CIA at Copia (The Culinary Institute of America at Copia)

Decent food. Friendly service. Their brunch portion is big. But price is reasonable. Highly recommend.

So beautiful inside! I don’t usually like museums but this one was the most interesting! Who doesn’t love food? It’s so fascinating to see how it was created and fine tools that they used.

Really pleasant place to dine and relax. The food was enjoyable and service experience was excellent. Together with the outdoor ambiance, I felt totally relaxed and at ease there.

Beautiful grounds and garden outside, nice but expensive souvenir store on the first floor. I especially liked the small but free museum on the second floor that showcased a variety of cooking utensils throughout history.

Just finished a 4 day boot camp at the CIA. I came away with some helpful tips but was generally disappointed by the curriculum and organization. Each day there were simply too many recipes for the head chef instructor to manage and teach (this is not a critique of the instructor but of the curriculum itself). Because you get divided into teams and are specifically assigned recipes each day, you don’t get to learn how to make all the dishes. While the chef offered demonstrations, I found them difficult to follow because often I couldn’t see what was being done. Too many students crowded around a tiny space. It would be helpful if they had a hanging mirror overhead a dedicated teaching station so that students can see more easily. Moreover, I sometimes couldn’t step away to watch a demonstration because my own dishes were in the process of being cooked. There was simply too much content crammed into a short amount of time.

If the number of recipes were scaled down, then we would all have a chance to practice and get better at something. Scaling down the number of recipes would free up the chef to go around and help more students instead of being pulled in a million and one direction. Although the instructor was open to questions and would come help when asked, I noticed that she did not evenly spread out her time and attention among the groups. I know that my group could’ve used more help over the course of the four days; we found ourselves frequently asking the assistant chef for help because the head chef was tied up with others or would only spend a brief amount of time working with our group. We were really grateful that the assistant chef would come in and check in on us because we largely felt forgotten otherwise.

The recipes need to be modernized in terms of flavor and feature more of what Napa Valley has to offer, which is fresh vegetables. Moreover, not all ingredients are sourced from high-quality vendors. Perhaps the biggest frustration of all is that sometimes there were not enough ingredients, which caused some friction between groups because there were not enough to go around.

Lastly, be aware that the advertised class time of 9: 30 am to 2: 30 pm is not correct and that you don’t get a sense of the real class schedule until 1 week before the actual class. Class starts at 9 am and usually ends by 2: 30 but there’s an optional evening class dinner on one of the nights at 6 pm. Office admin should post the actual schedule on their website so folks can know before deciding to register and/or rearrange their schedules so that they too can take advantage of the optional activity.

There was no anonymous feedback form at the end of the boot camp. I found this odd and disappointing given that CIA prides itself on its teaching.

Very cool campus! Love the world's of flavor experience and exploring the African diaspora.

I took the weeklong bootcamp and it was a fantastic experience! If you can't go for a whole week, take a day class! The kitchens are GORGEOUS and the team is so enthusiastic and hospitable!

Beautiful atmosphere to dine in. We sat outside. Came for brunch on Saturday. Lovely views of the gardens where they pick their fruits and vegetables. Talk about farm to table! Food was excellent. We ordered goat cheese, and beet toast. So delicious. Chicken and waffles. The chicken was juicy, and crisp! Classic eggs Benedict toast. Can't go wrong with hollandaise. And chilaquiles. Chips were homemade, and crisp not soggy. Fried eggs cooked perfectly, and the mushrooms added that extra flavor. Will definitely return for dinner. Or their 3D dining experience!

I would just come to Napa for the lamb ribs and the mushrooms pasta. My favorites. The flavor was amazing and super tender

A well manicured program, organized, with instruction by very skilled teachers in a state of the art kitchen. Very happy to have met and worked with the Chef’s team this week cooking the 4 day Boot Camp menu. Little to no food wasted. Cut and cooked from the Copia culinary garden. They want you to be engaged in the daily program, they want you to communicate with your classmates, the family meal at the end is such a great time. Please bring your happy self and keep your bossy, controlling self outdoors. It’s fun, I learned, used professional equipment.

This review is for the Chuck Williams Culinary Arts Museum.

We went on a weekday. The museum is upstairs and it is free to visit, open daily 11-5. If you have a foodie or a baker in your family, this is a really fun place to visit. All kinds of kitchen gadgets from bowls, to molds, spoons, ovens, choppers, etc. It was interesting to see how things have changed over the years and how some items are almost identical to the day they were invented.

They also hold classes, events, and weddings at this facility. Check their website for more info.

Service is poor botherline unprofessional last night! Food were salty and spoiled aged steak and octopus.
They mistakenly or intentionally padded the bill by over $600 when we split the large bill.
I came 5 years ago and this place was acceptable.

I have taken several classes at CIA, so informative and fun! Topped off by a lovely lunch of wonderful food. I highly recommend!

Yikes! Corona has hit this place hard. Dramatic decline in quality of service, taste, and presentation compared to our last visit just a few years ago. Simple yet somehow still redundant menu lacked any sort of culinary inspiration and the plate presentation was simply non-existent. Service was atrocious with innumerable failures throughout the meal. I think this will be our last visit to what was, previously, a mainstay of Napa. With all the competition in the area, why in the world would we give them another shot after how bad it was?

Food was so delicious.
I especially enjoyed their burger. Buns were fresh and soft. Meat was perfectly cooked. Vegetables on it were refreshing as well.

I was sitted inside since outdoor tables were all full. I highly recommend requesting outdoor sitting when making a reservation.

This place is okay for me I explore this place and movie place was cool and we went to the cooking room and there was no one in there and the movie theater because it was closed but how I got in is that i went to the shop and it was open and the there was a door that let us get in this cooking class that's how we get in the cooking class when it was closed.