Near North Food Tasting & Cultural Walking Tour

I chose this activity to initiate our vacation to Chicago. We thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of the tour. We were especially mesmerized by the oil and vinegar stop as well as the exposure to all the variants of spices. Our guide Kent was very good at providing a humorous touch, while being very infomative. My wife is already planning to purchase spices, vinegars and other assundries from the tour. I will definately add this to our next chicago trip (perhaps the Bucktown or Asian food tours)

We had a great time! The diversity of shops we stopped at peppered in with history, culture and architecture far exceeded our expectations! We even walked the route backwards to the start to see it all again ( and make our purchases!)

We couldn't understand why an olive oil and vinegar shop was included on the tour. Then we tasted the samples and were blown away.

We thoroughly enjoyed the River Near North Tour! Our guide was Lauren. She was extremely knowledgeable about the neighborhoods and the local establishments. She has a welcoming and cheerful personality. She did a great job breaking the ice and making everyone feel comfortable. The tasting was a wonderful variety. I plan on re-visiting all of the establishments. Thanks again!

There should be more tasting of food---

My husband and I really enjoyed this tour. THe guide, Arianna, was fabulous. She provided great historical background on the neighborhoods and buildings during the walk. We were happy with all the stores we visited. I liked the fact that we were taught something at each shop. Only bummer is you don't have time to shop, so plan on your last day like I did. We will definitely visit the stores again and check out another tour next year.

I signed up to go with an out of town guest.... Ho-Hum...I thought... what could you teach me about Chicago that I did not already know.... was I in for a surprise.... I learned that I love pastrami with sour kraut...did you say reuben 2???.... that I could actually enjoy tea... I thought that was for all those woosies at the office... except for you, David Carradine, oh, how I miss thee.... that chocolate is more than kisses and santas... ok, I knew that already.... that my Polish heritage makes a pirogi that rivals the Italian gnocchi...hey, talk to my mother, she's the reason I'm a retard..... that oil is not just another lube... yes, ok, I know, and at the same time, uh, no.... and that pizza is not just another fast food that upsets my stomach... it can be non greasy so that you don't need 5 napkins to sop up the grease before you dive in... our guide, a youthful soul, obviously from the southern most tip of Costa Rica, was entertaining and filled with tid bits of know-how... without being pretentious or over-bearing... hey who can explain to a person twice their age how the gold coast got its name with a straight face? I know what you're thinking... this is another bs review by an insider... ok, you go ahead and believe that.... just remember I'm the guy downing the pastrami sandwich in a seat at the counter at Ashkenaz deli on Cedar at the start of the next tour, while you are sitting at home wondering what would be fun to do and good to eat. Boo - Yah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We really enjoyed the tour. It had a little something for everyone...architecture, history, food tastings and exposure to little city gems. It also included much needed exercise (walking) : ) The tour organizers were very flexible too. We were running late from another acitivity and it was a simple phone call to the tour company to let them know of our dilemma and they got us to where we needed to be. My only disappointment was the inability to make purchases at the different locations. It would have been nice to have 10 minutes to do so. Our tour guide was great. She was friendly, knowledgeable and energetic. We had a great time. It was one of the highlights of our planned activities. We all (3 of us) are recommending it to other friends.

I was alittle apprehensive about signing up with my 2 daughters---age 10, but we had a wonderful time on this tour. We learned so much from our tour guide, Arianna. We learned about local favorites and traditional foods and customs. It was a great tour and would recommend it to everyone.

Thoroughly enjoyed this walking and tasting tour of Old Town, Gold Coast and Lincoln Park neighborhoods with Jess who is a gifted and enthusiastic tour guide. All the food and other tastings (tea, spices) were delicious and Jess provided lots of information about the food, shops, neighborhoods and some general history of Chicago. The ratio of walking to eating was about right - without the walking I don't think I could have managed the reuben sandwich and double stuffed pizza in the same afternoon! A great way to get more acquainted with some great neighborhoods.