Raw Satisfaction

Okay, so I have to say that I never got in for a class, hence the negative review.
I purchased the LivingSocial deal and attempted on numerous occasions since August to book the deal. Classes were always sold out and the deal is coming close to expiring. I kept emailing and following up for the schedule, as it was regularly promised to be sent to me once it was posted.
Needless to say, I was told my expiration date could be extended. However, I do not want to continue going back and forth until January or even longer still attempting to get in the class.
They need to get their scheduling taken care of and organized. I understand having a small or limited space, but when you signed up to offer a deal, you should have known it was going to (1) be this busy, and (2) that you would need the adequate staffing/​space for the classes you offered.

I spend $ 75 on the living social deal! It was purchased in July 2011. I wanted to take a particular class but it was sold out for the summer. Classes are limited. I emailed Raw Satisfaction asking about Viva La Chop and she said there will be more classes in Fall. So I waited…
… and waited…
The representative emails me saying the Fall classes are out. AGAIN, the class I wanted was sold out before I was able to sign up. So I decided to sign up for this Japanese class…
One week prior to the class, the teacher emailed the students saying the class has been postponed for another 2 weeks… OKAY, I am being flexible and patient…
4 Days prior to the class, I found out my daughter had a very important medical evaluation (due to her health conditions) that fell on that day of the cooking class. I emailed the instructor and Raw Satisfaction representatives… they never responded back to me till the day of the cooking class saying I can’t reschedule and my living social deal is no longer valid!
It makes me sad… $ 75 is ALOT of money and I really looked forward to this class…
I wish they were patient and flexible as I was for them!

My friend and I had a great experience with Raw Satisfaction. Chef Tim Ross was the best and Annalisa was a great hostess! It was my first cooking class, and I am at a beginner level, and this class was easy to follow and I had a million great takeaways from knife skills to how to handle different veggies and interesting food facts. Loved the comfortable kitchen and intimate class setting. I took the Thai class and the food we made was delicious! I’m looking forward to trying another class.

I’m very surprised to find so many harsh reviews of Raw Satisfaction’s cooking classes. My boyfriend and I bought the Living Social deal and attended the Viva La Chop French cooking class last night and we had an amazing time!
Yes, the quarters are small and the kitchen is located in a typical San Francisco apartment kitchen, but I found that to be intimate, familiar, and comfortable. Who really cooks in an industrial kitchen with all high-​end appliances anyway? If you do, you probably don’t need to take a cooking class…
I thought the set up, although small, was as realistic as it gets when it comes to moving and cooking in your own home kitchen. There were 7 of us altogether with cutting boards and knives around a center island table. We didn’t know anyone else there and found it to be a great opportunity to meet new people and learn a little bit about each other over wine and French cooking.
Chef Tim Ross was a fabulous instructor! We were so lucky to pick the French cooking class after we found out that he’s classically trained in French cuisine and worked in Paris for over a year. Tim is a patient teacher with a kind and easygoing demeanor — he taught us key knife skills for cutting onions, carrots, leeks, garlic, etc. and went through step-​by-​step techniques for making:
* Herb Crème Fraiche Spread over toased Crostinis
* Homemade Vinaigrette over Romaine Lettuce
* Braised Coq Au Vin with Chard over Papardelle (dark meat chicken browned on the stove then braised with burgundy red wine, vegetables, and chicken broth, placed on a bed of papardelle pasta layered with red and white chard, mushrooms, and crispy bacony lardons!)
* Banana Crepes topped with sugar with rum/​cognac flambé (woo! FIRE!!!)
Everyone got a chance to chop, man the stove, make a crêpe, etc. It was good food, good company, and overall a great time! We’ll be coming back for sure, and bringing friends…
(PS Don’t forget to tip the chef and the helpful assistant Pat who helps clean/​clear dishes and boards)

I hesitate to write this review because I’m afraid that people will find out about the best kept secret in health and fitness in San Francisco. It’s Mary and the vinyasa yoga class. I tried yoga for the first time ever with Mary and there are just no words to describe the glorious experience. If I could give 20 stars, I would. No one would have guessed that I, of all people, would like yoga. I thought yoga was something people do to chant and meditate and be one with the universe. It’s what you make of it and it doesn’t hurt to have a superb instructor!
The class I took was small and intimate. If more people hear about it, then it’ll get ruined and become popular and crowded. I want ALL of Mary’s attention; she is really really really wonderful. Her voice is even soothing! She made me feel comfortable even though I was nervous about trying something new. It was very challenging to physically do the poses and focus on breathing and balancing and all that, but Mary was attentive and able to help each of her students. I was a complete novice, but the others were more advanced and she was able to give them guiding individual attention as well. I could tell that ALL of us were comfortable and really enjoyed the class. Any level of experience will work in a class taught by Mary. Eeek, I don’t want to get into any more detail. I’m going to sabotage this little place of health and peace for myself.
The other reviews about the location are all accurate. It’s an odd space and cramped, however, it was clean and perfectly peaceful.
I think RAW satisfaction is a new place and they are probably still adjusting and working out the kinks. They are lucky to have Mary be part of their team!

