Best kept secret for lunch! $10 sandwiches and salads and free sparkling water on tap in the little cafe. Super friendly service. You can walk around and see the cooking lecture halls and inquire about classes and camps. When students are in session you can also have a meal at the onsite restaurant. So historic and a a great local to pop into some of the large and historic wineries near by.
This place helps make the Napa Valley what it is. Copia tried to do what this place has done very well with the restoration of the building the culinary school, and the restaurant.
Beautiful location! Free tours at 11:30 a.m. give great history of the institute. It's a lot of walking, so if stairs are difficult for you, it may not be the best choice.
My husband and I recently got married at Greystone. We honestly couldn't have asked for a better experience or dreamier day. From the first site visit, to the incredible tasting, through all of my questions and anxiety ( ), to the day of, we couldn t have asked for a better experience. The venue on its own stunning and the food night of was outstanding! We can t thank Andrea and the other CIA staff enough for making our day so amazing. We are so appreciative!! It has been a month since the wedding and all of our guests are still talking and texting about what a lovely time they had and about the wonderful venue. We can t thank Andrea and the CIA enough for their integral part in our special day
We signed up for one of their Saturday cooking courses. The description made us think that we would be learning some new cooking skills while making Italian cuisine. Instead we were given almost no instruction except for the direction that we had to choose a group and follow the recipes given to that group. The mise en place was disorganized and we had to find some of our ingredients ourselves. There was almost no oversight and instruction, so the results for most dishes were less than spectacular. The promised critique was never given, no feedback provided and no skills taught. We walked away after spending $250 each with a wooden spoon, a chef's apron and no new learning.
Choose from 3 or 4 categories. For my entree, I chose the pork tenderloin. Flavor was good, but it was over seared, slightly. Overall, a very good experience.
Their macarons, salted caramel to be exact was delicious, but they were all good.
I love this place! great place to visit with the family..I visited the culinary classes and tasted the goodies made by students.
I visited in Napa first time with my boyfriend and the last excited event was eating in this restaurant. However, when we went here, IT WAS CLOSED on Sunday. Even I had searched Yelp or their site didn't mention about it's closed. I was so mad because It took hour and thirty minutes from my house to get here. The pictures of meal looks really fancy, but no longer attention about customers.
Fantastic place if pricey. Aside from the consistently world-class food, the great joy in this restaurant is seeing the evident focus and joy on the faces of the students as they work singly and together. They are, to a person, filled with delight in their tasks. You will spend a lot of money, even without wine, but the experience makes this a very special place for a special occasion.
I will not go into to much detail about the overall school but what i can say is that it is excellent. The bakery inside is amazing, they always have fresh things, there is a great amount of space in the main hall to walk around in. They have lots of display cases and photos telling about the history inside. You can also access most parts of the school, as long as you get a visitors pass. The restaurant (Wine Spectator) on the northwestern end of the school has amazing service. The waiters are training students but you can hardly tell (there good at what they do). The food is exceptional and the decor is absolutely beautiful. The only complaint i have about the restaurant is how long the food takes, mine took about 20 minutes, but it was amazing all the same. The overall look of the exterior of the school resembles an old stone vineyard manor. It has lots of history including how it was made and why.
Good food, even better wine and impeccable service. Nice organic local ingredients and verticals of famous napa cabernets
I love this place. Great for students to let the culinary experience.
First class training and instruction from knowledgeable staff and professional chefs.
I highly recommend you attend their events open to the public.
Great food with extensive wine list and selection. Enjoys the bar and the drinks if you need a quick fixed. Don't skip outdoor seating when the weather is on your side.
Except tapas and wine. Impeccable ambiance. A must stop when in the area
Review is just for the Illy bakery/deli at the CIA.
Pretty limited menu, 2-3 sandwich options, a salad option or two, and that's about it. The food took quite awhile to be made/arrive, especially given most of it was cold ingredients, and the snotty service left something to be desired. Our plates all arrived with chips, despite having asked for salad with most of them, and the staff didn't seem pleased to make the exchange. The food itself was good, but given the prices and the service, I'll eat elsewhere next time.
Looks good from the inside and outside but better don't take anything at the bakery. They touch even money and than u'r food ....
I had dinner at the restaurant with my family and I confess that the food did not meet my expectation as I was looking forward to a great experience! The wine we had (Charles Krug) was excellent. The wine made us decide to visit the Charles Krug winery the following day!
This review is for the cooking school. I took a week long boot camp cooking course. I enjoyed the experience very much. Although I consider myself an experienced home cook the course was very informative and a treat to be able to work in a professional kitchen and hone my skills. It was cool to be in the same kitchen with all the professional student and see what they were working on. They have a wide variety of course for the home cook. It was also enjoyable to be able to wake up every day to the beautiful smell of grapes as it was during harvest season.
A meal at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone is one of the best places to spend an evening. The meal is prepared and served by CIA students under the direction of CIA instructors. Every portion of the meal is beyond exquisite. The Gatehouse Restaurant has a wonderful menu. On your first visit, try the four courses dinner with sommelier pairings.
As someone who attended this facility to hone my cooking skills, I was quite impressed with the facility and the instructors. The curriculum was forward looking and was appropriately paced.
I also attended the CIA facility in New Hyde Park, NY. My strongest appreciation for Greystone was for the embedded farm-to-table philosophy in everything we were taught.
Restaraunt to visit during trip to Napa
Beautiful place with amazing tasty dishes prepared by student chefs! I got a chance to try couple of few dishes (we shared orders) and was pleasantly surprised by right combination of flavors and consistency.
