I would never recommend Young Chefs Academy for children with special needs!!! Because I work with special needs kids and I took one of my clients to Young Chefs Academy and she was bullied by another student more then once in class She had been going to this school for two years and when I tried to talk to Jason about having a sit down conversation with the other child and her parents he informed me that I couldn't have a conversation with the parents and that I had to deal with the matter outside on the street and not on his premises Then my special needs client was kicked out of Young Chefs Academy Because I complained about the bullying! read more

First time. 3 age group: 7 and under: Kinderchef, 8-12: Juniorchef, 13+ : seniorchef. Weekly class offers Thur to Sun afternoons, 90 min each. You can join membership, I think around $140 a month to get 30 % off each class and get advance reservations. Non member pays $50 each 90 min class. Register and reserve online or call the place to reserve. I found Groupon $90 for two classes for one child, limitation includes you can't reserve more than 2 weeks in advance. Called to the place and Jason returned my call. Reserved over the phone no problem. Queens Blvd is very difficult to park. Luckily there's a bus stop in front of the store and I did a quick drop off. Jason specified it is a drop off class, so parents can't observe. I was allowed to go down where the class was during the last 10 min. Instructor chef Nicole was very friendly and told me how my kids do. They made dumplings, blanch veggies, noodles and biscuits. Kids were divided into small groups to cook different recipes. At the end there's the tasting where I joined. They will also give you the recipes to take home. Kids have tons of fun and would very much come back again. Overall, definitely recommend. NY only has one young chef so far. They are opening another one at Garden City but don't know when. It said coming soon on website. read more

Young Chefs Academy - Cooking Schools Near Me - Forest Hills, New York

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My son had his first class, it was a good experience but not enough hands in for him since he bled what he is doing already . But the food tasted good he enjoy I'll bring him back again to see how second class is going to be . read more

young chefs academy culinary school for kids is an excellent facility and is well-maintained. I sent my daughter here recently for a birthday party and she loved it. Young chefs greatly increased her knowledge for cooking and she would love to go again. Highly recommend!! read more

My son just finished his first class here. The instructor was very nice but there is not enough hands-on during his 60 min session. I was not aware that parents weren't allowed to sit in with the kids even if they are 4 years old. I wish I had known that ahead of time. I also want to point out that the space looks completely different from the pictures posted on Yelp, I'm not sure if they recently relocated to the Queens blvd location. I would consider going back if it wasn't for my experience with the individual in the front who I believe to be the owner. On my way out I was handed a recipe sheet and told that we could not carry out the granola bar that the class had just made. When I asked why I was told "because this is not a takeout restaurant" in the most condescending tone. I was taken aback by the whole situation and reluctantly agreed to his request. Once we left the facility I turned around and saw that all the other kids were allowed to leave with their canola bars. I guess if you want your kids to learn about cooking with a hint of discrimination this is the place for you. read more

My daughter attends twice a week and loves it. Makes delicious recipes. Eats it there and brings home the recipes. Well run

This is a late review came here with my daughter for a birthday party the place was easy to find but parking can be a little difficult. The staff was professional my daughter had a great time all the kids that were there for the party made pizza and ice cream sundaes the person in charge of the party came to get the parents so we could take pictures of the kids overall very nice place to have a party definitely something different from Your usual play house read more

Young Chefs Academy - Cooking Schools Near Me - Forest Hills, New York

This place is great! Ive taken my daughter here twice for their cooking classes. I usually use the living social deal. Paid $19.95 for a 90minute class.Depending the week or season you go, they have different cooking themes ie: mexican,italian,bbq, asian etc....the times my daughter has gone she made corn dogs, pineapple chicken shish kabobs, cole slaw, homemade bbq sauce, chocolate covered banana. The place is in a commercial building on the 2nd floor they have two rooms for the kids to cook in. its a cozy space but the rooms are spacious enough for the kids to move around in. The staff is friendly and professional. place is very clean . the only two downsides are their contact hours they vary every day so you have to check their website, and the days/hours for cooking classes, theyre not flexible, they only offer classes early in the morning on weekends or evenings on weekdays. my daughter is so excited she doesnt care how early it is though. lol. overall nice place to take your kids to! read more

