Williams Sonoma

My wife and I have been attending the Sunday cooking classes and shopping for knives. To start with, Russel was teaching the approach series to Thanksgiving, great sessions, leaned a ton, and after got some really good advice on knives (over 3 weekends). Over the top customer service, David sharpened the knifes I brought in to compare weight, I am all set. And a shout out to Le, amazing customer service!

This is the first time in more than a year that I’ve visited the Arboretum W-​S. And I must admit I was pleasantly surprised. In the past it always seemed that if your last name wasn’t «Flay», «Florence» or «Gartner» the staff wanted nothing to do with you. I was prepared for yet another «are you good enough to be in here» incident. I was quite surprised when the Friday staff this late afternoon was pleasant, funny and extremely helpful. I drooled over the extensive All-​Clad section as always, and ordered a peeler as they helped me with custom spices. I truly felt the gentlemen that helped me were friendly, pleasant, and made the experience quite positive. I think I’ll give them another visit over the next 30 days and see if this was an «outlier experience» or if W-​S has finally changed for the better. But this was a very positive experience.

First time in the store. We used to buy Calphalon at the Round Rock outlet, but Calphalon has recently closed their outlets. I really don’t like buying online when I can support locally employed people and get good product information in person. The store prices matched the WS online prices, so we were motivated to shop locally. We were promptly greeted and led to the Calphalon section, but we fairly quickly exhausted the sales clerk’s knowledge. She voluntarily turned us over to David, who I suppose is a manager, and he filled in all the product information gaps (and we were comparing Calphalon to the WS brand and others), pulled several boxes out of the storeroom so we could open them and inspect the products, and took other measures to ensure a very successful shopping trip. While we were browsing around, another sales clerk, although knowing David was already serving us, approached us and was happy to answer many questions on other products we were interested in. All told, four people assisted us, David sealed the deal with some excellent over-​the-​top effort, and we walked out with our Calphalon goodies. Four stars instead of five because the first sales clerk was not as knowledgeable as we would have liked, but at least she knew when to call for help without us having to ask. And this being Austin, you don’t really have to worry about how you’re dressed even in this slightly more upscale store.

Service still had not improved the manager Tim should be ashamed on how his employees treat customers you need to retrain asap!!! Yet again don’t know why I come in, i should just stick to online shopping !! judy was tossing my stuff around while she rang me up (banging it on the counter and throwing it in the bag) she has a huge attitude. Window shoppers get treated like royalty while paying customers get treated like …
Well sometimes I don’t have a choice I follow the brand not the particular way I get treated here! Smh, it’s it the color of my skin my money is just as green as the people that come in and don’t spend it!!! I hate to pull this card but I had to say it when it’s obvious why your getting treated a particular way.

The customer service I got when I went here today was absolutely spot on. As soon as I walked in Larry approached me and asked what I was looking for which was a cutting board and he really took time to show me everything and help me pick the right one! I was really pleased!!!

Charmed to see you again Beautiful World, «We Love This Place «their quality excels and the Staff are so helpful and friendly…
Thank you!!!

This is the kinda place when you’re walking to the door you quickly remind yourself that you’re in ragged jeans, flops, t, and, a hoodie. Quietly you snicker and wander how long it will take to get snubbed or to have some paranoid employee following you around because they’re afraid you might attempt to stuff a dutch oven down your pants.
Surprisingly the employees leave you the heck alone with exception of the friendly greeting. I like that. No one trying to force me to purchase that silvery shiny gas grill with pumped up lights and bling for $ 7500.00. Speaking of that grill I did pretend to be interested in it. I asked the employee if it had dolby surround or used beats audio. He was like «Not this one sir».
Two years ago I won a gift card for here for $ 100. I just couldn’t decide what I needed as pretty much everything I was interested in was a lot more than $ 100. I have nice taste. A couple of weeks ago I was frying up some taters in my 10″ cast iron and I thought how nice it would be to have a bigger one. So I took my shiny little gift card and set sails for WS.
I got two. I got a 10″ and a 12″ both totaling a rough $ 66! Not to bad! What’s better yet is I have money left over. I’m sure I can get a bottle of sauce or something! I love getting free shit and today’s little shopping adventure was a win win! Now I have three cast iron fryers. WOOT!

