Cooking Class - Essential Mediterranean - Skokie

Did not have Chef William for the Surf & Turf class. It was Chef Jay (I believe). I felt the class was a bit unorganized and instructions unclear at times. We received way too much lecture on knives and regions of Italy where certain cheese comes from. By the time we got around to actually grilling, the chef was actually grilling our steaks while we were on a break and turned over the grill to each group to grill the shrimp. The grill was so hot that the none of the grillers could stand the heat. Needless to say, the shrimp were terribly overcooked because the heat was burning their arms and they could not flip the shrimp in time --- Chef Jay was busy doing something with the steaks. After almost 2 hours in, people started sneaking and eating the items already prepared and sneaking wine (we found we could not drink the wine that we arrived with due to some city law), so we had a disjointed meal. A s@*t show for sure!

Hi friends, Highly disappointed with this cooking class. Chef Chris was a good guy and capable, and the staff was excellent, but that's not why. I would like a full refund, please. Here is why: 1. The class explicitly said we could BYOB and drink wine. When we arrived at Sur La Table, they said Skokie ordinances did not permit that, so that ruined a large part of the class for my date and I. FALSE ADVERTISING 2. When we cooked the meal, WE STOOD UP TO EAT IT?!?!?!? Are you kidding me?? I've been to cooking classes all over the world, and the beauty of it, is you cook, then you sit down with new friends to eat it. Standing for the entire class? Horrible management of your clients. Horrible branding. Try advertising that, and see how far you would get with booking! 2.5 hours of standing is fine IF IT'S ADVERTISED. IT WAS NOT. TERRIBLE. 3. I paid over $90 per person, which is fine if I'm satisfied, and my date couldn't eat her pork chop, and once again, Skokie ordinances said we can take no meat home! I paid a hundred bucks for a pork chop and I have to leave it there to be thrown out?!?!? Here's the deal: had you advertised "standing for the entire time, no BYO, and you must eat all food" and more than likely I would have not booked it, but would have known, at least. I know you can't change town ordinances, however, I feel this information fell through the cracks, and it made for a very disappointing evening. I don't think Cozymeal was duplicitous, I just feel it was HORRIBLE communication. I want a full refund immediately. The staff was great, we went over the two hour time, and we burned the dessert, but all of that is a part of life and cooking classes, I get it. The other stuff???? You all need to reevaluate, and get on the same page. I'll await a reply. Best, John Stemberg

Class was canceled without notice. I found out once I arrived to the site. As a consolation, I was offered a cappuccino.

Chef was great

I was incredibly disappointed by this class. First things first, I booked this because it mentioned bringing wine or beer. We were immediately told that this was not allowed. We were really excited to have this as a date night and that plan had to change. I could’ve moved on past this if the class was at all impressive but it wasn’t. The teacher never introduced himself. So I won’t be able to refer to him by name in this review. The packets left at our stations were the internal use only packets so I know exactly where the class fell short. This is an aside, but it also had the specific sales pitches the teacher was supposed to be using which felt a little gross. I understand that a class like this cannot be every step by step due to timing but the teacher didn’t teach us anything. He had us put the steaks in a dry pan (I incorrectly trusted the process here, but the recipe that we got AFTER the class confirmed there should’ve been oil in the pan). He told one table, not the class, how long to sear the steaks for. We happened to overhear him speaking to another table. Because we had the internal packet, I saw that he was supposed to teach us about searing, about emulsifying a vinaigrette, about the texture of the mousse. He did none of this. He occasionally walked around and said “that looks good”. Like he said our pan sauce was good to go. We hadn’t even added the broth yet because our burner had shut off and we couldn’t get his attention to help on this. But he said that ours was done and good to go. How? I think the whole night could’ve been salvageable if the food were well-cooked. We got back into the room after the break and he announced that the steaks were cooked to a “perfect medium rare”. Absolutely not. I eat a lot of steak and this was RARE. Like purple rare. A lot of people in the class sent their steak to be cooked more. The potatoes were also so undercooked. I had to saw at it with a steak knife. I would never recommend this to anyone and will not be booking this class ever again.

Chef Shirley was great and very informative. The food was delicious. Our only suggestion would be to boil the Pappardelle in a pot as we did with the Farfalle. The Pappardelle turned to mush by cooking it in the sauce.

