We went shopping here, so this review is for the store and not its cooking classes, which we understand get rather a mixed reaction. We came away quite positive about the stock and the staff. And we did make some purchases including several lovely pasta bowls and several utensils. Not a big haul, but one with products we can use and which we thought were fairly priced. You can find lots of items in this roomy store, from coffee makers to aprons, from mixers to cutting knives, and even some prepared edibles. It's all attractively and conveniently laid out. As mentioned, the staff was upbeat and helped us without delay including doing some needed good wrapping on breakable items. The store is located in the Shoppes at Farmington Valley shopping area, and remember, it's upscale not outlet. The cooking class area is really very attractive, but we didn't take any classes. read more

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What a fun time! I reserved a night out at Sur la Tables cooking class. I went online searching for something fun to do with a group of friends and we signed up for an email offer that gave us 15$ off our first cooking experience. So even that was an amazing start. We also were able to bring a bottle of wine too which I liked. The class I had signed up for was "South American Steak night". The menu included grilled flank steak with chimichurri sauce, cheese stuffed masa cakes with salsa Roja and dulce de leche ice cream for dessert. And what a fabulous menu it was!! We had so much fun mixing and chopping and eating all the delicious fresh food! Our instructor was so sweet and helped us with everything! She was really amazing! I had such a great experience and would recommend this to anyone and everyone looking for yummy food and a good time! We were also given 10% off the store purchase after our class and even went shopping after in their beautiful store! So fun! read more

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Whoever the associate was who was working on December 4, 2025 at around 1:30 PM was extremely rude. My friend was buying a gift for herself and since it was about $200, she would have liked it gift wrapped (the sign said FREE GIFT WRAPPING over $100). The associate was extremely dismissive and said "I've never had someone get something gift wrapped for themselves." But it wasn't in a funny way - it was in a very rude, condescending way. I will not be purchasing there again if that's how you treat customers who spend almost $200. read more

The store itself is phenomenal! We LOVED shopping and appreciated the discount after our cooking class. Staff is so friendly and always ready to help! That being said, I had a good time at the cooking class, but found it super unhygienic and the recipes were not successful and had to be modified by the chef and his team. We went to the French pastry class where we made eclairs, gougeres, and creme puffs. We made our own dough at our table of 4, but then had to combine our doughs with the other table next to us. We all took turns piping and stuffing. That being said, people would lick their fingers if filling got on it and then would continue to touch all the other pastries. There was no way to separate our items from other people at our table and the table next to us and everyone touched everything with no encouragement to wash your hands throughout the process. We had to all share a bowl of tempered chocolate for our eclairs and everyone's fingers and hands were dunked into the chocolate. A fun time if you're not worried about germs or don't plan on eating, but I personally would not come back for this experience. I will come back for the store itself though! read more

Great store. Lots of cool innovative food small wares. Great coffee too. The staff is so helpful and kind. I always feel welcome

I wish I had read Kathryn J's review before I plunked down $178 for two people to attend the paella making class. And that is where things started going seriously WRONG in all the WRONG directions. But let's make some caveats first, shall we? 1. I am a seasoned home cook with over 100 paellas under my belt. It's my favorite thing to cook and eat. I learned in Barcelona. 12 years ago. BUT (and that is a big but. t.) there is always something to learn, and socarrat, when I make paella on my inside stove, is always my nemesis. I came to pick up pointers, and enjoy "paella virgin's" perception of paella (spoiler alert, the poor unsuspecting souls didn't have a clue and liked theirs A LOT, other than the lady that kept complaining about the FAT - STAY HOME.) 2. This is not a reflection on the young and underexperienced (aka not a heck of a lot of food destination travel under her belt, skilled at science but not in life) chef who was lovely, technically on point and professional. Also chain bound by what I KNOW for a fact are the SLT bastardized recipes. 3. Pre-covid, upon my semi-retirement, I joined SLT classes to learn new skills and refresh my repertoire. Took Thai, croissant and pie crust classes. THEY WERE SUPERB albeit PUSHING you to buy SLT products (I'm ok with that. I have a lifetime of a kitchen full of every gadget imaginable, so I don't fall to the peer pressure). So why this has fallen so badly from the sky I don't know. Let's start by saying that whomever develops recipes for SLT, on the basis of paella, should be FIRED. FIRED OUT OF THE KITCHEN. Sent to pasture. Paella is a personal home-cooked meal and everyone has a recipe. But this one? The end product tasted like a GROSS jambalaya (SINCE WHEN DOES PAELLA TASTE LIKE JAMBALAYA without making that caveat). GROSS. The green peppers overwhelmed the dish mercilessly. For those who LOVE green peppers, jump in head first. N A S T Y. GROSS paella. The list of ingredients was horrendous. Turmeric? Since when? Barely a PINCH of saffron? (WHY! NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WILL WASTE PRECIOUS SAFFRON ON A MEAT-BASED PAELLA WHEN CHORIZO (and a BAD one at that) ADDS COLOR AND FLAVOR AND OVERWHELMS THE SAFFRON). CUMIN?! WHAT? WHO ADDS CUMIN TO A PAELLA?! ITS NOT A CUBAN DISH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. My worst offender was the TOMATO PASTE and the chunky tomatoes from a can that weren't even put through a food processor or chopped to tiny bits. SERIOUSLY. And that is where the flavor profile was desecrated. Humiliated. Bastardized beyond recognition. Don't get me wrong. I'm not against "fusions" WHEN THEY WORK. SLT, your recipe STINKS. Want to learn how to SIMPLIFY paella to the glorious dish that spaniards enjoy? Hop over to Jose Andres Short Stack (or any of his books) or to the "Spain on a Fork" https://spainonafork.com/?s=chicken+paella&post_type=post blog for technique, recipes and variations that are authentic and HONOR the Spanish dish that many of us non Spaniard Hispanics LOVE. Suffice to say, SLT's paella is a mushy mess (thanks to the tomato paste that DIDNT belong in this kitchen for this class), and the flavors were confused. I couldn't eat mine. My neighbor was my +1 and she has enjoyed many of my paellas, whispered "OMG I WOULD NEVER TAKE THIS OVER YOURS". I had a chance to talk to the chef during the shopping break as she frantically cleaned the kitchen and I peeled the shrimp, and she gave me a helpful "stove top" tip, to try to beat my socarrat demon and wind up with crunchy nibbles and not the BURNED MESS we had at SLT. The dates stuffed with goat cheese and serrano ham (no talk about the difference between iberico and the king of hams de bellota and serrano) were delicious, but stupid easy to make (I get it, there were cook virgins in the room that were delightfully fun and lovely to watch their ignorance - queue in the rich housewives here - bless their souls). And the "gambas al ajillo" were great but missing something. SLT, I won't say you "white washed" a Spanish dish, but you sure as hell killed what is a delicious, simple dish with your BAD BAD BAD Cajun-inspired disgusting dish. Shame on you. As for the SLT staff - lovely. Happy and inspired people trapped in a corporate hell of "OMG WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE". I wish it were what it used to be. Bring it back. AND REALLY FOR THE PRICE YOU ARE CHARGING, PROVIDE MORE WATER, TEA and BETTER COFFEE LIKE YOU USED TO. To all you paella virgins - go if you must learn some technique. But then head over to youtube and grab Spain on a Fork or Jose Andres, or LaTienda.com and do yourself a favor of learning what a really simple and delicious dish is. And if you are a dietary fat phobic. Don't take cooking classes. If you have food allergies or intolerances, do your homework and head to places that can accommodate your restrictions. SLT is not it. Heck, they can barely pull off a decent tasting paella. read more