I’ve just returned with a Henkel Pro chef’s knife even though I was not impress with their International line.
Dropping in after a late lunch at Five Guys burgers to merely check out the 3.5 oval dutch oven options, fellow dude worker answered a few questions about Le Creuset and All Clad, but vanished after realizing I wasn’t making a purchase today. Does he not like Thursday? The week’s almost over… I digress.
Now browsing knives and hoping to pick up Wusthof come-​apart shears. Tyra, a former chef, was extremely helpful and patient as I browsed and handled a dozen chef and santoku knives and shear selections.
I left with a proper chef knife to slowly replace my inexpensive low-​maintenance/​beater Ginsu collection that sits in the sink all the time; this new knife will get pampered and never enjoy chillin’ in the sink for a few days.
Soon enough, I’ll return and make a bee-​line to Tyra in search of her recommended shears.

Sad, but very poor customer service. Purchased a wedding gift and wanted it gift wrapped. As an upscale retailer — I expect great customer service, but that was not the case. I was told it would take a while for wrapping, so I left and returned after several hours. When I returned it still was not wrapped. The excuse I was given «a truck had come-​in» and the employees were busy.
Sorry, but that is no excuse.

For years, William Sonoma has been my ultimate happy place. It’s been — almost like a lover that you see every year because you just can’t stay away. And every time you see them — you have a multi-​orgasmic experience, and you’re reminded why you wanted to see them again.
William – he meets my knife needs. Oh man… and boy does he meet my cookware needs.
He’s unbelievable. Sure… sure, he’s expensive. But — the best things in life — can sometimes come with a very pretty pricetag attached.
And it’s not enough to make me quit him.

It’s almost Father’s Day, so I needed to get something suitable for my wife to give me for Father’s Day. A cool friend recommended this 1,200 degree blow dryer/​lightsaber that can be used to light your charcoal fast when grilling, which they sell at Williams-​Sonoma. Scared of the price there, I checked against Amazon. With the W-​S «Father’s Day» specials, they were pretty much the same. Since I needed to run by the Costco anyway, I stopped by the Arboretum Williams-​Sonoma to get a look at it.
I was greeted at the door by a nice older lady asking what i needed. I didn’t catch her name, but looking at my receipt, let’s just call her «Associate 249 912». I was a little tired to browse, so I asked where the grilling stuff was. She started walking me to the back when a second employee asked if I’d like some ice cream (sorry vegans) with peaches sample. How can i turn down a free ketchup-​sized paper cup of that? I go to wait for my sample, and she says, «Oh, don’t worry, I’ll bring it to you!» Score.
So, in the mean time, Associate 244 912 found my item and handed it to me. I talked to her about warranty, etc., and then decided to go ahead and get it after finally seeing it. So she took it back to take to the register. I had mentioned it was for me, for Father’s Day, from my wife. I go to pay, and am a little distracted. When I’m done paying, I don’t see it. She had slipped it to the ice cream lady, who was busy in the back wrapping it up all present-​like, with ribbon and a little card too, for free (I checked the receipt in surprise). Hurray for Associate 244 912!
The only thing keeping this from being 5* is that there was another item I had seen on the website that I wanted (a rib rack for grilling). Sadly, it’s not available in stores. I asked if they do «deliver to store» like many places do, and unfortunately was told my only option was to order online (and therefore also pay shipping). It isn’t a specialty item I can’t find for the same price many places, but it would have been nice to have it then, or later without paying shipping.
Offer «send to store» availability, and it would have been perfect…

Didn’t go to sur la table because of lack of disabled parking. This time I went at 10 when they open. A friendly person immediatey set about trying to help me with the list. She went and got each thing, explained options, and ordered something they did mot have in the store. Although the ordering process took some time, she then helped me get my bags out thecar since I had my cane that day.

