Napoli Culinary Academy

After reading the negative reviews below I was expecting the worst on our Italian dinner night. I’m happy to say the opposite happened. My wife, 13 year old son and I had a great time.
Chefs Hassi and Mercedes were great. They did make fun of everything and everyone at one time or another. My family laughed a lot, and so did everyone else. It was almost dinner and a show all in one.
Yes, it did start a little slow as people came in late. You can take advantage of this time to talk to the people around you and enjoy a glass of wine. Everyone around us was very nice.
It is a demo class that works it’s way into the kitchen where three teams prepare the meal. Our group split into appetizer, main course, and dessert teams. Everyone had something to do and the interaction was pretty funny. The food was good. It has to be simple enough to demonstrate, then cook in the time allowed. We’ve already used the soup recipe at home. It’s very simple, quick, and tasty. Just what we need as a busy family.
A lot of the good cooking information and technique comes through during the back forth with the chefs. They answer all the questions and show how much they really enjoy cooking when they get into the details.
I recommend it as a fun night out for couples or a group. We are going back for Thai night.

As a gift, my girlfriend bought us Groupons to attend a pizza-​making class at Napoli. We’re pizza lovers, and we were excited to learn how to make our own pies at home. When we entered the place, we admired the décor and discussed how it might be fun to come back at a future date for a meal. However, the experience took a dark turn early on when we raised our hands to the instructor’s inquiry, «Are there any vegetarians here?»
We thought he was asking out of courtesy, or perhaps to provide some culinary tips for making a veg pizza even yummier. Instead, he spent the next hour-​plus continuously making fun of us as he demonstrated making different types of pizza, suggesting that all vegetarians sneak tastes of pepperoni when no one is looking, deriding the veg pepperoni we’d sneaked in to top our own pizzas, smirking at us every time he mentioned pepperoni and sausage, and at times literally waving pieces of meat in our faces. He also managed to created an environment in which other attendees felt comfortable joining in making fun of us.
We did our best to smile and nod at first, then to simply avoid eye contact, but he either didn’t notice our discomfort or didn’t care. We felt like we were stuck in the front row of a second-​rate amateur-​comedy night, targeted for no apparent reason by an angry hack comic. We ended up sneaking out when it was time for people to stand up and start making their own pizzas.
Disrespectful mockery aside, the class was pretty interesting, and I think we came away with some good ideas of how to toss dough and make pizzas, calzones, and the like. But I’d be hard-​pressed to recommend this place — and judging by the negative reviews here on Unilocal,people have had other issues with this academy. Enroll at your own risk.

Loved the class — yes, there is a demo and then your group makes each course — we had a fabulous time as did the other 26 guests — going back with more people next time —

Here as I type for the 3 course Italian, Russian, and Italian class. As previous patrons mentioned, this was advertised as a COOKING class and it was NOT! This was a demo class and NOT what I was expecting. Seriously disappointed and would not recommend.
All ingredients were prepared ahead of time, no actual cooking involved.
Purchased 2 Groupons and will be complaining tomorrow morning. Advertised incorrectly, too many people in «class,» expensive for what was paid for, I could go on.
Started to turn off lights at the end and couldn’t even see what was happening. So disappointed!

Went with my girlfriend to a cooking class. We arrived at 5:30 but class didn’t start until 6:15. Class consisted of an instructor demonstrating how to cook each of the 3 dishes for the night. At 7:45 we were divided into teams of 3. 10 in each team where we cooked each dish. We didn’t sit down to eat until close to 8:30. Food was ok. Recipes given for us to take home did not match instructions given during class. This class was a waste of time.

This place is a joke. They call themselves an accredited college, and that is not true. Their numbers are inaccurate (probably fudged on purpose to make themselves look good) and going here would be an absolute waste of time, money and energy.

