Lil’ Chef School

Irvine, United States

4.1

Closed now

17 reviews

Contacts

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Telephone:
+1 949-679-8390
Website:
lilchefschool.com
Address:
15435 Jeffrey Rd Ste 132, Irvine, CA, 92618
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
2.4 miBryan-Culver
2.4 miTustin
2.5 miOCTA
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Bussiness info

Bike Parking
No
Wheelchair Accessible
Yes
Good for Kids
Yes

Today

Today 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Closed now
Local time (Irvine) 08:22 Friday, 20 June 2025

Business hours

Monday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Tuesday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Wednesday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Thursday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Friday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Saturday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Sunday –

Description

Specialties

Lil’ Chef School is a children’s cooking school that allows children to be creative and to explore the Culinary Arts. Along with cooking classes we are a great place for birthday parties, workshops, special events, field trips and camps to children from ages 3 to adult. We specialize in kitchen safety and teaching children how to cook by introducing various age-​appropriate cooking techniques. After some time at Lil’ Chef School children will know how to set and clear a table, execute proper table manners, and introduce various cooking utensils and appliances and their use. We have also focused on educating students on nutrition and we use all fresh ingredients and most dishes are made from scratch.

Not only does Lil’ Chef School teach children to cook and proper table manners, but it also encourages them to try new foods. Children are more likely to try something that they have created, which broadens their pallet and introduces them to new textures through feel and taste. In addition to being located in our Irvine facility, these classes are currently being offered on school campuses during and after school hours. This allows parents more time in the afternoon and is a great alternative to expensive daycare.

Lil’ Chef School is all about teaching children how to cook while having a blast!

History

Established in 2010.

For the past 5 years, Lil’ Chef School has been intruding the culinary arts to children. It is our goal to provide children with not only cooking skills, but also teaching them proper table manners and encouraging them to try new foods and expanding their palates. Lil’ Chef School is here to teach children how to cook while having a blast.

Meet the Business Owner

Tracey D.

Business Owner

My name is Tracey Doty and I’m the owner and founder of Lil’ Chef School. I established the school in 2010 at Marguerite Christian Preschool. I am also a preschool teacher and aide and have been working with children for more than 7 years. I have two children of my own and know how important cooking is in everyday life. It truly is a pleasure for my company to introduce the art of cooking to children at such a young age.

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17 reviews of Lil’ Chef School