Young Chefs Academy - Chicken shish kabob - Cooking Schools Near Me - Forest Hills, New York

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I loooove this place! I bought two Living Social deals for my kids. I tried contacting the location a few times to redeem it, but could not get through. Eventually after calling and leaving a few messages the owner called back. By then, my deals had expired and I expected him to be a total douche bag about the situation, but he was terrific! Their slots fill up quickly so it took about a month to get an appointment, but he did not charge me extra. When you first get there, the site is kind of underwhelming. But once you go inside it is a kid chef dream. Bright colors, huge kitchen, very clean and likeable set up. The smells coming from the classroom was so good! There is really no area for parents to wait for their children because it seems all of the available space is for the classrooms, but the owner was nice enough to allow the parents to sit in the classroom that was not in use. It was comfy, cozy, and there was a very warm feeling throughout the location. Beware of the helicopter parents who will not let anyone see their kids through the classroom windows, AND who make it impossible to maneuver up and down the hallways. There is no parking....like none...this place is right off of Queens Boulevard and you practically have to sell your first born to find somewhere to park. I can't wait to go back, but the prices are STEEP...like sell your 2nd born steep. Once I save up a few sheckles, I will definitely be back. My kids (5 yr old boy and 11 yr old girl) fell in love. Perhaps a birthday party...there are a ton of fun looking options. read more

Young Chefs Academy - Quiche! - Cooking Schools Near Me - Forest Hills, New York

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Had my sons 8th bday party here last month. They had a few packages to choose from and I chose the one that included goody bags. Loved the cooking space and everything was super bright, colorful and clean. This was probably the easiest party to plan and coordinate and I love not having to stress. Kids made pizza and Sundaes for dessert so I didn't even have to bring a cake. The chefs/ instructors were fun, engaging and really seemed like they wanted the kids to have a good time. I had catering called in for adults to eat from ovo sodo and they gave us a room in the back to set up so adults could eat while kids cooked. The owner helped us clean up, packed all the presents and when we ran out of plates and towels provided us extra free. Definitely over delivered and had a great time. Everyone was super nice and accommodating and my son had a blast with his friends! Absolutely recommend for a kids party. Thank you!!! read more

A friend of mine invited me for a playdate with her son. I didn't really know anything about the class other than it was a cooking class. -Parking is kind of tough compared to activities in long island but honestly that was no biggie. (Perhaps because of the time we went.) - The Chefs Academy had a very nice decorum. - We were pleasantly greeted by staff. They answered all of our inquiries and reassured us that our kids would be fine - To my surprise this was not a child/parent activity Me and my mom friend went across the street and had some much deserved mom time. - When we returned we were amazed at the VEGETABLE FRITTATA and CARROT CAKE DONUT HOLES they had prepared!!! The food was delicious and they loved it despite all of the cooked veggies. - Chef Sam told us how great they were and then she told them how impressed she was and that she was very proud of them. This was no romper room class...this is a real chef teaching and our kids respected that. After trying the food, my other two are eager to start and my son can't wait to go back. read more

LOVE young. Chefs academy. My son has been going for a few months and he loves it. The chefs are great with the kids and my son is really interested in the classes. He likes to come home and teach me the recipes. All the kids get their recipes every week to keep in a binder for future reference. We also did his 6th birthday there this year. The chefs were amazing with the kids. The staff is so kind and great with kids! read more

Young Chefs Academy - BirthdAy party. Chefs were so amazing with the kids! They had a great time. - Cooking Schools Near Me - Forest Hills, New York

