Crate

Can you give a company zero stars? This place makes you feel unwelcome and dumb. The staff is judgmental and assigns you tasks solely based on their reaction to you. Aka, assigning us the most mundane task and then taking it away and giving it to another couple because we weren’t fast enough… We went on Valentines day, food tasted just OK. and the staff leading the group was HORRIBLE. Not even remotely worth the cost if you will be treated like an imbecile.

We took Crate’s «Sunny Spain» Cooking With A Partner class recently and loved it! Three different tapas, paella, churros and sangria… Yumm!
Seriously fun– we learned how to cook new things together, then got to eat it.
However I have 2 complaints: the instructor was not that friendly, or helpful. This was actually ok tho bc the other women assisting with the class were delightful.
The thing that really chapped my a#% happened at the end: there was a TON of food left over, and being that we were headed to my mother’s house I asked to take some paella with me for her to try. The instructor said that they don’t do that. Ok, fine, pretty wasteful, but whatever. BUT, when I walked to the restroom a few minutes later I saw the women who worked there packing up all the leftovers into to– go containers! When we thought about it later, we remembered how the instructor announced that there were enough shrimp in the paella for everyone to have 2 per person– so of course, everyone only took 2. There were about a dozen per paella left when the employees whisked them off the 3 tables. No asking if everybody was finished, no asking if anybody wanted more.
Thus ensuring that they all had a delicious dinner for their families that night.
For $ 140 per couple, this is horse$&%#.

I attended the sushi class on Monday night. The instructors were great: friendly, funny, helpful. The class structure was good, but certainly geared toward those who have never attempted making their own sushi before. Everyone had their own station and was able to make three different rolls.
However, I seriously question the value. The course was to be two and one half hours in duration. After approximately seventy-​five minutes, we began cleaning up to go home. It should be noted that the 75 minute class time included a 10 – 15 minute sales pitch of Crate’s products. For $ 60 per person, I was beyond disappointed. It seems unethical and deliberately misleading to advertise the length of the class and barely run 50% of the scheduled time.
The bottom line: good instruction, but you’ll feel extremely cheated at the end.

I love kitchen stores, and Crate is one of the best in pittsburgh. Recently I read a few articles about the dangers of non stick cookware. None of them are really any good for any of us. I won’t get into what the dangers of them are, but they are real and most non stick cookware will be off the market by 2015.
I started looking into enamel coated cookware, Crate has a number of different varieties and bought myself a 3 piece starter set with an 8, 10, and 12 inch pans. Like non stick, no oils are needed and clean up is pretty quick.
Crate in itself is a cooking gadget Mecca. If you love stainless steel cookware, they have anything you want from All Clad, made right in Canonsburg Pa. There’s Fiesta ware from Wheeling, and If you want Emeral’s professional cookware, Crate has it.
You can take cooking classes here as well, they have a full service kitchen in back. Classes are limited to certain amounts due to space, but everyone sits after and enjoys the food they’ve prepped.
It’s top of the line cookware so it has top of the line prices. But well worth it!

My sister has a bucket list — and from this bucket list I bought her Christmas gift this year. One of her items was to learn how to make sushi. I asked around and found Crate! A friend of mine had taken a sushi class there and LOVED it, so I had total confidence in buying the class for my sister and I to do together. When I first searched, they didn’t have a sushi class on the schedule. I emailed them to find out and they said to check back in the spring. As I was scrambling two weeks before Christmas to figure something else out to get my sister, they emailed ME and said that they added a sushi class for February and for me to go register so I’d have it in time for my sister for Christmas. It was really nice because I had already started looking for something else, so great on the sales end on their part.
There were 18 people in our class and we were in the demonstration kitchen. We learned how to roll three different types of sushi, and all of the steps that go along with it. Everyone had such a great time making their own sushi, and eating it too! I signed up for the email newsletter, and I’m already thinking of occasions to rent it out for private parties! It made a great gift; my sister loved it!

This is a great kitchen store. They have a cooking demonstration room that you can rent out. My wife had her bridal shower here and her guests loved it. It was different than the typical, stale shower; plus everyone got a discount that day to shop the store.
They have all kind of gourmet gadgets & appliances that you’d see in Williams-​Sonoma but the prices are a little better, I think. The staff is super helpful and will go out of their way to help you. Look for their All-​Clad «seconds» sales. This is when All-​Clad merchandise is on sale that has minor (and I mean minor) defects. You can get top notch pots and pans at half the price. We stocked our kitchen with them and they are amazing. It’s the kind of deal where maybe there is a scratch on them, but really you’re going to use them once and scratch them up anyway!!! Seriously, go visit these folks!