ITK Culinary

I have been to 2 birthday parties here, and my daughter and her friend went to summer camp at ITK for a week. The birthday parties were so much fun for the kids. The food was great and the kids had a blast! Summer camp was also wonderful. The girls learned a lot and tried new food each day.

Truly ZERO stars!!! For a present my husband was gifted a Knife Skills class. He signed up, paid and showed up tonight only to see locked doors and no one anywhere. If the class was cancelled he should have received a notice, but nothing.
This is SO UNPROFESSIONAL. I have mom and pop shops run out of people’s homes that are more organized.
Please go somewhere else if you don’t want your time wasted.

My mom and I took the Campania class with Doug last Friday and had a blast! Doug is fun and a great teacher. We learned how to make pasta from scratch as well as how to make a couple Italian dishes. My mom doesn’t usually like to cook because she isn’t good at it, but she loved the class and wants to take more. We’re excited to come back again!

I bought a LivingSocial deal for ITK Culinary and had a horrible experience.
1^st attempt — The deal expired on April 5, so I tried to schedule the April 5^th Taverna Dining class for my boyfriend and me only to be told that I could only use the paid value. Understanding that this is a small business, I let it go. However, when I tried to sign up using Eventbrite there was no option to add the paid value. After asking for assistance, Doug was of no help.
2^nd attempt — I decided to try again. When I went on Eventbrite, there was no option to deduct the paid value. I emailed Doug for help. No response again. I emailed the email they list on their website two days later and never received a response.
3^rd attempt — Man, I just really wanted to cook, and I really wanted all of this to have been a mistake. So, I tried again to sign up for their Spanish Tapas class. Once again, no response.
I understand mistakes happen, but man, I have zero desire to give ITK another chance.
On a much happier, my boyfriend and I recently took a class at San Francisco Cooking School. Although it was more expensive, the class was fantastic, the food was delicious, and the customer service was impeccable.

I bought an ITK cooking class through TravelZoo as a birthday gift for my friend. Our schedules matched up for us to take an Indian class (Curries x3)-yum!
The class was different than I expected but I still enjoyed it. You break into groups and choose one dish to make. I thought we would be making the whole meal, but realistically that would take forever. I ended up burning my dish (oops) but the teachers/​chefs were really helpful and got my dish right back onto track and it turned out delicious!
Bring a bottle of wine to enjoy with your dinner. If you forget, you can always buy one or two from the bar that’s next door. Also, there’s leftovers for the class so bring tupperware if you want lunch for the next day!
All in all, I learned that it is so worth it to go out to eat for Indian food ;) For the record, I would totally take another ITK class.

Very disappointed with the vietnamese cooking class that was offered this evening… the entire session was complete chaos. Very little instruction was given, with only a brief explanation of possibly one or two ingredients for each dish. I didnt pay for the cooking class to read a recipe and make it, I could do that from home! Plus… The recipes were not clear or complete… considering it didnt even say how to make a peanut sauce for the spring rolls. In addition there was not enough supplies and there were too many people per station, which led to problems with everyone not really even being able to see what was going on and the instructor spending half his time looking for supplies. I had hopes for a wonderful evening out in which I would also learn something new to cook, but was definitely let downby itk!

Me and my friend took a Peruvian cooking class yesterday and had so much fun. The instructor was amazing as well as the food we cooked. I’m a novice in the kitchen but felt totally at ease here. They give you the recipes to take home so I’m excited to try them on my own. We’re definitely going to take more classes here.

Nice thing to do with a friend or family member. I took my 11 year old son who liked it more than he thought he would.
There were about 20 people in the class and the owner started out by explaining all the dishes we would be preparing. Then we divided ourselves into groups to prepare a dish. It was a little haphazard, but in the end, if you made an effort you could pretty much try your hand at any dish. That said, the end results were a little inconsistent, depending on who cooked what. I’d give the class another star but thought it was a bit pricy at $ 98 per person.

This place was super fun and I learned a couple useful tricks in the kitchen. The staff was great and instruction was ideal for beginners and those with above average kitchen experience. We had the seafood menu which had muscles, seafood chowder, shrimp scampy, sole and butterscotch pudding. Surprisingly, everything came out pretty good and no one got injured! I would for sure come back for another visit.

Don’t buy this deal! It was given to me as a gift, I tried to use it online and it didn’t work, I tried calling no one would ever return my phone calls. From my experience and other reviews I’ve read here this seems like a very poorly run business.

