Melting Pot Food Tours

This was so much fun! Our guide was pleasant, professional, flexible, and fun. And I loved meeting the other customers on the tour. I've lived in Pasadena for years but still learned things about my city that I didn't know, and I ate at restaurants that I didn't know existed. I look forward to trying the other Melting Pot Tours.

The tour would have been much better, if the tour guide had some spark. She was terribly boring. We did a similar tour in Seattle, it was fabulous. Great tour guide, we each had our own headsets and the guide was very funny and entertaining. He knew his stuff. This one in Los Angeles was slow, no headphones, and we felt she was bored of this tour herself. A new guide with enthusiasm is definetely recommended.

Our group was small and enthusiastic about food, so it was a good starting point. Summer was friendly, funny and knowledgeable about the history of the vendors and the market in general. The food samples were very good. It was a bit of a mish-mash of foods, so be prepared to jump from sweets to grilled Brazilian meats to Indian. I'd definitely recommend it to foodies who want to sample the market and learn a bit of history along the way.

Our guide was excellent....I thought comparing with the Pasadena tour, the portions were much smaller and just less samples. I did enjoy the tour very much...especially liked the Japanese restaurant at end of tour and wow we got to take the bus too. thank you.

We've taken food tours in other cities and always enjoy getting to know a new place. The Farmer's Market can be overwhelming if you've never been there. This tour felt like a friend showing us around to special highlighted places. I appreciated that she gave us a list of the establishments, so we could return if desired. There was plenty of food to try, and neither us left hungry. We appreciated the accommodations made for dietary restrictions. I would definitely recommend this tour to others.

Learned a lot about the Farmer's Market and its history. Had some fantastic food. Excellent tour guide. Well worth it! I highly recommend it for tourists and LA natives.

I went on this tour with my brother and a friend, all of us having taken the Old Pasadena tour. We were eagerly anticipating the Farmer's Market/3rd Street tour since we enjoyed the OP tour so much. Well, we were definitely not disappointed. Our tour director was Kendall, who did a fantastic job. She was very charming, polite and enthusiastic. You could tell she took pride in showing us all the interesting places and history of Farmer's Market. We went to different stands and did sampling along the way, so much that I lost count. The variety of tasting treats were amazing, from delicious coffee and freshly made donuts to fresh fruit to homemade toffee, and then to several savory tastes as well. If you are a foodie like we are, you will be in 7th heaven. The only food stand at Farmer's Market where we thought the food was subpar was at Pampas Grill. We were presented with a plate consisting of a few pieces of bacon-wrapped chicken and beef. Kendall noticed that they did not bring us one more ingredient so she went to talk to the Grill staff. The chicken and beef were very dried-out and cold, most likely leftovers from the day before. We didn't eat much of it. When the missing ingredient (grilled sausage) came out, we could tell it was freshly cooked since it was hot and delicious. I don't blame Melting Pot for this, it's the restaurant's mistake if they think that tour groups are somehow less important than paying customers (although Melting Pot did pay for the samples). I certainly won't be patronizing Pampas Grill any time soon. The tour continued down 3rd street where we made a few stops. One of them was Joan's on Third, which is famous for their Chinese chicken salad. Because we were only a group of 3, we didn't get to try that. Instead, they gave us samples of marinated carrots (which were just okay). While we were speaking to Andrew, the nice server, he asked if we wanted to meet Joan. We said yes, and he went inside the restaurant to get her. Joan came out and spoke to us for a few minutes. That was nice of her since this was a very busy Saturday lunchtime. Another stop was at Electric Karma, an Indian restaurant. They served us the most delicious chicken tikka masala and naan bread, both were just sumptuous. Our last stop was at Mishima, a Japanese restaurant. We had some delicious and refreshing soba noodles and sushi roll. All in all, we really enjoyed this tour. There were lots to see and sample, and even us big eaters were full by the end of the tour. We highly recommend this tour. And thank you, Kendall, for making it so enjoyable!

It turns out that only my friend and I bought a ticket on the day of our food tour. We are from Vicksburg, Mississippi, and I worried that the tour would not be as exciting, since it was only the two of us with our tour guide. It was EXACTLY the opposite. Our tour guide, Kendall, was not only knowledgable of the area, but very warm and enthusiastic about the entire experience. She made us feel very comfortable outside of our element in Hollywood. I loved it. I would come back many times. And the food was great. My favorite by far was Electric Karma. The fried veggies with the sweet paste was out of this world. Thank you so much for this wonderful experience. I will never forget it. Beverly B.

We enjoyed listening to our guide as well as allthe merchants who shared their stories and products with us. The Farmers Market was the best ever and the resturants on third was quite a surprise to us and we plan to come back and I plan to being another group soon!! It was great

We very much enjoyed our tour guide, Summer, who took us to places we'd never have known about. We loved the food and left feeling very full! We had a great time!

The food shops we visitied were great! I have been to Old Town Pasadena several times in the past and have always visited the "chain stores" and stayed away from the smaller independent shops. This experience has allowed me to broden my focus and to see Old Town Pasadena in a different more positive way. I also liked our tour guide, Summer, and wish she included more architecture and history. She also taught us the importance of looking up. This was a great way to see this city and I recommend it highly. I felt the price was very reasonable and have already reccomended it to several friends.

The Melting Pot tours are fun, friendly and yummy; what a way to learn! The tours take you to some of L.A.'s hideaway gems where you find out about local society, specialized cooking and unique industries. Melting Pot tours is clearly a leader in promoting the diverse culture of LA. Enjoy this new adventure

This was a very enjoyable tour that showed me, a resident of L.A. County for 51 years, areas that I'd never been to before, and would certainly like to see again. Diane, our leader was full of enthusiasm, and information on the places we were going to: the restaurant owners, the specialties that the restaurants were known for, how tortillas are made, etc. I also had my first ride on the Gold Line or any of the lines. The food samples were wonderful, and so many of them that I skipped dinner that night. I came away with the feeling that I was no longer in Los Angeles but rather, a foreign country. I highly recommend this tour, also the other two Melting Pot Tours, which I've taken. I regretted not taking my little camera along.

We had a wonderful time - very informative and fun tour.

All the years I've lived in southern California I've never known the history of Farmer's Market. Kendall was the perfect tour guide with all her knowledge of the vendors and the food and just a sweet person overall. We enjoyed all the food tasting and were full by the end of the tour. Tasting all the different ethnic food was a real treat, I would have never have tried them on my own. We actually saw a few T.V. stars also during the tour. Great tour for newcomers to the area.