Had a great time with friends and cooking fools. I went because I had a groupon deal. Chopping Block is better than Cooking Fools. Not to say the cooking fools is bad they are just not as good as the chopping block. We made our own pasta but did not make our own vodka sauce or ravioli filling. One person out of group was selected to make those. Then once you made your pasta it was boiled as a group. Therefore you were not eating the pasta that you individually made. I was a little disappointed in this. I was also a little disappointed that we didn't actually get to cook the pasta. Overall good fun night out but definitely doesn't compare to the Chopping Block. Being that I got the deal with a groupon I was satisfied but if I would paid full price I would have been highly disappointed. The Cooking Fools gets a three eatin because we didn't cook the pasta that we individually made. read more

Utterly delightful in the equally delightful Wicker Park neighborhood. Favorite new find is mango habanero sorbet. I could have eaten the whole container at once. The tilapia is a tasty and tastefully, tender fish. Jamaica jerk chicken tastes different from what I've had in other places but amazing. If you like bbq chicken, try the morroccan chicken: it's much lighter. read more

Took the pasta making class through Groupon and had a great time. The two instructors, Nick and Nate (I think), were excellent! They were very helpful and made sure everyone was on track. Demonstrations of making a vodka sauce and a pesto sauce were well done and easy to follow. At the end, we dined on our pasta and a salad provided by Cooking Fools. I would definitely take another cooking class here! read more

The tamale making class at Cooking Fools is amazing! I never dreamed that I'd be able to make a tamale but the wonderful staff broke down the steps in a very clear way so that we can ALL make tamales! Thank you Cooking Fools for a wonderful evening. read more

We hired Cooking Fools at work to cater a fundraiser. When making arrangements before our event, the staff was responsive and courteous. At the event, the chef and bartenders were attentive, professional, and sincerely cheery. Plus, the food was delicious!!! I definitely recommend using Cooking Fools. read more

This place is awesome! The classes are great and the atmosphere makes it fun. I definitely recommend checking it out either for a class, takeout, catering, or they also offer team bonding opportunities for work groups! Chicago is lucky to have Chef Nick and his team opening their doors and letting us learn with them. Cheers! read more

Both my husband and I enjoy cooking and are pretty comfortable in the kitchen. I didn't know what to expect with this pasta class when I signed up but hoped that I would walk away with added knowledge. I was not disappointed! The class not only taught us new techniques but we had a great time. Afterwards a huge fabulous lunch was served. THIS CLASS DOES NOT DISAPPOINT. We did purchase a Groupon for this class. read more

I highly recommend this place! I took a pasta making class with my husband and two friends. It was so great, a relaxed environment, an just fun learn! It was worth every penny and we even got to take home leftovers! read more

Went to this place because I couldn't figure out where the Potbelly's was. Enjoyable food/atmosphere and very friendly staff. They do a lot of stuff which is cool be cause I am a fan of multitasking. Since I will be in there area more often, I'm sure I'll find myself over here again! read more

After looking for apartments, one can work up an appitite. I was going down North Avenue and this name caught my eye, cooking fools. Clever. There were quite a few options to choose from but the catfish pita caught my eye. It took around six minutes to cook. The catfish was wonderful. The only knock is that it was quite a small portion. If they could make the portion a bit bigger it would have been five stars. read more

We tooks a pasta cooking class. This class is a lot of fun! We took this class Saturday afternoon and it was perfect! We learned how to make couple pasta dishes. The ravioli was our favorite and the pesto sauce was to die for.. I highly recommend taking this class! The bonus is you get to eat what you make for lunch and have leftovers to take home. I highly recommend this as a date or with a group of friends! read more

OK, this is my first Yelp. I have to say that I signed up just to warn you all about this place. I don't know how to do the rating system yet. I gave it a 1, but it's more like a -1. Called about getting my wedding reception catered. I should have known when it took them almost a week to call me back that this was bad news. The guy I talked to, Nick, LAUGHED when I told them my budget. I mean seriously laughed at me. No suggestions or helpful re-direction but a nice long laugh. Now I wasn't asking for a 5 course meal, just some simple snacks, I didn't even need the servers or napkins from this place. I tried to work something through with him about setting up our reception on the small budget we have (my husband and I are paying for this out of our own little pockets) he said he'd try to come up with something. Needless to say, I never heard back from them again. So, I would not recommend Cooking Fools for any type of event, no matter how much money you may or may not have. These guys are complete jerks. read more

Their grilled panini are made to order and are very far from processed. If you've eaten somewhere like Cosi, you'll definitely be able to taste the difference in a good way and it's worth coming back to taste them a few more times just to be sure. read more

I has the so called honor of trying the food and was far from impressed. Dry pork tenderloin, under seasoned pastas, and bland fish. The sandwich and salad was o.k. but it doesn't take a genious to make those items or any drink for that matter. read more

