Came here first time for a 10 year old birthday party. The kids were all different age groups and both of my kids 11 and 6 loved it as they learned to make spaghetti from scratch. After this experience I had my 6 year old attend again he had a blast. Yes the school is a bit hard to find as it's located at the back of the building read more

If I could give this school a 10 star, I would. They are professional and follow all precautions to keep our children safe. The children are constantly instructed to watch their hands. As a matter of fact, we recently gifted our favorite chef, Chef Peyton, with our favorite hand moisturizer lotion because his hands became very dry due to his constant practice of 20 seconds hand washing. Surfaces are constantly cleaned with recommended cleaning agents and deeply cleaned at the end of the day. All utensils and pots/pans are appropriately disinfected. The children can always take their prepared food home. We would not send in our children and niece/ nephews to this school if it wasn't safe. I normally don't leave reviews/post but seeing a cowardly and FALSE negative post got my blood boiling. We need to protect our small businesses and not be deterred from negative "anonymous Jane Doe" post as it clearly came from a previous, disgruntled employee who preferred to stay home then return to work. read more

We held my daughter's 6th birthday party here, and everyone had a wonderful time! The kids really enjoyed making pizza, and the two staff members (Piper and Peyton) were so amazing with the kids and had everyone laughing. They also made it so easy for us as parents, serving the cake and all. The kids ranged in age from 2-7 year olds, and it was a great fit for all of them. Highly recommend! read more

This place is awesome! Tracey is professional and fun at the same time. You can tell she really cares about the business, her employees and her clients. She is taking precautions to make everyone safe during Covid-19. The kids absolutely love it! Highly recommend! read more

We love Lil Chef School - it's the best! My daughter has been attending summer camp and she absolutely adores it! All of the chefs are wonderful (we love Chef Peyton) and Tracey is so accommodating. My daughter shares the most wonderful dishes with us and we are always blown away. She has picked up some serious kitchen skills as well. (I don't think many 9-year olds know how to debone a chicken; heck, I don't know how to debone a chicken). My daughter wanted pasta for dinner the other night, so, she actually MADE pasta - which she had learned the previous week. I can't say enough good things about Lil Chef School. read more

Tooooooo much over price. Pre made dough. Just add something and decorate. My son didn't bake or cook just pretended to be cooking. Very disappointed. read more

Extremely impressed and Can't say enough about this wonderful culinary school for both the kids and adults. The owner and chef Tracy Doty and her exceptional staff are attentive and nurturing, while making "learning how to cook/bake" FUN for all ages. I've been signing my twin daughters to her summer cooking camps ever since they were 4. They are now 8 1/2 yrs old and still remember the techniques that they've learned from Chef Piper. Aside from the Irvine location, Lil Chef culinary classes are also being offered at the Capistrano Unified School District as an afterschool class curriculum. For those parents who wanted to teach their children the basic cooking techniques but lack the time, this is the place to sign your child up. read more

Lillianna and all her friends and parents had the absolute best time at her 8th birthday party hosted at @lilchefschool. Completely engaging, fun, funny and we cannot compliment Piper and Laurie enough. The kids had a blast, for sure! Thank you so much! read more

I purchased a deal on groupon for 3 classes for my 6 year old son. They were scheduled over 3 consecutive weeks. The school is in the back of a shopping center and was pretty clean and open. The instructors were nice and helpful with all of the kids. The only gripe would be that for my son's 3 classes they made a different kind of soup every week. I wish there would have been a little more variety. But maybe the change it up every month and we went the last 3 weekends in January. My son enjoyed his time and it was something different for him to try. Overall, if he wanted to continue I would have gotten him a few more classes to attend. read more

My husband and I did the Adult Cooking Class with wine. I cannot rave about this enough!!! First of all, Chef Frank was awesome - so patient and informative with our group. Our meal turned out so delicious and we met some great people along the way. Lil' Chef School, please do more of these classes! Not only did I learn how to cook a dish but had a lot of fun doing it. Thank you! read more

I had my birthday party for my daughter on Saturday July 14th and it was so not worth it. All the kids should have received aprons in the beginning. That wasn't done. Chef zac was super slow and not upbeat and fun at all. The party just dragged. Come time to sing to my daughter and there is no number 6 candle. Are you kidding me? I even called and spoke to Tracey the day before regarding the candle. I had to tell zac to get the kids together with the balloons at the end to take a picture. It seems like he was new. All you could do was take the gratuity off for messing up on the apron and candle. That's not enough. I will never come back and will never recommend lil chef. You have disappointed kids who didn't get to wear aprons as promised and a disappointed 6 year old who asked where is the number 6 candle. read more

Very disappointed with the lack of customer service. I tried to book a party & called two days for a particular day & time. They end up giving the slot to someone else even though I spoke With them today said that time works, let me check 1 thing & call you back. I called right back, they didn't answer, they call hours later saying they gave that slot away. My daughter is in tears as it was the only time that worked for her guests. To not return the call and book someone else shows little respect for a local customer. I would not recommend doing business with people who have little regard for the customer!!! read more

I had my daughter birthday party here. Its a lil pricey but my daughter and her friends that attended had a lot of fun making pizza and decorating cupcakes for her birthday. Very nice concept they have here. read more

My kids have been enrolled at the after school program at their school since the beginning of the school year and they absolutely love it. The instructor I've met is really nice. I've had a chance to try the food, since one of my daughters always saves a little for me to try, and it's reeeeeally good. Your could never tell kids made it. I love how they have the recipes posted so we can make it at home. I will definitely enroll the kids for the summer program at their Irvine location. read more

Just had our daughters 9th birthday there and it was an amazing experience. Having 12 girls entertained for an hour plus was great and their creations were yummy as well! read more

