Grilling Techniques Class in Portland Oregon

Chef Steven is a brilliant and insightful culinary wizard. His personality is perfect for fostering such a positive learning environment. We are looking forward to many more cooking adventures! Thanks Chef! See you soon.

Chef Steven was knowledgeable and so fun to learn from. During the class we learned about types of heat, how to marinate, bring and dry rub, and how long/what temperature to cook meats. The class was very informative. Highly recommend this experience!

What a fabulous evening learning about grilling with Chef Steven! He walked us through each protein entree with hands on lessons, and then we got to eat as much of the results as we wanted. Everything we had was the best I have ever tasted. Cannot recommend this enough!

For my 44th birthday I wanted to learn to cook with mom. I searched on TripAdvisor and this “class” was advertised, but so little information was provided I called in to see if I could get menu information and to confirm we would be actually cooking ourselves. Customer service could not provide any menu details but assured me yes, absolutely, I would be cooking and this was a hands-on class. So I booked a few minutes later. Almost immediately I got a text, which I thought was a bot, confirming the “trip” and indicating I would receive more information about parking, etc. (and I assume the location), the day of. Menu info was to come two days in advance. I got the menu info two days in advance and it again said more info coming the day of regarding parking, etc. Cancellation policy was to cancel and get a full refund 24 hours in advance (I received this information several times). The morning of the event, less than 12 hours after the cancellation window ended, I got a text providing a picture and the address of his home, saying he was excited to welcome me into his home, indicating for the first time, this would occur in his home, with 6 other strangers... and by the way there is plenty of parking. I immediately reached out to him to ask for a refund, as I understood this was a class, and had just learned this was instead more like an intimate dinner party with strangers. He refused to issue a refund. He said he didn’t have time to discuss it and repeatedly said all information provided was accurate. I asked are we going to be cooking our own food? (It would be very difficult to imagine a home with the space that would allow 8 people plus the teacher separate work stations.) He said no. I told him I was told by customer service specifically that we would be. He confirmed we will watch him cook in his home, and eat it after. He said the website was accurate indicating that “we” will make sauces, “we” will prepare meats, and “we” will grill “together”... meaning he will do it and we will watch, I would not actually make or do anything. I asked again for a refund and tried to explain again this truly was not what we thought and what we wanted, we wanted a class, where we were DOING, not watching. We were told we would be doing. He said IF I choose to come, I will be asked to leave if I say anything negative about him, his business, his cooking, his class, his dog, his home and my choices were to call TripAdvisor and ask for a refund or to attend. By now it was very tense, awkward, the last thing I wanted to do on a Friday night was go to this person’s home. I had driven from outside of Roseburg to Portland for the class, a 5-6 hour round trip, and ultimately we ended up just going to dinner elsewhere in Portland. I emailed to ask for a refund explaining the situation through Viator.com this morning and they simply denied the request. No reason given. This was not what we signed up for, it is paying someone to go to their house to watch them cook and then eating the dinner they made. Customer service says you will be cooking, but you’re not cooking, you’re watching. None of this information was provided until a few hours after the cancellation period ended. People should have the information in advance to choose, and I cannot believe this was unintentional. It felt very much like a trap. It was $95 each for my mom and I to attend, $190 total. This was not hands on as promised, I would never have paid to go to someone’s home to watch them cook.

This takes place in the chefs private residence, which is very lovely but not what I signed up for. The cancellation policy says cancel for free so long as 24 hours in advance but you’re not told this class takes place in his home during that period. I was told he can’t possibly refund and doesn’t have time to talk about it when I asked for a refund based on the new information, which certainly could have been provided earlier.