I've never written a review like this. Chefstro, while wildly recommended by former clients, completely dropped the ball with me. I had wanted to arrange a dinner party for my daughter's birthday and, encouraged by these reviews, I went ahead and booked the company about 2 1/2 weeks ahead. My status online was "waiting for a chef." OK. I waited. The week of the dinner I tried to contact them on their site, no response. Tried to email. No response. Looked for a phone number...nothing. Then 2 days before the dinner I get an email from the owner saying she's sorry--she was in India and was not tracking reservations and it ain't gonna happen. She offered me a $100 coupon as apology, but since I live in Toronto, I doubt I'll be able to use it. I wrote back once more, practically begging to see if she could find a chef (they use many, it says on their site), but that email went unanswered. In the end, I booked a reservation at a restaurant which (1)was not the preferred time, but I was told I should have called earlier in the week, (2)too late to bring the smaller kids, and (3)probably going to be more expensive and a whole lot less fun than watching a chef prepare food at home.
They have a Facebook page but there was one very negative comment on it, also suggesting that they didn't show up. I added my own disgruntled comment, but both have subsequently been removed.
So my advice to anyone using this service is to double check FAR ahead of time that this is going to happen. To me it's unconscionable to disappear from one's business like that, no matter how great you are when you actually follow through. Caveat emptor. read more