North End Market Tour

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I had attended a couple of similarly described tours in New York (for less money) and was hoping for a similar experience. The Greenwich Village food and culture tour leaves you stuffed to the gills with some of the most amazing foods you've ever sampled; the North End Market Tour gives you tiny tastes of what you could go back and buy when you're done. Though I was grateful for the guide's extensive culinary knowledge and a little bit of background on the North End, I felt the tour could have been more animated, more interactive, more about eating and sharing more lore about the nooks and crannies. The guide claimed that this tour was far more informative about the area's history than the Greenwich Village tours (which he admitted he hadn't taken), but I disagree--I learned a ton about the history of the Village, Chelsea and New York City generally. Still, I would say this tour was a nice orientation of the North End and the handouts will come in handy someday, and I can't wait to return to try some of the suggested restaurants.

My wife and I enjoyed the North End Market tour last Friday and had an excellent time. We visited many of the hidden gems of Boston's North End including several small groceries, a cheese shop, a wine shop and a bakery. Each spot provided a unique sample of its products. Great information and unique stories and we went back to visit several of the shops after the tour. We highly recommend this tour as unique look into both historic and present day Boston.

My husband and I would highly recommend Michele Topor's North End Market Tour. Our tour guide, Jim, was fantastic. He knew the history of the North End and he really knows his food and wine. We learned so much about Italian food and the North End. I loved it and plan to give this as a gift to our children who love cooking.

This was an interesting tour of the North End but did not have nearly as much food tasting as a comparable food tour I took in NYC. Granted it focuses on only one type of cuisine, Italian, but you would think this might include pasta or pizza, which it did not. There was interesting history of the North End and information about Italian cooking but I did not enjoy it nearly as much as the food tour I took of Greenwich Village.

Jim was full of information and the food samples were wonderful!

We live locally and have been planning to take this tour for a while - finally did. Went with college-age daughter, also interested in food and travel. First - the logistics. Arrive on time - the tour properly left meeting place on time, after a brief phone call to one missing party. Total walking distance is less than 1/2 mile, stopping along the way. Some sidewalks are uneven, few curb-cuts. OK for someone who walks slowly; not appropriate for those with severe mobility issues. Not recommended for small kids - they will be bored and stores are so tiny and packed with merchandise that knocking over items would be a real concern. Tour starts with brief North End history and then proceeds, shop to shop, to about 6-8 places - pastry, general specialty grocery, cheese, wine. Tastings at each place, along with info on origin, how to determine quality, a bit of food history, instructions in use of. Plenty of time for questions. Not time for shopping - but good excuse to wander after and buy and eat. Guide was informed, pleasant, and although very knowledgeable not food snobby in any way. Information provided would be useful for anyone dining out at Italian restaurant and shopping at specialty food shop - not merely the exact ones visited on tour. A pleasant way to spend a morning or afternoon outside of usual tourist activities - and as someone who has visited North End scores of times, I still learned something interesting and useful at each stop.

Even though the weather started out horrible....torrential downpours, the tour guide was so calm and patient though it all. As a foodie, I thought this tour was terrific. Our tour guide was so very knowledgeable. All of the businesses that were involved in the tour were so inviting and the sampling was terrific...it just wetted our appetite for more. I highly recommend the tour.

We were looking for something different to do in Boston because we had done the usual tourist type of activities that Boston has to offer several years ago. We had done culinary tours in Chicago and Philadelphia , enjoyed them, and felt that they were a good way to see and experience some of the neighborhoods in a city in a way that a typical trolley or bus tour does not allow. Our tour guide did an excellent job telling us about the history of the North End neighborhood and showing us some of the stores in the neighborhood. He was well informed about the food we were sampling, and as a chef, had a lot of interesting information. We were stopped in our tour by a massive downpour and thunderstorm, but our guide did a good job of talking about the neighborhood while we waited under an overhang at the local library. I felt the downpour may have prevented us from going into more of the stores that were listed, so that was a bit disappointing. We appreciated the information on restaurants where we could dine in the North End. We also circled back after the tour to a pastry shop to pick up some goodies to take home. Delicious......wish we had bought more! Our only regret was that we did not have time to go back to more of the stores we visited on the tour to browse.........restaurant reservations were calling us back across town! We would definitely recommend this tour to others.

After thoroughly enjoying a food tour of Greenwich Village in New York, we were enthusiastic about a Boston food tour. While this focused on Italian settlement, food preferences and cooking techniques, we enjoyed very little tasting. I would not recommend this for the money it costs.