City Food Tours & Events

I had a great time and you get a lot for the cost. Everyone in the shops were friendly and generous with samples. You even got to take home a bag of chocolate. It is both informative and fun.

I liked the small group style, it set you apart from other tours. Also if was very informative but perhaps you could break up the cheese information and do tasting of each type of cheese btw the info.

We were very pleasantly surprised to find that the tour consisted of myself, my two friends and two tour guides!! I guess word hasn't got out about this tour company yet! We had a great afternoon, walking, listening and learning about cheeses, chocolates & coffees! The tastings in-store were the best bit....alongwith the personal insights of our tourguides and the proprietors of course! I'd recommend this for tourists as something to do that's a little different from the usual city tour and would really recommend this for locals as they get the benefit or returning to the sights and tastes of interest!

We had our tour on April 6 at 10am. We were so pleased with how it turned out. Despite the chilly tempretures, we had a blast. Our guide, Nicole was wonderful and very knowledgeable. The food was delicious. I would reccommend this tour to anyone wanting to experience the Lower East side more intimately.

The Lower East Side Artisan tour was not only full of information but you come away with some really good places to re-visit at a later time. It incorporated all the meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner along with notes on the history of the area and a little entertainment via Essex Food Market. I would recommend this if you want a little insight into the area, and some good tips on where to find the best coffee/chocolate/dessert and meal ingredients. YUM!!

I thought the leader of the group, Conrad, was a nice fellow who was obviously enthused with the topic, but I felt disappointed that at least two times during the tour he mentioned places that we would have gone had it not been Saturday (Shabbat) and the stores were closed (The Pickle Guy and Kossar's Bialys.) I really feel this should be listed on the tour description for the Saturday tour - " some stores may/will be closed on Saturdays." Other parts of the tour, The Roasting Plant specifically, was very interesting but not what I would think of as artisan-style food. It felt a little too much like a commerical for the store, rather than a tasting sample. I felt similarly with the visit to Economy Candy. The guide basically just walked us to the store, told us a bit about it and said go inside and get something if you like. The last part of the tour in the Essex Market was interesting also, but I felt that the samples of the food that we received, other than the cordon-bleu, were already provided by the vendors and not something special that had been arranged by the tour. All in all, I enjoyed the tour but felt that for $40.00 a bit more food would have been provided to showcase the artisan foods in the area, rather than 2 shots of coffee, 2 bites of a donut, and a small piece of microwaved cordon-bleu. Thanks for your time, Brian Hiestand

My husband and two of our friends (another married couple) participated in this tour last Saturday. It focused on teas, chocolate & cheeses ... an amazingly decadent afternoon! It also provided us with interesting history & information about each one ... we all learned something! Our guide Eric was extremely knowledgeable, very friendly and did a great job of keeping us engaged and entertained. Eric also noted various Philadelphia architectural points of interest along the tour which was a nice touch as well. A great way to satisfy your tastebuds and your culinary intellect in one 2.5 hour tour! I highly recommend this to locals & tourists alike. In fact, we are planning on hiring Center City Food Tours to custom design a tour for a group of our friends in the future.

I was part of a group of two tourists and two locals. The locals in our group found the tour very informative and felt that it really helped them get to know the neighborhood better. As a tourist, I would have liked to stop at a few more places and tasted more items. I thought our guide was very knowledgeable and seemed to enjoy doing his job.

Was roped into this by my wife and really had a great time. Our guide was funny, the tasting was hearty and, even though I am admittedly a "PB&J" kind of cook, I learned a lot. It was a great date, got us downtown for a few hours and introduced us to some cool spots. We will definitely do this again.

We did enjoy the tour. The pictures were not really necessary,although informative, it made us kind of feel like we were on a field trip from school and not a fun date. The T-Bar and DiBruno brothers were good stops. The staff was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the product. We learned alot on these two excursions. The chocolate place was nice but I felt like they were selling the product vs educating us on the product. I think it would be great to add at least one more stop and take out alot of the talk by the guide. We also are not in the city often, even though I work in the Macy's building, but would have enjoyed having the guide point out or talk about local restaurants or stops that would be fun stops for foodies. I was on the tour with an unwilling participant (my husband who wanted to just eat lunch) and at the end he also said he enjoyed the stops - especially the cheese.

The tour was unique and very interesting. The guide was very knowledgeable and it was a great way to learn more about some of the local places.

I had a wonderful time taking a local girl I recently met to this event. She knows all about the city and even took me to Di Bruno's at the Italian market the day before this event. She was completely surprised and we had a lot to talk about for the next few days. The guides were friendly and engaging and I learned something. Much better then a movie or simply dinner, even the walk through the city from place to place was part of the entertainment. I've already recommended this to my friends so give it a try - you won't regret it!

I took my parents who were visiting New York city on the lower eastside tour. Not only did they learn a lot, but so did I and I have lived in NYC for 9 years! Joyce is extremely knowledgable not only of the food world, but also the history behind each of the places we visited. It was the perfect mix of culture and good eats! I highly recommend this tour!

Conrad was excellent, informative, well organized, and very thorough. I would definitely recommend and will try a different tour the next time. I would recommend you advise the some places are closed on Saturday's due to the Sabbath..I was anxious to go to the pickle place and it was closed!

While I completely enjoyed myself, the title of the tour was a little misleading. The bulk of the tour is pasteries-which were delicious-and you didn't get the beer and cheese until the very end. The tour guide was great and very knowledgeable.