Joni Sare

I booked a class with Joni as a birthday present for my boyfriend. We had a really fantastic experience!
Before reaching out to Joni, I researched cooking classes in the Bay Area extensively. I chose to go with Joni because she 1) could customize our menu, 2) was available at the times we needed (even though it was a Saturday night!) 3) was reasonably priced and 4) had great reviews!
Joni and I spoke before I booked the class, and she explained how everything worked. She was very accommodating and flexible towards all our preferences.
Leading up to the our cooking class, Joni and I traded emails on the menu, materials and equipment we needed .We chose to do the grocery shopping ourselves, and Joni was very organized and detailed in letting us know what to buy
On the day of, Joni was a very detailed, patient and enthusiastic teacher! She taught us everything from knife skills, to kitchen hygiene, to how to prepare chicken in 3 different ways. She also stayed an hour and a half longer than we had originally booked. She clearly wanted to ensure we had the best and most complete experience possible.
I would highly recommend Joni!

My boyfriend and I had a wonderful lesson with Chef Joni over the Jul 4 weekend. She was willing to accommodate us even though we arranged the lesson pretty last minute (only 2 days before).
She was very responsive when we were arranging our class, and suggested a great menu when I mentioned that we wanted a class on fish.
She went through a revision of basic knife skills with us, corrected our knife handling and posture. She also taught us how to spot freshness of fish, the different techniques to cooking fish, as well as how to build flavors.
She was patient, well organized, and very knowledgeable. Highly recommended! :)

I was looking into a private chef to come for my birthday party and came across Joni and Zamorra. They did a three course dinner with a demonstration on each item for 13 guests held at my house. They were very professional and really took a great deal of time to prep and prepare this. They tailored the menu to my liking and communicated throughout the whole process. When they arrived the presentation was phenomenal, all of my friends were ranting and raving about the chefs and their food quality. They made the experience very interactive and engaging. It was a great time and experience that was very memorable for all of us. I would recommend them to anyone looking to host a large or intimate party at their home.

I can’t recommend Joni highly enough! Her food is delicious and healthy. Yes that combination is possible! She catered a dinner party I was at; the meal was so good that I reached out to her for more. What a treat that was … to have a week’s worth of dinners delivered on a Monday morning. Next up … Joni’s coming to my kitchen to cook with me and the kids. Maybe I’ll finally learn how to chop veggies with something other than a steak knife!

Joni came over to our house for a private cooking lesson, because we are novices in this household. It was excellent, fun, and informative. She taught us how to make 4 dishes, both range and oven, and many techniques along the way. Immediately after, we sat down to a nice dinner of what we had just created, and it was just fantastic. Joni was a pleasure, and I’m very glad we decided to give it a shot!
Highly recommended!

I have taken private cooking lessons with Joni over the past year. She is a wonderful teacher. I started out with only basic skills and with her instruction was able to go off and expand on my knowledge with the foundation she provided. She is very flexible and can work with most diets and eating lifestyles. I came in letting her know I wanted to learn how to cook basically from the basics but more importantly, being an engineer, I wanted to know the WHYs of cooking, not just the HOWS. She walked me through technique, steps of each dish as well as explaining why we were doing it the way we were and how doing it differently would change the way the food turned out. EXACTLY what I was looking for.
I plan on taking lessons again down the road but I HIGHLY recommend Joni no matter what your skill level.

Joni was gracious to do a private cooking event for my team and our experience could not have been any better. Joni was extremely flexible with our schedules, dietary restrictions, and varying levels of expertise. Making delicious, healthy food together in a kitchen was a great team bonding experience that really helped bring us all together. I know it will not be the last she sees of myself or my coworkers.

Joni was a guest speaker for two of the weight management classes I teach. Her presentations were both interesting and informative. Joni brought in a box of vegetables and taught participants about different types of produce and the variety of ways they could be cooked. Her passion for healthy cooking and living was clearly evident by her energy level and engagement with the class participants.
Prior to the presentation I corresponded to Joni about handouts and recipe modifications for class participants. She was extremely responsive and accommodating to tailoring the handouts to meet the needs and knowledge level of the participants.

Joni’s food is super healthy AND tastes delicious. There are so many foods I thought I didn’t like, but that I loved after Joni prepared them! Plus, she has a ton of unique and easy recipes. She’e super knowledgeable and a great chef! I highly recommend her!