RS posted a Living Social deal online which I had trouble purchasing due the classes using meat and I am a vegetarian. i made a few calls, playing phone tag for a couple of days, Karen was so kind to find me a class that was Vegan and honored the coupon rate. She provided great customer service and I can’t wait to start my class!

I’m normally not a harsh reviewer, but my blood is boiling and need to get this off my chest.
I took a cooking class with RAW Satisfaction last winter and it went fairly well. The host and chef were amiable and kind. However, I was utterly disappointed with the puny kitchen space that they usually try to stuff 7 people (not including the chef or host). Honestly, the kitchen is only big enough to fit 4 students MAX. The website and ads are all misleading — because they all make you think that you’re going to this big, fancy class. If it weren’t for Groupon, I would never pay full price for the type of cooking environment I was given. Nevertheless, I kept an open mind throughout the experience and left feeling somewhat content.
This was all until weeks later when I kept receiving email after email after email from RAW Satisfaction. I understand that they want to keep in touch and get feedback from their new customers. Regardless of the matter, it was getting repetitive! I even emailed Nicole and told her that the constant communication was getting too excessive and aggravating. My feedback was obviously ignored because I started getting phone calls from them too — just so that they could tell me about upcoming classes!
To make matters worse, I JUST received yet another call this afternoon. It’s totally invasive and upsetting when they are desperate enough to call past customers in the middle of a holiday weekend!!!
RAW Satisfaction — although your concept is appealing, your business etiquette is improper and in serious need of a reevaluation.

I enjoyed Karl and loved the recipes. The group was a nice mix of people. I only wish a glass of wine had been available. All of us forgot or could not bring any. Fun evening and plenty to eat that the cost was very reasonable for what you get. I wish I had though to bring more money for a tip. I just don’t carry cash.

I love to cook. It is one of my biggest passions and brings joy to my home. Being in the kitchen at Raw was overwhelming and disorganized. Although I am not a professional chef I believe that being prepared and organized are vital to a successful kitchen. In addition, adds a level of comfort to the cooking experience.
Nicole has a great idea and it seems the proper funding to make something amazing happen.
Few suggestions:
–Scale it back. the kitchen is rather small and you have 6 people in there. No need for a 5 course meal. Do 3 courses and do them well.
–It is a cooking class, stick to your the recipes you are teaching. multiple things were left out or omitted.
–You had to push to see a dish from start to finish which doesn’t allow you to fully understand what is happening and give the cook a sense of accomplishment
–love that it supposed to be green BUT I alone used 3 – 4 plates and at least 3 forks plus a spoon. Not needed
#1 improve flow and organization
All of the negatives are really easy fixes and I hope to see improved reviews in the future. for 75 bucks (and thats discounted) I think i will stick to hosting cooking classes at my house from now on

Raw Satisfaction completely misrepresents what they are selling and managed to dupe many people through their living social deal. I understand the intimate experience that Nicole is going for, which is admirable, however she is charging way too much and not being honest about what exactly is being offered.
1) It IS NOT A COMMERCIAL SPACE, it is a regular apartment (and not one that has been converted to accommodate a class of 8) with a VERY small kitchen and a single stove.
2) Each person DOES NOT HAVE A STATION where they prepare and cook and learn each of the dishes (you are just all crammed into a home kitchen). Instead each person helps the chef here and there with pieces of each dish.
3) The chef, although very nice, DID NOT KNOW THE RECIPES and kept having to look them up to see what ingredients needed to go in them and would forget things since he was working on everything at once. (I do the same thing when trying to learn a new recipe… and I’m no chef!)
Nicole is trying to replicate a retreat experience, which is a great idea. The reason why I gave it 2 starts is because I did enjoy meeting the new people and talking and being in a new atmosphere. The food itself wasn’t bad. The papaya salad that we made was absolutely delicious. However the coconut ice cream didn’t get as cold as needed, never froze, and we ended up with coconut juice.
I bought this class as a Christmas present for my boyfriend who loves cooking and expected him and I to learn in a professional setting. Unfortunately, I was very embarrassed when I realized we were in someone’s home (including bikes hanging on the wall as you walk up the stairs and the guy moving out of his room during the class). I felt the need to continually apologize to him throughout the night since he is a relatively advanced cook, and it was a completely unprofessional environment and not what I had expected.
It was basically getting 8 strangers together and having them all make a meal together, but with each person doing a different part. I did not learn how to prepare the whole Thai meal since everyone did a little bit on each dish. The worst part was that we were told we would learn basic cutting skills, but that never happened. I di not learn any new skills, not even the basics of how to chop or cut.
Our class started over 30 minutes late, and in the middle Nicole had to run out because she had forgotten to purchase the pad Thai. They did not even have wine markers for the stems of the glasses, which got very confusing with 10 people crammed into such a small room constantly setting our wine glasses down.
Overall, it wasn’t a completely horrible experience because the other people in the class were fun, we were drinking (alcohol always helps!) and we figure the whole thing makes for a good story. All in all, the environment is fun and although not a traditional cooking class, could be promoted as an «household intimate experience with cooking.» However, they really should not have more than 4 people in such a small room. Also, they need to charge much less. I thought I was getting a deal paying $ 75 each instead of $ 150 for an advanced class, but I clearly overpaid for what I got. It was probably worth ~$ 30-​$ 40.
I do admire Nicole’s ultimate goal and the drive that she has to do something like this, however, she needs to be honest about what you are buying and stop overcharging. Since she’s in SF, she can pull it off since people are overly lenient and tolerant, however there’s no way folks would have gone along with it in other cities. It’s a good idea, but has some major flaws in its execution and I did walk away feeling like I had been tricked.

