Taste Buds Kitchen, Massachusetts, United States

4ratedbyhanna 5:00 PM Oct 23, 2017

Fun cooking class, get groupon if available!
4 months after the initial Groupon purchase and 1 reschedule later we finally enjoyed the class! I'm not sure if they are still offering the vouchers since it was probably just to generate initial buzz, but I had to wait about 3 months before I saw a class that I was really interested in taking on a weekend night. The 1 star deduction was mainly for the disappointment with the out of no where class cancellation. I originally planned for my SO and I to take this in January as the voucher was going to expire soon after. I called the place to ask what happened and apparently a larger group of people cancelled the booking and it was basically just me and my SO so they didn't have enough people for it to be worth it running the class. It would have been nice if they could have offered something else additional like extra recipe(s) for the inconvenience. We arrived at the location about 10 mins early to check in and the head chef, Andrea checked us in on her iPad and showed us our 6 person table top work station labeled "Tomatoes". There were trays near their drink dispensers where you could open your BYOB wine. We were in a rush and didn't bring any. For each work station they also provided pita slices and dipping oil to snack on. The classroom looked beautiful and all the equipment new. Andrea ushered us to the front counter where she would provide us the demonstration and we would follow along. Her 2 helpers provided us all of the tools and ingredients needed for the current portion of the recipe. The interesting part, was that we weren't all preparing the meal from start to finish, but we all had specific tasks for a piece of the recipes. The portion size was enough for everyone at the station though. For the Tapas Espanolas class we made the following: - Albondigas with sauce - turkey meatballs with tomato sauce - Butternut Squash Empanadas: dough and butternut squash, corn, cheese stuffing - Patatas Bravas with sauce - baked potatoes My SO prides himself on his cooking skills and even he was able to pick up some tips and tricks. We learned an efficient way of chopping onions to minimize the eye burn, knife skills, and cracking eggs to avoid stray shells. Andrea was very engaging as an instructor and made the steps for recipe easy to follow along. We couldn't wait after prepping for 90 minutes to dig in. The helpers put everything in the oven and created the final presentation in the bowls so everything looked fancy, but I can't wait to recreate the recipe. I believe without a promotional voucher or groupon it's about $60/person. Compare that to $90+ for Eataly, Sur La Table $69/person in Boston and $80/person for Create A Cook in Newton. It's a great idea for a fun indoor activity, but I would definitely check the details of the classes to see the menu. I know some other people commented that the Tasty Thai recipe wasn't worth it since they made summer rolls and those ingredients can be cheaply procured. Overall we had a fun time and our table mates were great company!

4kevindV8411QP 5:00 PM Mar 20, 2018

A guy's point of view: it was surprising a lot of fun!
My wife gave me a cooking class here as a birthday gift.When she told me what she got me for a present, I was secretly skeptical on the inside that it wouldn't be any fun...especially for a guy (but I obviously didn't tell her that! LOL!) But we went and it was not only fun, but I actually learned a few things that I now use in the kitchen at home. Everything was well-organized, the staff was great, and the food was excellent. It's also BYOB so that's pretty cool (and cost effective) too. We went just the two of us, but there were groups of 4+ people there too. I would definitely go again.