Had a great experience at the Arboretum Williams Sonoma today. Went in to purchase a Gobel traditional finish Madeleine mold, which is listed on the WS website. The company website does not indicate that this product is a «web exclusive,» so I assumed it was available in their bricks-​and-​mortar stores. However, a check of computer inventory indicted that is was not. It seemed that I was going to have to order it from the WS website, when the employee, Jeana, who was assisting me, took the extra step of offering to have it sent out from WS, shipping free to my home in the Austin area, which is some distance from the store itself. I was delighted not to have to take any further action in order to receive this specialty item. It is WS employees like Jeana, who make shopping at WS a special experience. My wife and I enjoyed nine years of outstanding customer service during our tenure in Tucson, Az, and, if Jeana’s outstanding service today turns out to be a bellwether, we will continue to enjoy shopping at WS for many more years to come.

My husband and I were very excited to be buying an espresso machine from here. When we asked for help, the first person that helped us clearly did not want to help us-​her name was Amber. She said she didn’t know enough about coffee or espresso machines. After her unenthusiastic help, someone else started to help us. This lady was much more informed and very pleasant and helpful. We were unsure of which one to get, so we said we’d come back. On our return, the culinary expert, Tara started to help us. She was awesome! She knew everything about the products and she really was so nice! Now that we were pumped about finally making a decision on an espresso machine, we wanted to look at knives. When we asked another person for someone to show us the knives, they pawned us off on Amber again. This lady never smiled and acted like we were a bother. She was slamming bags of knives around looking for the right one. She practically ran into my daughter that was talking to me. She just did not want to help us. I’m not sure what her problem was. In the end, we bought a $ 150 knife. I might have bought even more but her piss poor attitude made me want to leave the store as soon as possible. All the other people in that store were pleasant and helpful. It just takes one person to ruin the experience. The store itself is wonderful but, stay clear away from Amber at this store.

Sometimes, you give a place a great review and then they go all to heck. This is one of those times.
Today’s shopping experience was the complete antithesis of my last experience. Family member goes in to order a gift to be sent to a relative. The clerk tells us that the order can’t be sent to «Mr. and Mrs.» and instead just sends it to the person’s name. Then, when we ask for something to be gift-​wrapped (For what it’s worth, they are supposed to provide complimentary gift wrapping), we are given a box and a supply of tissue paper and sent on our way. And a followup phone call to the store wasn’t even initially referred to management.
At this price point, the service is supposed to be excellent and gracious. Unfortunately, inconsistent service is just as troubling as consisently bad service.

Williams Sonoma is a Porn Shop for Foodies — huge selection of knives, basters, every kind of kitchen toy you might only use once and some super yummy smelling lotions (their Ginger Almond lotion is very exciting!)
I shop here a couple of times a year mostly for Christmas and BD gifts and most recently for Mother’s Day. My Mom has been talking about their exclusive Zoku Quick Pop Maker for months — yes my Mom wants a fancy Popsicle maker. So, yesterday I stopped in for said Popsicle maker for Mom and some lotion for myself. As usual the customer service was 5 star friendly — minus a star for high prices — at 49.95 that better be an awesome customized frozen pop maker.

Founded in 1956, Williams-​Sonoma specializes in above average quality products for the home, marketed through their famous catalogs, the Internet, and retail stores. The Arboretum store Lea and I visited is fairly new and is two or three times larger than the store at Barton Creek. I really enjoyed wandering around this store, with way too many items to be able to take in during a single visit.
I particularly enjoy their selection of chef’s knives, and that there is someone available to get them out of the case and let you feel the difference between the various grips, and the noticeable difference between the composite and (more expensive) wooden handles. Williams-​Sonoma is one of the few places with almost the entire set of Wustof kitchen knives available and on display. Pricing on these items, by the way, is about the same as pricing found on the Internet, once you factor in shipping costs.
I get a little annoyed at their tendency to stock so many items that can be found in less trendy stores. I wish they could just focus on being «better quality» and carry fewer items. I was able to find on this initial trip, a remote thermometer for grilling. The unit I purchased for about $ 50 has the temperature sensor to insert into your chuck of meat on the grill, and it displays the current reading on a unit outside the grill, but also has a remote you can put on your belt and take with you while you prepare other side items in the kitchen. This is very convenient when slow cooking or smoking on the grill.
This was a nice shopping experience, and the array of goodies and do-​dads available for the home, it is always fun to discover those things that you previously didn’t even know you just HAD to have! I hope they get back to carrying just those «unique, unusually useful and better quality products» that we all «need.»