Arizona Culinary Institute — Local services in Scottsdale

Update Feb 2025. Returned with friends for lunch. Still a solid 5 stars. Impressive du hour menu with plenty of options. As expected, top notch high-end service and quality. Very reasonable cost. By coincidence, the four of us all ordered the Halibut entree. Superb. I had a side of risotto with pickled squid with Japanese Furikake seasoning. Very creative. My wife had the clam chowder that was served with a giant oyster cracker type floating pastry. Photos attached.

This review is for lunch in the dining room and not the culinary school. Our party of four arrived on-time for our 11:30 reservation today, were immediately greeted, signed in, provided a brief introduction/explanation and taken to our table in the dining room. First impressions are powerful and our first impression was that we made a smart decision to dine here. It got better from there. The student-tended dining room is run (under close supervision by senior instructors) much like a 5-star restaurant. Orders are served all at once by a group of student-servers. Presentation is impressive. Menu selections are wide and diverse. taste, quality, portion sizing are all perfect. Non-alcoholic as well as wine and spirits are available and priced well below market. The luncheon cost (very reasonable) covers an appetizer plus entree. Complimentary "add-ons" are provided including a decadent dessert. The palate-cleansing frozen "lolipop" intermezzo between courses was an unexpected treat that one finds today in few high-end restaurants (pic attached). Our student wait staff is not there to be trained as wait staff, of course, but rather culinary professionals. But they are taught the business from the ground up and do a stint for a short time serving the clientele. I estimate that the dining room has 10 tables and that at our seating there were approximately 16-20 patrons, making the experience sort of intimate and semi-private. Three in our party had the Mahi entree and one had the pork tenderloin. We each had a different appetizer. We will return and bring new friends with us to share the experience. I've attached a boat...

This review is about the culinary school experience, not the Du Jour restaurant.

I gained valuable knowledge and hands-on skills from my instructors here, and if your goal is to learn proper cooking techniques in a structured environment, this school delivers that well. The chefs are experienced, and the curriculum covers a wide range of foundational skills.

However, if you're considering culinary school as a pathway into a long-term career in the food industry, I strongly encourage you to pause and evaluate your options carefully. The reality of the industry is that many restaurants hire anyone willing to work hard, regardless of formal training. Often, you’ll find yourself as the only classically trained cook in the kitchen, and your training may take a backseat to a restaurant’s unique systems and shortcuts.

More importantly, consider the financial side: Tuition can leave you with significant debt — in my case, close to $25,000 — while entry-level wages in the industry often hover around minimum wage, with only modest increases over time. In hindsight, gaining hands-on experience by working your way up in a restaurant might be a more practical and cost-effective path.

I believe the school could do a better job preparing students for the economic realities and workplace culture of the food industry. Passion alone isn’t enough to sustain a career if the compensation and work environment don’t support your well-being and financial stability.

This review isn’t meant to discourage your culinary dreams, but to offer perspective I wish I had...

I attended this school in 2019 and graduated 2020. Chefs were great and learned a lot. I was super proud of my accomplishments here and the relationships I made.

Unfortunately my class and the previous were when Covid hit and we never got the graduation we deserved. Sadly the class after us did. Which kind of felt like a slap in our face, after them telling us they were going to reschedule the graduation date. I’ve reached out to the school on multiple occasions about when our ceremony will be but kept getting pushed back. I even spoke with the executive chef and himself advised there will be a reschedule. 3 years later and still waiting on that reschedule. Some of the students in my class were the first to ever graduate something other than high school and to spend 30k on a school who can’t keep their word is disappointing. I’ve never recommended this school to anyone since, and won’t ever in the future. Now that Covid was a hoax I’m glad none of these classes will feel like that and get to celebrate what...