Sur La Table

Crappy customer service, not helpful at all, doesn’t matter what I write here, they will never read it anyways. They are so by the book when it comes to customer service no flexibility, no wonder they are loosing money, plus they over charge for everything, better off shopping on amazon.con. In fact, I will never shop here again, they sell a bunch of expensive useless crap.

Helped me with Nespresso, which is a great machine. Quick, knowledegeable, excellent customer service.

I had a great cooking class here the week before xmas. The chef (Beatrice) did a great job; inspiring, knowledgeable and informative. Entertaining as well.
Similar experience in the retail store as other reviewers found; the staff is not well trained, things move a bit slow. I would have rated 5 stars if this experience would have been better.
I like what they offer but the information and knowledge of the store people on the products I was interested in (Le Creuset) was poor.

Review for cooking class at Sur La Table: I enjoyed chef Joel. Great focus on technique, overall fun experience. I don’t think I would take another class because the price and the fact that there was not enough hands on work, which I had a feeling would be the case going into the class. I felt at times the instruction was a little fast and I got lost in the process. I wanted to absorb the recipes and at times I was interrupted by a student who felt the need to educate me on the recipes and techniques, which was very annoying, as I wanted to focus on interacting with my boyfriend.
Ingredients were prepped in advanced and essentially the class assembled the dishes. I don’t think it would hurt to incorporate more measuring and chopping into the class. I also was turned off by the upsells of Sur La Table. I understand the strategy but for the price of the class, the upsells are unnecessary. Also, there was no option to bring wine nor was wine offered.
They did a nice sit-​down of the dishes, which was very nice.
It’s an overall fun experience and I appreciated the large portion sizes served. Great activity for couples but be advised that it’s a group activity.

This review is for the cooking classes I’ve taken with Chef Joel Sivils at Sur la table. My husband and I have become hooked on his date night classes, his classes are fun and full of fun facts you get to take home and apply to your every day cooking. He has a great sense of humor and keeps the atmosphere light and enjoyable. He is also very honest about products and what does and doesn’t work. I have purchased several items during each class and have not regretted any of my purchases. Now about the food, I have been using almost every recipe I take home with me and the food comes out fantastic. I highly highly recommend his class.

If you want a good Sur La Table experience, skip the Palo Alto location and drive to Burlingame. I keep giving Palo Alto a chance since I live here, but every time it lets me down. The staff simply can’t be bothered. It seems like they prefer socializing/​helping people they already know — primarily grumpy housewives. The cookware is excellent but you get the same stuff with way better service in Burlingame. The layout is better in Burlingame as well — taller ceilings, better light, room to walk around. In Palo Alto, you feel like you are intruding; in Burlingame you feel welcome.

Sur La Table is a nice store to browse for kitchen supplies. Some of the stuff seems a bit overpriced but there are other items that are priced perfectly fine. They also have some sale items as well.
If you need basics like spatulas, aprons, etc. I would consider Sur La Table.
The staff here is friendly as well.

My first time visiting this store was soured by my interaction (or lack of it) with the store manager. Went in to buy an appliance and as I was paying, showed the cashier an email promotion. There was no obvious expiration date, and the cashier didn’t even know when the promotion had ended. Turns out I had missed it by a day (which is completely fine), but the cashier was nice and said that she would ask the manager if she could still apply it.
Manager came out, took one look at me, and said «no she can’t have it.» He didn’t even bother to smile or talk to me directly… just talked to the cashier as if I was not standing there. I wasn’t expecting the discount, but the rude customer service from a manager no less was inexcusable.
The one redeeming quality was the very friendly staff at the Nespresso bar. But there are other stores in the area that offer a more pleasant shopping experience.

A bit congested, but it has everything you need, stuff you didn’t know you need, and cool stuff that I still cannot imagine anyone «needs»

I’ve been a SLT regular for years. Mostly the one at the Embarcadero in SF. A friend of mine set up a pasta cooking class for her mom’s bday. The chef and her team were fantastic! Highly recommend it.
Now… costumer service @ front of the store… oh boy.
Rude, uninterested, argumentative, not knowledgeable of their own policies and bottom line… just a nasty attitude.