This is an interesting cooking school. I liked it. We had fun. But what I didn’t like was that there were way too many people so 3 or 4 people were assigned to each dish. Basically it works out that one person has enough to do (per dish) and everyone else can just watch. I’d like a smaller class. That said — the food was good and it was still fun. I would take another one if there was something particularly yummy, but otherwise might try somewhere else.

Attended a cooking class last night, part of their Healthy Cooking Series of classes. It was outstanding. Great setting, great teacher and assistants. They were there to answer any questions we encountered.
Started off by learning what we would be cooking —
Grilled Romaine salad
Quinao Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
Butternut Squash Bisque (no cream, but Coconut Milk — Yum)
Poached Salmon
Roasted Carrot Purée
Apple Oatmeal Crisp
Doug explained all of the dishes, got to work in any dish and all of them. Best part, eating our creations. Great time. I have made a couple if the dishes and friends love it. Highly recommend.

I wish I can give this ZERO stars. I was given a letter of apology and rescheduled class to take. I come today and literally in the parking lot writing this review instead of being in class. Why? Because I was again here all the way from San Jose to show up to an empty locked class. The calendar they post in their window even shows that there is supposed tone a class today but NO ONE is present.
DO NOT COME HERE!!!
I was stood up TWICE and wasted time and gas to get here. I tried giving the owner a second chance yet this is what happens. They have lost my trust and business forever and I hope no one will book a class here or they’ll end up in my shoes. I’ve been deceived… learn from me and don’t come here.

I attended the Vegetarian Cooking class at ITK this past Sunday. It was a class of 13 which meant that ~2 students had to pair up for each station (dish). I did the curry cauliflower soup which turned out fairly well and the class had a nice meal together when it was all over. Doug was an energetic and knowledgeable teacher and I enjoyed the cooking class experience. I’m not sure I became a better cook after the class but I did come away with some good recipes to make the next time I host a dinner party.
Tips: You won’t be cooking all of the dishes listed in the course. You’ll pick one to cook alongside other students. So pick your favorite!

My friend and I came to ITK for the Savuer French Country Classics class. The place was a little bit hard to find, but it was an easy jaunt from the city and there was a decent amount of free parking which is always nice.
We had about 14 people in our class which was a good size – it might have been nicer if it were just a tad smaller, because it seemed a little bit crowded. However, that’s a minor gripe because the people in the class were friendly and everyone was at a similar cooking level.
One thing that was a little bit lame was that the wrong recipes were in our bag. This was explained to us ahead of time, and at the end of the day we got bonus recipes, but it would have been nice if our recipes were in there as well.
One thing i liked was that they had different herb plants growing outside, so if you needed a certain fresh herb, you can just go trim it off the plant. I apologize for I may have hacked up their rosemary plant, but it’s hearty… it will grow back.
We ended up on the meat station for our dish, the set up was similar to other classes I’d taken where each dish is prepared by a few people. It was a little bit hard because we didn’t go exactly by the recipe so I felt like I had to ask a lot of questions.
At the end of the class everyone sits together to enjoy the meal. I can happily say that everything was delicious and that I learned some tips and tricks from the class that I would use at home.
I probably wouldn’t cook the exact meal we had by myself because it would take forever, but it was a good meal if you have all hands on deck.
I would totally come back and take another class. I got the Travelzoo vouchers so it was discounted, and I would definitely come back with another discount. Full price, I’d have to think about, but depending on the content of the class, i’d give it a whirl.

This review is for the Dim Sum Cooking Class on Saturday, June 2^nd and Saturday, August 4^th. I don’t know how ITK Culinary is organized, but if each class is run by a different person, then this review is only for the Dim Sum class, not for the entire company.
We purchased tickets through Travelzoo for a culinary class offered by ITK Culinary. We chose the Dim Sum class on Saturday, June 2^nd. After going through the website and purchasing tickets, we noticed a discrepancy on the ticket voucher vs. the website calendar. Our tickets said the class was at 11am and the website calendar said 10am. We emailed the Dim Sum guy, and he told us the class starts at 11am. When we show up for the class at 10:45am, 15 people were already in the class making dim sum with flour on their aprons and a look towards us like, «oh man, those people are LATE!»
After speaking with Dim Sum guy, he apologized for giving us the wrong time and promised to make it up to us. There were a total of 7 of us that received the wrong time. After a long discussion between 7 adults with busy schedules, we came up with another day all 7 of could do it — Saturday, August 4^th.
Fast forward to Saturday, August 4^th. We arrived for the 10am Dim Sum class at 9:15am. The room is dark and there is no one there. So we wait. By 9:30am, all 7 of us are there and the doors are still locked and no one in sight.
Finally, a Dim Sum person comes by and identifies himself as an assistant. However, he has no keys to let us into the building so we still have to wait outside for someone with a key. By 10:15am, it is obvious that no one is coming with a key. So we are out of luck AGAIN. By 10:25am, even the Dim Sum assistant leaves.
I placed a call to TravelZoo today and they refunded my money for the tickets. However, I will never get back the money for gas, the money for the Golden Gate bridge toll or my time on two Saturday mornings. This whole experience was surreal. I would not recommend this company to any of my friends.

