I've always been a fan of this store, their products and their classes. No longer. I purchased a set of battery operated salt and pepper grinders to replace an older set of theirs that had broken last December. The new set lasted less than three months and one stopped working. I took it back and they swapped it for another model as they no longer carried the original. The other one broke a few weeks ago, and between the two they were used maybe ten times max. The store, the manager, and the website refused to do anything because their storecdid not complete any paperwork on the original exchange. This used to be the place for quality products and Furst class service, obviously no longer. read more

Sur La Table - Kitchen Supplies Near Me - Skokie, Illinois

Such a cute date night experience! You make several courses with your partner and get to take home whatever you don't finish. You are working with other couples so you will be sharing utensils and space with those you don't know. However, everyone is learning together and the chef did a good job at making everyone feel welcome. BYOB! read more

This review is several years late. I purchased a very expensive Scan Pan and took it home. Read the directions (really) and took care to use it 'properly '. After a few weeks it stopped performing properly. I'd pre heat, lightly oil and everything would stick. Took the pan back and was told that I probably shouldn't have bought it! Asked for the manager and she said I obviously abused it. I still go in the store and when I'm approached I just say I stop in for ideas but would never buy from the store. Usually, the clerk just walks away. Occasionally, they ask why? This review has come about as I thought I had thrown it away but just came across it in our storage area. read more

My 10 year old son wants to be a chef and his specialty is eggs, so I signed us up for the "Family Fun Breakfast Anytime" class. Unfortunately, it was an incredibly bad experience that resulted in inedible food. We had no access to the recipes and the instructions given were illogical. Cooking was controlled by the staff and most items were returned extremely undercooked. Everything was measured out in advance so there was no creativity in seasoning allowed either. Additionally, much time was just spent waiting around. I would never recommend taking a class here, although I do hope many of them are better experiences. This class seemed like a corporate exploitation exercise. read more

Sur La Table - Raw or burnt, nothing in between. - Kitchen Supplies Near Me - Skokie, Illinois

I stopped in recently on a busy Saturday and had a surprisingly great time in the store--I say surprisingly great not because I was expecting a bad experience, but because the staff went so above and beyond to make sure people were having a good time in the store. From the iced tea sample welcoming us to the store to a taste of ice cream and cherry syrup prepared in a cooking class earlier that day (which was so delicious) to finally a fantastic cappuccino from a beautiful, expensive machine, the staff totally impressed me. I bought a small item I found there, a novelty ice mold that was actually cheaper here than I found it online (yes, sorry, I checked!). This store definitely runs toward the high end customer, but they have some really fantastic items you won't find anywhere else. They have a great selection of baking items and even a clearance section. read more

My daughter and I attended a cooking class yesterday. Cutting, chopping properly Minestrone soup, salad, steak and biscotti Our instructor Chris was personable and informative Free excellent quality cutting board included with class! Had a lovely and fun time Would go back again read more

The chef was very helpful in making sure we were doing everything right and was super friendly too. My husband and I were paired with another couple and it was a really fun time. I just wish they could let you BYOB so you could have wine with the meal but I guess it's a city of Skokie rule. read more

Don't buy a Sur La Table Salt Ratchet Mill. You have to load salt in a small spout which causes salt to spill everywhere. Plus if you lift the shaker or set it down, salt pours out the bottom making a mess and wasting expensive Himalayan salt. Who engineers this crap? read more

Sur La Table - salt mill - Kitchen Supplies Near Me - Skokie, Illinois

Great class today with Chris for holiday macarons! Hope to get the recipe but I think he has an incorrect address. Fun and delicious!