I came back in here to do some holiday shopping only to encounter a horrendous exchange between an older female sales associate and a customer. The sales associate was insisting that the customer requested the wrong item and loudly berated and corrected her for saying she wanted a «grill pan“instead of a «cast iron grill pan.» The customer was humiliated and walked out the door with her husband.
Service and training is severely lacking in here. I needed to pick up some tea related items and I was sent all over the store. The items are constantly misplaced.
Sadly this is the closest store to me when I need baking supplies since Williams Sonoma does not carry a hefty selection of baking goods.

The other day I went in to Sur La Table for some kitchen items.
The first thing that I recalled from my many trips here is that this is the kind of place that when you do not need help everyone is asking if they can help you and buzzing around you, but when you really need someone they all are averting their eyes and running for cover.
The other thing is that their checkout lines are the slowest most inefficient efforts I’ve ever seen anywhere. They will have 2 registers and as many or more people in the checkout «island», but they will be holding everyone back while they talk and do the informing they should be doing out in the store, holding everyone up and generally moving slow as a snail in molasses.
The thing I needed was some gaskets for my stovetop espresso coffeemaker. I really love those things and they are hundreds if not thousands less than the big fancy espresso makers and the coffee is superb, a real best buy. I like the little things that are great and serve a good purpose. As I was looking through the coffeemaker stuff I chanced to overhear someone who was in the adjacent juicer section talking to one of the staff.
The customer asked the staffer what kind of juicer he would recommen. The staffer without hestitation or giving any information went right to the most expensive juicer they had. I felt bad for this helpless guy … soon to be victim, so I turned to him and give him a quick primer on juicers.
1. Two kinds, centrifugal and masticating.
2. Centrifugals are very loud, enough to harm your ears and wake the dead and will mix more air in with your juice which oxidizes the vitamins more so the juice is not as good and cannot be stored as long, but they are usually less expensive.
3. Masticating juicers squeeze the juice out of the produce slowly using a kind screwing action. They are slow and quiet and do not introduce air into the juice, but they cost a little more in general though the prices have come down.
4. One of the biggest factors in a juice and whether you will use it or not is how easy it cleans up, because who wants to spend 20 minutes washing fruit and veg, cutting them and then make juice and spend 20 minutes scrubbing and rinsing the juicer.
Sur La Table has a lot of interesting kitchen stuff and I guess they have cooking classes too (which I have never attended so I cannot comment on) but they are the most high priced place for this stuff, and they do not have really good customer service or knowledge of their inventory.
Something is just off about this place, like they have a store, and that is it, they do not care or think about customer service in the contemporary sense that we see in most other top notch stores that endear themselves to you. Sur La Table seems to almost get a kick out of going the other way to irritate their customers and make you feel like you are really bothering them.
I go to this place when I need to, and if I have no other option I will pay the twice or more the price of online or some other places, but I don’t like this chain or the people who pretend to work there.

I went today into the store to get a present for Christmas and I did, I asked the cashier if they could wrapped for me, they said yes, but they have to charge me 5 dollars for it (all the stores around them do it for free). When I saw the way the wrapped I was really disappointed, all the tape was showing and it didn’t even had a nice style.
I talked to the cashier and share my feelings, she just look at me like I was crazy.
The worse attitude I have ever seen in USA.

I wanted to love this place, I should love this place especially being a self proclaimed kitchen gadget freak, but the store itself is so small and cramped with merchandise that I was becoming irritated because I didn’t know where the simple espresso mugs were.
So confession time here: I am a former Williams Sonoma retail associate. I may be so used to my former place of employment that I quickly jumped into having an instant bias and didn’t give this place a shot.
That being said, 10 minutes in the store and my attempt to locate Bodum espresso mugs was an obvious bust, I gave in and asked an associate for assistance. I shouldn’t have to wait for someone to ask me if I needed assistance but that’s another gripe for another time.

Just bought a set of ScanPan brand cookware and it appears to be very good quality. The staff at Sur La Table were very helpful, knowledgeable and courteous. Ask questions and they give you answers. The scan pan brand has a good lifetime warranty and the design looks great. Sur la table has lots of good items for the kitchen and the prices are not too bad. Will definitely continue to shop here.

If it wasn’t so dang expensive I would shop here all of the time. Unfortunately, the prices are way higher than what I could find easily online. I do like the staff, though. They also have a large selection of good gift ideas for home chefs. I come in regularly to visit the Nespresso bar. That staff is really friendly and helpful for choosing the coffee pods. I wish that I didn’t have to wait around in the line so long every time, but it is kind of like a wine tasting experience. I haven’t taken a class here, but I certainly see that being a possibility in the future. They look really fun!