No registration required
Place rating: 5
Costa Mesa, CA
Just had our daughters 9th birthday there and it was an amazing experience. Having 12 girls entertained for an hour plus was great and their creations were yummy as well!
Place rating: 4
Anaheim, CA
I purchased a deal on groupon for 3 classes for my 6 year old son. They were scheduled over 3 consecutive weeks. The school is in the back of a shopping center and was pretty clean and open. The instructors were nice and helpful with all of the kids. The only gripe would be that for my son’s 3 classes they made a different kind of soup every week. I wish there would have been a little more variety. But maybe the change it up every month and we went the last 3 weekends in January. My son enjoyed his time and it was something different for him to try. Overall, if he wanted to continue I would have gotten him a few more classes to attend.
Place rating: 5
Orange, CA
I learned about Lil’ Chef School from one of my twin mom friends and I couldn’t wait to check it out! My kids attended the Parent Night Out and they have been raving about it ever since. They loved it so much and keep asking me when they can go back! I highly recommend Lil’ Chef School and we will definitely be taking more classes!
Place rating: 1
Anaheim, CA
Horrible. I would not waste your money. I am very surprised parents just drop off their kids… I guess 2 hours to yourself might sound amazing. But if you actually stayed to see what you are paying for you would think twice. Sadly this place wasn’t anything we expected. We did the recent Candy Cane Cookie one. After spending as much as we did for this class for our kids they each made ONE COOKIE. Ridiculous! Not to mention the GROSS hot coco they made…
These ladies talk about cleaning hands etc after each thing, but NOPE the kids in the class were licking fingers (which is expected) but I mean you had kids putting their fingers in bowls etc. Not to mention when you think of a cooking class you picture your child having their own bowl and ingredients. I kid you not each kid was able to put a CUP of flour into a bowl! That’s it! One person was allowed to turn on the oven. Seriously this place is a joke. You are better off cooking at your home with your kids with real ingredients instead of some powdered milk. SAVE YOUR MONEY. This place was a rip off… Will never go back again.
Place rating: 5
San Francisco, CA
INCREDIBLE STAFF! I cannot say enough about Lil Chef School. I wanted to do something different from the ‘normal’ team building activities we’ve done in the past for work (i.e., bowling, sports event) so I decided on Lil Chef School sight unseen. Well, not only did they not disappoint, but they blew away my expectations. When our group of 30 arrived, they started us off with a game of bingo to get the socializing started. Once we had three winners (our captains) we were divided into three teams. From there, the rivalry and fun took off. Between creating team names, drinking the BYOB, learning how to properly cut, dice and chop and preparing our own lasagna and bruschetta salad, it was seriously non-​stop laughter. To say we were loud would be an understatement! What a great environment to get to know your fellow workers. Fun, nice staff, laid back but with enough structure to actually prepare a meal. It’s obvious that their talented and kind chefs work with kids regularly as they were able to constantly herd us back to cooking without issue. Thank you for hosting us, Lil Chef School. As a new work team, this was an important event for us and you really came through!
Place rating: 1
Anaheim, CA
Very disappointed. My daughter and her friends (total of 6 kids) attended the cooking class today (Fruit juice fizz with sugar cookies). The description of the class said «holiday cutouts to decorate». All throughout the class different kids were asking if they’d be able to decorate the cookies. The teacher said no they were just making them today. My friends and I thought they’d be able to decorate but we stupidly didn’t check until after we left so we read and saw the class clearly said they would be allowed to decorate (refer to picture posted). If not then why would me and my friends sign up for a class just to make fizz and 2 plain cookies. The kids were disappointed and so were we!
Place rating: 4
Torrance, CA
Super disappointed! I signed my girls up for the Kids Night Out class tonight (11÷27÷15). I paid additional monies to have them arrive at 5pm ($ 85 total). Nobody ever showed up. There were 4 other parents waiting as well. We waited for 1 hour after calling and emailing repeatedly, without any response. This is very unprofessional. My kids have been waiting for this class for weeks. They were heartbroken.
Update 12÷19÷15: my girls finally got a chance to attend a class this morning. They had a wonderful time and Tracy was super apologetic about what happened a few weeks ago. My daughters will be attending more classes very soon.
Place rating: 1
San Clemente, CA