Since this cooking class last spring I booked two more because we had such a good time. I wish I could say I had the same experience. Both classes were cancelled, and the last was cancelled hours before the start of the class. I called the store asking about a refund that day and was told it would be taken care of and if I wanted to follow up I was given a number for their customer service department that handled it. After a week there was no refund, I called customer service and was assured it was in the works and to give it a few more days. So I did, still no refund. I called again and was told not only was there no refund in the works but that they did not see the class was cancelled! The representative said he would call the store and confirm and call me back. I got no call back just an email, days later saying my refund was rejected as the class was not cancelled. Long story short, after a half dozen more calls to the store I finally got my refund almost a month later. The amount of follow up and hoops I had to jump through were ridiculous. Thank goodness I saved the voicemail from Susie Snyder saying the class was cancelled, otherwise I am not sure I would have received a refund at all. Proceed with caution if you book a cooking class at Sur La Table Old Orchard. read more

Sur La Table - Kitchen Supplies Near Me - Skokie, Illinois

I think I could spend all day here! So many choices of everything that's kitchen related! They also can sharpen your knives for $5 each, if they're busy, you can leave it and come back another day to pick it up! read more

Sur La Table - Outdoor fountain (now has flowers) - Kitchen Supplies Near Me - Skokie, Illinois

Was looking forward to attending the class. Instead had a snowstorm and inclement weather, so missed the session. Very busy at work so forgot to call and reschedule until about a week later. Was told that could not reschedule missed the 48 hour window. This is unfortunate because the class was not cheap and not being allowed to reschedule under reasonable circumstances seems as poor customer service. Some companies - as citibank - have reasonable grace periods and that is why I am a loyal customer. Other companies - as Gillette - don't treat their customers well and now have lost thousands of life time dollars from my patronage. Looks like sur la table is one of those companies that I will not spend a penny in and encourage others to avoid as well. read more

If you enjoy having your classes cancelled, THIS IS YOUR PALCE! I tried to take a few cooking classes and they just get cancelled without any explanation or offer for another day/time. We booked it out weeks in advance to make sure it works with several people's schedule, so we'll just take our money to literally any other cooking class. read more

Chef Ricky was great -- really enjoyed his July 19th Surf and Turf cooking class in Skokie Old Orchard. He was very organized, communicative, patient, safety conscious and seemed to enjoy teaching and brought a positive energy to the class. We prepared steak, shrimp, broccoli and creme brulee. Really fun date night, Thank you Chef Ricky. Mark E read more

No point in giving this company your business. Booked a cooking class for 3 a few months ago and they cancelled it. Thought I'd give them another chance and booked another cooking class for 3 this weekend. Just received an email out of the blue that I received a refund on the class. I never got a message from the company. I show a missed phone call from them but no voicemail. How they stay in business when their product prices are so expensive and they cancel classes that cost minimum $89 per person is beyond me. Poor customer service and no point in trying to take a class here. Really disappointing when you make your plans around this and they cancel every time. Will do a class elsewhere for cheaper. I'd advise you do the same. Tons of great baking classes and cake decorating classes in Chicago with Groupon discounts too. read more

Chef Amal was knowledgeable, impressive and fun! I enjoyed taking this Festive bread class. The fruits of our labor was worth it. I'll be baking these Raspberry Snowflake Pull-Apart Wreath and Chocolate Hazelnut Babka often now! Looking forward to taking more classes at this location. read more

Great shop for kitchen supplies except they are not in The Grove anymore, too bad. Wish they would open one up near by Culver City.

BUYER BEWARE!!! Stay away from this place. I have had the biggest nightmare of three consecutive experiences with this place. This is not just a problem with the store but from the corporate level. This started with an order for a Staub 16 ounce dish online on Nov 11th as a Christmas gift, that never made it. Though Sur La Table says it did, so they wouldn't refund it resend the item. Thankfully after 2 weeks of battling them, I went to PayPal and they refunded me. This led to ordering a second one on 11/23 , not because I wanted to, but because I had no option given this was the only place that still sold it. This one also never came. After several calls, tickets a d going to the store to see if it was there to just buy again, I was told I didn't get anywhere, at least not until the week of Christmas, to say it's not in their warehouse, but being sent from the vendor and they aren't responding either. There is one in CA but I can't have that one because it is strictly ship from vendor only. Then I was finally told it won't be CC coming because the vendor is out of them, because they are basically selling stuff they don't actually have. Then offered a giant roaster and then I told them cancel. Final experience, after two wasted trips, I was told that the gift given to me, a 3 qt Stub- artichoke looking one, couldn't be be exchanged without a receipt. This was by V, the assistant store manager and corporate when I called from the store. I couldn't believe this was happening because I had already been to the store once and asked about doing this exchange, but forgot I had taken it out of my trunk, I also called to confirm I'd be in today and was told this would be fine. Upon arrival I was told no they absolutely need a receipt, gift or not, because it can't be put back in to inventory to be sold otherwise. I was also told they can't know it was bought there and I am making my problem their problem, along with I am the one with a smartphone I am an look up other places that sell it, and my favorite was the point long to the name badge and telling me you can find my name here. Though the name tag was blank and somehow that is how she realized it. After all of this is V seemed rather offended when I told her this was ridiculous, and the service is non existent within the company. I tried to reason with V that even if hypothetically this wasn't purchased there, they get a $500 Stub they can sell, while I would get the $229 sale price as a store credit. By default they would be all around ahead, but instead I have had 2 months of hell. I was so irate I left the Staub there and told them they can figure out what to do with it since it doesn't match any of my others and I wouldn't want to gift it to anyone to have to go through this. Plus since they supposedly can't sell it' I guess they can either look at it or throw it out. Either way I am sharing screenshots of the emails from my endeavors here and plan to tell anyone and everyone I possibly can, not to waste their time with this company. Let Amazon take them over too. I'm good with that. At least they take returns and exchanges, hell even eBay does. read more