I dined at the Café Napoli restaurant with a friend last year – she had already been there several times, and while we were there talked to Mercedes about the cooking classes. While she was friendly and the food was decent, my experience with this place since that time has not been good.
My friend decided to buy gift certificates for my adult son (although she probably described him as a «kid,» he was 19 when she gave them to him at Christmas) and on a subsequent visit, purchased two $ 30 gift certificates for him for cooking classes that he could attend. I know she was thinking he could go to one and take a friend. He is very busy with working and attending college, and being a older teenage boy, is an accomplished procrastinator. I encouraged him to sign up for a class several times, and ultimately he told me there wasn’t a class available that he was interested in attending. Luckily he didn’t sign up, because the class was MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE than I knew (see below).
So I took the certificates in and asked if I could trade them for a normal gift certificate so he could at least use them to dine there. Even though Mercedes was again very friendly, and she assured me «we could work something out,» I am very disappointed in Café Napoli and its staff. I was told I had to speak to Penny, but I never received a phone call back from her after leaving a hand-​written message. Out of exasperation, I sent in a request via their web site, and specifically asked to trade the class certificates for a dining certificate. The message I received back was no real answer – all it did was reassure me that I could use the «vouchers» even though there is an «expired» date at the bottom.
So, I went in AGAIN, today, in person, and the man at the front was extremely condescending to me. He said they are not vouchers (I showed him the word used in the reply email to me) but gift certificates, he can’t compare «apples to oranges» and his computer system would not allow him to trade them in. After he insulted me by complaining that I had waited until the «last minute» to try to fix the problem, I told him I had been trying since before the certificates «expired» to get an answer (which was over two months). I also informed him that legally, gift certificates cannot expire in the State of California. He then insulted me again by telling me he had just explained that to me. He had not.
He told me that the certificates were to encourage cooking education, and that trading them for a dining gift certificate would defeat the purpose (not really his business or decision). He then asked me why I didn’t just use them, and I said they were a gift to my son that was not working out, and he said that seemed to be an «internal problem within your (my own) organization» as he laughed at me. So inflexible. So condescending. This is not a huge company that has computer limitations – from what I can tell, it’s a family business that just wants your money and doesn’t care whether you get anything in return.
THE KICKER (that I didn’t realize and that my friend did not, as well) is that the classes are actually $ 156.00 PER PERSON and that the $ 30.00 per person gift certificate obligates the user (in my son’s case, a low-​income user) to an additional $ 252.00 just to use them. If this had been adequately explained to my friend that bought them as a gift, I know she wouldn’t have bought them.
I will not go back. I will not deal with these condescending, inflexible cheats that practice horrific customer service again. BUYER BEWARE.

This review is only for the first hour of a cooking class. I was not impressed and did not enjoy myself, so I left early. I came for the 3 course class. I’ve never been to a cooking class before and have practically no experience. So I paid for this class with the hopes I would actually learn something… unfortunately, that didn’t happen.
First of all, don’t pay full price for the class ($ 150). Buy a groupon for $ 30. Just be warned, you will be charged an additional $ 6 gratuity that groupon doesn’t mention. Also, I recommend going with a SA or friends. I was the only person there who was by myself and felt like the odd man out.
For the first 20 minutes or so, you sit there doing nothing. This guy goes around slowly to get everyone’s drink, which is included in the price. It was very quiet and boring.
Then the «teacher» came out. Her name was Mercedes. She explained that she was subbing for the original teacher who was out sick. So the demonstration begins. It’s very dark first of all, which isn’t good when you need to see what’s going on, but it turns out, it didn’t matter, because there wasn’t any real teaching going on.
Here is some of what I experienced:
1. The teacher didn’t pronounce the ingredients, like ricotta, marinara, etc., the Italian way. It’s just a little detail that annoys me, especially since it’s an Italian restaurant/​school.
2. She didn’t do the demo herself, she had volunteers do it. If I had known this would be the case, I wouldn’t have spent hard earned money on this «class».
3. After the first guy made the minestrone soup for example, we all had to taste what he had made. I wasn’t interested in tasting it, but I did anyways, because I could tell Mercedes would single me out and make a big deal out of it, if I didn’t.
4. She didn’t specify amounts/​measurements and kept saying «It doesn’t matter, you’re making it for your personal tastes.» Well for someone who has practically no experience, I need a little more guidance than that.
5. She was trying to be funny, but I didn’t find her to be funny at all. She told us not to look at the recipes that had just been placed in front of us, she said she didn’t care if there were vegetarians or people watching their salt intake, and she intentionally separated a son from his father when it came time to go into groups, etc. all in an attempt to be funny. Others were laughing though, so maybe I was the only one that didn’t care for her style of humor.
6. She kept telling people to add more ingredients and then make fun of them when they added too much, etc., but never once stated how much to put in to begin with. She was also putting people on the spot, making fun of the older people, etc. For one older volunteer, she used physical force to «help» him put his ingredients into to the bowl, by grabbing onto his wrist. She even made the poor guy get on his knees to demonstrate that the cannoli mixture was stirred enough by turning the bowl upside down over his head. As an older gentleman, it was hard for him to get back up.
7. This is the part of the class when i just decided enough is enough. After the volunteer finished the cannoli mixture, Mercedes went up to a few people and squirted a bit of it from the piping bag, onto their (unwashed) hands to taste. Now since we didn’t have any plates or utensils, they were forced to lick it off their hands. Gross.
Come on, there has got to be a better way. I like the idea of what they’re tying to accomplish, but it’s just executed horribly. I thought the whole demonstration was one big unprofessional joke and I got absolutely nothing out of it. This may be a typical cooking class experience, I don’t know, but it’s definitely not my thing and I won’t go back to this establishment. Now granted, for all I know once everyone got into the kitchen, it may have become more class-​like and some learning may have actually happened, so that’s why I’m giving 2 stars instead of 1. But based on other reviews, I highly doubt it.

