Gold Coast & Old Town Food Tour

All I can say is "WOW" !!! This was the very first thing that we did on our vacation to visit Chicago and what a way to start. Our tour guide Nikki was really great. Our group was small and it was all very intimate. We learned a lot about the city as well as seeing places and going into stores that we would not have ever seen anywhere else. We travelled all the way from Bermuda and if we ever get back to Chicago we would most definitely take the Wicker Park tour. This is something you MUST do when you visit Chicago, it is well worth it.

Unfortunately I though this tour was pretty average. I am not a big eater yet there was definitely not enough food on this tour for the price you pay. I took a similar tour that provided more than double the amount of food. The tour guide was average and not genuine although she tried. The highlights of the tour were the chocolate, it was delicious. The oils were nice (and excellent quality) but no bread was provided which is just strange. Who tries oil straight up? Same with the spices, putting cinnamon on my hand, no matter how good the quality is and then licking it is not for me sorry. I am a foodie and maybe if I wasn't then I would have enjoyed this tour more. The pizza at the end was nice but tasted more like a quiche. The definite highlight of the tour was the architecture. Seeing different neighbourhoods that a normal visitor probably would not see was fantastic. I don't know why some tours get so obvious when they hit you up for the tip at the end of the tour. There is nothing wrong with mentioning at the end that tips are appreciated but when you get a "let me personally say good bye to each and every one of you" even after she has already individually spoken to each us at the end is just obvious and not appreciated.

My wife and I were spending a week in Lake Geneva, and had planned for a day in Chicago which included this tour. We'd rank ourselves as pretty big foodies, and were very intrigued by the description and reviews of this tour. Our tour guide, Arianna, was wonderful - very well-informed, enthusiastic, and full of fun and relevant trivia to fill the walks between stores. The stores were very well chosen, and tastings well-planned and spaced out. Also, the weather was beautiful - so thank you for working that out, too! After the tour, we returned to four of the seven stops to make purchases, taking advantages of the coupons given to us during the tour. We'd recommend this tour to all of our friends, without hesitation, and will definitely check out their other one if we're back in town. Thanks again to Arianna and the rest of Chicago Food Planet for an wonderful experience!

I really liked the tour, very informative. The tour guide Adriana (sp) was fantastic!! We did stop at this chocolate and catering ..Jay was the owner..he seemed to be annoyed that we were there. I know that he is busy but just to say Hi was too much for him. If he does not want people there then take him off the tour. The pizza place was kind of far off the path but excellent pizza. I would tell anyone to go on this tour, in fact we would come down again and try the other tour available.

A wonderful way to see a city...learning about the history of different neighbourhoods on foot and eating along the way...There were 7 family members (husbands and wives) along with others from all over the world..we all had the same passion..... FOOD...Our tour guide was fabulous..very informed and definitely loved what she was doing..certainly proud of her Chicago...Definitely want to do another.....We've done 3 such tours now....N.Y., Chicago and Seattle...Loved them all.... Debbie in Victoria B.C. Canada....

Great insight into the food heritage of Chicago, good fun too!

It was my second time on the walking tour, and I would go a third! I like the neighborhoods, the food, the parks, the history and information. Jenn was a great tour guide. It is a nice way to do something different in the city. You get the whole tourist experience and some great food! I liked the pizza place better,(the the previous) and the olive oil shop was really neat. There was only one problem, when we got finished (Sunday) and walked back down, the shops were closed, so we didn't get to do any shopping. Maybe think about making the children be at least 8-10 years old.

LOVED THE TOUR.. OUR GROUP RANGED FROM A 5 YEAR OLD KID TO MY MOM WHO IS 60 YEARS OLD... MY 2 SONS ENJOYED THE TOUR AND MY MOM DID SO,TOO... THERE IS SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY.....

The food tour was very informative and enjoyable. The selection of stops was great, and so was the food sampled at each stop. Large and delicious samples. Would highly recommend.

We were told about the Near North Food Walking tour by a friend who did it last summer. Our group consisted of my husband and myself and our two children (age 17 & 19).It met our expectations and more. It kept all of our interests all the way through (even our teenagers). The tour guide was very knowledgable, pleasant, friendly, warm. The guide was very informative about the food establishments but she also had a great knowledge of the city along the way. We were greeted at each establishment with warmth from the store employees and were given interesting information from them as well as our guide about each individual speciality. Three hours were a concern at first but we immediately forgot about the time and when the tour was finished we actually felt like we could go on. We back tracked to a few stores to make purchases when we were done the tour. All in all an excellent way to see Chicago from an insiders point of view. Not touristy at all even though we were on a tour!!