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We had a wonderful dinner experience with Chef Tyler! He was very helpful and gave us many tips and tricks not just for what we made , but for other meals too :) read more

Sur La Table - Winter in Paris - Kitchen Supplies Near Me - Skokie, Illinois

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Chef Carmie was wonderful! She taught us pasta making with a delicious bolognese sauce that was to die for. She is Italian with Sicilian roots and had many tips for cooking which you would never find in a cook book. She even "tested" us to see if we could taste a missing ingredient and then talked about how to compensate for over seasoning, etc. She grew up making pasta as a family event at her Nana's house. The really amazing part was that she went above and beyond to accommodate our two vegans and one vegetarian. She showed us how to make vegan pasta (turned out amazing) and made quinoa and a veggie sauce separately for our family's preferences. We are so grateful for this experience, and Carmie's great fun attitude! We didn't have to pay any extra for these accommodations - a great value! read more

Sur La Table - Eat or take home! - Kitchen Supplies Near Me - Skokie, Illinois

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Came here with my fiance a few weekends ago, and we had such a blast! We got a gift certificate for a Christmas gift last year and we finally decided to use it! We came to a date night cooking class called "Date Night: Steak the Tuscan Way" which was $79 per person. Our instructor was Chef Tom, and he was such a nice guy and really knew his stuff because he has been a chef at restaurants for a while with tone of experience. He talked us through every step of the cooking process, and answered tons of questions that people had. At our date night class, there were 4 couples, including us. We worked in groups of 4 (2 couples per team) when preparing the meal, and we were paired with the nicest people. The other group who was with us on the other "team" all knew each other, but they were very nice, as well. Chef Tom made everyone on each team take turns doing certain things at the stove because some people were more reserved than others and didn't volunteer to do things, and I really like that he did that so everyone felt more comfortable and they were doing what they were at the class for... COOKING. I also learned some knife techniques when cutting veggies because I am awful with knives. We made a delicious Parmesan cheese risotto with pancetta, steak tagliata with arugula and fried capers, and we made such an amazing dark chocolate-espresso budino. Not to brag, but our cooking class honestly did an amazing job because everything was seriously delicious and perfectly cooked. WOW. This class also made me fall in love with a medium rare cooked steak because normally I ask for my steak medium, but it tasted so juicy this temperature! The class was about 2.5 hours and it flew by! I was actually sad when it was over. At the end of the class, we all sat around the dining area and we served ourselves family-style. I read Yelp reviews before coming here, and I was scared that the amount of food was going to be too little because some reviews had said that; however, I had more than enough food and I felt full when leaving. Everyone seemed to have taken an equal amount of food, and this was made me nervous at first, too, because I'm sure with the wrong people, someone can take tons of food for themselves and be selfish. We were lucky=) There was enough food for everyone to have seconds, and Chef Tom didn't put all of the steak on the table at once, so he added more as we all ate. Overall, I will definitely be back here and would for sure pick Chef Tom again because of the great experience. One thing I do wish is that we could have alcohol served there. They had coffee if you asked and water readily available, but I feel that a glass of wine would have been nice to have. read more

