Way cool cooking school is absolutely spectacular and my expectations were exceeded! I surprised my…read morehusband with a sushi making class and we were greeted by Chef Peter and Chef Danika (I'm not sure on spelling) and they were so kind, knowledgeable, and helpful. They asked each of us why we'd were taking the class and genuinely tried to tailor the experience and instructions to meet as many people's requests and needs as possible which I greatly appreciated. They went above and beyond to make us feel special and took time to answer all of our food and kitchen related questions, even if it didn't relate to sushi. We have tried making sushi at home before but always felt like something was missing or we would struggle with certain aspects of the process. However, many of the people in the course had never made sushi before so this was a great class for beginners of all skill levels! Besides the sushi rice & tempura shrimp tails being pre made and some of the sauce ingredients being pre-portioned out, we made all of the other filling ingredients! We started by learning the best way to julienne a cucumber for sushi rolls & then how to slice up an avocado. Once that was done, we made a marinade for each of our fresh tuna steaks and were able to sear them to our liking! Once all of our ingredients were prepped, we rolled two different sushi rolls, one with shrimp & one with tuna and both were so tasty. What I truly loved was that everyone had their own ingredients to make their own two rolls. This allowed each of us to not only have an abundance of food at the end, but we also got to test our own skills out and learn from hands on experience. I can't wait to bring these new skills to life in my own kitchen. We also got a miso soup at the end which was amazing. This was money well spent and I'm looking forward to more classes in the future!

I discovered Way Cool Cooking School from a holiday baking class. It was a lot of fun there was a…read morelot of space for each group to bake and decorate their cookies. It was very organized and a lot of fun. I would go back for another class experience

Below are several emotional events in my life that have caused my eyes to well up in tears and…read moretemporarily impair my vision. (To be clear, this is not considered crying.) -Scar using his claws to stab the back of Mufasa's paws, which caused Mufasa to fall down into a canyon, and then become trampled to death by a legion of wildebeests. (The Lion King) -Kevin Garnett returning to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who was the face of the franchise for over a decade and loved still loved the Twin Cities. #21forEva -Seeing Stephanie and Calvin (my friends/ the nicest people I've ever met) get hitched this past Saturday at Day Block's Event Center. And more about Day Block's Event Center, I don't believe Stephanie and Calvin could have selected a more stellar venue for their special day. Throughout the wedding, I repeatedly found myself gazing at the... +beautiful yellow and white-ish exposed brick throughout. +two-story high ceilings that made the entire space feel both spacious and open. +tall windows that allowed for plenty of natural light. +b-boy-approved wooden floors perfect for backspins and other power moves. +small deck that's useful for cooling off after booty-shaking for hours on end. +ideal rooms for the ceremony, reception, dance floor, food, and bar. The venue also seemed really cool with hosting non-affiliated businesses. Common Roots catered a delicious and savory meal and Foxglove Market & Studio provided plenty of immaculate and unique decorations. Both contributed to making the wedding awesome. Other tidbits: -Through Day Block, one can rent out a private and fenced parking area that's almost necessary for a large event Downtown. -There are two single, yet spacious bathrooms for attendees. -It's located on the second floor of Day Block Brewery. I highly recommend Day Block's Event Center for a couple looking to get married, or for someone planning an event for 100-200 people.

We had our wedding at the Day Block Event Center this past weekend, and everything was amazing!…read more From our initial meeting with Kassie to the wedding day, she made everything so easy. We lucked out and were able to get in there the day before the wedding to do some set up and also were able to get in after to take everything down as no one had booked the space before/after. The venue itself is so pretty with the lights hanging from the rafters (a highly recommended upgrade), the brick walls, tall windows, wood floors, and huge space. They also have some props that you can use, like a bar on wheels, and wine barrels. You don't need any extra decorations in this place. Everything was great, I highly recommend this venue as they are very flexible with your choice of caterers, you can bring in your own liquor, and dessert.

