Chop Wok & Talk

I would highly recommend this to anyone. I’ve been here twice now and I definitely plan on going back. The first time I went was with my boyfriend and our 2 friends on a double date. We went to the Thai class and the food was great. It was nice to learn how to cook a cuisine I’m not very familiar with. All four of us had a great time. It’s a very homey atmosphere and while some of the décor is a little dated, it’s impeccably clean. You interact with the other people in the group and get personal instruction throughout.
The second time I went really stands out though. It was a gift to my mom for her birthday and it was the homemade pasta class. The food was wonderful. Again. But beyond that it just so happened that there were several people who were doing this as a birthday gift. This class didn’t have a dessert course (3 pasta courses, enough carbs to last a week!) At the end of the night (which holy smokes was 3 hours!) a man walks in with a bakery box. Dorothy called her husband to pick up a birthday cake so we could all sing happy birthday!
Is this a fancy night out? Not particularly but the food is as good as you’ll get anywhere in Pittsburgh and it’s super fun.
Is this a group project? YES. You’ll have made friends by the end of the night for sure.
Does Dorothy remind me of my second grade teacher? Definitely. She was a teacher, she’s gonna ask you to be quiet when your goofing off so you can be fed and learn something before midnight (classes always run a little over). I read some of the other reviews… Dorothy this and Dorothy that… Whatever, if you’re still crying over that time in second grade when your teacher told you to be quiet and listen, maybe her personality isn’t for you, but seriously who didn’t like their second grade teacher?!
I cook a lot and watch a lot of food network and I always learn something from Dorothy. I’ll be going back.

I gotta say… I loved this class. I took the fresh pasta with a spring menu and would absolutely go back and take other classes. Here’s the skinny (or maybe not so skinny… it was pasta after all).
— The menu was delicious. Furthermore, it was well thought out and the average home cook could absolutely replicate the recipes with success. All of the dishes were complex tasting, but surprisingly easy to prepare. Minimal equipment required and no difficult techniques or excessive prep times. There were no crazy ingredients either… all stuff you can find at a decent grocery store.
— You eat as you go. The class is broken up into sections and you eat several courses throughout. Come hungry. It’s plenty of food and it doesn’t take long to get to the first course. The schedule is well planned… it’s all set up so that you can get everything done in the time allotted without feeling rushed.
— BYOB and you drink only while in the dining room (not while in the kitchen at all). I recommend showing up a tad early and having a few sips before you get started.
— The instructor (Dorothy) and her assistant (Marianne) are a good pair. Dorothy has… let’s say… a «quirky» personality that I wasn’t sure how to take at first, but found really fun after we got down to it. Marianne is sweet, upbeat, and helpful… a good balance.
— I learned a ton. Dorothy explained everything really well and organized the class in a way that allowed everyone to participate in every step of every dish. Everyone made a batch of pasta dough and did all of the different pasta shapes, so it was easy to get a feel for it. And she gave us lots of tips about what we could make ahead and how to store leftovers.
— My class size was small — 5 people due to a fee late cancellations. I think 6 is ideal up to a max of 8 for the amount of space. She said she goes up to 10, which I can pretty much guarantee I would have thought was too many. Hope for a smaller class or get 6 of your own people and do a private date.
— The space is the second floor of an older converted residence, but it works. It’s technically Garfield/​Friendship, I guess. There was plenty of street parking nearby and I wasn’t worried about the neighborhood. Pay attention or use a GPS though, cause the signage isn’t super obvious.
— 4 stars instead of 5 because of the reservation/​payment process. Call me whatever generation it is that is that’s actually 10 years younger than me, but I hate calling people. And I don’t have checks, or envelopes, or stamps. I want to register online and pay with my credit card. You can call in with a debit card, but it’s all just a little behind the times and is a far less professional experience than you actually get from the class itself. You also can’t tell how make spaces are available in a class unless you call.
All in all, it was a great experience and I’d do it again. The class I took was $ 65, which is just affordable enough and well worth the experience.