Such a disappointment! There was one chef, no assistant and 15 kids in the class. Chef Lori is focused on prep and cleaning but not watching the kids. This class had two VERY disruptive kids who needed to be placed in a time out. Since you can just drop off your kids, maybe it’s a good break for a parent for 90 min??? Swinging a knife, banging on the foot rests and tables, and even a foot on the table w/​shoe on a work station wasn’t addressed. Excessively unnecessary loud chopping/​banging wasn’t corrected. The rule of needing to wash your hands ever time you touched your face, hair or picked your nose wasn’t enforced. The on time students had to wait for late arrivals which made the class run late. Maybe good for a private class party but pass on a group class.
Place rating: 5
Irvine, CA
My son has attended two different classes and he loved them both. He is 6 and he was very proud of the work he did and he couldn’t wait to tell me all about everything he did and learned.
Place rating: 5
Irvine, CA
We have never taken after school classes here, but have attended summer camp for several years in a row and it is fabulous! Highly recommend.
Place rating: 5
Placentia, CA
This is the email that I wrote to the Lil Chef School owner on my child’s first day of cooking school:
«Tracy,
Today is Lyle’s first day in the Italian cooking class. He was skeptical about cooking and not baking before he got here. He had decided that he was not going to like it here. (A little background on Lyle: He’s been so down the last six months; nothing makes him happy. It’s been a daily struggle to get him to do anything –except video games).
So now fast forward to today’s first Italian cooking class :
He’s been in class 2 hrs and he is sooooooooo excited about this class. He’s smiling, interacting, and is genuinely enjoying every minute of the class. He keeps coming over to where I’m sitting to ask if he can do more weeks here at cooking camp. Hooray! Or rather Eureka!!!
I feel like we’ve struck gold today!!! He NEVER likes anything that I sign him up to do at camp or after school.
Oh Praise God for your cooking school and for these very wonderful teachers Jasmine and Laurie!
Thank you a thousand times–
I literally an trying to control my joy and not cry my tears of happiness.
With a grateful heart,
Myriam Perez Perrigo
Lyle’s mommy»
Place rating: 5
Orange County, CA
My daughter loves the cooking class here. I got a deal from living social so she could try it out. It was a wonderful experience. The chef instructor and the owner are absolutely wonderful!!! Highly recommend!!!
Place rating: 5
Trabuco Canyon, CA
I learned about Lil Chef School at my son’s elementary school. Lil Chef School offers an incredible after school program geared toward teaching kids to cook and experiment with a variety of fun foods and vegetables. My kindergartner continually wants to enroll in Lil Chef School’s programs. Each 6 to 8 week session offers different menus and they send their students home with their deliciously fresh menu item as well as an easy to follow recipe. We’ve made several of these at home and my son «talks the talk» of a lil chef! He sounds like a Jr Bobby Flay. It’s awesome!
It was through these after school classes that I explored Lil Chef School’s Irvine campus and discovered their AMAZING cooking seminars and camps for kids. My 13 year old daughter and 6 year old son equally enjoy attending these seminars and camps.
They’ve made everything from fresh chicken noodle soup (where they even made fresh noodles for the soup). They’ve made Sushi (3 different kinds!), they’ve done an appetizer session featuring Super Bowl appetizers, did a super fun cake pop session where they made 4 or 5 different types of cake pops. Really really fun!
Tracey and her team should get 6 stars for their hard work, patience and humor they bring to the kitchen. :).
Keep up the AWESOME job!!!
Place rating: 5
Irvine, CA
We celebrated my daughter’s 7th birthday party at Lil Chef School. Chef Piper was extremely funny and entertaining during the 2 hour event. She had all the kids laughing and participating (ages 4 – 8), even the parents were giggling. Chef Piper and Chef Dominique also went above and beyond by helping us decorate the room prior to the party, getting balloons ready, hanging decorations and welcoming all the guests as they arrived. Every single guest, both kids and parents, commented on how unique and fun this party was.
Our little chefs had a great time measuring, stirring, pouring, kneading and shaping their pizzas. We had butterflies, hearts, cars, footballs, letters, you name it! They were all so proud of their work. They also got to decorate their cupcakes which were then placed in a beautiful cupcake stand to sing happy birthday to the birthday girl.
Once again, what a memorable experience!
Tracey was so friendly and wonderful to work with during the party planning process. Thank you Lil Chef School for making my daughter’s birthday so special and a truly unforgettable one!
Place rating: 5
Tustin, CA
We’re doing once a week classes still and they continue to be awesome! We take many other lessons but this one is the best value. And of course an invaluable and practical skill.
Place rating: 5
Ladera Ranch, CA
Highly suggest Lil’ Chef School! Tons of fun, my girls loved it and can’t wait to go back. Thanks, Tracey. It’s awesome!
Place rating: 4
Anaheim, CA
I had my daughter birthday party here. Its a lil pricey but my daughter and her friends that attended had a lot of fun making pizza and decorating cupcakes for her birthday. Very nice concept they have here.