Team Building Activity - Culinary Creations

This class was kind of a disaster. The chefs were very apologetic, but we started late, the dough from the night before didn't proof, the back-up dough they made got ruined because they put it in the wrong oven, and we wound up standing around for a lot of the class waiting to be told what to do. At one point we were told to go back into the store and shop while they figured out the next steps. We did finally get to make three breads, but they took an extra hour to cook and we were asked to stick around and wait or come back later to pick them up. Our instructor was obviously frazzled and struggled to explain a lot of the reasoning behind why we were using certain ingredients or what was happening in the cooking process (the main reason I took the class) unless prompted. For all of this, they gave us an extra 10% off in the store, which was kind of insulting considering how small the discount was and it required us to spend more money after a disappointing class. I would have much rather gotten a refund on the class or gotten a coupon for an extra class. I imagine it's not always this bad (because they told us it's not), but the cashier telling me I was getting "such a good deal" as compensation by being allowed to spend extra $ just to get 20% off on items I didn't need left a bad taste in my mouth.

Delicious recipes and plenty of individual attention and interaction in this small (5 participants) Japanese cooking class. Chef Lisa G. was terrific!

I recently took a group of seven to a ravioli cooking class at in Alexandria, and while the chef and support staff were friendly and knowledgeable, the experience fell short of expectations. The space was far too cramped for the 15 participants. Instead of working comfortably in teams of four as advertised, we were assigned two-person tables, leading to constant jostling and bumping into each other. When I raised this with a staff member, I was simply directed to check the event listing for team size details—disappointing to say the least. Timing was another issue. After completing the cooking portion in just under two hours, we were told to take a quick break, but it stretched to 25 minutes. When we finally sat back down, some of us had to wait another half hour as the pasta finished cooking, by which point the staff was already preparing for the next class. This led to a rushed end, standing to eat while being hurried along. At nearly $100 per person, I expected a more organized and comfortable experience. To management: please consider prioritizing guest experience over packing the room to capacity. This could have been a much better experience with a little more space and attention to timing.