I recently took the Indian food cooking class here and was disappointed. While I had a groupon deal, which made the class much cheaper and more worth it, if I had paid the full amount I would not have been pleased.
It would have been preferable to warn customers that the cooking class is held in a home kitchen, as small as most SF kitchens. It was difficult for the entire class to really get involved in the process as there was only one stove/​limited counter space.
The food was disappointing and not things that I would choose to replicate myself. The first course was flavorless and dipped in soy sauce, which to my knowledge is not an Indian ingredient. I reviewed the menu with my friend who was born and raised in India till the age of 18 and he verified that some of the dishes that we made are not things that you would commonly find in authentic Indian cuisine.
The staff was friendly but overall I did not get what I had hoped out of this experience.

UPDATE:
If I could take away my star for this review, I would. As a customer, we were encouraged to leave reviews on Unilocal.I left a review on Unilocal.My review is MY REVIEW. It does not invite the owner to comment and email me personally defending my experience. It is what it is — and quite frankly, this displays a sincere lack of professionalism, in my opinion.
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Raw Satisfaction? I think not. More like a Raw Mess.
I bought a cooking class off of
– misrepresentation is a key element here. First of all, this is held in someone’s apartment. Not a professional space. You must be able to climb 30+ stairs to get to the unit (no alternate route) and you must be able to stand for 2.5 hours as there is no seating. To top it all off, if one is supposed to consider this a professional environment (while already put off by the surprise that you are in someone’s apartment) please, PLEASE, have your roommates act accordingly. Having a male roommate walk shirtless through the hall by you and the other customers are present is not ideal. Frankly, it is appalling.
The kitchen is not able to facilitate 7 people — rather than «learning» you are assisting… I can’t honestly say I know how to prepare the dishes… not that I’d want to.
The food was some of the most uninspired Indian food I’ve ever had — and I’ve eaten the cuisine for over 15 years. I can’t say that I have ever seen the dishes before. The vegetable «curry» was a watery mess of broccoli and cauliflower — and in desperate need of spices… which is an essential element in Indian cooking.
My point in a nutshell: The «chef» used 2 habanero chili peppers to make a lentil soup (that was inedible) as a substitute for other peppers he could not find in the market. I’m sorry, Sir, I didn’t realize that habaneros from CUBA (and later the YUCATAN and MEXICO) were part of INDIAN cuisine. Since when? Who does that?!
There are many other things I could add to this review. Had I paid the $ 150 price tag instead of $ 42 I would be livid.
Do yourself a favor and go to a proper facility.

I wouldn’t say the kitchen setup was appropriate for a cooking class. It was very small for 7 people. The stove wasn’t in the right place for us to be able to see the cooking process. The alarm went off during the grilling step.
It was a five-​course meals cooking experience, not a hands-​on class. We only had the experience of prepping pork dumplings, then the instructor prepared everything for us.
However, Sylvee (the instructor), was informative. She definitely knew how to cook a great meal. I loved her chicken & corn soup – very tasty! I even tried it out the next day when Nicole emailed me the recipe.
All in all, if they keep the class small with only 4 people per class, it probably works better and smoother.

I had a great evening with Gary and Nicole at Raw Satisfaction! I took the Japanese class on a Thursday night after work– what a fun and delicious way to wind down after a long day! All five of the courses were extremely good, and they also seemed like things i could feasibly do at home on my own (ie– no super fancy tools that i’d have to go spend hundreds of dollars on, no requirements to grind your own flour out of wheat or anything crazy like that). I was a little bummed to not get to really cook myself, but i got over that very fast– Gary is a great chef and so engaging that it’s enough to just kick back, drink your wine, and chat it up with him about food and his travels as he prepares amazing cuisine and your mouth waters! (you do get to start eating each course as soon as it’s done, and he goes on to fix the next one). Overall i would do it again (and plan to)!