What a great evening we had with Adamo and Vita!! We had a team building work event here and the…read moreexperience was so fun and very conducive to building greater connection amongst our group. Fabulous food, too, and we made it ourselves! Amazing! Thank you guys so much!!

I'd gone to a Chef Upstairs event a few years ago, and always kept them in mind as it was a great…read moreexperience. They offer various services and events, and I recalled as well that they also do kids camps. Over the past couple years, my daughter has taken a big interest in cooking. And not just a fleeting interest, but consistently enjoys watching cooking shows and wanting to participate in cooking at home. As we were planning summer camps this year, I thought we should try to finally give her a chance to live her dream a bit and attend a week here. She's gone to a city-run one before. Though she quite enjoyed it, it was fairly simple. At The Chef Upstairs, they are in a full commercial kitchen with gas stoves, deep fryers and a whole bunch of other things you'd expect from a real kitchen. They have a firm belief that kids can learn safely - in fact, the safest thing is to expose them and provide proper technique. And they're not just making things like a deli meat roll up wrap, but full-on multi-course meals (they make breakfast and lunch) and from recipes from all around the world. You should look at the menus they post on their site for the kids camps. It was a bit of a sacrifice for us as we do not live nearby. That said, they have two locations, so a number of people are well-situated if near Vaughan and midtown Toronto. It's also a bit more money than many other kids camps - though its apparent with the food costs and the high staffing ratio that it's still good value. Ultimately, it was well worth it. My daughter loved it and truly lived out a dream and learned a lot. The highlight for her was the week long prep leading up to the Iron Chef-esque competition where they planned their own full menu. I'm thrilled that The Chef Upstairs lived up and even exceeded our already high expectations and truly made a lifetime memory for our daughter.

My husband and I usually love to come here for fresh produce and meats, but this time we decided to…read moretry something new. I came across a promotion for Longo's cooking classes and decided to give this a try. You can book the classes through the Longo's app, and they regularly have sales like $10 off per person or BOGO 50% off. The classes are sorted by age groups (kids, teens, parents and child, or adults) and offered as an interactive class (hands on cooking) vs. Demonstration (watching and taking notes). You will be very well fed during these classes so remember come hungry!

The first thing my 7 year old said to me when I picked her up was, "Mommy I never want to come back…read morehere!" she said that she wasn't allowed to cook in the kitchen and was only told to chop vegetables at the table for the other children to cook. What a disappointment! The owner was nice, but she has this teenager there to help her and she didn't even get off her butt to greet my child upon arrival. This teen also insulted me when I was trying to register my daughter via email, saying I didn't do something when in fact I did. Not a good experience for my daughter at all. I do not recommend.

My easy going 12 year old was in tears at pick up on the first day of camp and begged to never come…read moreback here. I was told when registering that there would be a group of kids of the same age group there. This was not the case. The staff told all the kids they were mixing their food wrong and instead of teaching them the right way to do this task, they took their work back from them. So much for teaching and creating a positive environment. They do not learn to cook here. The most they will do is chop vegetables. May I elaborate to say that the kids made cookies made out of vegetables. How practical. What kid would make cookies for anyone made out of vegetables LOl. Would you eat cookies made out of vegetables? YUCK. My daughter said that for 2 hours during the day they were left to do no camp activities, no games, except a word search. A word search does not take 2 hours to complete. The kids sat there and watched the instructors clean up. They would not credit/transfer my camp fees for a younger child for future classes or refund them. The business gives the impression that it is a babysitting service and not an actual positive learning environment for kids to learn how to cook. I am out just under 400 dollars with an upset kid who begged me not to go back there. In all my years of being a parent, I have never had a negative experience with a camp or children's service provider in Vaughan until now. I understand businesses have their hiccups from day to day but as a business owner myself, I am involved in every aspect of running a business. Customer experience is everything as is the quality of the service that I offer. If you have a business called petits chef academy, it should be run by chefs introducing children to a positive learning experience. I highly recommend Loblaws cooking classes instead. They are fabulous. You will save the lost money and total lack of customer service experience by going there. Your kids will be engaged.

During Covid19 I have had the worst experience with this company. I paid in full at the beginning…read moreof the year for a summer camp. Once restrictions were in place & it was evident that camps would not run. The owner has NOT provided a FULL refund. The initial contract stated FULL refund less $100. Suddenly it became full refund less $100 + hst. I indicated that this was not in the original contract. The FULL refund was never provided. Due to a service that was never rendered, dishonesty & lack of honouring the original contract. I would not recommend this business to anyone.

I did 3 months of in-home private lessons with Shai, all I can say is WOW!! Being a busy mom of…read morethree young and picky children I wanted to learn how to cook meals that I could make in advance and that my kids would like. Shai spent our first few lessons covering all the basics, from knife skills to nutritional values of different foods. Over the course of our time together (about 15 lessons) I can honestly say that my confidence level in the kitchen has improve by a 10-fold. Not only are my kids happy about the yummy (and healthy!!) food I'm putting on the table now, but I had the BEST time hanging out with Shai. She is patient, encouraging, extremely skilled, and FUNNY!! I'd recommend her to anyone and I'm definitely going to be sending my kids to her cooking camps this summer. Thanks Shai!!!

Practice your best Julia Child imitation and head on over to the The Loft at Longo's Weston. It is…read morean interactive training kitchen located inside the Longo's at Weston Rd/Rutherford. Our group of 4 friends (2 males, 2 females) decided to take a class called "Cookie Basket' as a prelude to the upcoming holidays. This course is designed to teach individuals how to make various types of treats (cookies) using the tried and true "hands on" approach. They provide aprons and disposable gloves and you get right in there..mixing ingredients, cutting cookies, decorating, etc. The facilitator of this particular class - Pastry Chef Jennifer McConnell was fantastic..she certainly kept the group entertained for the 3 hours we were there. The class was fairly large (there were 17 of us.....and no, we weren't the only guys) and this presented the only issue. Sometimes seeing things up close was problematic, however, they have installed a large tv that shows a live feed of the island the chef worked at, plus they have installed various work stations throughout the room (that our chef worked at) Prices vary per class - this particular one was $40 per person and lasted just under 3 hours. They even conduct fun classes for children and will rent the room out for private functions (birthday parties, work team building events, etc). Upcoming classes include Szechuan, Szechuan; Hot and Spicy (Thai) and more holiday themed events. Will I go back...definitely. It was a great way to spend a rainy afternoon and meet a cross section of people, plus learn some new skills in a fun way.

Amber at Pretend You Cooked was great! Amber was the first vendor to respond to my emails and had…read morethe most reasonable price to quality to quantity. Food arrived hot and on time. Serving utensils were included, which was a huge bonus. We used the suggested menu and everyone was happy with the variety provided.

From the owner: We are a modern catering company designed with the modern host in mind. Our services range from…read more catering, prepared meal plans and cooking lessons, so you can remove the stress of being in the kitchen all day and "Pretend You Cooked."