I recently took a pasta making class here and it was a total rip-off. A quick run down of what we "learned" -making pasta dough, and rolling it out in a pasta machine, oh wait thats it. The rest of the class was watching this guy Nick cook veggies in a pot, making pesto in a food processor, and throwing together ingredients in a bowl. We roll out the pasta and thats the only fun part, but there aren't enough machines for everyone and there is a lot of time just standing around. After the dough gets rolled out we just stand around, and then the pasta magically appears mixed with the sauces and then we got to eat. Were there tables and chairs?? No, we got to stand and eat our food. Not worth the money, stay at home and watch the food network instead. read more

Okay let me start by saying that the class is great!!! You will learn a lot about pasta making as well as making sauce for it the overall experience was awesome and they instructors are very nice. They are there for you to guide you every step of the way and at the end everything was delicious. Now, why did I give it two stars? I have been to MANY cooking classes and this is the very first time where they literally combine everything that everyone made and cook it all together so you do not know whose pets you will be eating and wonder whether or not that person washed his/her hands. I took my sweet time and put so much love making my pasta just so somebody else could eat it and I ended up some stranger's who I have no idea whose pasta I ate and never will. I am not the type of person who is always all about killing germs and staying away from them, however, when it comes to food I really do not somebody else preparing my food and if they do I would rather not watch them do it. Let me start by saying that one of the guys in the class got there after us and he NEVER bothered to visit the sink and wash his hands. I was very disgusted at the end by it but I was like YOLO so I tried the pasta. I strongly suggest that they get some sort of small individual kitchenette for every table so you cook your own hand made pasta and not worth about other people's germs. I will definitely not go back nor recommend it to friends unless they change the way they cook the pasta at the end. If they can't afford to buy all the individual kitchenettess then at least have people use gloves. Not to metion that is VERY expensive just so at the end you eat somebody else's bad pasta such as mine where I found a big piece of egg shell in one of my raviolis. read more

The pasta making itself was fun and well organized, and everything tasted good when finished. However, it was a BYOB restaurant and we were told upon entry to put our white wine in an ice bucket to keep chilled. Would have been great if it was explained to the rest of the class that the wine in the bucket wasn't communal because someone else in the class drank our entire bottle. When finished making pasta and it came time to eat, there was no available seating to sit and eat. read more

come in and stay a while... have a cup of mushroom soup! it's AMAZING!

Catered Hors d'Oeuvres platters are a horrible value and the customer service is just as horrid. I wish I could give them negative stars, and I signed up on Yelp just to give them this review to warn you all! I live in Wicker Park and am wiling to pay a little more to support our local businesses, but never again for this one! I ordered several platters for my husband's birthday party. I took a risk in ordering food based on the staff's brief description and without a picture, and it backfired. When I picked up the food, no one bothered to open up the sealed packages and present them to me, and I was naive enough to accept their word that the sealed packages were complete, and that I need not get them cold by opening them up. I ordered a tray of several dozen chicken roulade. They were TINY and very bland tasting. I ordered the meatballs on sticks. They were literally the size of lollipops and the sauce was missing. When I later complained the sauce was missing, they accused me of LYING! They made no apologies and said it was MY mistake! I also ordered a tray of smoked salmon and brioche canapes. They too were so tiny that we could barely taste the salmon and there was no noticeable caviar. The morsels were not all that tasty. The food at my party was an embarrassment and not one person said it was good and my friends agreed that I received very little for my money. I would have been better off ordering fruit and vegetable platters from the local Jewel! My husband was also very upset, and when we each spoke to the manager about it, he completely dismissed everything we said, claiming we lied about the two missing sauces, and that our expectations of the sizes of hors d'oevres is inaccurate. He offered no solution to rectify the situation. I guess he thinks that paying $3 for each mediocre bite smaller in size than a golf ball is good business. Whatever happened to customer service? I found NONE.. read more

I love this place! I get lunch here almost everyday. Service is great and food is amazing. Everything is always fresh and they have a lot of healthy options. read more

I had a wonderful time at the pasta making class this past Sunday! Jared was not only informative, but also very entertaining. Although making fresh pasta is considered to be a more basic process- Jared gave many useful tips that I wouldn't have known by just following a recipe (for both the pasta and sauce). As previous reviews state- They first demonstrate and then you're hands on - making your own pasta (that is later shared). The sauce is demonstrated for the whole class using just a few volunteers, but you have the opportunity to ask questions etc. If I lived in Chicago, I would sign up for many more classes here. Thanks Cooking Fools for a fantastic experience! read more

Great place for an event. We held a small birthday party at Cooking Fools for a my wife. Everyone had fun cooking and relaxing in the event space above the main location. The team from Cooking Fools was great - we'd do this again for other occasions. read more

I had an awesome time. Their tamale making class was fabulous. I would recommend this to everyone.

I've been here a few times to pick up lunch - great sandwiches - flavorful and interesting combinations - and very friendly service!