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We love Young Chefs Academy! My 11 year old started taking classes here eight months ago.He attends once a week. He also attends three day camps when school is out which focuses on a certain food. Chris is great at always keeping the parents informed with any changes going on. Chef Sam is his instructor let me start by saying she's amazing. He adores her. My son is so excited to get to class and eager to learn. He's learning quickly. He's even taught me a couple things. It's a great place to start if your child has a love of cooking. He's learning how to cook entrees and deserts. They also test the children every few weeks. If they receive a patch after every passed test. I believe after receiving ten patches the children get a white chef coat. After that they can become a master chef. I love that their not only learning but also being tested for a future goal of receiving their chef coat. Young Chef Academy and staff are awesome! read more

I went for a birthday party, and it was great! We got to make cookie bowls and homemade ice cream. It was really great, I just wish we got to make our own individual portion. FOOD: 4/5 (The ice cream and cookie bowls were great, just wish they didn't serve us all that candy and cake and pizza.) It's a b-day party, not much to revieww about it. read more

LOVE YCA - Cumming. We celebrated my daughters birthday in YCA and it could not have been better. They had everything we had hoped for . The facility was clean, bright and spacious. Everything was ready even before we arrived.They positively accepted changes we made to the pizza topping even after the party started. Enthusiastic chefs guided all the 20 kids to make pizza . Decorating chef's hat and cupcake with a lot of laughter was fun to watch. Kudos to the whole team whose motto was to ensure kids had fun ! We will be back soon read more

First time for my 8y.o daughter. Coming from the Throgs Neck area, meter parking only available, plenty of stores to keep busy. The place is very small, not much space for parents/guardians to wait, just drop off but was able to stick around at the beginning and snap pictures. Staff was great, friendly, personable. Place although small seemed very clean, colorful, child friendly and inviting and has 2 bathrooms. Young chefs are provided with a used apron and must wash their hands before beginning the class. After a 3 hour event (9am-12) my daughter came out with samples of the 3 recipes cooked in class. In this particular event, my daughter said young chefs were separated into teams of 4 and in charge of ONLY 1 of the 4 recipes--which required reading recipe, finding ingredients, measuring and mixing, adult chef handled stove. I paid for the lifetime membership and received a knapsack and binder(choice of 3 or 4 colors) with printed out recipe of what they did in the class. Overall it was a decent experience but the 30 minute distance and tolls may need to be considered. Also my daughter said that a few older kids in the class seemed bored and played with their cellphones and caused a slight distraction. read more

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My son came here for almost a year. He loved it, The chef's where excellent and very friendly. I would highly recommend this place. read more

Young Chefs Academy - My son at young chef Academy. - Cooking Schools Near Me - Forest Hills, New York

Christina, the manager finally contacted me and apologized for the delayed response. They had some staffing difficulties due to the weather.

It's an organized, clean place that really tries to teach kids about the importance of clean cooking. They did a great job showing my class how to make bread sticks. It's hard to find places that know how to teach to young kids and they did a great job! The kids got to eat what they made and they took some home which was great. read more

As part of my daughter's Hannukah gift, we enrolled her in a 3 day cooking "camp" that was all about fondue. In a word, her experience there was terrific. Th class had 10 kids in it, and Chef Mike divided them up into 3 groups. Each day, each group was responsible for an individual dish. They made everything from traditional cheese fondue (with mini gherkins and kid-made baguette) to more Americanized things (buffalo chicken lollipops with blue cheese fondue). Dessert was also on the menu, with homemade graham crackers with a chocolate fondue being my daughters favorite. Chef Mike was terrific in both engaging the kids, and encouraging them to try foods outside of their comfort zone. His quip, "You wouldn't know you liked a cupcake or a lollipop if you did not try it," rings very true, and these are words that I will remind her of regularly. We are looking forward to enrolling her in future event like this. I hope they are running one during the February break. read more