This is my second cooking class here and I love it! I’ve done an Italian class and pizza making class so far and I can’t wait to sign up for the next one! Hassi is so entertaining and educational, and Mercedes is a wonderful teacher as well! Rene was a student at the academy and he is so helpful and fun to talk to! I don’t know the names of all the people here but really they were all so fun. I’m looking forward to my next class!

Paid $ 19 each on Groupon for two Pizza Making classes for «surprise date night.» The ad said $ 100 value. Went to calendar to book the class and found no available dates. WTH? There was also another charge of $ 5 per person. I signed up for the waiting list. I received an email stating spots had opened up and when I went to book the classes, the $ 5 charge was gone (good) but the class price was $ 156! So in addition to the $ 19 Groupon, I’d owe an additional $ 56 EACH person. None of that was disclosed in the ad for the Groupon. Had to request a refund and now looking for new surprise date night things to do.
Extremely poor business ethic to 1) not have enough class spots for the number of Groupons sold & 2) raise the price after Groupons are described/​sold. Shame on Napoli Culinary.

This place is great!
Whether it is for a cooking class or to eat lunch or dinner, it doesn’t get much better for the price. Mercedes was the instructor and she is very personable and friendly. There were about 32 people in the class which made it a little difficult because there wasn’t much room to see or cook. They said a last minute birthday party had called and they couldn’t deny them. Good for the birthday girls but sucked for my group I guess.
Many people would have probably given Napoli less but I have been back twice for lunch and it was great. Mercedes had been there both time to cook my meal and it was superb. I ordered the hummus which is a favorite of mine there. Mecedes makes the hummus from scratch! Best hummus I have had. I also had the combo kabob meal. This was good but could be better. No complaints though for the price. $ 4.95 for the koobideh and $ 6.95 for the chicken. $ 9.95 for the combo. They also have burgers, pastas and salads on a somewhat limited but delicious menu.
The Bad and reason for 4 instead of 5 stars
If it wasn’t for Mercedes, I probably would have given Napoli 3 stars.
Back to the reason…
1^st– there were just too many people in the class. There were too many helping out at first with the cooking and although they were required to wash their hands, they would do other thing after washing their hands which wasn’t very sanitary. One lady would keep touching her hair and then the food. Another would touch her phone and other things and then touch the food. The only clean part was the guy who was wearing gloves only because he was mixing the raw meat.
2^nd– I had to work with this big guy who must have been missing his bottom teeth because he looked like he had bitter beer face. His name was CHUCK. He kept drinking his beer which made his face look even more bitter. He couldn’t hear, he thought he knew everything about cooking, yet he said he never cooks at home, he acted like he knew what authentic pancit should taste like and every tried telling me about soy sauce like I had never even seen the ingredient before. Really CHUCK? I think I know more about soy sauce than you. well maybe not since you know everything. To make matters worse Mercedes told the groups to try their sauce and of course CHUCK takes a spoon and tastes it. That was fine and all but then he goes back a second and third time with the same spoon retesting the sauce. WTF CHUCK??? He also smelled bad which isn’t good when combined with cooking. It’s a shame that one person can make or break your experience in a cooking class here. Oh well
«BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME». LOL

I just finished the 3 course chinese cooking class, and it was so much fun! The instructor was great and kept the class interesting and upbeat. I just signed up for another class (pizza making) and can’t wait to go back!

Very sad that this company is probably wonderful, but has absolutely no customer service. Whoever manages communications is rude, defensive and derisive. Never even got to a class. Had to go through Groupon for a refund. What a disappointment!

UPDATE: I never did go to the class. Nasty Penny emailed me about 2 weeks before I was set to take the class demanding to know why I was on the calendar twice in one week and that I had to pick one date, I could not have both. Gee… Penny, you’re the only one that has control of the calendar… how predictable for you to blame me for it. I passed on the whole thing. I’m pretty sure I would have been livid if I had run into Penny at the place, so I was saving my blood pressure a spike.