I want to love this place, and the food is great, but it seems like something is always a little off. Like the time I ordered their specialty quesedilla... they apparently hadn't tried making it on the grill before. It took two tries before they had to give up and ask me to order something else. I got a sandwich, and they gave me a free side of some salad and apologized profusely but still... read more

Great food and excellent customer service. Super friendly staff. Even the owner came by to say hi. Food is fresh and it's always a great selection! They're also really efficient, so I'm there all the time! read more

We took the pasta making class with their Groupon offer. We really had a great time! We purchased a bottle of wine at the shop to take with us, and were all set to learn to make pasta. The class was about 30 students - not too big, and just enough personal attention from the instructors. We made two types of pasta with two different sauces. The instructors would demonstrate how to make the pasta, and then walk around the room as we all made it ourselves. At the end, we sat down to eat everything, and everything was fresh and amazing. We can't wait to try some of our new skills and recipes at home, and are looking forward to taking another class! read more

Pasta making class was so informative without being dry. They give a lot of tips about the science of food and Very hands on --the 2 teachers do a short demo then let you dive in! I had never used a pasta machine and now I want one. You buy drinks there but it was reasonable. The dinner was great and I have leftovers. I would do it again! read more

Took a cooking class here. Great food, fun and helpful staff. Would definitely recommend it!

I would not recommend this place to anyone. I ordered the chicken peston sandwich and ended up with food poisoning. I called to see if it was an isolated incident. They did not call back. I called again, and the response was the manager could not speak. We had ordered before, and the food was great. It is shame this time they do not value people's health. read more

This is place is awesome!!! Love the staff, always friendly and helpful. Food is really awesome and always changing!! I wish i had four hands to give this place four thumbs up!! read more

Just took a tamale class last night--SO fun, the staff is great, and the food is delicious. A really good mix of practical skills and fancier skills, taught at a perfect pace in a great environment. I would definitely recommend this place for anyone who likes to cook, no matter what their skill level. Absolutely plan on going back for another class! read more

A friend and I got the Groupon for the pasta-making class. It was fun, but there were a couple things that could have been better. 1. You have to watch a long demo before you get to be hands on and try it yourself. While the demo was very informative, it was almost too much information because when we went to do the steps, we couldn't remember everything. It would help to have some written directions at each work station or posted on a board or something. 2. We felt rushed during the actual hands on portion. My friend and I started off working with just a quarter of our dough but we were supposed to be working with half of it and one of the chefs basically told us to hurry up. Maybe they should shorten the demos to allow for more hands on time. 3. It's true that all the pasta is thrown together and cooked at once so you're not really guaranteed to eat *your* pasta. I would have liked the option of taking home my fresh pasta and cooking it myself. All in all, a fine experience but I was glad I had the Groupon because I would have never paid full price for it. read more

I took the pasta cooking class at Cooking Fools last weekend and was unimpressed. For the most part the class was done well but I have an issue with their hygiene standards. My husband I did not eat the food we prepared, we left as the food was cooking. Once we found out that all of the food was going to be cooked together and served family style turned me off the food. We had a large class of 30+ people and cooking fools did not ensure every participant washed their hands prior to preparing the food nor did they provide gloves for the participants to use while preparing the food. I know no announcement of hygiene was made to anyone as I was one of the first people there in a class of 30+. The fact the none of the above items were done prior to the class is unacceptable to me. I would not go to a restaurant or any other establishment and eat food without the prep cook or chef washing their hands or wearing gloves. I am highly disappointed in the careless Cooking Fools has taken with hygiene in the food that was prepared and would recommend anyone taking this class ensure hands are washed or gloves are used. read more

I hosted part of my best friend's bachelorette party here last summer and it was perfect. We chose the Mexican fiesta menu, everything was delicious, there was a ton of food for the party of 12, and the butternut squash goat cheese quesadillas were just fantastic. I worked with Nate Faitage to plan the party and he was extremely helpful and accomodating. He was then our chef for the evening and he did a wonderful job. The class was very hands on and we learned a ton, but he also was patient with us when we were drinking, having fun, and goofing off here and there instead of listening to his lesson. The class was open bar (beer and wine) and the bar was absolutely stocked! We had as much to drink as we wanted. The space is awesome- spacious and luxurious and trendy feeling all at once (you feel like you're going to a dinner party at your rich friend's condo). It was a private class so we had the run of the place- Nate let us put on any music we wanted, etc. He was also willing to work with me to have the bachelorette open her gifts there, he would have let us play games there, etc. Cannot recommend having a private party here highly enough! read more

Cooking Fools was the main event for a Girls Night/Bachelorette party this past weekend. While I've been to many cooking schools through the years, Cooking Fools is the perfect place for a private party! When we first walked in, the loft space was so welcoming and felt like home. We popped in our iPod playlist and the night took off. Friends were saying they wanted to rent this place out with their work friends before the night began! We had the space from 6-10p with a self-serve open bar and private chef. Nick Silver was our chef and host. He had a great personality and kept the night moving along nicely! Our customized menu was Mexican -- guacamole appetizer, empanada, rice, butternut squash quesadilla (amazing!), 2 salsas, etc. The kitchen is large with great work-space but managed to feel like home. Picture all your friends standing around your Mom's kitchen island - it's not one of those too "commercialized" with the big mirrors cooking schools. The worst part is that eventually we had to leave! I'm sure I'll be back and this will now be my "go to" place to host parties. Thanks! read more