Near North Food Tasting & Cultural Walking Tour

Its always tough to find things to do when your family comes into town, but this tour was great! You saw a lot of neat neighborhoods and gave my family a better taste (punn intended) of what Chicago is really like. I highly recommend it!

I really enjoyed this tour. I learned about Chicago food and the wonderful places to grab a bite to eat. Nikki was my guide and she was great!

I really recommend this to anyone, it was well worth the money!

Nicki was a wonderful guide on a tour through parts of the city we had never thoroughly visited. My husband and I both cook so the trips to the spice and oil shops were great finds in our book and will probably become regular stopping points for us. We are going to try to find time to go on the other tour as well.

it was a great thing to do with my family from out of town. we had a good walk to see the city and yummy food!

This is the second Near North tour that I have taken in the past 2 mos. It just so happens that Emily was my tour guide both times. The tour is outstanding in every way. Emily is a delightful tour guide - she is very knowledgeable, funny and handles the group well. I can't say enough about how wonderful Emily is. Also, all of the store owners on the tour treat us very well. They provide plenty of food/tastings so it feels like a great value for the tour price. I did alot more shopping this time and the shops are definitely places that I will return to, even if I am not on the tour. I am originally from Baltimore, MD and I have guests all summer long. I just discovered it in August, but I will take every guest on this tour and when they come a second time, I will take them to the Bucktown/Wicker Park tour. I didn't even know about that tour, but Emily mentioned it and I am hoping to experience it soon. If you have any information that you can send - perhaps even the tour itinerary (like the map, tour stops, etc.) I would love to take a look at it and use it to persuade some friends who are local to join me. Also, if you have information on any of the other tours that you offer in Chicago, I would love to have it as well. My name is Vickie L. Wash.

Our tour yesterday exceeded our expectations. It was very well organized and the 8 stops we made were varied and the information provided by our guide, Emily, and the merchants was interesting. No shortcuts were taken and the tour which was scheduled to last 3-3 1/2 hours lasted closer to 4 hours because the people in our group were comfortable asking Emily questions that she thoughtfully answered. Emily was also excellent as she was personable, knowledgable, engaging, and extremely entusiastic. Even though my wife and I have lived in Chicago for over 50 years, we learned many things on this tour and went to several intersting places that we had never been before. We enjoyed this tour so much that we are planning on going on the Wicker Park tour in the near future.

My husband and I were celebrating our wedding anniversary and we are quite outgoing, social people. We love dining out, spending time with friends and enjoy various social outings, but a "Food Tour" sounded a bit odd originally. I love to cook so I knew I would enjoy various bits of the tour, but my husband, upon arrival at the deli was certain we were going to bail out early and leave. However, after walking and stopping quite a few times and listening to Nikki explain different parts of the city, the history behind some homes and their architecture, and additional stories about the city and the places we were nearby, we were drawn in completely! This ended up being extremely pleasant, educational, fun, yummy and a lot of fun. The places we went to were interesting and delicious and the people running the places were pleasant as well. To hear the stories about why these people opened up these little shops and the stories that went along with it was really cool. I would recommend this to everyone. It's not just for the artsy individual, or the eclectic, or the boring, or the drab-it's truly neat for anyone of all sorts of personalities. Trust me...if my husband had fun (the same guy who enjoys skydiving, football, motorcycles, socializing, driving race cars, and various constructive projects), anyone will have fun!!!

Next to the Architectural Boat Tour, this was the most enjoyable Chicago tour I've been on. Our guide was informative, the stores were unique, the food was excellent and you get lots of exercise to boot! Although I am the consummate chocaholic (and there were TWO chocolate stores that satisfied my sweet tooth), my favorite stop was the Spice Shop. Of the three people in my party, one person has numerous food allergies - Chicago Food Planet went out of their way at every stop to make sure there was something she could eat/drink which was very impressive and most appreciated. Besides the food aspect, we all enjoyed the history and local tidbits that our guide passed along. Highly recommend this tour - great way to see a different part of the city, enjoy good food, meet new people and learn some interesting Chicago history! Thanks Chicago Food Planet for a fabulous day - it was well worth taking a day off work!!!

Emily was a great guide!!!! Very informative and had alot of great stories to tell too!! The tour was fun!!! We learned alot of fun facts and we visited some great neighborhoods!! So much so that I will add this to my activities when I have more out of town company! Much better than just wandering around Chicago on our own!! I've lived here since 1991 and never saw some of the sites we visited!!! Loved it !!!