Private Chef - Gourmet Italian Dinner - Salt Lake City

Honestly, it was just okay. Obviously cooking for a large group has its own challenges versus cooking for an intimate crowd. Layer in our Airbnb's oven not working (thankfully there was a functional one downstairs) so I fully recognize there were roadblocks for Chef Billy and his sous chef to overcome. The food I was presented was not aligned with a $107 price point. A simple salad with a lemon vinn that didn't really have a detectable flavor. Other than that, the ingredients used are fine for the salad so that is ok. The pasta and chicken came second, of which the chicken was the standout. The plate was presented as a heaping portion of noodles with a scoop of really chunky sauce on top that was not incorporated. The sauce itself was rather bland and would be more aligned as a scoop of chopped up veggies rather than what someone would mentally expect when thinking of a pasta sauce. The cannoli to me was the largest disappointment - and I'm not referring to the size of it. I think the cannolis were too thick and overfried which is why they were really hard to bite into. The ricotta filling left much to be desired. It did feel a bit weird that both chefs ate in the kitchen the food that they made while we were present (some sat at the kitchen bar and the rest at kitchen table). Is that a normal thing to do? Either the leftovers would be ours to keep as we paid for it or they would have packed a portion to go not to eat in front of us. Overall I know the price is allocated to the whole experience, i.e., the cleanup, the conversations, the meals, and of course enough for the chefs to be appropriately compensated for their work. We went to a 7 course tasting dinner the next night at Table X where the price point was almost identical (~$115 pp) but felt completely justified due to quality of the food presented even if all courses weren't celebrated. I did not have the same feeling about the food I was served by Chef Billy and his Sous Chef and would not return to a restaurant serving these items prepared in this manner.

I was incredibly disappointed by this entire experience. Chef Billy had a sous chef that he had never met prior to arriving to our home. The quality of the food was horrendous, aside from our starter salad. The pasta entree was overcooked and under flavored. The cannoli dessert was by far the worst cannoli we’d ever had. The shells were burnt. Not exactly something you should advertise as “gourmet italian cuisine”. This was an incredibly disappointing experience that I had put together for my best friends bachelorette. I felt horrible at the quality of the experience.

Chef Billy was outstanding! We booked Chef Billy for a dinner at our Airbnb and everything about the experience was as advertised or better!