I needed a few things for the kitchen and since I was so close, decided to stop in. This is a very dark and cluttered store. Unless you want a coffee pot you’ll need help to find anything. Some items are tucked away, almost piled on the floor. The less glitzy (big mark up) the harder it will be to find.
So, after I have everything ready for check out, the only cashier was busy with an order. That took about 15 minutes. I just stand there wondering if there is anyone else in the store… I guess I should have asked but I was right there, she could have had someone come to the cash register at any time. When I am finally paying (escaping), a second cashier shows up and asks me to move so he can help someone else. Both cashiers had real attitudes.
Thanks for making me feel like a chump. Won’t return.

It is Dungeness Crab season once again and I was looking to replace my real cheap 16 quart aluminum stock pot from Smart & Final with a real nice stainless steel one! It had served me well for two crab seasons, but with my glass stove top I practically had to shake it to get the burners to acknowledge it was there! Not a good ideal with large amounts of hot liquid.
I shopped around on the net and found Sur La Table had a sale on a very nice stainless steel one! I printed out the ad with the sale price and drove here after work.
It is quite a place in the upscale Town and Country shopping center, but I must admit like some of the other Unilocaler’s customer service can really be hit or miss. One sales person behind the counter would not even make eye contact with me. She gave me that ‘if we ignore the customers, maybe they will go away’ attitude.
On the other hand the people at the Nespresso corner (Nestle’s version of K-​Kup) were extremely friendly, but I have a personal caffeine curfew of 1:00 PM., so as very nice and engaging as they were, no free samples that late in the evening!
There seemed to be an older lady that appeared to own the place, I was going to tell her I was there to actually buy something or a few somethings if I could get someone to wait on me.
Then a very friendly chubby Asian gal came to my rescue and I showed her the print out of the item I wanted to by and she cheerfully came from the back with my new stainless steel stock pot at the price advertised on sale.
I was so happy to FINALLY get some true customer service we went looking for a cordless hand blender and a few other items I need for the kitchen.
Nice store, sort of eclectic layout, and but not so good customer service.

For what is a very popular establishment rivaling Wiliams Sonoma, Sur La Table serves up some of the finest cooking, baking, and kitchen tools out there. While many folks can resort to cheaper options by going online, seeking outlets, or restaurant supply stores, you can’t get the quality of service and warranty that Sur La Table provides. As I found out, they offer a complete satisfaction warranty, and it helped me exchange my Bodum french press for a bigger one.
The problem I have is with this particular location in the Town and Country shopping center. The center is typically packed with pedestrians and cars, that the average shopper will spend too much time trying to get in and out of this place. While I understand this is the fault of the developer and being next to El Camino Real, it stands as a deterrent for shoppers, unless they have time to shop. As for the location, I find their cooking classes to be overpriced, and probably tiered for local Los Altos or Palo Alto residents who have a great deal of time on their hands.
If you haven’t ever visited a Sur La Table, check it out. Do take your time to look at their brands and the craftsmanship behind a number of the pots and pans. I find it to be all equally interesting, and fun to check out. Who knows, the staff may even offer you a free coffee sample while you’re waiting, as they did to me.

I’ve never been a huge Sur La Table person, but mainly because I remember my Mum dragging me here as a teen…
I go here because Nespresso happens to be within their 4 walls.
But, I had a gift card given to me about 18 months and decided it was time to put it in use. I was appalled by the lack of service here — I was looking at some kitchen instruments very near the staff room room, and no less than five employees walked by me without a word.
I was just about to give up when a young man (Adam, I believe is his name) not only helped me find the rolling pins, but also was able to explain the differences and which would be best for gluten free baking. He steered me away from a more expensive one towards a silicone one, and then explained how to properly clean it, as well. If I could give 5 stars just for this employee, I would.
Also, minus a star for selling the soda stream (4 models, last I looked) but only selling two flavours of mix ins. Really? But bonus for another employee for telling me to look at Bed Bath and Beyond for them if I didn’t want to buy them on the SLT website.
I’ll be back for more coffee from Nespresso. But I doubt I’ll buy anything else here unless I see Adam again.