I took my 4 yr old son here, and was disappointed. Forest Hills is a progressive location, so I expected better from Young Chef Academy. Kids nowadays have many allergies to nuts, soy, etc. and and sensitivities to chemicals, synthetic colorings and flavors, etc. I did as a child, and still am affected horribly by these toxins as an adult. Commercial food is filled with industrial toxins that kill adults, not just children. The movement away from junk food, towards health food for kids, is gigantic now, partly for that reason, and partly because the level of quality of regular commercial food is so terrible, that if you are paying attention at all to what you're eating, you notice that something is wrong. Many programs for kids, that are progressive/ evolved, have gotten with the program, and adjusted to the fact that commercial food is absolutely horrible, that many kids have allergies, and eating organic is pretty much a necessity, not a luxury, if you want to eat truly healthy. I've taken my son to many places for kids that have had a variety of organic options. I was surprised that this place had none at all, like they've never even heard of it. Get with the program! I think the idea of kids learning to cook their own food is great. If its food they're cooking. The term food refers to that which grew out of the earth, came from an animal, or had a mother. If something was made in a lab with synthetic chemicals, its not food, because it has no nutritional sustenance for the body. Food has probiotics, live enzymes, vitamins, nutrients, antioxidants, etc. Highly processed 'food' or synthetic 'food' does not have those things, and some don't classify it as food at all. It has about the same nutritional value as eating plastic or cardboard. Using dough out of a pre fab container in order to make a cinnamon roll, using margarine for the cream filling, and commercial so called cranberry 'juice' (which is not actually juice at all, but rather sugary water, with food coloring to look like cranberry, and synthetic flavoring to mimic the taste of cranberry) for punch is definitely NOT cooking in my view. I have stopped eating that kind of food about 20 years ago, when I learned the basics of nutrition in school. (I have since then moved on to a career in Health.) It looks like the owners and teachers of Young Chef Academy have not studied the basics of nutrition. If they had the basic knowledge of health and nutrition, they would never serve food like that to kids, or to anyone. Fructose Corn Syrup is not food. Its highly toxic, and is worse than white sugar. Margarine is not food. Its synthetically manufactured in a lab. Gluten is a neurotoxin. Almost all prefab doughs have gluten and typically a huge list of other ingredients which are not food, have never been food, and are basically synthetic compounds created in a lab. Cinnamon and wheat that are not grown organically, have pesticides, herbicides, and are likely GMO. None of those ingredients have nutritional value for the human body, but are highly toxic. Cooking is when you take fresh organic ingredients, such as vegetables, fruits, eggs, meats, flour and oil and actually make the food yourself, from scratch. Making a 'home made' version of junk food, from pre fab ingredients, is not the kind of cooking I'd want my child to learn. read more

Loved this place! A group of us bought vouchers on Amazon Local and registered the kids for a Sunday morning class. From the minute we walked in the staff was amazingly friendly and welcoming. There are two big colorful kitchens where they run the classes and a very small lobby. There's not a lot of space for parents to hang out while the class is going on. This is a drop-off class so once the kids were kitted out in their aprons we headed around the corner for coffee. When we arrived back we could see through the windows that they were just sitting down to eat what they had made which was pancakes and maple syrup from scratch. The kids really got a kick out of the class. This location is run by a husband and wife team (super nice people). My only "complaint" is that they were hard to get in touch with to book the kids in. I left several voicemails before my calls were returned. Email seems to be a much more effective way of communicating with them. Other than that everything was great. read more

It is indeed a fabulous class. Both my son and daughter really enjoyed it and were asking whether they can attend the next class.... well, Mommy have to set up the schedule first. Its a drop off class as the whole floor were practically separated into 2 kitchen for the class. Its clean and sleek. I bought a Groupon deal and they were so sweet and acommodating about it unlike some places that have restrictions for this kind of deals. The lady at the counter were so knowledgeable and friendly and they were not pushy about the classes too. Genuine concern about how the kids learn through cooking and expanding their palate. I am totally impressed. And yes, you have to make an appointment quick as they have limited spaces and different themes each time. This class they made chicken ginger coconut soup with rice with vegan fish sauce and chewy ginger cookie. Totally love the ginger cookie as it has fresh ginger in it and really blend well with the other spices. My son which is a picky eater were eagerly eating the soup too and saving some for me. It was an awesome experience and its really an eye opener for kids to learn through cooking. read more