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My husband took four knives to be sharpened while we window shopped at the mall, enjoying the nice weather with the kids. When we got home, I looked at the knives and there were large chunks of steel missing near all four blade shanks. There were also nicks along the blade. These guys absolutely ruined our knives. When my husband brought this up to the associate, she denied any wrong doing and even tried to say that the knives were in that condition when they were brought in. Complete BS. My husband called to speak with the manager the next morning and they were defensive and demanded that we bring the knives back in person. We showed went back that evening and the general manager, Will, kept saying that it was his first day and dissolved himself if any issues or ownership. We ended up getting a refund of $5/knife for the sharpening cost, and we're still left with ruined knives. This is by far the worst customer service we've ever dealt with, and we will never shop at Sur La Table again. Buyer beware, just because they offer knife sharpening doesn't mean they are trained to do it, nor will they stand by it. read more

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As other Sur La Tables, they have a great selection in cookware, dinnerware, kitchen tools and accessories, as well as special in-store events and cooking classes. This particular Sur La Table is a little smaller, but it still is pretty awesome! I am a huge fan of their Double Dark Hot Chocolate that comes in a tin! I personally am not a fan of dark chocolate, but this hot chocolate is none other! It's not too dark and not too bitter, but the beverage is thick, creamy, and just has a nice deep cocoa flavor. You haven't tasted anything this decadent and rich - it's just a perfect blend and has such a great texture, and this will put you in the holiday mood with the first sip! Be sure to peruse the rest of the store - I love their dish cloth and aprons, especially the country French chicken designs! The staff here are friendly and welcoming, too! Don't hesitate in asking for any assistance! +Double Dark Hot Chocolate tin +friendly staff! read more

If -5 was an option that would be the call for the cooking class. It was a piece of steak, a potato and a half and a dessert and you don't get to make the dessert. The guy leading the class was absolutely awful. You couldn't hear him, he frequently disappeared, made no effort to work with anyone or help them, explained things all at once in a rush instead of step by step. They don't have enough stuff or space so you're sharing cooking pans with the others there. The absolute worst though was he spent the class cooking-for the other workers in the store and frequently disappeared to go feed and talk to them. Never seen that in a restaurant before. He would make food, walk out of the cooking room and go to feed them. read more

DO NOT RECOMMEND FOR COOKING CLASSES!!! My friend and I signed up for a Homemade Pasta Workshop at the Old Orchard location on 11/29/23 at 7pm. We chose the class based on the recipes, how anyone chooses a cooking class, and were really looking forward to it. We've taken cooking classes with The Chopping Block and were prepared for a fun and educational evening after work. Unfortunately, the class was a complete mess for the following reasons: - Chef had very poor time management skills. The class was supposed to be until 9pm/9:30pm. Typically, that extra 30 min is for finishing touches and eating your meal. At 9pm, we had not even started cooking. The class lasted until past 10pm. While this may have been fine for a Friday night, we are both nurses and have to be up at 5am for morning shifts. Quite simply, we would have never signed up for a class that ended past 10pm during a weekday. - The recipes we had chosen to learn and eat were not the recipes that were prepped or taught in the class. We signed up to learn how to make Pappardelle with Tuscan Sausage and Caramelized Onion Ragu, Farafalle with Walnut Pesto, Lemon and Goat Cheese and Limoncello Gelato. Sounds delicious right? We thought so too! That's why we signed up for the class. Unfortunately, what was waiting for us were recipes we had not chosen, and quite frankly would not have chosen to make or eat. Instead, we were told we would be making Silky Spaghetti Carbonara and Orecchiette with Sausage and Sweet Peppers. Disappointment again. - Even the substituted recipes were not made correctly. The Orecchiette with Sausage and Sweet Peppers was missing the sweet peppers, we had bell peppers instead. There were no crushed red pepper flakes and no basil leaves. The sherry vinegar was completely forgotten about until a student asked about it AFTER the dish had been completed. Chef was taken by surprise. Onion was prepped and added to the dish for no reason since it wasn't included in the recipe and we were already using shallots. The worst part? The whole thing was practically inedible as the pasta was completely hard and raw once we bit into the "finished" meal. After not eating since lunch and *finally* getting to eat past 9pm, this was a complete and utter disappointment. - We were barely hands on for the second meal. The class was running very much behind. The chefs took it upon themselves to prep the whole second meal. They very briefly explained what they had done before we were told to cook the second meal aka saute bacon and boil pasta. We saw the chef use jarred chopped garlic which is something no self respecting chef would ever do. We had already prepped fresh garlic and if I wanted to whip together a fast pasta meal with jarred garlic, I would have stayed home in my pajamas and done so. - The dessert was forgotten. When someone mentioned the limoncello gelato, the sous chef was able to quickly make it for us to enjoy after our meal, but we got absolutely zero instruction, explanation and hands on experience. We were really excited to learn how to make gelato, it was one of the reasons we chose this class, it was a huge disappointment. We left the class stressed and hungry. The exact opposite of what we should have been feeling after a cooking class. Also the exact opposite of how we felt after leaving a Chopping Block cooking class. I have contacted sur la table customer service and have gotten no response at all. If you want a fun cooking class, pay a bit extra and make the trip into the city for the Chopping Block, it's worth it and won't be a waste of time. read more

