North End Market Tour

The weather was frightful, 10 above but felt like 10 below. But, who cared, not us!The tour exceeded our expectations. It was fun, informative, and very tasty! I would highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting the North End.

My husband and i took this tour together. We really enjoyed learning about all the history and sampling new things even though we didn't like everything we tried.

I loved all the stops and descriptions of stores and food. The handouts made it possible to keep track of what you'd seen. Michele has a lot of personality and it's fun to hear her descriptions of the neighborhood, history, and cooking techniques.

I was disappointed in the North End Market Tour, especially after reading all the glowing recommendations on various food blogs. The 10:00 a.m. tour guide for Saturday, January 7th, was ill-prepared, constantly fumbled his words, presented dubious concepts, and seemed to be making up the tour as he went along. Many of the places we visited seemed like the first time he was there as he scanned shelves and picked items at random to talk about, with no evident theme. He offered few insights about the foods that would have met the billing on the tour website as a learning experience. On top of that, the tour was over at 12:00, one hour short of the three hours advertised. On the plus side, he did introduce me to a few off-the-tourist-track markets that I returned to the next day to buy some things, such as the terrific Salumeria Italiana. I would not "not recommend" the tour, but I would not enthusiastically endorse it, either.

I enjoyed the tour not only because of the behind the scenes view of the North End but also because our tour guide was a professional-trained chef.

How much did we enjoy this tour? As soon as it ended, we headed back to the shops to stock up on the wonderful foods to which we had been introduced by our guide--pastries, bread, pasta, cheese. I wish we had more room in our luggage.

I have to admit that I was sceptical at first...I was not sure how a three hour tour of the North End could be worth the price of a ticket...however, I was so overwhelmed with Michele's knowledge and the excitment she brought to the Italian food, culture and customs. I did the tour with eight of my good friends and we are ALL still talking about it. I have already recommended it to others..for themselves and to purchase gift certificates. I would do it again myself..there was so much information being presented that I could not take it all in! The food/drink samples were plentiful and wonderful.

My husband and I visited Italy and France three years ago, and everything was new and strange to us. I wish we would have taken Michelle's tour before we went there, we would have appreciated the food selection and order of eating much more. Michelle is very passionate about what she does and shares with her customers. You could tell from the store owners and folks on the street that they enjoy working with her and seeing her come in with her tours. I wished that I could have taped her, I am trying very hard to remember all that she said. It was interesting to hear the history of the area, it helped set the stage for what we were going to experience. And Michelle is always upbeat and answers all the questions. My husband didn't join me that day, so I will come back again with him. He loves to cook and would really get into this tour too. I would strongly recommend this tour to anyone. Thank you for asking.

We were a family group of 3 and did not know what to expect of the tour. We were very pleasantly surprised at the warm and gracious manner in which we were treated by our friendly & knowledgeable guide and by the wonderful proprietor's and shop employees we visited. Everyone was patient, kind & willing to give insights and good information about their areas of specific expertise. We realized a depth of familiarity with the local Italian community and customs, which we never would have been privy to had we not had this experience. All the food and sampling was great. It was a high point of our Boston visit! Thank you Michelle & Paul!!

The guide did a great job explaining a variety of things to a group that would sometimes be a bit noisy. It was a great time, great tastings, I would definitely recommend this tour to anyone visiting Boston. My date was a Boston native, and he too found it to be a great part of our weekend.