Just had our wedding at the Historic Concord Exchange Friday the 11th. It was amazing! Karna was so…read moreincredible to work with! She did way more than I expected. I was stressed trying to get the last things done on the day of, and she was amazing and came in and helped me finish setting things up and helped organize people. She was willing to meet with us before, if I had any questions and was very responsive on emails. We found them on the Knot and WeddingWire and we actually just live up the street from the venue so we knew what it would look like inside. It's such a beautiful setting you hardly have to decorate it all. We obviously brought in some of our own touches, though. They have chair covers and other decorations that you can rent. Duke was the chef and did a great job. Food is obviously a little different on the day of with how much they have to make versus the tasting day, but we received positive comments from all of our guests. We actually rented some of the hotel rooms upstairs too, which anyone who stayed there was super excited about. It's nice to just be able to go right upstairs and not have to transfer to a hotel. The rooms are very unique and were fun to stay in. Serving staff and bartenders were on top of everything! I don't think I can say this enough...Karna is AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING!!!! I hope someone else I know gets married there so I can go back to experience it from the guests side too :-)

From start to finish Karna was a dream to work with at the Historic Concord Exchange. I talked to…read morea lot of friends who got married at different places and they were surprised by the end cost because so many things "were not included" this was not the case at the Historic Concord Exchange. The quote we got to start with was what we ended with and Karna added a few amazing extras. She was organized and flexible. I didn't have to worry about a thing on my wedding day because she took care of everything. She knew the venue really well and made great recommendations. I have already recommended this venue to all of my friends. It was a dream wedding thanks to Karna.

Naomi helped to make my neighborhood holiday gathering a wonderful experience for all involved!…read moreNaomi expertly advised me on what I needed to purchase, brought a custom menu with available drinks, and set up an inviting station that was both accessible to guests and out of the way from the flow through my home. As the host, I was able to focus on my guests without having to worry about fixing drinks for them. I now want to hire Naomi for all gatherings! Thank you!

THIS is what you want to do for a fun event!!! We had this company do a birthday party for my…read moresister's 60th on Feb 17th and were so thrilled with the event. Naomi was absolutely outstanding. She was an absolute pleasure to work with and we are already thinking of the next time we can hire her. I would recommend 100 percent!! Thank you Naomi for making this day amazing for the birthday girl as well as all the guests. Just fantastic!! We will definitely use you again and I will be telling others. Awesome!!!!

Classic Catering catered our wedding in August of 1997! The food was amazing and so reasonably…read morepriced. They provided EVERY ITEM other than the cake--punch, decorations, table coverings-wow! I highly recommend them to everyone!

Another rave review…read more Classic Catering was SO easy to work with--we didn't have to worry about anything. Working with them before the wedding was really laid-back and casual. The brought us in for a tasting, let us figure out exactly what we would and would not need (with expert guidance, of course) and were very low-pressure. They didn't need final numbers or menu until a scant 4 days before the wedding--giving us great flexibility. The onsite staff anticipated our needs and were really buttoned up and professional. They were totally above and beyond. My dad even insisted on tipping them extra above the gratuity we gave them. They were also inexpensive as far as caterers go ($11.50/person with our menu), and included a lot of extras (like a decorated buffet table, mirrors for the tables, candles, etc.). The food itself was awesome. We had SO many compliments on the food--and far fewer leftovers than we anticipated--which was a good thing. Since we got married the week before Thanksgiving, we planned a home-style holiday-type meal--beans, corn, rolls, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing. We had carved roast beef and roast turkey (which can be tricky to get right, but everything was cooked perfectly). It wasn't as *fancy* as other catered-wedding fare, but it was darned tasty.

We got a tour here today for our wedding, and it's pretty fantastic. The indoor-outdoor flow is…read morereal from the ceremony to the cocktail hour. The wedding party suites stole the show. They're vibey as hell. The only thing that left a little to be desired was the ballroom. For all the character and charm the rest of the place had, the ballroom left a lot to be desired. They are currently building another venue on the property called Equestria West that will be live in May. They're redoing the parking lot, so it should be ample! Oh they also pretty much require you to put 50% down of the total cost within 90 days, which we thought was significant.