The class was cancelled but we were not notified until we got there. Cozymeals has yet to reach out and notify me of this. It’s abundantly clear that Cozymeals has no communication with Sur La Table or its own chefs and customers. Overall, Cozymeals wasted an afternoon of ours because of how long it took to get there. I do not hold the chef responsible, because it was everyone else who failed to convey cancellations or refunds. I’d be careful before trusting this site.

Chef Shirley was great. She explained what needed to be done and everyone in the group had an opportunity to participate in the baking. Everything came out tasty. Everyone enjoyed the class.

Class was informative and the resident chef was hands on and helpful with questions.

All very good with the chef and the meal. Cozy meal directions to the location was poor.

Great informative and fun

I thought this was private. All the website did was kick me to a aur la table thar was over crowded and lasted 2.4 hours. Not a lot of teaching or learning.

Jen was awesome. Clear instructions, hands-on participation, all in a clean and beautiful kitchen. Bravo!

Great date night! Highly recommend to anyone considering.

Had an excellent experience and loved the dish.

Great!

Chef was fantastic! Food was delicious. I did think we'd have more hands on prep with the food. The creme brulee was already prepped - but we did get to sugar & brulee with the torch. The potatoes were already cut, peeled, and boiled so only 1 person got to mash. I did really like how the chef demonstrated how to cook the steak and make the mushroom sauce. We all got to do that at individual stations. The little burner was just ok and took a while when people didn't want to cross-cook steaks due to different temperature preferences. Overall, really enjoyed the experience and would definitely recommend for folks who want to learn some new prep methods.

The preparation of ingredients and pace of cooking was good for learning

The class was cancelled the day before! Totally ruined my gift to my beloved!

Such a great experience!

Class was great!

This was my least favorite cooking class. The place was filthy, they didnt have enough food, and it was not as interactive as we all had to share in doing elements but not all elements.

Great class, Excellent Chef. Enjoyed every minute.

Loved our cooking class. Learned A LOT ! Very hands on.

Great time! It was a simple enough meal to learn that helped us both expand our palette and culinary repetoire. Recommend for all. I would ask in the future exactly what you are going to learn.

Ethan's passion for cooking shows & made the class educational & fun! We look forward to seeing him again as well as the helpers. Thank you for sharing your passion to cook!

It was such a great class. I learned so much and can't wait to replicate the dishes at home.

Really fun and busy class making pad Thai, deep fried lemongrass corn fritters, shrimp curry, and enjoying coconut rice afterwards, in a group of 12. It was nice to review knife skills as well. Great date or special occasion activity

My husband and I really enjoyed this class. We both learned some things, and had a great meal at the end. We would definitely recommend this date night class.

Love the class, and now is chef/instructor was great

Chef was attentive and helpful. Would have liked to taste it (!), but a health emergency ended the class early. Still waiting for the recipes.

Great class. Learned a lot and the bread was delicious.

As usual, this was a great experience. I would recommend their cooking classes to learn, eat great food, and have a great experience.

Overall very informative. Adult only class would be a nice option.. Chef had amazing experience, very informative and knowledgeable. Should have a 5 min late policy. Late guests distracting. Would have liked a little quicker pace. Overall Very great seat up. Definitely an experience.

Overall, the class was really fun! In a way I wish it was a tiny bit more challenging. It felt like we did a few knife cuts, then took a break and then cooked a bit before eating. All in all, I wish it had been a bit more difficult or ""fast"" pace wise. The food we made was really good, except for the pad thai which was disappointing. Also would be super nice to make a dessert!

The class was easy to follow, and I feel the recipes will be easy to replicate at home. This class should be 3 hrs long, not 2. The dough didn't have enough time to rise and didn't have enough time to bake. My focaccia bread wound up burning because the instructor was moving on with the class and the bread didn't get out of the oven fast enough.

Great class even better instructor. Also fun group of women

We had a great time! John was great leading the class and the food was delicious! Will definitely take another class!

The chef was very personable and knowledgeable. The class was fun and the meal turned out delicious. One wish was maybe a glass of wine with the meal.

We had a great time! Large group, very organized and fun! Food was delish! Never received the recipes from the class to make at home

Very helpful and informative, would definitely take other classes. Really enjoy being able to ask questions along the way.

Absolutely delicious food! Really enjoyed the group and the chef leading the class.

Loved the class! Chef did a great job teaching us these recipes. I can not wait to take more classes.