Gaynor’s School of Cooking | Allegheny County, PA

Like other reviews have said, this isn’t a cooking class. More like “cooking with strangers for $200+”. Sure, the food was good, but I would’ve rather just gone to a nice restaurant. For a total of MAYBE 5 minutes of actual basic cooking instruction, and then spending nearly 2 hours cooking 2 dishes with strangers, it wasn’t what I expected—especially for the outrageous price. You’re just following poorly-worded printed instructions in a hot kitchen. Then you finally eat in a crowded table with folding chairs and boxed wine. Will not be back.

Posted on: March 14, 2025

When I registered for their beginners bread making class, I was expecting to create mouthwatering loaves of French Bread, Bagels, Challah, pita, Focaccia and much more.. because that’s exactly what their website says about this class scheduled for 4 hours. My boyfriend and I both registered for it and at $95*2 were looking to actually learn a bunch about breadmaking. Not only was this experience a disappointment, but at the end, we felt quite cheated. This ‘class’ is very poorly designed. When we walked in, the list of 9 types of bread that we are going to learn (also on their website) was up on a whiteboard. We were then assigned to one of 2 cooking stations with 5 members each and told that each station can pick the bread that they would like to focus on. Our instructor informed us that she had already mixed the dough for 3 of the bread types because they “require more time to rise”, so that left 10 of us picking from 6 options. Naturally, the folks that came alone (or picked first) got to work on a type of bread solo by themselves while my boyfriend and I had to both work on the same focaccia bread since we were ‘together’. Now this wasn’t one of their “date-night” classes and we each paid full price for an individual seat so I think it’s really unfair to have us share one type of bread only because we’re together. So when my boyfriend mixed the ingredients, I just watched him and while I rolled it out, he just watched me.. while some people got to do the entire start-to finish-process themselves! Anyway, we only really both learned (or made) the focaccia that we were assigned to. The way it works is, everyone’s given printed recipes to follow and the instructor is available for questions and guidance. Most times though the instructor would take your dough or bowl from you and do it for you themselves when you have a question. She was friendly and sweet but kept hurrying the class along .. “Don’t you all wanna get to eating the bread and the wine??”. No. I didn’t pay $190 to sit around, drink wine and eat cheese. I paid that money to learn how to make 9 types of bread. Our class concluded at around 8.15pm and for the next 45 minutes we ate the bread that everyone had baked (everything, including the pre-mixed ones came out exceedingly well, of course) and drank the wine that they put out for us. One more issue was that instructor didn’t really care much for the recipe and pulled the breads in and out of the ovens based on her instinct (and experience I’m sure). Our foccacia, for instance was taken out of the oven 15 minutes before what the recipe called for, to make place for someone else’s challah, but it came out well regardless. So I’m left wondering if those recipes are really accurate and if can recreate even that one focaccia from that recipe at home?! Anyway, everyone was done with the eating, drinking and out of the door by 9pm. The instructors had even completely cleaned and wound up the space by then with a whole hour to spare. Net-net - This was just an expensive way to eat different types of bread and drink wine, and NOT a cooking class. I learn more watching The Great British Bake-off than I did at this class, and for free too.

Posted on: April 01, 2018

Fun, but not a cooking class. Had a good time with friends making dumplings, and the food was decent. But people should know that you basically follow a printed recipe and each group makes only 1-2 of the things on the menu. There really is no “class” aspect of this, other than the 30 seconds of knife instructions we receive at the beginning. The teacher was there to help when people had questions, and she was very nice. But still, it was overall more of a social experience than a learning experience. We were also surprised that the only homemade dough was the one for the pierogies; for all other recipes, we just made the filling and used some variety of wonton wrappers (or puff pastry for the dessert). So, I would call this a fun cooking and eating experience, but this wouldn’t be a great option for people who want to learn anything about cooking.

Posted on: December 19, 2024

I had a horrible experience and there is evidently a disconnect between the owners and those who actually run the business. Two months before the class, and prior to booking, I reached out to Gaynor’s School of Cooking business page on Facebook, asking if it would be okay to bring my infant son to the class, who would sleep in a carrier on my husband’s back. The business replied that it would be fine (see attached photo!) I was excited to purchase 6 tickets, to give as gifts to my in-laws for Christmas. Upon arriving at the class, instructor Jessica took it upon herself to call her manager and indicate that there was a child there. Jessica came over to me and very straight faced said her manager wasn’t happy there was a child there, and we’d have to stand at a specific table closest to the door (separated from our group), as that would be the safest place. I was surprised, because I had specifically reached out asking if it was okay to bring the baby. I asked for her manager’s number (Toni), and when I called her, I introduced myself and as soon as I said I’m at the class tonight with the baby, she started yelling at me and said “What made you think it would be okay to bring a baby, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING???”. I said I had asked ahead and gotten the okay. She assured me I had not. I said I messaged the business on Facebook, to which she said I messaged general Facebook and not their business. She continued to yell at me and said that Facebook was not a valid communication tool and if I was able to call her right now, why didn't I call her originally. First off, it is 2025, if you don’t intend to use social media, delete your business pages. Second, I HAD received a reply as pictured here. Why should I not have believed this was authentic? I provided a screenshot of the Facebook conversation to her, and she continued to be defensive even after seeing that what I said was true. Toni said I would not be allowed in the kitchen at all (which apparently Jessica was going to let us stand at the one table, even though Toni had told her not) so I said I want a refund if we cannot participate, and she said “that is on you” and continued her rant about how negligent I was, how I had no respect for kitchen rules, and that this was their policy. Again, I asked how this could be my fault, when I had specifically asked ahead and was given permission. Our entire evening was ruined. Our gift to our family, ruined. We spent over $600 for the evening and were treated horribly. It is one thing to say “I’m sorry for the confusion or miscommunication, but our policy is XYZ”, but to attack a customer and tell them it’s their fault (when clearly it was not) is just rude and unprofessional. Toni said "The owner answered you from Belize, she assumed you were bringing a baby carrier, i.e. seat. We do not allow children under 2 in the kitchen for their safety. I’m sorry you don’t see the importance of safety in our kitchen." If that is the case, the owner (Gaynor) who replied to me should have just said no kids. We did have a car seat carrier with us, but no one indicated that would be fine at the time. Even Toni’s reply was conflicting. Either a carseat is okay, or no kids under 2, which is it? If your owner is out of touch with the business or traveling, maybe they shouldn’t be the one responding to inquiries on social media. Toni was so rude, I have never been treated so horribly by a business and her behavior reflected so poorly. If I had an employee treat someone like this, I’d fire them. It’s not about what the policy is or is not, it’s how she treated me as a customer that is completely unacceptable. Gaynor called me the next day and did refund all of our tickets. That was nice, but we were still out $100 for a babysitter for our older child. In addition, she said she backs her employees' decisions. So she condoned how Toni had treated me. I will never support this business again and will discourage anyone I know from going here.

Posted on: January 21, 2025

Hands down the best team building activity for anyone in or near Pittsburgh! Anthony was an encouraging and enabling teach (regardless of skill).

Posted on: November 12, 2022