Sur La Table

This review pertains largely to a «French Bistro» themed cooking class that I took as part of a group reserved class. The room was set up neatly, and the first course — which we did not prepare — was set out. However as we started getting into the lesson, I found the instructor barked at us frequently and pretty unabashedly acted like the uncool substitute teacher of a 4^th grade class. Remember that trick subs would pull: deliberately and huffily waiting until the room was dead silent before instructing? That was THIS instructor’s favorite tool. Know what DOESN’T happen when drinking with people you know? Quiet, of any nature.
It was really, really frustrating. That instructor had zero chill.
As a result, the courses we made were half-​effort, under-​informed flops that no one really touched.
I’ll revert to my favorite Central Market classes, thanks. One redeeming factor: 15% off merchandise in-​store. Because that really makes dropping $ 200 on silicone mats and pumpkin-​themed ceramic dishes worth it. Ish.

Store reminds of me World Market and another chain in Chicago which I can’t recall the name of now. Has a nice kitchen where you can film your own cooking class.
Liked the selection of utensils just wish you could buy table ware such as forks and spoons individually instead of in sets. Who needs more butter knives?

This place is loaded with everything under the sun for the chef in every household and staffed with friendly folks who know their way around the kitchen. I love to cook, I love to eat, so my youngest daughter and I took one of their cooking classes together. The chef, Ryan King, gave us fun, hands on, instruction while we prepared, cooked, and ate, avocado and smoked trout salad, crispy skinned salmon with spring bean ragu, cumin fried cod with Chipotle tartar sauce. During our 15 min break, we walked across the street to «the Tasting Room» and with a complimentary discount courtesy of Sur La Table, purchased a 2012 Pinot Grigio from Vanishing Point winery in Cali. It was definitely a fun filled and taste satisfying cooking class experience. Afterwards we did a little shopping for our kitchen with a 10% discount coupon. Right now, they are running a discount on their classes (50% off) so it is a great time to get on line, register, and check it out for a couple hours of morning or afternoon classes. I will be back! Had a blast! Thanks Ryan, and team, really appreciate the time and efforts you guys put forth to make this enjoyable. Cheers!

I stopped in the City Centre location a few weeks ago after a doctors appointment in the area, and I had what I hope was an isolated incident there. I was in the store for 25 minutes. (I knew the time because I had just paid the parking machine and took note of the time). Nobody ever approached me, greeted me, offered to help. I could have used some help as the cutting boards I was looking at were not priced and I was intending to buy one, along with a few other items I was shopping for that day. Not one word from what looked to be about 4 staff members. There were only one or two other customers in the store. It was not busy. It was mid-​afternoon on a Tuesday. I finally left, deciding that I’ll go to the River Oaks Shopping Center location to make a purchase, where I have been several times and always had good customer service and the store was better stocked. Customer service matters.

Not too impressed with this location, but always have fun window-​shopping at stores like these. I love to cook and love cooking gadgets but this store felt cramped and it wasn’t well organized.
If you are a frequent shopper at Williams Sonoma, you may get overwhelmed but there is an open atmosphere where you can usually see across the store to where you might want to go. At this Sur La Table location, you have no idea what is around the corner, much less what is in the store. If they insist on doing Home Depot style displays (floor to ceiling in some parts) at least put in some aisle labels so that we can figure out how everything is organized.
And at the store’s prices, let’s just say that I keep to my window-​shopping here and if I see something that I like, I am pretty sure that I can find it cheaper on
.

I could spend hours in this store…
They have 2 sections in my mind:
First — The useful section home to all the things one woud need in a kitchen (on the higher end).
Second — The whimsical section where there is stuff that you never knew you wanted until you saw it, and then you just had to have it!
Becareful shopping here, you could go in for just a cheese grater, and come out with 2 bags filled with stuff 4 hours later!

I love cooking and used to frequent Williams Sonoma to check out their cooking gadgets, sur la table is like Williams Sonoma but a bit more on the fun side with cooler kitchen gadgets.
However, having taken a macaron class here I would say the experience was less than stellar. While the class was very interactive and fun, the baking techniques was incredibly flawed. No one in the class produced perfect macarons, all of them were either too chewy, burnt or no feet. The instructor blamed it on this and that but come on now… I’ve baked a fair share of macarons in different environments and they’ve all turned out a lot better than the the techniques offered in this class. I wanted to see what a true macaron class would offer me but sadly this isn’t it. Oh well.

Amazing array of coffee equipment and very helpful employees, parking is ridiculous at city center IMO and you’ll have to pay if want to get in and get out in a hurry.

interesting stuff. Clearance area is the place to go since so many things are of high quality and of high price. wish the location was bigger and more spread out. Whenever I walk around the plates/​cups area, I always feel like I’m going to bump something with my big butt and have to pay for something I don’t want.

Wonderful place to buy cooking ware and kitchen items if you have the money. You could easily spend over $ 300 in one visit. Regardless, I love this place! There are so many gadgets to check out.
This location hires a rep from Nespresso to come out and serve samples of their notorious coffee. This is a great opportunity to test out the variety of coffee and machines if you’re interested in purchasing one. The rep is very knowledgeable and can assist you in finding a machine that best suites you.
For those of you who are interested in Le Creuset cookware, this is the place to go. They have a great variety to choose from.
I definitely plan on checking out their cooking classes soon.

Great place to ooggle kitchen goodies. Most are of the higher end variety so I’d only end up with stuff from there for the holidays, birthdays, or when something is on sale. I would love to catch a class sometime, but until then ill get my kitchen eye candy when I visit.

We were in the area and I wanted to check this place out since my husband loves to cook. I thought that it might offer something different come Christmas time.
This is like Williams Sonoma’s younger sibling who thinks that while the oldest is smart, they are also stuffy and boring. I get the feeling on walking in here that it’s about showing how much «fun» the kitchen can be. For example, robot shaped ice cube trays and microplanes in a variety of colors!
The other feeling I get is that I could purchase the majority of the items here elsewhere for half the price. For example, there were these really colorful plates near the door that had a bit of a southern or southwestern theme to them. I picked them up and realized they were a really light, cheap plastic — and $ 7 each! The white ceramic plates of about the same size were $ 5 each.
This place is also mainly filled with what Alton would call «unitaskers». The only big positive was probably the knife section. They had the brand we use and we got a replacement for a knife that was lost in our set.
The shop itself was probably about the same size as the nearby «older brother» shop, but it felt a bit smaller. It also felt very cluttered and disorganized.
I would maybe go back for a cooking class, but if we needed an item for the kitchen? We’d probably go back to their older brothers place. There’s less traffic there and it’s easier to find what you need rather than what they want you to buy.

Think Williams Sonoma, but bigger and with more value ! It has a wide price range for any budget (ie. $ 1 USA made cookie cutters in shapes like T rex or schnauzer). They have lots of pots — stainless etc. I saw a set for $ 1200, wowie! Kitchen stuff and cooking classes… gifts for the bbq griller in your family.

This new City Center location is the best one I’ve been to yet! The store is gorgeous as always, and the staff is not only friendly but knowledgable.
The cooking classes are so much fun — I took a edilbe gift making class, and we got so much more than we paid for. You get to take home a ton of goodies, and eat load of yummines while you are there… and complimentary tea and coffee! It’s all good, rich food so just relax about it or go across to the gym afterwards, it’s worth it!
I love this location — the store is my perfect answer for gift shopping, for anyone!