I don't often post negative reviews because I typically believe you should give places the benefit of the doubt, but this was one of the most horrific cooking classes (if you want to call it that) I have ever seen. We arrived at 6:50 for a 7pm class. We checked in and were told to shop around while the chef prepares for us and we probably got started 10 or so minutes after 7pm. We were all told to wash our hands and throw on an apron. We were told we were going to start by baking the cake so the chef threw on the kitchen aid mixer and started throwing in bowls of pre-measured ingredients. He asked for one volunteer (out of 14 people) and they helped dump in a bowl of flour. Said individual went back to their table and basically one person "baked" the dessert by dumping in a bowl of flour. That concluded the dessert portion. Around this time, if you looked around the room and observed, I'd say people were a little fidgety. Why, you ask? Probably because each couple paid $180 for their date night and we watched a demo of the dessert course without doing a SINGLE.THING. Now let's move of to the pasta shall we? Sounds fun, right? Let's start by saying they made the bolognese sauce before we all arrived. I'm not professionally trained but I have taken enough pasta making classes in the world to know what should happen. SLT you wildly missed the mark. You're chucking flour and eggs into a bowl and using a dough hook to mix. I get that that's more efficient but now the 14 people who paid to have a hands on experience didn't get to touch an egg or flour. We were told they made it earlier for us so it could rest (fine). Everyone was given a baseball sized ball to stick through the kitchen aid pasta maker. Having it on a max speed seems kind of dangerous and the second machine got gunked up presumeably because of the lack of direction. Next you were given a knife to share (large knives should never be passed around in my opinion). You're asking for an injury there. Finally we cut our pasta by attachment and made little nests, only you had us place them on top of a baking sheet with semolina instead of dusting the pasta with it before placement. Can anyone tell me what happens if it's not dusted with semolina?? It sticks... So now they tell us to take a break and shop. If you came to a class before Covid, they give you a mug and make you a beautiful little cappuccino. Not anymore- just a little 2 oz Dixie cup from the show room. Then we went back to make our salad. We reached under our table and pulled out a bowl of I think lettuce, apple and some other veggie? I don't know because I didn't see them in full form or chop anything. Then our table of 6 got to make the dressing and by that I mean one person whisked while the other dumped the "already measured by the chefs before the class" ingredients. Finished. So at this point I've touched dough but nobody has any idea what went into it or the sauce, or how to knead, or helpful hints. One person helped make the dessert and four people in the room stirred up the dressing. THAT's it. And you should know the site says classes are 2-2.5 hours in length but ours was just over an hour (concluding at 8:15pm?) so I guess that's should tell you something? I have more to say but I'll conclude by saying I was disappointed and left feeling uncomfortable. Save your money on this one. Two stars because the shop is lovely. read more

great class! Brian was an excellent teacher . I walked away with more culinary skills and best of all it was fun!

Why are Sur La Tables teaspoons SO TINY?! They are virtually unusable. I bought them on line, and was hoping for the best, but was sorely disappointed! read more

I attended a wonderful cooking class where we made pasta from scratch. The class was run by Chef Joy and her wonderful assistant Lilly. They did a great job and I learned a lot. I highly recommend attending the cooking classes that are offered at the Shops at Farmington Valley location. read more