Williams Sonoma

I got very excited about some mixers that were on the 30% off shelf. I decided to get two bottles along with a few other items. When at check out I noticed they rang up full price. When I requested them to check the manager herself stated it was their mistake and instead of apologizing focused on moving the bottles instead of speaking with me. They refused to honor the price and have lost a customer for life. The overall service was a joke and I won’t be coming back to this location.

Worker hung up on me while I was in the middle of asking a question. So unprofessional for a fancy store. You just lost a customer for life.

I’m in here at this Williams Sonoma store in south Reno with my cousin looking for maybe something for her BF’s house. It’s not that big a store compared to the ones in the Bay Area, but they do seem to have all the same types of items. We don’t have anything particular in mind, just browsing around. In the whole time we were there, no staff ever asked us if we needed any help. Looking at the products we saw a large selection of German knives, some girly frilly place settings … no you’re not suppose to actually use that fancy napkin to wipe your mouth on! Then we saw all the small kitchen appliances, like toasters, waffle makers and high end coffee makers. I always wanted to find a good quality toaster, like not made in China that will last a long time. I searched on line once and found toasters made in Germany, but they were like $ 300! Plus the voltage was wrong and had a different plug. I see some expensive toasters here, but yep, still made in China. Pushing the handle up and down, it just didn’t have that Mercedes closing the door solid feel to it. Seems like a lot of over priced stuff here for people that have the money to burn on this. Me? I’m still working on having money to burn, so I’m not finding too much in this store for me. We both left with out buying anything and still never received any help from the staff.

If you are a baker, this is your playground! Williams Sonoma makes some of the best supplies for bakers, hands down!
My wife and I had a gift card that was burning a hole in our pockets so we stopped in to see what we could buy. More often than not we have the tough choice of narrowing down what we WANT to buy with how much we are able to spend. This stuff is pricey!
I really wanted some Serendipity frozen hot cocoa mix but was informed they are no longer carrying it. That is my drink of choice during the sizzling hot Reno summers!
We really wanted the delicious short rib braise and the cashier wasn’t sure if that was just out of stock or also discontinued. Another disappointment.
Then I inquired about an additional mixing bowl for my Kitchen Aid mixer which is a bit of a dinosaur. The cashier didn’t seem to understand what I needed and tried to sell me a bowl I knew wouldn’t work with my mixer. My mixer has the arms that the bowl clips into where as she was trying to sell me a bowl that screws into the base of the mixer. Those are two completely different bowls and they are not interchangeable. I was surprised by how little help this cashier was for all of our inquires. We usually find the staff extremely knowledgeable and helpful but that just wasn’t the case on this visit.
In fact, it left us not really wanting to spend the entire gift card nor were we able to since they didn’t have many of the products we wanted. We settled on the vanilla ice cream base that we use with our ice cream maker in the summer. I love making our own ice cream flavors and their vanilla is a great starter.
I guess I will start looking elsewhere for the other items we wanted. I am always disappointed when I fall in love with an item that a company decides to stop carrying. Both of those items were very popular though so I cannot imagine why they aren’t being carried anymore.
Off to the internet, where I hope to have better luck than this shopping trip!

That manager is rude.

To me, Williams Sonoma is FAO Schwartz for adults. It is full of amazing, beautiful, shiny things that hint at a lifestyle that really does not exist, at least in my world. But it is fun to dream!
There are a few things that we have bought there, usually when my dear husband (and head chef at our house) needs to be indulged. The appliances we have bought there (a panini press and a hot air fryer) were top quality and have worked very well for us. They were expensive, but I don’t mind paying for quality. We have also table and kitchen linens there and they are also of top quality and have lasted for years. They have well made kitchen utensils and good deals can be found when they have a sale. We also really like their BBQ sauce.
The store can be a bit visually overwhelming, but items are attractively displayed and logically grouped. Staff are friendly and helpful, but also let you wander and look with out hovering.
If I want high quality kitchen items, this is the place to go.

You must shop around, sometimes the deals are good, sometimes not, but if you are in the market for great knives, a sousvide machine, pressure cookers, la creuset pots or super high quality cooking pots and pans I think this is the place.
No those brands are not cheap, but with proper care they should last a lifetime. I think the service is good and I love to just go n and look around sometimes to see what’s new.

I’m torn. I just can’t see myself spending $ 200 on a high end coffee maker. Just. Can’t. Now just because I can’t and won’t doesn’t mean it’s bad if other people can and do. There are a lot of drool-​worthy items that I’d love, but the prices are just too outrageous for me. What makes a canister of Himalayan pink salt 2x more expensive here than the one I find in Whole Foods?
I also found the staff a bit standoffish. I had a question about a baking pan and they seemed to cluster themselves around the cash register talking and laughing among themselves. I had to practically jump up and down to get someone’s attention.

This is a tough one to rate. The staff is always helpful. But so many items in the store are obscenely priced. And I think what really ticks me off is all the stuff I see online as being described as made for Williams Sonoma but when I get down there they don’t carry it in the store. Made for Williams Sonoma but you can only order it online? Why not carry it in the brick-​and-​mortar store?
I’ve been looking for a good stainless steel stock pot. One with the encapsulated base. At RESCO, a professional cooking supply store, I can get one for $ 60 with a lid. At Williams Sonoma, I found one *on sale* for $ 190. I went online and they’re even more expensive online. There are certain pots where design can affect the quality of the food, but I don’t think the $ 190 stock pot is going to cook food any better than the $ 60 professional pot from RESCO. I know someone who caters professionally and cooks soup better than everyone in Reno except for maybe a handful of restaurants in town. I asked her what she uses and she said it is a stock pot she got for $ 35 from Costco about a decade ago.
Still, I have bought stuff here, usually when it’s on sale or when I had a discount of some sort.

One of my favorite stores, but beware. They are extremely overpriced, but their products last forever. Around Thanksgiving, they have some of the best items, but they sell out fast. Be prepared to buy at the beginning of November. They do technique classes on Sunday morning which can be great. You get new recipes, a demonstration of their tools, and get to try to the food. Only drawback is depending on the chef it can take way over their allotted hour. Great place to look around and I can’t wait until I can afford more of their more pricey items!

Nice selection of products. Very clean store. Sales clerk could have been more informed about products and more helpful. Didn’t pack/​bag of all the things we bought that carefully. We had to be careful carrying it around while we shopped or it would have all fallen out and probably break.

Went in here to pick up a few items (turkey gravey, cranberry relish and some malt vinegar salt) for Thanksgiving. There weren’t that many customers in here – 6 customers (including me) and 4 sales associates – and this seemed to be more than they could handle. We got in the extremely slow line (all of which were held up while the sales folks got e-​mail addresses from their customers, which the sales associates entered at a snail’s pace). Finally one checker called the customer in front of us over and we made the mistake of following. Well another checker finished (we’d been waiting a total of like 10 – 12 minutes at this point) so we went over to that spot, and right as I got there and put my items on the counter with the checker still facing me the woman turned and wandered back out onto the sales floor. Didn’t even acknowledge we were there. Needless to say we put the items back and walked out.
I like this store, and their products, but this type of customer service is not acceptable. How are they going to manage the holiday rush if they can’t handle 6 customers with 4 sales associates?

I can’t give a store less than five stars when they have Star Wars cookie cutters on sale for 20 dollars, seriously. The S.O. came home with a mid-​afternoon present for me, which included a 9 piece cake decorating piping set! So if you ever need to remember why I’m marrying this man, here is your answer.
STAR WARS COOKIES!!! SQUEEEEEEEEEE!
(Also I own all their LTD cookware, and let me tell you after 25 years it still looks brand new. Uh… wait I’m only 24… OK it was my mom’s that she got for her wedding present. What does THAT tell you, after surviving 25 years of two children and a grown adult who can’t wash dishes very well?! Exactly.)