I try to write reviews when I try unique experiences in Pittsburgh. Having grown up here, live here today, and work in the community, I am very proud of all of the fabulous things that there are to do. Having said that, I am not sure I would do this again. Well wait, I would just not with Dorothy. Her food was fabulous. If it were just about the food, I would be giving five stars. However, it has to be about more. Respect for individuals that are paying you and choosing to spend their Friday night with you, Dorothy is RUDE. I am not sure if the other individuals rating this business caught her on a good day or perhaps we caught her on a bad one but whatever. She is RUDE… I can’t say it enough. You don’t learn anything because you are scared to death of her. I lost my concentration and the willingness to learn in five minutes. She is sarcastic, condescending, and a bully. Her assistant is a lovely women. For the life of me, I can’t understand why she puts up with this women’s crap. She was just as rude to her. There are way too many places to eat, good places, where you can enjoy your night. My husband and I have stressful jobs and that wasn’t a great way to unwind from a long week. There isn’t enough wine on this planet to make me want to do that again. A few times Dorothy told some great stories about how she started this business, who she mentored with, etc. she was so smug that I wanted to be interested but I couldn’t, Don’t do it… buyer beware! If you are going to go, bring wine… bring vodka and get ready for no fun. A few people in my group fondly named this business Chop, Wok, and don’t you dare say anything!

I got this class as a Christmas gift from a friend and it was the perfect night out. The food was amazing and we had a time meeting the other people at the table. I would recommend it and I can’t wait to take another class!

Did a brunch cooking class with co-​workers. LOVED IT! Dorothy was great and we had a great time!

Let me get the positive stuff out of the way first. Overall, the food was good.
There done with that. Now let me tell you exactly why you shouldn’t take a class from Dorothy.
Here’s the main reason; this woman got her own blood in our food, and then thought it was OK for us to eat the food she had just bled in.
In case you don’t believe me (which would be understandable) here’s the story. One of my team members nicked Dorothy in the pinky with a knife. This I admit was an avoidable mistake. But then, and this is perhaps one of the most shocking things I’ve witnessed is a while, Dorothy preceded to put her bleeding hand back into the salad we were preparing and continue to mix the salad, getting her blood on the bowl and our food.
I suppose it’s possible she didn’t notice she was bleeding (even though she looked directly at her bleeding finger). But then, after someone pointed out the blood on our bowl, she wiped it off with a paper towel and said, and I’m not making this up, «it’s fine». She then continued to prepare the food despite the fact that there was still blood in it.
Let me be extremely clear for any aspiring food professionals out there: BODILY FLUIDS OF ANY KIND (especially blood) ARE NOT «FINE» TO LEAVE IN FOOD YOU ARE SERVING TO OTHER PEOPLE. I have absolutely no idea how she thought this was OK. We also had to ask her to wash her hands after all this. You know, so that she didn’t get BLOOD on our food again.
There were lots of other things as well that on their own would warrant a poor review. Dorothy was rude, not only to us, but to her assistant, who was very kind and helpful and didn’t deserve such treatment. The class itself was also poorly run; it was almost entirely Dorothy telling us what to do and ordering us around, which meant that I didn’t really learn anything, or have much fun for that matter. If you want good food, find a good restaurant. If you want a positive cooking class experience, don’t come to Chop Wok and Talk.

I helped organize a bachelorette party for my friend and we picked Chop Wok and Talk as our daytime activity. We all had such an excellent time and learned so much too!
Dorothy was really easy going and responsive throughout the process of booking and a great teacher during our class. We chose to do a 4 course thai lunch and every dish we made was delicious. I would definitely recommend trying this place out!!!

My friends and I started a dinner group where we go out to eat somewhere new each month. We decided to try cooking class as something new for our group. We all had a fantastic time. The food was delicious! The instructor Dorothy was so easy to work with, and she’s a great teacher! I highly recommend this to anyone looking for something different to do. You don’t have to know anything about cooking in order to take the class. Trust me it is well worth it!

My husband and I decided to try something new for a date night… we enjoy eating out and trying new things so we thought a cooking class would be interesting. Well low and behold, Dorothy, the owner and teacher, offers a Date Night Couples Class. Honestly had no idea what to expect, but now after getting home I can say WOW! What a wonderful way to spend an evening out!!! So not what I expected (not that I really had a clue as to what it would be like) I can not wait to do it again! Food was fabulous, recipes were well explained and it was above all… FUN!

As part of my Christmas gift, my then boyfriend (now husband) purchased us a Thai Cooking Class due to our fondness of Thai food. What a great experience and the menu could not have been more wonderful!
The food was amazing, the way that the class was taught was great too (everyone got to take part as a group rather than couples doing a course and then everyone coming together to eat it). Over the course of these three hours, you get to eat a lot, learn a lot and enjoy a lot :)
They have numerous other classes available as well– Italian, Greek, Tapas, Chinese, additional Thai courses, etc… They also can do private parties so that you can get a group of your friends together and enjoy some wine and learn as well.
If you have never done anything like this, I highly recommend it!