Near North Food Tasting & Cultural Walking Tour

Our guide,Nicky, met us at Azkanaz Deli and began our tour on a beautiful day in Chicago. She was full of info about the Gold Coast, Lincoln Park and Old Town and the stops in shops along the way was fun and took the place of lunch with candy, gourmet oils and vinegars, spices, deep dish"heart healthy pizza, gourmet cheeses, and deli tastes. The walk was just long enough and even though we are locals, we all enjoyed it very much and would recommend it to anyone who likes to get a closer look into the neighborhoods.

My teen daughter and I enjoyed everything about the tour--walking, talking and tasting. Nikki, our tour guide, was very charming and informative. Great variety of stops and tastings. Wear comfortable shoes because this is a walking tour. Fascinating stores--especially the spice and oil shops. Pizza was awesome. We went back to the fudge shop to buy toffee. Will highly recommend to my friends.

If you are looking for something different to do in Chicago, then check out the Walking Tour. Its entertaining and allows you to see the city fromthe normal tourist activities. I would highly recommend to anyone, however, eat a small breakfast before going.

Wonderful tour, with great food & information on the locals. The Tea House, Pizza and Spice Room were my favorite....Would definitely do the new tour when they get it up and running. See you next year when we visit!

I loved the tour. I am a huge fan of Chicago and loved the informative tour of different shops to visit, the history of the area and the places I would never have visited if not on this tour. I highly recommend this tour to everyone. A pub tour was suggested by our group, a restaurant tour and a tour of the historic houses would also be great. Thanks for a great time.

Jennifer, our guide, was brimming of interesting info about every restaurant and every neighborhood's history, recent past, and point of interest. We didn't just wander around the spice house (which was really interesting even for someone with no interest in spices), we got a demo of cinnamon being made. We didn't just drink tea, we learned a ton about it from a very personable tea sommelier The walk was great and the food was great. I was a little worried at the start bc the first stop's food wasn't so hot (a potato pancake that was greasy and not terribly unique or interesting), but it turns out that restaurant is owned by the tour company, so i guess i can understand him wanting to include his own restaurant. he just need to get better food or not put his restaurant as the very first stop. also, the cheese shop was pretty disappointing. but overall, highly recommended for locals, tourists, or just someone interested in a fun afternoon. be careful about group size...ours was small, which was nice. But we heard they can get as large as 20 people, which I think would be very uncomfortable and awkward to be a part of in most of these tiny local restaurants.

This was my 4th or 5th visit to Chicago and I when I came the first time I went on a bus tour and lasted an hour and a half as it was such a nice summer day. So when I read about this walking tour I thought I would do something different than I usually do when I come to Chicago. I enjoyed the shops that they took us to and it was great going to the different neighbourhoods of Chicago. The tour guide was very knowledgeable. I would recommend it to anyone I know who would be coming to Chicago.

My husband, myself and my 16 year old son really enjoyed this tour. It offered a great variety in the different stops (tastings) we made and we found it enjoyable and interesting as well. It was a beautiful day so walking around Chicago was also a pleasure. We loved seeing the different neighborhoods of Chicago. It was very nice that we got to sit down at Bacino's Pizza to enjoy the pizza and rest a bit! Our tour guide (Emily) was very sweet and informative. The only negative comment I have is the last stop - Ethel's Chocolate Shop - I thought they could have offered a bit more than two tiny pieces of chocolate - perhaps a small cup of hot chocolate as well would have been nicer. Other than that, nothing negative to say at all! Would highly recommend this to anyone visiting Chicago!

My husband and I live in Chicago and love to explore new restaurants and neighborhoods in the city. My mother-in-law comes in to Chicago often to visit and attend plays and other events with us. We thought the food tour would be a great change of pace and something new, as well as a great way to explore the city for a day. This tour was AMAZING!!! The restaurants and shops that we visited were well spaced and great finds. Most of the stops we had not heard of, but were happy to visit. In between the stops our guide, Kate, was very knowledgeable of historical facts, architectural tidbits and local lore. We enjoyed the walk and all of the information as much as the food finds. The tour started out at a great central location and ended in a great central location as well. The materials gave us directions on how to easily get back to where we started. We decided to stay in the neighborhood and go to the Lincoln Park Zoo, which was right along our tour route. It was great to have specialty shops included in the tour as well as restaurants. In our tour we visited a well-renowned spice store, an olive oil and vinegar shop, and a loose tea shop. The tour converted all of us to loose tea drinkers!!! As someone who enjoys cooking almost as much as finding new restaurants I've already started a list of the spices and oils I'd like to purchase. As locals we will definitely be stopping by the stores to do some shopping. After the tour we did go back directly to the tea shop and did some shopping using the coupons you get as part of the tour. For anyone who cannot immediately return, most of the shops have website ordering as well. We would highly recommend this tour for local Chicogans as well as visitors. It's a great way to explore the city. The walking tour provides great insight on Chicago history and architecture and the food is amazing. The neighborhoods we visited are common enough as a local, but we learned more interesting facts about the city. For first-time Chicago visitors, this would be a great way to see the city, have lunch and get recommendations on restaurants for dinner. Definitely wear comfortable walking shoes!!! We bought bottled water ahead of time since the tour in mostly non-stop. Our only suggestion for improvement would be to have the tour take place on a more circular route. I'm not sure if that's possible while including all of the 8 tastings, but ending the tour 2.5 miles away from the start took up valuable time getting back to the starting point that we were hoping to spend revisiting our favorite stops. My only other suggestion would be to replace the last stop (an extremely popular chocolate shop) with a more less known local establishment. It was the only shop I felt I would have visited on my own without it needing to be included on this tour. Our guide mentioned a new tour may be introduced next year focused on a different neighborhood and we will be there!!!

We had a great time on the tour. Our guide, Jennifer, was very knowledgeable about the neighborhoods. At the end of the tour, she gave us some great recommendations about other places around Chicago to visit and explore. The length of the tour seemed just right. We also enjoyed the variety of foods and the fact that all of the businesses were local, independent places. Similarly, exploring residential neighborhoods that were off the beaten track for a typical tourist was great. We'd definitely recommend the tour, and we hope that Chicago Food Planet will consider expanding its offerings with other food/neighborhood tours in other sections of the city.