Young Chefs Academy

Scheduled my daughters 9^th birthday in a short period of time and they did an AMAZING job. Would absolutely recommend them in a heartbeat and plan to have another party there in the future when my youngest gets a little older. The girls had an awesome time cooking pizzas! Thanks for the great service you all provided.

There was NO explanation of cooking terms or techniques. It was pretty much here’s a recipe, make it. There were too many kids for everyone to have a job, so many just stood and watched. The female instructor seemed disinterested and barely even spoke to the kids. This was a teen class, but the owner’s son — who appeared to be about 10 years old, tried to run the class — very annoying. My 13 year old son was bored. Glad I had a groupon. I would have been upset if I had paid full price.

I was impressed with the outcome of my 10 year old’s birthday party. She selected the «Cupcake Wars» theme and invited 12 kids. The team competition allowed for all kids to participate and the chef made sure all children were included. The planning, prepping and baking was a great experience for kids. The chef stressed the importance of safety and cleanliness throughout the process and kept watch over the rambunctious crews. The end result was scrumptious cupcakes. My child was very satisfied with her party and other moms asked me how I heard about the place and commented, «It was a great birthday party».
PROS= no clean-​up; limited number of invitees; YCA provides invites and will also email them to parents; they provided a few personalized details; someone else runs the show while you mingle with parents; YCA provides pizza; No cake purchase needed; kids are engaged the ENTIRE time; no one lingers after the end time*. Truly a hassle free experience.
CONS= not easy on the wallet; you have to stick to the number of invites-​this is appropriate for a max of 12 kids so that no one gets left out; My child had a difficult time picking which friends to invite; Time seems to move too fast because the place is small and the next party begins shortly after yours; no margaritas for the moms; *If you want to continue the party you have to go elsewhere because the place is small and you can’t linger afterwards.
So my final summation is my child was highly overjoyed to have this experience with her friends and cousins. (We always had home birthday parties with lots of family and friends and no end time). I was not exhausted after the YCA party. If I were to add up all my time, energy, sanity, cooking, cleaning (before and after), and money for food and adult beverages, the price of a party for YCA was not only a gift for my ten year old, but a gift for me.

Regina and Kristina were a blast! This was way more than what i expected. They gave the kids a whole lesson about measuring and ingredients and kept their attention the whole time! My kid is 8 and that says a lot to keep her entertained. I would recommend to all ages and will definitely be going back! So much fun and so worth it! !!

The atmosphere is fun and bright. There are plenty of places for parents to sit and watch the class and that is encouraged. The most exciting part for me was the fact that my son developed an appreciation for different kinds of foods. He is now trying all sorts of things that he wouldn’t even think about trying before. Everything is made from scratch so it really teaches children the very basics of cooking. I love it but more importantly my son loves it. I found the staff and owners to be very friendly and funny. I would recommend this place to anyone with children.

My boys loved the Italian cooking camp! The tried things at camp and still had an interest after th camp was over in eating those things. Also they could name them and say how we should eat them. They are 9,10 and enjoyed their cooking time!

Our daughter participated in the Master Chef Program for 2 ½ years. She was able to make hundreds of recipes. The skills she acquired at such a young age are priceless! Kids are able to use practical skills like math and it allows them
To expand their palate for food. She enjoyed the summer camps, workshops and competitions. The staff was very warm. We appreciated the mentorship of Chef MariCarmen for our daughter!

We’ve gone here several times in the past and my son had a birthday party here a few years ago, which went great (there were adult instructors then, unlike the other reviews stating there are now younger instructors). However, they lost our business and we stopped going. I had purchased a Groupon for both of my children to attend one of the classes. I called several weeks before the Groupon expired to register them. All the classes taking place before the expiration date were full and they refused to honor the Groupon for a class taking place after the expiration date, even though I called to schedule them well before it expired. I was penalized because they had no availability. After that, I refuse to take my kids and will not return since they do not value their customers. Definitely advise against buying their Groupon!

My 6 year old daughter tried one class before we committed to a full membership.
The place itself is very nice, clean and kid friendly. They made a full meal, appetizer, entrée, and dessert. My gripe was with the instructors. They are very young and not very good with kids, in my opinion. They weren’t rude or mean, the main guy just didn’t know how to talk to children. A lot of things went over their heads or they were just plain confused about what to do. He was trying to hide his frustration but I could tell he was not very experienced in interacting with kids. He had 2 assistants that were even younger than he was (high school age maybe) and they were more interested in laughing and gossiping amongst themselves rather that focusing on the kids.
These classes would be wonderful if the had older, more mature and patient instructors who actually knew a thing or two about kids. My daughter and i were both very disappointed with the experience that she had been looking forward to for a long time.

I was really excited about this class for my child — mainly because she helps me cook at home and she loves it.
The person that I spoke to about the class was very helpful and friendly. She explained the my child would be in the 3 – 5 age class and that I was welcome to stay and watch (FYI, the parent area includes a few stools behind a half wall.) The kiddo’s class had 8 children in it. That’s 8 — 3 to 5 year olds with two instructors (a chef and an assistant) and their parents watching behind the half wall.
The class started with them washing their hands — always a great start.
And, from there, it lost a lot of the magic for me…
Because there were two instructors (neither I would guess to be over 25) trying to get eight preschoolers to complete tasks — well, chaos started to reign supreme. There was one little boy that I bet did not sit in his chair more than eight minutes of the entire class.
During the class (my child was one of the younger ones), she was pushed out of the way more than once. One time, she was shoved out of the line to wash her hands by another child… and was sent to the back of the line for not being in line!
Furthermore, she had the little girl sitting next to her grab several things out of her hands when it was her time to do them — once the assistant instructor gently chastized the child, explaining to her that my child gets a turn, too; one time the mother of said child chastized the child because no instructors were around, and twice nothing happened because no one saw but me. My point is this — there were too many children trying to do too many different things at once for them to be properly watched OR the age allowance is just too wide. I think things might have gone better with just 3 and 4 year olds in the class. And I say this knowing that the two kids that were pulling things out of others’ hands (that I noticed, anyway) were both almost 6.
As for class time — they complete (as a group) two recipes. It was disheartening to see that NOT ONE of the children in the class ate a significant amount of anything cooked — and the class started at 11 am making the end just at lunch time, a time that I know for my child is eating time.
All in all — I recommend for school age children (6 and older); however, I cannot recommend for the 3 – 5 age group.
EDIT: The other thought that I had about this class was that one of the recipes that they made was a fruit salad that they added brown sugar to… not a fan of adding sugar to things that are already naturally sweet.

My daughter loves going to the Kindercooks class. They are great with the children and it’s very age appropriate. I am learning some new skills too just by watching them!

Took a sushi making class there and learned how to make some delicious rolls. Staff was very knowledgeable and talked us through every step from the ingredient selection, rice making, and the rolling. We got to experiment with different combinations to get exactly what we wanted. Overall it was a great experience and I would be interested in other adult classes.

Went here this afternoon for my daughters 6^th birthday. The staff were excellent. They took care of everything and had great attitudes dealing with all of the young children. Highly recommended.