Wow. Where to start with this place? I recently purchased tickets through Travelzoo to attend a class for my fiances’ birthday. I called to confirm the reservation and clarify the schedule date and time. I was told by the owner himself that he will fix the scheduled time and date since there were two posted times for the class. He assured me there is only one and he’ll make the adjustment to the website.
I drove down 19^th Ave from my home through plenty of traffic to find that he never adjusted the time and that there was actually a class already in session! Five other students showed up to the same disorganized mess that I was in. The owner is apologetic and PROMISES to adjust this and schedule a new class for us.
Fast forward to the PROMISED schedule date and we drive across the bridge again to find ITK completely dark at 9:15am. The class starts at 10:00am, so we figure, no big deal since there is still half an hour and he maybe running late or prepping elsewhere. The five other students show up again around 9:30am and we are placed in the same frustrating position, yet again. His SUBSTITUTE chef shows up even though he promised us that he’d be there. His substitute chef DOES NOT have the keys and we’re basically out of luck and standing in the cold, substitute chef included.
This is simply amazing, who runs a business like this? If you’re not going to make it, let your attendees know! Post it on the website, send us an e-​mail, BUT DO SOMETHING.
I will never come back here again as the owner is unprofessional and could simply care less about the customer and gives off the vibe that he is out for his own well being. Weekends are precious to the average working Joe and it’s just courteous to actually give a crap about your customers.
NOT RECOMMENDED and NOT COOL.

Definitely a great experience…
Took my bestfiend here for a belated birthday blindfold dinner and boy we had so much fun…
Our dinner was 2.5 hours for a four course meal. We brought our own bottle of wine and the rest of the food was all provided. The meal was simple but super delish!!!
We truly enjoyed every dish. By the time, we got dessert, we were so full…
It was totally a whole new experience eating with a blind fold. Your other sense of smell and taste buds get heightened. You began to explore the table slowly with your fingers, to reach for your utensils, or your drink. If you needed to go excuse yourself from the table, the servers will help you out thru the door, take off your blindfold and will wait for you until you get back and put your blindfold back. They served you and will let you know your next meal. At the enld of the dinner, you play guess what you ate. Everyone was definitely guessing weird ingredients. Don’t worry, you won’t eat anything weird or crazy.
I truly recommend you to try this. You won’t regret it.

I found ITK late last year through SFGate Daily Deals. My father & I take a cooking class together at least once a year, so of course I snatched up two vouchers. After the holidays, we decided to cash them in on a stir-​fry workshop.
We had a great time with Doug (teacher & owner), and learned a lot about wok techniques. Honestly, I didn’t expect to learn all that much; wok cooking always seemed pretty basic to me, once you get used to prepping everything & cooking in batches. The workshop provided a lot of tricks & techniques that are really going to help me in my own kitchen, even without the super-​fancy induction heating system!
I would definitely go back to ITK. In fact, I have my eye on one of the gluten-​free baking classes.

My first experience with ITK was on the night when we prepared Italian Vegetarian Meals. I am both Italian and Vegetarian, and I loved it! I feel like I could make any of the meals for dinner any night of the week, even the Tiramisu doesn’t seem as scary anymore.
Mona (chef) and Doug (owner) really got us cooking and chopping and making the meals from scratch. When we walked in all the ingredients were laid out for us and the recipes where there to use, and they acted like our sou-​chefs helping with questions, knife skills, and anything else we needed. I liked that it wasn’t a demo class, but that we asked questions along the way and learned by doing not listening.
Then, after our creation of the beautiful dishes, we all got to sit down and eat and chat and drink wine together! (there is a great wine bar next door!) And what a wonderful way to meet people, hang out with old friends, and just have a great home-​cooked meal out of the house.
I love to cook and I have only taken sushi making classes before, but this was so much fun because it is something that I can add to my list of things I like to pull together last minute. Doing a class like this was a fun way to celebrate a birthday (the reason we went), but it would make a really great date-​night, girls– night, or even just a «I don’t have plans and want to get out of the house» night.
Simply incredible!
I can’t wait to take another class sometimes soon. .. maybe Indian next time to round out my worldly culinary adventures :)