Near North Food Tasting & Cultural Walking Tour

The food, walk, history, tour guide - everything was fantastic. I have told everyone I know how much we enjoyed doing this and I have recommended to everyone in or going to Chicago to try this out. It was one of the coolest activities that we have done while visiting Chicago. Loved it!

I really enjoyed learning new things about food ingredients and processes. I now know how to choose a good tea, and that my spice cabinet needs an overhaul. I also enjoyed learning the architectural details on our tour - details about the Chicago fire, what "Second City" means, that the original Playboy Mansion was turned into a Freshman dorm! Fascinating! Great job by our tour guide!

The tour leader, Nikki, was excellent...very personable and knowledgeable, not only about the food stops, but also the neighborhood history, which I found most interesting. I would most certainly recommend this tour to anyone visiting the City of Chicago. The variety of food stops was an excellent choice; something to attract different pallets. Either this particular tour or one of the other food tours will be on my "must do" list during my next Chicago visit.

The tour guide- Nicki- was great and enthusiastic! The Old Town tour locations were wonderfully chosen over a beautiful route that allowed us to check out some of the city's architecture and history. The dishes tasted great and the tour provided just the right amount of food. We started with a great Reuben with the most delicious pastrami I've ever had, continued on to try tea, and delicious toffee chocolates. We went to the spice shop and the olive oil and vinegar store- I'll placing some orders with these wonderful places. We also enjoyed some fudge and a slice of deep dish pizza. This tour was the highlight of my trip. A well paced three hour walk with great food! I'm considering returning to Chicago just so that I can participate in some of the other tours- I still haven't had a Chicago style hotdog!

As my girlfriends and I planned our Chicago getaway, we began listing all kinds of amazing foods we wanted to eat. With only about 48 hours to spend in the city, this seemed like a great way to sample a variety of foods while seeing some of the city. The three hours we spent with our tour guide, Nicki, were absolutely wonderful. I tried foods that I would never have ordered off a menu and was delightfully surprised. I saw small residential streets in Chicago that I would never have walked down. I learned about some of the history of Chicago and about how to use food and ingredients to produce the best-tasting meals. We left talking about how to arrange another visit to Chicago so that we could experience the other two food tours that Chicago Food Planet has to offer. This was so much fun and so delicious. I would highly recommend the Near North Food Tour!!

You'll get a little bit of everything ... a bite to eat, some delicious tea, a piece (or two) of unbelievably good candy, a lot of other stuff, especially fun PLUS you'll get a most informative tour guide. We loved this activity ... it wasn't too much walking, and to our surprise, the types and locations of the stops were spread out so that you're not stuffing your face, just getting enough to keep the hunger at bay.

We like to walk and we like to eat so this was a great tour for us. Our guide was awesome. She knew so much about Chicago, so we came home with some great trivia to wow our friends with. We have nothing negative to say. It was a great day and I say, "Go! You won't be disappointed or hungry."

I live out of state and this was the second time I've taken this tour while in Chicago, each time with a different travel partner and each time with a different tour guide. The places the tour went to were well chosen and offered a good variety -- an authentic deli, chocolate making store, tea shop, spice store, gourmet oil and vinegars, etc. -- to give an overview of food in that particular neighborhood. I'm going to make a comparison here between tour guides as I feel to a large extent that they can often "make or break" the way one perceives his/her experience. Both were pleasant, high energy and well informed about the places we went to and the culture of the neighborhoods. The first one was more low key and had better time management skills, which I appreciated. The second one, in a well intended attempt to encourage "having a good time" and bonding among group members, tended to direct and sometimes infantilize them... very annoying. Another comparison of the two guides: The last stop of the tour is to have a generous slice of award winning, spinach filled, deep dish pizza. The first guide thought to call ahead to inform them of when we would be there. When we arrived, this incredible pizza was just coming out of the oven. It was hot, bubbly and oozing with melted cheese. The second guide was "off by about ten minutes" and either neglected to call or misjudged time. The pizza in this instance was warm, but not hot, and a bit congealed. Great for leftovers, but not for trying to make a positive impression on visitors. In all, this tour was well worth attending, covered a lot of territory and gave what I feel is an accurate representation of Chicago food and culture. You certainly did not go away hungry!

Hillary was our enthusiastic and well informed guide. My daughter and I look forward to next years trip, and a tour of Chinatown. Told the desk clerks at our hotel to recommend Food Planet to thier guests looking for a great Chicago experience.

I really enjoyed this tour. I didn't realize how cool it was going to be. I love the shops the most, and walking in old town was a nice treat.