless you’re planning on a...

Was there for Father’s Day they were set up for two groups we were the third group. I bought this thing so my niece could learn how to cook and be hands on. The wings we made were premade and marinated so all we did was dump them on a tray and the instructor put them in the oven. BBQ sauce we made was Montgomery inn sauce with brown sugar so we poured brown sugar in and reduced it. Was really the only think my niece got to do. Then we made pizza dough was premade all we did was roll it out all the toppings were already made. For desert all we made was whipped topping. The class I took at the learning kitchen was way more hands on and we had our own stations we did not have to share every task. I felt this was a waste of time resulting in my niece being bored for her birthday present. She was withdrawn due to lack of involvement. I do not recommend maybe if they did not over book it it might have been a little different but the learning kitchen is way...