We just hosted our daughter's 9th party here and it couldn't have been better. Enthusiastic & engaging chefs guided her and 10 friends through creating delicious pizzas, decorating chefs hats and cupcakes and had lots of laughs throughout. It was very smoothly run and timed and the kids had so much fun. Always a good sign when she asked to do it again for her next birthday on our way out! The facility was clean, bright and spacious. Planning couldn't have been easier and every detail handled. read more

Young Chef's Academy in Forest Hills is like a community center in our area. Everyone knows it and loves it. I love how kind and patient the owners and teachers are and how happy the kids seem. My kids (5 and 9) are both students and come home after class invigorated and encouraged....and the best part is that they're learning HEALTHY skills for better nutrition + math + science....I love this place and my kids do too. I think that the person who wrote the negative review must have called when they had a temp or something, because the customer service is amazing!!! read more

I brought my daughter to this place on a groupon and she loved it. Friendly staff and she wanted to be a member so the groupon turned into a membership. She learns fun recipes in a clean and safe environment and neighborhood in Forest Hills NY I have lots of time to browse the many wonderful stores while she is learning. The owners are fun and kind. read more

My 5 yr old daughter has been here twice with living social deals. We have always gone on an early sunday morning, so parking is easy. She loved the classes, was very excited with what she made and brought home, Plus i got to have a coffee around the corner for an hour while she was there...nice! read more

Amazing!! Best birthday party ever! Thank you so much for making my daughter's day so great!

This place is AMAZING! I just had my daughters 8th birthday here and I couldn't have asked for a better party. Worth every penny! Chris was so helpful and the children loved him and the staff. I HIGHLY recommend this place for your childs bday party. read more

They have a very poor business practice I called to inquire about a party or my soon to be 7yr old child. The women who answered my call advised she is on her way to a doctor's appointment but proceeded to asked me what day I was looking to have the party I told her July 21, 2013. She advised me the day was available to visit the website as it would answer my questions. she took my name and number and promise to follow up with me the next day. This has been 3weeks ago and I have yet to receive a phone call read more

I had my daughter's 9th Birthday here and it was perfect! Staff is wonderful. Place is immaculate. All of the children had a blast. This is truly a place where children of all ages can enjoy. Thanks Chefs academy for making my daughter's birthday super. She really loved it!!!! read more

Young Chefs Academy is FANTASTIC!!! I celebrated my daughter's birthday here with a group of 10 kids & they all had so much fun. The age range was big (6-17) so I needed a place that would entertain them all & keep them interested...YCA definitely made it happen seamlessly. The staff is super friendly & helpful. All of the kids at the party had so much fun & have become so much more interested in cooking at home. We would not only recommend this place but will be going back for sure! read more

I took my visiting 11-year-old niece to Young Chefs Academy last Saturday. The children made kale and cheese pizza and grilled peaches and yogurt. She was so excited and so happy after the class! She made the menu for two different sets of friends over the last two days and she is already asking if there is such an academy in her town for when she goes home. I only wish that we had been aware of YCA weeks ago when her visit her first started. The people who run the place and the chefs all are lovely people. It is clean and bright and she said the other young people were very friendly. What a gem of a place! read more

Excellent service. We loved the decorations and how the workers make their business serious but at the same time enjoyable to it's clients. Job well done! Definitely fell in love and will return soon. read more

friendly, professional staff. went there with my child for a party and had a good time. clean place, parking is tight, but worth it. recommend for a kid's party read more