I booked this cooking class to finally have a date night with my husband and do something different. We did the Evening in Chianti. Well, the other couple at our table was wiping their face (noses) and then they used their bare hands to knead the gnocchi dough, instead of the glove. Then when we got our steaks there were only 3 pieces for 4 of us. The other couple wouldn't split them with us, so my husband and I split 1 piece and of course the other couple gave us the smallest piece of the 3. The other couple also did most of the cooking/preparing and barely let us have a turn doing anything. Even though you need to share a table with others, it would be nice is Sur La Table allowed each couple to make their own food and not share all of it with the others that they don't know. We left there frustrated, feeling like we couldn't eat some of the food due to others being unsanitary, and we only got a couple bites of the steak. Our chef was good, but she tended to interact more with the larger group at the other side of the room. She rarely visited our table. read more

My first time here, I was looking for a replacement for a specialty bread knife that I've had for years. They did not have a similar one but I found a nice egg slicer that I bought. The staff was friendly and helpful, and the place was exceptionally clean. I would definitely come back to purchase high quality knives and other kitchen utensils. read more

Took the Sicilian Dinner cooking class and was overall very disappointed. For the price you pay to take the class my expectations were high. Our instructor was very disorganized, let us know he had never made the dish before, he did not explain anything as he was doing it we had to ask multiple times what the next step was, he did not tell us anything about the dish, he just read off the paper the whole time. We could have easily just googled the recipe ourselves. There was a lot of standing around doing nothing while he was looking for materials, ingredients or would just disappear. Overall a very disappointing experience for the price. read more

Booked a cooking class date night with my husband. Upon arrival, we were told they ran out of space. I asked the manager Noah for a refund and he rudely gave me the number for customer service. I have called and spoken to multiple agents with no refund or update. It's been over a week since ive emailed customer service and opened a ticket through the website with no response or refund. Crazy to spend $200 and have such horrible treatment. Save your money! read more

They don't always have the best selection but this is a pretty nice store and when their classes were open pre pandemic it was a great place to take classes. The staff members are generally nice, and I've never encountered the sassiness here that sometimes plagued the now closed North/Clybourn location. The last time I went into the Skokie location it seemed like they were having a rough time getting select items in - a staff member mentioned she had been looking for the same one item I was looking for and she'd waited so long even she had to order one from Amazon. That sounds like a bad situation to be in but her honesty was appreciated, and my guess is it wasn't a popular enough item to make waves over since they were still doing tons of business with what they still have on the shelves. read more

Sur La Table is an excellent cooking store located in Old Orchard Mall. It is located right near The Bagel restaurant on the north side of the mall, so park over by there. They have a wide selection of both kitchen staples and innovative tools to help you perfect your meals. It is a large shop prices are on par with other similar stores. The cooking class we took here was pretty fun. It was an Al Fresco theme so we cooked chicken kabobs, risotto and a lemon sorbet. It was a very entry level cooking course, but we learned a few new tricks and enjoyed spending a night out. It was a class of 4 people so we had a lot of interaction with the instructor - Chef Tom. He put on a good course and the 2.5 hrs went by in a breeze. As a bonus you get an extra 10% off all purchases the day of your class. The one odd thing was that the instructional kitchen we were using has large windows open to the mall. People would stop by and stare at us every few minutes and it got a little creepy with all the women eye balling me! Also note - you can't bring wine due to a city ordinance. Check this shop out if you love to cook or have an interest in learning. They offer coupons both via print and online, so be sure to check before you go in. read more