My daughter took the French cooking camp for the week and absolutely loved it! Highly recommend it! She learned a lot from crepes to tarts and it was very yummy. She will use the techniques she learned and is looking forward to taking another camp soon. Thank you!! read more

We had a child's birthday party here and it was less than stellar. The owner is very nice and her staff equally sweet; however I wish I knew the following before booking: 1) they allow 15 minutes (!) for set-up - which is insane...I was still setting up when the guests arrived and it created a frantic start to the party 2) they didn't feed the kids a snack or provide a drink for over 90 minutes into the party - so the parents were grabbing waters and snacks I provided for the adults to feed their kids who were starving -- yes, I did mention this to the staff, but they had a set process, which meant waiting for the kids own creations to bake and didn't deviate. 3) the awkward ending where the staff stood around and waited to see how much their gratuity was...ugh, not cool. Overpriced and underperformed. If you still want to try for a party, I highly recommend limiting the guest list - the fewer kids the better. read more

We're doing once a week classes still and they continue to be awesome! We take many other lessons but this one is the best value. And of course an invaluable and practical skill. read more

Highly suggest Lil' Chef School! Tons of fun, my girls loved it and can't wait to go back. Thanks, Tracey. It's awesome!

Awesome experience! We worked with Tracey and staff to pull together a fun, memorable, 7th birthday party for my son. We were especially grateful for the flexibility and creativity (plus humor, to boot!) shown throughout the 2-hour party. Our guests had a great time creating their own pizzas and decorating cupcakes. My son did not stop smiling! read more

Had my son's 5th birthday party there. We did Pizza and decorating cupcakes. It was so much fun and all the parents thought it was such a great idea. The kids had a blast and the instructors were great. So glad we did it. read more

Such a disappointment! There was one chef, no assistant and 15 kids in the class. Chef Lori is focused on prep and cleaning but not watching the kids. This class had two VERY disruptive kids who needed to be placed in a time out. Since you can just drop off your kids, maybe it's a good break for a parent for 90 min??? Swinging a knife, banging on the foot rests and tables, and even a foot on the table w/ shoe on a work station wasn't addressed. Excessively unnecessary loud chopping/banging wasn't corrected. The rule of needing to wash your hands ever time you touched your face, hair or picked your nose wasn't enforced. The on time students had to wait for late arrivals which made the class run late. Maybe good for a private class party but pass on a group class. read more

My daughter loves the cooking class here. I got a deal from living social so she could try it out. It was a wonderful experience. The chef instructor and the owner are absolutely wonderful!!!! Highly recommend!!! read more

INCREDIBLE STAFF! I cannot say enough about Lil Chef School. I wanted to do something different from the 'normal' team building activities we've done in the past for work (i.e., bowling, sports event) so I decided on Lil Chef School sight unseen. Well, not only did they not disappoint, but they blew away my expectations. When our group of 30 arrived, they started us off with a game of bingo to get the socializing started. Once we had three winners (our captains) we were divided into three teams. From there, the rivalry and fun took off. Between creating team names, drinking the BYOB, learning how to properly cut, dice and chop and preparing our own lasagna and bruschetta salad, it was seriously non-stop laughter. To say we were loud would be an understatement! What a great environment to get to know your fellow workers. Fun, nice staff, laid back but with enough structure to actually prepare a meal. It's obvious that their talented and kind chefs work with kids regularly as they were able to constantly herd us back to cooking without issue. Thank you for hosting us, Lil Chef School. As a new work team, this was an important event for us and you really came through! read more

Lil Chef's School is a great place to allow kid beginner chefs to actually do the cooking rather than just watch or assist. The owner and her staff are so nice, you can tell they love kids. I hope I bring my niece again to a future class. read more

This is the email that I wrote to the Lil Chef School owner on my child's first day of cooking school: "Tracy, Today is Lyle's first day in the Italian cooking class. He was skeptical about cooking and not baking before he got here. He had decided that he was not going to like it here. ( A little background on Lyle: He's been so down the last six months; nothing makes him happy. It's been a daily struggle to get him to do anything -except video games ). So now fast forward to today's first Italian cooking class : He's been in class 2 hrs and he is sooooooooo excited about this class. He's smiling, interacting, and is genuinely enjoying every minute of the class. He keeps coming over to where I'm sitting to ask if he can do more weeks here at cooking camp. Hooray! Or rather Eureka!!!! I feel like we've struck gold today!!!!! He NEVER likes anything that I sign him up to do at camp or after school. Oh Praise God for your cooking school and for these very wonderful teachers Jasmine and Laurie! Thank you a thousand times- I literally an trying to control my joy and not cry my tears of happiness. With a grateful heart, Myriam Perez Perrigo Lyle's mommy" read more

We have never taken after school classes here, but have attended summer camp for several years in a row and it is fabulous! Highly recommend. read more

My son has attended two different classes and he loved them both. He is 6 and he was very proud of the work he did and he couldn't wait to tell me all about everything he did and learned. read more

Unfortunately, this was not a very good experience for us. In fact, a rather disappointing one. One would expect a welcoming, kid friendly staff, and a happy experience, but that's not what happened. The location is poor and hidden in the back street of a parking lot. Customers need to stand outside in the parking lot to wait for class to start. We were confronted by an unfriendly manager, Lorrie. She behaved as though we were an inconvenience to her. I doubt anyone would want to return for more classes after the first encounter at this cooking class. My sincere advice to the owner is to take this review as constructive criticism and make improvements to ensure a happier group of customers that would be willing to return. The business seems to thrive on new unknowing customers and thriving on monetary gain only. There is absolutely, no smiling and friendly people in this Lil' Chef School. read more