My daughter and son-in-law had their reception at Bavaria Downs on June 5th, 2021, originally…read morescheduled for April 18th, 2020. When we first walked through the front door, we fell in love with it. Our wedding planner was Melissa and she was awesome! She worked with us to create a timeline. We felt confident that we were in good hands and that the staff at Bavaria would assure that everything went smoothly. Melissa left Bavaria and we were assigned a new planner, Hannah. Our photographer, videographer, DJ and florist were arranged with Bellagala. A few months out, we were informed the photographer was no longer able to be there. We had to find another photographer. About a month before, my daughter discovered that the videographer had left Bavaria and we were never told. Luckily, we found another videographer. The day of the reception went great despite a couple hiccups. When we arrived at 8:00a.m., I told Hannah we had one less table and which table number should be removed. She did not relay this information and the table was set up. At our table, we were short two place settings. Not huge deals, but annoying. The real problems came at the end of the evening. According to our timeline, the bar closed at 10:30, the wedding couple would depart at 10:45 and the DJ would announce for the guests to head outside to send the couple off. At about 10:40, things were still going strong. Bar was serving, people were dancing and I saw no signs of things wrapping up other than staff removing all the table decorations onto carts, while the ballroom was still filled with guests. I found a girl taking down decorations and asked here who was in charge. I asked her if the hired car was there and she went to check. It was not and she did not have the contact info for the driver that I had given Hannah. I scrambled to find a car to drive the couple. It was chaos and very stressful. Eventually, the bar stopped serving and the DJ moved people outside for the sendoff, but much behind schedule. Things did not go smoothly. We were told that the bar would not serve obviously intoxicated people. They did. We said we did not want bartenders to serve shots. They did. And, a bartender told a guest "I take bribes if you want the whole bottle" (of wine). We were told that Bavaria staff would make sure shuttles and limo were on schedule and there, hence providing driver contact info. We were told the Bavaria team would take care of everything and we could relax and enjoy the reception. At the end, they failed. I called the Operations Director and Senior Event Planner to let them know and was really disappointed in their response. The Senior Event Planner apologized that "a few elements of bar service that night were outside of what you were expecting". The Operations Director said " we all strive to keep the wedding day timeline, but in most weddings the day becomes somewhat organic". There was no-one striving to keep the wedding day timeline at the end of the evening. I do not feel that my complaints were really heard and cared about. The venue itself is absolutely stunning. I was really sad and disappointed that the day had to end as it did.

Marcy from the Dancers Studio emailed me last night after seeing my previous review (please read)…read more She wasn't made aware of our discontentment with how the reception was handled by her staff, but rather this review. She offered free group dance lessons to try to make amends. Like I said, the owners are very nice. I still wouldn't recommend this place to anyone I know who is getting married. However, because the owner tried I will give them an extra star. I just think that communication isn't a strong point at this venue.

Well, I was part of an event hosted here. I am not sure if 'we' will go back or not…read more The space was nice. They allowed us to use the kitchen space as well as their big ballroom. The employees were pretty flexible, but the management/owners were not. I am not sure if it was a lack of communication, or just unwillingness to adjust, but we ran into a lot of roadblocks (I don't need to bore you with specifics). If you choose this space for your event, please make sure you have all of the details thoroughly thought through and confirmed before you go, otherwise you may end up with some unpleasant surprises. Also, DO NOT confuse this with the other Dancer's Studio on Yelp.

I recently utilized their services for a work related event. I've never worked with a party…read moreplanner before, but throughout the 2mths that I worked with my contact, I felt a disconnection. It couldn't tell if she didn't know what questions to ask or if she just didn't care enough to ask them. Questions like; what's the event's theme? What look are you going for? What's the mood you're trying to set? How many people are you expecting? Here are my suggestions on décor for the space? Etc. For our first meeting, we walked the space; I told her my ideas and presented images of the things I liked from their website. Being that she was the pro, I was really looking for her expertise and guidance, but didn't get it. On the positive side, she was available and replied to emails/phone calls promptly. When I told her that my budget had been slashed, although she didn't offer many ideas on what to do with décor, she was receptive to ones I had proposed. When it came to the final list of items we'd be using, I'm grateful that she was willing to work with me on getting the cost of labor/delivery/set-up/take down reduced, because $400 for 38 pillows and 3 pop banners was way too high. Especially since the items was just $250-ish. Anyway, overall working with them was fine. The items arrived to the destination on time, they picked up everything on time and although the event planning service left much to be desired, I guess they fulfilled their end. They got me the items I asked for, on the date I asked for, on time. Just keep in mind that you may not get much direction and guidance.

Everyone at metroConnections has been professional, thorough, and efficient. Two years ago, our…read moregroup enjoyed several outstanding tours put together by Renee Splittgerber and Linda Johnson. Tour guide Doug Kline impressed everyone with his knowledge of the area and its history, as well as his ability to present the info in an interesting way. When our group decided to return to the Twin Cities for this year's reunion, we didn't hesitate to contact Renee and Linda. We asked for Doug to guide our tours and were thrilled that he was available, along with our Gray Line driver from two years ago, Stuart Ring, who was also available for one of the tours. Well ahead of both reunions, Renee provided excellent descriptions of each tour, including photos and prices, for prospective attendees. Linda kept us informed about deadlines and numbers of people who were registering. All the tours were outstanding. All motor coaches were clean and comfortable. All drivers, escorts, and guides were friendly and helpful. Our group especially enjoyed Doug. We highly recommend metroConnections!