ShefReviews of shef.com

I appreciate the concept, but if I want food from my freezer, I'll just go get some out of my freezer. And if it's advertised as a16-oz portion, but an 8-oz container shows up... it ruins the mood. Also, I signed up as a Shef, but after reading the reviews, I think I'll pass. I spent decades in the business, cooking in fine dining kitchens, and I expect a lot from the people who are making money off of my hard work. I don't think this would be a fit.

great concept, poor execution. I signed up, hoping to find more information about it. received a few random text messages from their onboarding team ranging from 6pm to 11pm on various days with no response when replied. Scheduled a call, no one called. It really makes you think hard before continuing on the process. Feel unreliable, especially when you are a potential resource for generating profit, and fits the category for their most wanted cook. can't imagine scenarios if you do need to reach them. but this is just my personal experience. good luck!

Horrible Customer service. They all work on their sweet time and no issues resolved. My wife is a shef her customer never received her meal and she is sending emails and messages back to back no response. what a shame how this company operates and don't have any decipipilin.

Honestly much of the food is great and I enjoyed it. But there is a systemic issue that makes doing business with them not worth it. The company cancelled my last 2 orders (2 days in a row) and didnt tell me until the next day each time. Each time I was left wondering where the food was and stressed and contacting customer service. It was unfortunate because the first nite I had invited guests to sample the food and the second day, the food was meant to be a present. When they cancel the food, they send u a text saying the food was DELIVERED. Totally confusing. Most of the time I get the message they cancelled my order from them THE NEXT DAY attached to an email about their customer service saying "how did we do?" One shef said she had to cancel my order because while I had ordered days before, they only told her about it last minute and she couldnt pull it together. I complained about this 4x to customer service with no response. Now I just tried calling the number advertised as Shefs customer service number and it doesnt work. The cooks are usually wonderful, the owners clearly dont care about their company because this system is set up badly, is frustrating and they are non responsive. I wish more responsible people would take over and make this business the truly great business it cud be.

Stupid customer service. The drivers drop off food at random addresses and don't have a tracking mechanism for you to coordinate when food is being delivered. On top customer service help line is only on sms who respond at their own sweet time. Absolutely ridiculous service don't order from here

I absolutely love Shef, and am so grateful to be able to order homemade and delicious food from members of my local community. All of the food I have ordered so far has come exactly as planned and has been so delicious! I especially love that the cuisines of so many countries and regions are represented. I spent a couple of years living in South India and really miss the food. I have been able to get amazing South Indian dishes that I just can’t find in restaurants, even in a big city like Los Angeles. I highly recommend Shef - it’s a great service, the food is fantastic and a great value, and the mission and impact to the community is positive and inspiring!

I was excited to order from this website. The food looks amazing, and the variety is all across the board. But on receiving it I'm not impressed. The portions were small and the food while good was nothing interesting. For the price I'd expect either more food or better taste. And on top of that you have to plan your order a day ahead and you only get a 4 hour time window for delivery. In the future if I want cheaper food I'll make it myself, and for better food I'll go to a restaurant.

I kept seeing ads on Facebook and other places online. They offered a $10 discount on one’s first order. So I decided to try it. I placed an order and when I checked out, a pop-up said that if I ordered from another shef for delivery on the same day, I’d get a $10 discount (as they refer to it “double the food at a fraction of the price”). Well, their prices are pretty damned high. So, $10 doesn’t reduce anything to a fraction. But it is a discount and I did make use of it. One order was Indian food and one was South East Asian. Both orders were average. Not terrible, not wonderful. I didn’t write reviews on their web site. Of course now that I had created an account, I was getting e-mails several times a week. About 3 weeks after my first order, I placed my 2nd order. Things changed significantly from the 2 unremarkable orders. I also ordered from 2 people this time. One was really good and I still order from her regularly and it is now 3 months later. The other is where things really started to go wrong. I ordered Thai food - my favorite cuisine. One item was Tom Kha Kai. It’s a delicious creamy soup made with coconut milk what I got was a bucket of yellow slop. I don’t know if the shef sent me the wrong thing (I don’t think she offered other types of soup, though) or this was her interpretation of Tom Kha. Let me tell you, I have had Tom Kha from Brooklyn to Bangkok and this isn’t it! And who serves soup chicken that has the skin on??? It was slimy and disgusting. I dumped most of it out and requested a refund. The other item was Massamon Curry. It was ok. But was $20 when my local Thai restaurant (that pays for a store front here in New York City) charges $14. And if you get it at lunch time, comes with an appetizer. The Tom Kha, likewise was $17 for a quart. Would have been $14 at a restaurant. Oh! And then there’s a service charge. And if you order under $25 from any one person, there’d be a delivery charge as well. Nothing like ordering a dish for $24.99 and having to pick something else so’s to not get hit with another fee. I’m winding down my relationship with this service (using up credits). But even that’s not easy. It’s hard not to find anything on there where the prices aren’t insane. Why would I want to pay more than what food costs in a restaurant? And they get away (or try to) with murder. Something will state that the portion size is a 24 oz container. I get it and 2/3 is taken up with tubs of condiments. Almost no food! I took a pic and demanded a refund. Another item I got was a Mexican dish that was sort casserole. About 50% was corn bread. That part is fine. But it was so over done that it creaked when I chewed it. I couldn’t capture that in a photo. So, I took a pic of 80% of the dish in my trash can. This too had to be refunded. If food any of this were done in a restaurant, I think someone would get a plate broken of their head! One of the ideas the company puts forth as a selling point is “in a restaurant, you have no idea who’s making your food. At Shef.com, you know exactly who’s preparing your food”. Ridiculous! What could be further from the truth?? In a restaurant, you see the kitchen (and people in it) all the time. Whether you’re headed to the rest room or just look up when a server is going in or coming out of the kitchen. In addition to poor quality control and high prices, shef food is never ready to eat. If you get delivery from a restaurant, it arrives fresh, hot and ready to eat. Shef meals arrive cold and often have components in separate containers which have to be combined and then heated. To keep the food from spoiling, they put in frozen water bottles (adds to the price). And they pack things into a thermal bag which also adds to the price. When I first signed up, I saw a note that said when you had 5 or more bags, contact them. They will pick up the bags, recycle and pay $5 for 5 bags. Now, I’ve been waiting nearly a month to get an appt for pickup (I have about a dozen bags) and they no longer pay anything. So, each time you order, you pay for the cost of the thermal bag even if you return it to them. Additionally, when you place an order, the offer to get $10 if you place another one has been cut to $5 (still says “double your food at a FRACTION of the price”). Before closing, I need to address price a bit more. It is surreal when I look at portion size and see 16oz container at consistently higher prices than the 32oz container from a restaurant. But it gets worse. Many are now selling in 12oz containers. 12 Ounces! That is the size of a soda can! So, high prices, small portions, poor quality control... Oh! Not done with the inconvenience! Not only do things not arrive ready to eat, but you have a 2 hour window and have to wait 2-4 days for delivery from the time you order. their slogan is “we’re not as good as a restaurant. But we do charge more.”