Sur La Table - Cooking class - VERY basic, but tasty - Kitchen Supplies Near Me - Skokie, Illinois

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Gifted my husband the Pasta cooking class for x-mas that we attended today. Chef Sophie was a gem of an instructor. She was knowledgeable, gave clear instructions and demonstrations. She visited each table regularly to give tips for correcting mistakes. During the class we made homemade pasta from scratch, received advice on proper knife handling, made one tomato based sauce at our station, had lots of hands-on experience rolling and cutting the pasta. The chef team made a second sauce for us to try. At the end of class we enjoyed sampling our own pasta with two different sauces and had extra to take home. Plus, we received printed copies of all instructions and recipes. We were very impressed with this class and Chef Sophie. read more

After spending hundreds of dollars spoiling my partner in our new kitchen, I tried exchanging an obviously defective wooden spatula ($21). I purchased this in December as a Christmas gift. It's probably been used a handful of times. The company's response: strict policy of the exchange window education on how to care for wood questions about how I washed dishes I think a company of this caliber and whose products are on the pricier side can find a little room for better customer service and satisfaction when it comes to a situation as mine. A simple exchange of this item would've kept me as a customer. But the way this was handled I have no desire to come back. read more

I really enjoy this store. We love to cook and we never have time to simply go shopping anymore. While waiting for a reservation at a restaurant, we saw there was a Sur La Table at Old Orchard so we popped in. They have a great selection of a very wide variety of food preparation and serving items. Pricing tends to be a little high but they have so much to choose from. Even though we walked out with very little, I think I have some great ideas for when I do my holiday shopping. read more

I'm reviewing their cooking class called: winter in paris. I decided to take this class with my boyfriend as an early Valentine's Day present. I have passed by this place at the mall and have seen people cooking which got me curious. I went on their website and saw they they offered cooking classes, and classes called "date night" where you cook a full course meal. We went on a Sunday at 7pm, and we were the only couple there so it was pretty much a private class. THE EXPERIENCE WAS AMAZING. We had Chef Tom teach HS proper cooking techniques and ways to prepare/mix foods I never would have known. He was super friendly, funny, engaging and made the experience very enjoyable. The food came out beautifully, and the steak is probably the best steaks I've tasted, even over the fancy steak restaurants I've been too. The chocolate soufflé was heavenly and was super moist and fluffy. If you're thinking about taking a cooking class, or an interesting date night idea, I would definitely recommend this place. Only downside is it is a bit on the pricier side, but in my opinion totally worth the experience. read more

Sur La Table - Roasted herb potatoes and steak pouivre - Kitchen Supplies Near Me - Skokie, Illinois

I attended a macaron class today with three of my friends and I have a few thoughts/suggestions regarding the class. I am a pretty good baker and I attended the class because I needed some guidance with some of the steps of the macaron making process. Unfortunately I didn't get what I needed during this class. When we arrived for the class, we were not greeted by anyone, although the instructor, as we met her later, was in the classroom, so we had no idea who was the instructor and who were the other participants. Later were very surprised to learn that we wouldn't get individual stations, but we would work in groups of three or four. For the price of the class ($79/person) and the price of the ingredients we were given as a group of four ($10), the class was a complete ripoff. I was glad we didn't sign up for the class all by myself because I would have had to work with two or three strangers. In the age of Covid, that's clearly a no-no. Plus, we really didn't get a chance to practice every step of the macaron-making process, which really was a bummer. Four people passing around a bowl felt ridiculous. Then the instructor made the creams for all of us, so we all watched her make them, without any hands-on experience. A few YouTube videos would have offered pretty much the same experience as this class. There was no need to wake up at 7 on a Saturday and drive two hours just to watch someone else make macarons. The instructor, Tami, was very hard to hear, because the room was pretty noisy and her mask muffled her voice too much. Maybe she should wear a microphone during her classes. But the most disappointing thing was the fact that I didn't get the guidance I needed. Theoretically I know how to make macarons and wanted to get professional advice about the consistency of the batter and other practical steps, but unfortunately I didn't get much of that. While folding the batter, I asked repeatedly for advice on how the batter should look like. Tami was the one that suggested multiple times to continue working the batter. After our macarons were baked and cracked and collapsed, I asked her what we might have done wrong and she said that the batter was probably overmixed . But she was the one that was suggesting to continue working the batter?!?!? Then, when she made the creams for all of us, one of them was runny and with the butter barely mixed. Overall, this experience was not worth our time and money. Also, because the macarons we made were worse than the ones I made alone at home, I feel that this class didn't teach me absolutely anything I didn't know before. read more

