A Cook’s Companion

Lovely things. Highly priced. Not very good on returns and customer service

I am the last one to post bad reviews, but their website doesn’t even have a contact page to contact the owner. I called a week ago, had a lengthy conversation about what I needed (12 POUNDS black fondant to cover a very large, square, multi-​tired cake.) My choices were to go here on Altantic Ave or another place in Bay Ridge that carries Fondarific. I was super clear on the phone when I called to check if they had that much in stock. I asked first if they carried 10lb buckets. No. OK, 2# buckets? yes! OK, do you have 6 of them for a total of 12 lbs, I wanted 10lbs but wanted an extra as backup. I said all this on the phone, there was no way one could infer I was talking about a small amount of fondant. I drive there, park which was a feat in and of itself, I find the woman I spoke to and she hands me six 2 OUNCE containers of fondant. That would not cover the smallest tier. Wasted an hour of my day, as then I had to drive all the way in the opposite direction to Bay Ridge which I could have just done in the first place if this woman knew what she was doing. That was time in the day I didn’t have to spare simply because someone who works in a shop with cake supplies knows nothing about what she’s selling. They get by as being sort of the only game in town, and I think they will have a rude awakening if another competitor ever opens up in Brooklyn.

I don’t come here as often as I should. This is the place you want to go to for any kitchen tool. Not Amazon or Target. A Cook’s Companion is not as expensive as you think it will be AND the experience is wonderful with knowledgeable, helpful and friendly staff. One day i decided I wanted to make popovers but decided my cup cake tin had too shallow cups. I went in and said, «I want to make popovers but the cups in my cupcake tin are too small». She cheerfully said «You need a popover tin»! Duh!
Tomorrow I’m going to go and get a mandolin so I can make beet chips. I guarantee they will be able to tell me which is the best tool to achieve this task. and how to use it best. The staff all seem to be cooks and are very knowledgable about the products. It’s a very we’ll run shop and I like supporting them.

Very cool shop that can be a money pit for those so inclined… i.e., inclined not to eat at a different restaurant every meal.

Best cooking store in New York I think. Not the biggest but a wise selection and very helpful staff. Treasures abound here. Try it.

Amazing customer service and I’ve also heard they give discounts to NYC school teachers – I will never visit a cooking goods chain store again!

This is a wonderful shop with most of the basics and plenty of interesting or unusual items for cooking as well. Every single thing is well chosen and the best of its kind and to go with the pleasure of finding exactly what you want, the check out experience is stella.
I had bought a lot of gifts for my son for Christmas and during checkout, i mentioned they were all for him. A lovely woman said can I gift wrap them for you? So of course I said yes. In a very few minutes, she had made a beautiful arrangement of the presents with tissue, ribbons and all with tremendous style, I was astonished.
The woman who complained about the store not delivering, is missing the joy of this great store.

This store is everything I love about shopping local. They have a great selection of unique items. The staff is very friendly and they always have a biscuit for my dog.

I live around the corner and have had nothing but great experiences here — knowledgeable, helpful staff and great selection of items for a small store. They’re prices are good and reasonable — something not always found in boutiques. If you’re in the area, stop by!

When I was building my kitchen, I came here all the time. It’s a small store loaded with all this fun stuff any cook would want… it’s pricer than the restaurant supply stores in the LES/​Chinatown but some items are priced the same. The employees have always been helpful, there’s a cute cat there too… Sometimes they’ll have SALE items out on the sidewalk so keep your eye out.
They have more items in the store than they do on their website… they don’t have proving/​proofing baskets though… :/

Really wanted to Love this place — had everything I needed and it was ready to go. Le cruiset, vitamix and a breville juicer.
Among many other smaller items, but those were the heavy ones. I’m outfitting a kitchen, literally two blocks away. I explained that I had a rather large order and would like some help getting it home.
Not one, but two employees curtly told me that they didn’t have a «delivery service».
I was merely asking for a little help getting these items back. To entertain alternative options, a general friendly openness, Anything would have been better than a flat, closed, «No».
And to have an employee, and what was probably a manager, both abruptly say «no deliveries». well, it made me want to bring my business elsewhere. And I will. Likely to Amazon. :-(
Too bad, because it looked like a great store where I’d happily spend hours and spend. And it’s always nice to give those community stores business.
What a disappointment. They’re not cooking up any customer service Cooks Companion.
If you’re competing with the online giants, and what small business isn’t? One must excel where those giants can’t: and it’s in those face-​to-​face customer interactions. These touch points are so valuable to the business and customer alike.
I was really hoping to be juicing tonight, guys!

I highly recommend. They have everything I tend to need, so I suspect that if you need something, they will have it.
Customer service was great. The store is very neat and welcoming. I do a lot of baking and cake decorating. They have a bevy of baking tools, kitchenware, cake and pastry decorating tools (they have Fondant also). The prices were, in my opinion, reasonable.
I would definitely recommend a visit here.

My boyfriend and I always pass by A Cook’s Companion when we head to our gym, but I’ve never had an actual opportunity to go in and check it out until recently.
When I took my first step in I felt like I was in a happy place because just being surrounded by different cooking supplies, appliances, and etc felt nice It’s not all that big in A Cook’s Companion, but I do love the energy, lighting, and warmness in this store. The staff are super friendly and helpful and it’s nice, bright, and organized.
The products sold in A Cook’s Companion are very much similar to what you can find at Crate & Barrel, Bed, Bath & Beyond, and Macys, but slightly cheaper.
I’m really glad that I finally went into A Cook’s Companion, because I never had an opportunity to before. I will definitely be back in the near future in the event I need to pick up a cooking appliance or handy tool. I wish they had a local shop like this in my neighborhood.