I purchased a groupon for my roommate and I to attend the 3-​course Italian class. I cannot stop talking about how much fun it was! The demonstration was interactive and they were cracking jokes the whole time. The soup was delicious, the chicken marsala was to die for and those cannolis! So good!
This class is great for groups or also just attending by yourself. They pair you up into 3 groups so it a great opportunity to get to know one another and interact with your fellow classmates.
They make it very clear that all booking must be made through their online reservation system. The classes filled up fast and I actually had to book all the way out into February 2015 in order to get the class we wanted. Luckily, there was a last minute cancellation and 2 spots opened up for the class this past weekend. make sure you sign up for waiting list alerts just in case!
The online system could use a little updating but anyone with common sense can figure it out. (It’s pretty self explanatory!)
I cannot wait to check out the other classes. I have already recommended it to several people and I will be back!

We had such a great time, at first the 3 hour comitment seemed crazy, but the time went fast.
The chef was awesome and clearly loved what he did.
I completely recommend this place and will schedule another class soon

Bought the Groupon mid July and decided to take the Pizza making class 8÷16÷14. First off, i never had to deal with a Penny Ryan, I just followed Groupons instructions and booked my reservation through Napoli’s online platform. Very easy and simple. Penny only emailed me a day before to politely remind me that i made a reservation for the next day.
Not sure how their other classes are but the Pizza Making class was awesome! everyone gets to make their own personal pizza, stuffed pizza, calzone, or stromboli topped with fresh homemade ingredients and delicious homemade sauce. One free wine or beer is also included while you watch the head chef prepare all the pizza options and then you get to sample them afterwards. You will not leave hungry and everyone I saw was leaving with leftovers.
Thank you Napoli for a great experience and cheers to CDhef Hassi and Mercedes for making the night special :)

I purchased the Livingsocial for this class and from the date of purchase this was nothing but a nightmare. As many, many, MANY other reviewers have noted, Penny is a FREAKING NIGHTMARE. From her very first email she is abrupt, rude, dismissive, condescending… so many terrible adjectives for one woman. Beyond that, scheduling was unbelievably difficult, made even more trying due to the fact that you have to go through Penny. I can’t stress enough — this woman was one of the WORST customer service experiences I have had the joy to deal with. To the point of me attempting to find out if I could just get my money back and scrap the whole thing (no such luck). If she’s not related to the owner somehow, I have no idea how she still has a job.
The class itself was ok. We arrived 15 minutes early as DEMANDED by Penny as A MUST. And then we proceeded to wait for THIRTY MINUTES past the start time. When he finally did start, he proceeded to heckle me, in front of the entire class, for being visibly irritated with him. Seriously? I was less than amused.
If it hadn’t been for all of the terrible customer service before and during the actual class, I may have been more impressed. As it stands, I wish I had taken that $ 50 and gone to a delicious dinner somewhere and not dealt with the attitude.
(Oh, and if you’re paying full price for this, you’re a fool. Not worth it AT ALL)

This place is great! I know some of the other folks that left reviews had a bad experience, but I had a blast. I had a Groupon for the Italian cooking class. We made cream of brocoli soup, chicken marsala, and canoli for dessert.
First we were seated and given a free glass of wine (wohoo), then the chef gave us a super fun cooking demo showing us how to make each course and he even got help from the audience! He let us taste everything he made, then split us into 3 groups and sent us to the kitchen.
Each group had about 10 people. In our groups we split up into even smaller groups– first course, main course, dessert. We cooked everything, which surprised me bcause some of the other reviews said that they only heated up the dinner. We pounded the chicken, breaded it, cooked it, and made the sauce and everything else. The only thing we didn’t cook was the canoli shell which was from a local grocery store; we did however make the filling.
I highly recomend this place. Yes, you do have to make your reservation months in advance, but IT IS WORTH IT! Oh and the mandatory $ 5 tip other reviewers complained about is totally no big deal. Of course the hard working chefs and servers deserve a tip! I actually left more than that because I had such a great time.
Oh and I forgot to mention that the two other chefs that help are a hoot! Mercedes in particular is hilarious!
So go, have fun, and learn how to make some great food! You will not be hungry when you leave!

My fiancé bought four tickets via Groupon for her family and I to attend a cooking class here, and we had a great time. The chefs were very personable, helpful, friendly, and entertaining. I highly recommend going.
We enjoyed learning from academy director Hassi Sadri the most, and my fiancé’s sister Theresa expressed interest in the academy. Hassi was kind enough to sit down with us and go over some of the finer points about cooking and restaurant management. He is a very nice man, and I feel that the entire staff was friendly. I am looking forward to my next trip there, where I hope to take a class in learning how to create and customize my own pizza.
Best,
Jose