Make reservation in advance. I expected prices to be higher since this place is nice.
Visited April 2015
We had a great time attending the Wine Business Monthly IQ2020 Conference.
Extremely disappointed. After hearing and reading about the CIA we were very excited to be going to the Greystone for dinner Thursday, September 25, 2014. For a restaurant with the notoriety that it has, the service was pathetic. We waited and waited, waitress after waitress just kept on walking by. Finally a waitress shows up to take our drink order. Not even water was delivered.
When we asked her about the menu she couldn't even tell us what the food was or how it was prepared. When she walked away my husband and I said to each other...she doesn't even know what's on the menu. After we placed our order, she walked away and left us holding the menus. Class Act NOT!
For the price of a bottle of wine....no one even bothered to pour our glasses. My chicken was dry and the vegi's were prepared with a liquid smoke flavor, but to the point they were not edible. To many other places to go in the Napa region, so go to one of them and pass the CIA up.
The food was amazing. Go for lunch or dinner, but just go!
The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) at Greystone in Napa Valley is a beautiful setting and very interesting education and tour location.
The CIA is widely recognized as the world s premier culinary college and their reputation for excellence is due to the outstanding faculty, passionate students, and more than 50,000 accomplished alumni across more than seven decades.
The building and grounds are visually inspiring and the location is an easy-access stop during a drive up through the Napa Valley.
Worst experience ever! First of all coming out with a party of 16 and book reservations at this so called desirable location. After not receiving any update or email from the restaurant decided to call back in to make sure we were good to go. I was just informed that they do not take reservations for a party of 12 or more - funny as I booked them two weeks ago and the individual on the line didn't inform me of this. We knew rules in Napa were crazy at restaurants, hence why we tried to book reservations across the board. Thanks to CIA for starting my wife's 40th birthday celebration on a crappy note.
Greystone was also the first California winery to be operated and illuminated by electricity, produced by a boiler and gas generator located in a mechanical room below the building's central front wing.
The cornerstone was laid on June 15, 1888; beneath it was laid, several bottles of wine, a copy of a St. Helena Star and San Francisco newspapers, and foreign and rare coins.
The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
The building changed ownership several times in St Helena and was notably owned by the Christian Brothers as a winery from 1945 to 1989. It was used as a winery until its sale to the CIA in 1993.
When I pay 45 bucks for a pork chop it better be better than I can cook, it wasn't very disappointing... to many good places to eat in Napa Valley to waist time and money here.
The chef's sampler for both the appetizer and dessert were excellent. The service was mediocre and my sirloin steak had a great flavor, but was a bit tough.
So much fun, so much to learn. I took 5 one week classes here and enjoyed myself thoroughly. I highly recommend you come and experience this wonderful world of cuisine and your talents.
This review is for the wine education at CIA's Rudd Center. I recently took a few wine intensives there and keep thinking about how valuable they were. These 3-day classes focus on specific regions like Bordeaux, Burgundy or Italy and they're taught by Master Sommeliers (there are only 187 of these wine experts in the world).
The content and instructors are literally the best on the planet. But the bonus is all the wines you get to taste in each of the classes and the delicious lunches prepared by CIA students.
In the Burgundy class for example we got to taste about 40 wines from the low end all the way up to 10-year old Grand Crus. The wine alone was worth the price of admission.
Although it's a bit of a journey to get there it's well worth it. You won't find any place with better instruction or better content anywhere. I'm already looking at the next round of classes. See my posts and checkins at this location for more.
#ReviewsDay
A great place for a great dining experience. I enjoy the local area, Greystone - the castle like building this is in and of course the food.
Prices are not high given what you get.
I recommend reservations or at least calling ahead to check.
Simply an outstanding experience! Best food ever. The service by young students is charming. Highly recommended and worth every cent even if expensive!
The wedding was here but the food was good and the atmosphere was good.
An amazing culinary institute with finest cuisine. Famous bakery with French like bread, pastry. I loved sharing experiences with students and teachers about French cuisine. Excellent 4 plates menu with according wines. The place to see in california for food lovers.
Food and service were very poor. They served Kendal Jackson wine our diner pairing.
We had dinner there a few years back and felt that they really tried to hard. I know it's a school and the servers are Chef's in training, but there is really something to be said about professional waiters and Chefs who don't have to follow books. I think that once these kids get out on their own and allowed to show their individual personalities they'd make better restaurateurs.
Great school and facility. Loved the wine classes I had years ago and the staff.
The Bakery Cafe is a perfect place to stop for a quick lunch while touring up and down Napa Valley / indulging in wine tastings at vineyards. Sandwiches, salads, Illy espresso, pastries and Ghirardelli chocolates!
A vast vineyard is in front of you.
The food celebration took place here was great!
It is a very ordedana pulcra culinary art school I would say, you can taste any appetizer in its restaurant or buy some kitchen utensils in the store.
Expensive but worth the money. Great ambiance, good food.
Outstanding food! So much care goes into each dish, and they were all prepared perfectly. The students are really into it. Great value too. I would definitely go back.
Best coconut souffle I could possibly imagine, perfection. Also they have a very cool wine list.
Immersive and educational cooking courses of various lengths.
A phenomenal institution with a remarkable staff in the pursuit of wellness through great food
Do not go there while COVID19 is still around. The school reduced their teaching hours but still charge the same. Also, their COVID19 rules are so strict that it takes so much away from what should be an amazing experience. Very, very dissapointing.
ciachef.edu