I did not like the chef. We have taken multiple cooking classes as a family at multiple locations/companies and by far this was worse. She was unhelpful, did not manage the class, did not educate us and when I had issues and asked the chef she completely ignored our issues and our merengue came out the wrong texture and didn't cook properly after double time in the oven. The chef admitted that when I asked if our merengue was wrong- it was in fact wrong- but she didn't do anything about it. She also completely messed up the butter cream frosting. The instructions she gave were unclear, no one knew what they were doing. On our strawberry short cake the whipped cream came out curdled as she didn't help explain anything regarding that just left us to do it on our own. We were expecting hands on help- clear directions, and instead we got all three items messed up (with the merengue being not edible). I am extremely disappointed with the quality of class here. read more

I just took my first cooking class at this location, Matt was our chef/teacher and it was educational, fun and delicious. He was so personable made us comfortable even with our minor mistakes ( like chopping off the wrong end of the shallot before trying to small dice it) . It was so fun that my friend and I signed up for 2 more classes. Great class great fun! read more

My experience here started out extremely positive. I walked in looking for something small - decorating tips - and I was greeted by a nice man who offered me espresso on a cold day and chatted with me about knives. It was then ruined by a rude woman who upon my turning down their $99 sale nonstick pan became extremely cold. And that's my problem with most of the kitchen equipment stores. The judgment of rude workers. Yeah, I look young and not a rich white middle-aged suburbanite, but do you really need to a) give me cold stares when you're the one who tried to rip me off on an overpriced mediocre piece of equipment and b) ignore me to talk to your friends about nothing for a long time when they walked in AFTER we made eye contact when I put my stuff down at the register? As far as equipment, this store is great. Large selection and variety and relatively well organized compared to other similar stores. There's a clear baking section, espresso machines, knives, random spatula bins, grill equipment, pans. It's relatively painless to navigate and things are easy to find. This particular Sur La Table is extra clean and well lit with enough open space to not make everything seem overwhelming. They also have a gorgeous kitchen in the back for cooking classes. I will be generous for now because this store was definitely one of the better ones I've been to, and I hope there's just the one bad apple that I hope doesn't get a chance to ruin the bunch. Dammit, I should have asked for her name. PS - They have Bob Kramer *designed* knives here. Not hand-made by him, so obviously they're only (lol "only") ~$400 for a reason. Still nice freaking knives though. Maybe one day... read more

My husband and I went to a cooking class at the Old Orchard location in Skokie, IL on December 28th. We were very disappointed by the cooking class. When we arrived we weren't greeted nicely by the staff leading the class. We also had to wait past 4pm to start our class because the staff wasn't prepared. When we were inside the cooking space, we noticed several flies that were all over the kitchen. We finally started the class and we only got to sear the meat. That's it. We didn't get to cook or do anything else. We didn't get to prepare the potatoes, Brussel Sprouts or the sticky toffee pudding. We went to a cooking class to learn something and we only got to sear meat?!! Are you kidding. It was ridiculous. On top of that, there was a staff member that was preparing food without her hair pulled back, and she continued to play with it during the whole class. She also continually touched her face and was picking her nails during the time she was assisting with cooking the things that we should've been allowed to cook. I will never go to another class at this location. It was not a good experience. This was not worth the money that we payed for the class. read more