I just held my 18th birthday party at this Flour Power location, and I can honestly say that I was blown away! I was literally excited to write this review because of how positive my experience was. I had 18 other 17-18 year olds in attendance, and we engaged in Flour Power's signature Iron Chef competition, which is generally used for corporate team-building events.
Flour Power randomly splits the attendees into two teams (I had pre-selected teams that I wanted, though, and the employees had no issue with that) and then presents an entree secret ingredient and dessert secret ingredient to both of the teams. Each team is then required to build an entree and dessert around the respective secret ingredient. Before the party, I worried that the ingredients wouldn't be obscure/challenging enough (thus making the competition too easy), but trust me when I say that is not the case! We had about fifty minutes to pull together both dishes before they had to be placed in the oven, and we were then given around 30 minutes maximum for the dishes to cook. The Flour Power employees were very helpful throughout, providing tips for the more challenging aspects and never hesitating to locate cooking utensils and appliances for us when we needed them.
I also had initial concerns about the size of the party, as 20 sounds like far too many people (especially split between only two teams), but there is ample cooking/prep space in Flour Power, so that wasn't a problem at all. I'd actually say that it's an ideal size because there's so much cooking that has to be done in the 50 minutes, and you want as many helping hands as possible.
After both teams have fully cooked both of their dishes, they must plate them for judging. Both sets of dishes are judged on three criteria: taste, creativity, and presentation. The entree and desserts are judged separately, and then the two scores are combined to make the final score for each team. Three Flour Power employees did the judges, and the winner (the team with the highest total score) is announced at the very end.
Other notes: Cupcakes are provided (the birthday chef gets to select the colors, too), and everyone gets to wear a cute apron and chef hat (which they can opt to decorate)! Also, Flour Power has a nut-free kitchen!
After the competition ended, they allowed us to take pictures for around 15-20 minutes in front of one of the really pretty backdrops in the studio; no one even attempted to rush us out, which I really appreciated (though this was assumably because we were the last event of the day).
Overall, I had an incredible experience with Flour Power, and I would highly recommend it. It's an incredible setting for a untraditional birthday party or bonding event, and people of all ages & cooking levels (I'm personally pretty inept in the kitchen) can truly enjoy themselves! I'd give it 10 stars out of 5 if I could. read more