Near North Food Tasting & Cultural Walking Tour

Loved every detail about tour...ate a hearty bite at beginning and end, with unexpected small tastings in the middle so that we were not over-filled, and learned great neighborhood tips. Loved our guide.

the tour was most enjoyable i came as one but end up as friends its tour for every body if you come a lone your not lone the girl was so nice she made sure that we were all friends so she is some thing special every part of tour was great from tea to chocalate even we got wisard os for me tour good not have been better my tour was on 27 july 5 stars all way well done

Loved the history tidbits and architectural details. Really enjoyed Old Town and appreciated exploring areas we wouldn't have necessarily discovered on our own. And despite being self professing "amateur foodies" we all learned something we didn't know. The food was plentiful and well spaced out. Kent, our guide was friendly and inclusive (especially important with our 11 year old daughter). The group size was absolutely fine with lots of space and time to ask any questions. Our only criticism was that the cost for an 11 year old is high - aside from the fudge (!) she ate a miniscule amount (as I would imagine most 8- 12 years old would. This unusual age grouping is what I believe the tickets are sold as youth tickets for $30. ) On a positive note , however, she enjoyed the whole experience far more than I would have expected. The cost for bringing along a 'tween" may deter us from doing a tour again although we really did enjoy the whole experience!

Fun tour unique instite of the city

This was a fantastic tour! We were looking forward to the food of course, but it turned out that the actual walking tour of the neighborhood was just as interesting and enjoyable. A beautiful neighborhood full of culture and history. The 7 places we visited were delicious and wonderful! Our tour guide, Kent, was awesome! He was so much fun and knew so much about the area and all the places we visited. He definitely made the tour! The next time we come to Chicago, we will definitely do this tour again and tell everyone about it also!

Heather was great. pace was perfect. enough information at each stop, but not overwhelming. Heather's knowledge of the buildings and history was outstanding. weather was too hot for walking. would have liked to take the other two walking tours, but not enough time in chicago.

When I go on a food tour I dont like to be handed a napkin and a hot potato/cheese pierogi NO FORK,and stand up and eat it. All 4 of us felt that having a piece of toffee, sips of olive oil and vinegar, smelling cinnamon and going to a tea shop are NOT a food tour. They were interesting if they had a few more restaurants to eat food. Our guide was good, the walk interesting and long. I would suggest Lincoln Park be a seperate tour. To walk 30 min to 1 bad pizza place was a bad idea. No one in our group or at our end of the table liked the pizza. I would suggest the Asheville, NC food tour, every restaurant was set up for us to sit/have a drink, cloth napkins and 5+ samples of their food to sample. Not stand up and balance food, no drink or restroom except for 2 places in 3 hours. I would have gone to the taste of Chicago if I wanted to stand and taste food and sniff spices. You cant tell me with the number of restaurants we walked by they couldnt set something up.

We had a great time. The food we tried was of high quality, and we learned a lot. Our guide was friendly, and each food vendor was enthusiastic and educational. My only gripe was that the tour pacing was a bit odd. We ate a large amount at the first stop. Then the next 90 minutes featured no real food, just tea, spice and oil. Our 11:30 tour, intentionally scheduled over lunch time, ended up having a large wave of food at around 2:00, which kind of runs into dinner plans. I also found it odd that the biggest walk of the tour was at the end, during the hottest part of the day. We had six stops in logical walking progression and then spent 20 minutes walking way out of the main tour area for one slice of pizza. It seemed forced. Also not a big deal, but the two dessert stops fell before the pizza stop so you get all this sugar and then a small meal. Not good on the tummy!

My husband, daughter, and I signed up this activity as part of our daughter's special birthday weekend in Chicago. We are so glad that we did! My husband and I experienced similar tours in New York City, but have to say that this one was the best ever. Our guide, Jess, was enthusiastic, informative, caring, and well-paced. She gave all of her directions and requests with a smile and in return she got our kudos for a job well done. We can't say what we liked the best because the mix of stops and foods along the way with the historical, cultural, and architectural information of the neighborhoods we visited was fantastic. There is nothing like experiencing an area(s) on foot. I had never tried a pastrami sandwich in my life (the other two liked them) and could now easily be a convert if I could find one as good! I'm an avid tea-drinker so the German tea shop was great. We loved the spices, oils and balsamics, chocolate, and pizza. What a combo in one afternoon! But it was not too much even on a hot day. There were plenty of opportunities for water and rest rooms. We did the walk and turned around and walked back so we could re-visit and enjoy our previous stops to make purchases. We would highly recommend this tour and Jess. You will learn a lot, meet nice people, see great neighborhoods, and feel contentedly full at the end. Enjoy!

My wife and I have recently found that city tours are a terrific way to see the REAL city. So, when we decided to escape HOTlanta for a few days to Chicago, she did some research and found this tour. The number of times we looked at each other with that "I didn't know that" look was remarkable. I wasn't even aware of a oil and vinegar store! The variety of locations really made it fun and to learn of the architecture along the way really put the icing on the cake. The pace was perfect and the amount of food was perfect. Thank you for clear directions and terrific organization. I must also pass along HUGE cudos to our guide "Jess". She was everything you would want in a guide. SO knowledgable! She really took the time to understand her group (and ALL of our names!) and made the tour seem like she was doing it for each individual! She really knows the locations (taking over for the tea guy, for example) and her knowledge of the city itself and the architecture was amazing! Words to describe her: Adorable (my wife's word), aware, fun, funny, smart, engaging, and very happy to be doing what she was doing! I cannot say enough about how glad we were to have JESS as our guide! We have already talked about coming back for one of the other tours you offer! Nice job and THANK YOU!