A Cook’s Companion came through AGAIN! I found out from the terrific staff there that I could send my wounded Wusthof knife (handle broke at bottom when I dropped it on the kitchen tile floor– responsible party is the writer here) to the company for… repair? Replacement? Problem solved in less than a week! So thank you, Wusthof!
I love A Cook’s Comp. for honest tips (thank you, Jennifer!) and truly great stuff for cooking, serving, storing and gift-​giving. You folks always come through!

I’ve walked by A Cook’s Companion countless times without even noticing the store. It took their table at Atlantic Antic to reel me in. My friends were fawning over some colorful little $ 40 Forlife tea kettles that were on sale for $ 20. They had almost all colors of the rainbow and friends picked yellow and blue. Not wanting to be left out, I jumped on the bandwagon. Per my late godmother, orange is my color, so I must have orange in my life. The wonderful staff, while extremely frantic with the Antic crowd, could’ve said they don’t have any, but instead took time to run into the store to find one. They didn’t find orange but produced a cool red tea kettle which I promptly took home. I use it every day!
A few weeks later I was cooking a Chinese chicken and mushroom clay pot dish that called for whole herbs. I needed one of those little bags to hold the herbs so my friends would not have to pick cloves and star anise from between their teeth. I didn’t even know what the bags are called or what they’re made of. Walking by the store, I decided to look around and didn’t see any. I had wandered into the baking section when the staffer asked if I needed help. She brought me to the right section and I walked out with those bags. I still don’t know what they’re called, but I won’t forget the friendly service at A Cook’s Companion!

A Cook’s Companion has an excellent selection of professional kitchen smallwares. The staff is friendly and helpful. I have shopped in the store a few times and always find what I need plus several items I never before knew I needed.
Recently I bought a small blowtorch. It was defective through no fault of the business. When I brought it back the shopkeeper (she seemed to be the proprietor) examined it and exchanged it for a more expensive type. She did not charge me for the balance due and supplied me with another full bottle of butane!
It is so hard these days for retailers to compete with online warehouses. This is a great example of why to go retail and get your lazy self off the computer. So why am I sitting here writing a Unilocal review? Its 78 and sunny in Brooklyn…
Thanks
K

Great knife sharpening. $ 4 a knife with 2 day turn around service. Local and easy. Everyone who works here is so nice. They have great products too… I wanted everything!

You know how you should never judge a book by its cover? Same goes for this store. I’ve walked past this store a million times and never popped in because it just didn’t look like much from outside but today, I decided to venture indoors. I am so happy to have discovered this great little cookware store in Brooklyn!
The store, while small, has a great but limited selection of cookware and bake ware. The main area is where all the cookware stuff is and the little room in the back is for you bakers. The brands range from a small selection of Le Creuset, OXO tools, Bodum french presses to Cuisinart products. I spotted in the SodaStream aisle, they even sell a New York product — I think it’s the P&H Soda Co syrups? In any case, I like that they support local products! Because the selection is limited, I suggest you call ahead if you’re looking for something specific.
The staff are friendly, prices reasonable and located right across Trader Joe’s on the corner of Court St. It’s great to see a store like this in Brooklyn!

It’s a great store, and we’ll continue to shop there for special kitchen products, but we’ll never have our knives sharpened there again.
It seems they’re using a grinder. If I knew they were paying a bored 16 year old to jam the knives into some machine taking no real care with special tips or sizes, I would have gone elsewhere to begin with. Their service might be fine for Costco knives or whatever. But our special knives are a collection we’ve gathered over years. They’re birthday and anniversary presents to one another. They’re special to us. We hand wash them. We take care of them. We’re terribly disappointed with the way they were handled.
We brought one Global in, and a few Wusthofs, to be sharpened, and they came back in dreadful shape. One Global slicer blade with a rounded end had been ground into a shape with a pointy tip. Another with an extremely delicate tip came back with no tip at all, but instead a blunt edge. And my *favorite* classic 9″ chef’s knife came back with the sides all scraped up, which doesn’t directly affect its cutting ability. But it does speak to the lack of care they took.
My husband showed the owner the damage, and she had nothing to say. I posted pictures here on Unilocal of the damage done to the three knives mentioned in this review, but the owner asked Unilocal to remove the images, and Unilocal obliged.

I’ve picked up a nasty cooking habit, and A Cook’s Companion is my pusher. The staff here is too friendly, too helpful, and entirely too knowledgeable about their stock, their prices and cooking in general. I’m afraid I’m addicted for life.
It seems as though every person on staff has actually cooked with every item in the store. If I have a question about a sauté pan, a guy appears as soon as I turn to look for him and he knows EVERYTHING. He can tell me which one requires more upkeep, which is more difficult to clean, and which will provide the best sear. Oh, he has to go check on eight different items for the unbearably indecisive haggler behind me?
No worries. A lovely woman happens by and tells me which pan is preferable for cooking this or that, and which one she recommends because she has it at home and it’s not only amazingly durable, but it does the trick for everything she has tried. And it’s not even the most expensive model; it’s on sale!
The staff is why you shop here, locally, instead of on Amazon.*
And when my mom told the owner that she drove down to Brooklyn just to shop at A Cook’s Companion and definitely not to visit her ungrateful little bastard of a son, that nice lady gave her a spatula on the house.
Merry Christmas, people.
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*This is why I don’t shop on Amazon: