Near North Food Tasting & Cultural Walking Tour

My 21-year old daughter found this activity online, and we attended the food tasting tour together. It was a short walk from our hotel, and the tour covered a wide range of famous, yet charmingly cosy food outlets in the Gold Coast, Old Town & Lincoln Park areas. The tour guide was extremely knowledgeable about the various food types, and kept us entertained during our walks with lots of "inside info" about the neighbourhoods we travelled during our leisurely stroll. The tour was the highlight of our trip to Chicago. We plan to do it every time we come back to the city, and would recommend it highly to anyone visiting the city. Two (or four in our case) emphatic thumbs up!!

This food tour was very enjoyable and somewhat different than a tour I took in NY. It starts out with a substantial size reuben sandwich, much bigger than a tasting. The next five stops were really not for eating but more educational. We went to a tea store, a spice store and an oil store. They were all very interesting, especially the tea store. I might actually start drinking tea. For the most part, all the stops were pretty close to each other. We then went to a delicious pastry shop and a fudge store. Sizes of the tastings here were more than adequate. Our final stop was a pizza store, and this was my only objection about the tour. The pizza was very good, but we walked too big a distance to make it worthwhile. We like walking but somehow the long walk between the 6th and final stop took the momentum away from the tour. You are now also a distance away from the starting point. I would think there would be another place to go to closer to where everything else was. I would definitely recommend this tour and we would take their other tour (Wicker Park) when we return to Chicago. Our guide Beth was wonderful, the food was delicious and the portions were enough for a lunch. My only suggestion to the company would be to add more stops and then break them into 3 distinct neighborhoods rather then trying to cover the 3 neighborhoods in one tour. This way they would be able to offer 3 additional separate tours (Old Town, Gold Coast, and Near North). With all the good food in Chicago, I would think they could find additional places to add to their itinerary.

The restaurants/shops that were included in the tour were true hidden gems with a long history in the Chicago area. We sampled some amazing food and found places we would definitely go back to. Our guide (Rebecca) was awesome. She was infromative, approachable, and engaging. I would definitely recommend this tour to my friends.

I knew my husband and I would enjoy this type of tour, but my grown son really enjoyed it too. Our guide was great and we would recommend it to friends. Next time we will take your other neighborhood tour. Thanks!

We had a great time. Hilary was our guide and she did an excellent job. She was very knowledgeable and showed us points of interest that we would have never have seen on our own. The food was fantastic. We can't wait to go back and have another Ruben Sandwich!

I would recommend this tour to anyone visting Chicago. We really enjoyed it.

My wife & I took this tour with our 17 y.o. daughter & 18 y.o. friend. We were concerned that the girls would not enjoy this activity. We were pleasantly surprised that they enjoyed this as much as we did. Hillary was a joy as our tour guide, she was pleasant, well informed & always attentive & upbeat. All our stops gave a nice size portion to sample & we definitely did not leave hungry. We also found a new area of Chicago that we did not even know existed. The only downside to the tour, is that WE did not have the time to stay & return to the shops as we had a 5.5 hour drive back home. Highly recommended & look forward to taking the other tours.

Rebecca was our guide and she was great!! Very good communicator and made sure everyone was enjoying themsleves. It was a fantastic combination of history, education and tasting the best Chicago has to offer.

I have never thought of participating in a food tour and one of my girlfriends from out of town recommended it. Three stops on the tour were such wonderful motivators for trying new things at home. The Oil and Vinegar shop, the Spice shop and the Tea shop. I'm so unsatisfied with the boring stuff at Jewel now and I want to throw away all my old spices and start fresh! The guide was upbeat and patient and funny; Rebecca. I've lived in Chicago for 10 years and never had a chance to walk on Wells Street or see Eclectic Row or see Lincoln Park. Great way to spend the day with friends.

We loved the locations selected, our guide Rebecca, and the amount of time was just right. We will recommend it to others and possibly take the Bucktown/Wicker Park tour in the future.