City Food Tours & Events

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The tour not only provided a guide to typical Philly foods, but also covered some of the Philly history and sites. Quite enjoyable. The food was nothing fancy, but was tasty; it was intended to be a sample of daily Philly locals fare.

Very yummy and informative.

Our tour guide was great however I hate when they ask for a tip and she did. We had planned on it without her mentioning it.

For the amount you pay, $40, the tour included about $5-10 worth of food.

We were with a small group. Everyone in the group was friendly and conversed easily. Although my girlfriend and I are in our sixties, the rest of the group was at least half our age, but it didn't matter. The tour guide was a well spoken, knowledgeable and attractive woman with a sparkling personality who made the event entertaining. Although we live in Philly and know the Reading Market well, we were introduced to shops we had passed by making the event enlightening. From there we went to DiBrunos, which we also knew beforehand, but this also was worth going with the tour guide as she gave us quite an education on cheese. We ended the tour tasting gellato and got more of an education there. If you want a fun day, no matter what your age, I highly reccomend this.

Having been to Philly quite a few times before, and having already done all the historic stuff, I needed to find something different to do while my husband was at a conference. The 1:30-4pm time slot was perfect, and I enjoyed the pretzel/tomato pie/philly cheese steak/chocolate pretzel & -chip cookie foods. A local beer/ale would have been nice, though.

Jody was very helpful. The tour was informative. I enjoyed the food. The best was the tomato pie at joes.

Thanks Robert to make this tour possible for me and my family. It was a great experience and I'd definitely do it again. We got a lot of knowledge about the city and its popular foods. Thanks a lot to Zerve, Robert and Judy our tour lady.

When I booked the tour, I thought that we would get small portions (like sample sizes), but we got so much more. We were given half portions which were great. You were really able to experience the food...which was so good. My advise: Come hungry.

Fabulous food at places we would have walked right by. Not just a food tour but also a tour of the city, history, architecture, and social commentary. Kirsten was a great guide, can't say enough good things about her. My chidren ages 11 and 13 and I had a fabulous time and would reccomend the tour to anyone visting Philly>

I found the tour very entertaining. learned some of the history of the foods that r distintiVe to PHILLY. also I enjoyed the sampling of the foods.

After the reviews I read, I was excited to experience the tour with a friend for my birthday. One of the highlights of the day was simply being in DiBruno's. What a fabulous store!! Like Disney World for foodies! Once our hostess, Liz, rounded us up, we went to the back of the store to check out the cheeses in "The Cave". I expected to go to where the cheeses are stored in the non-public part of the store, but we simply stood in the back of the store where the cheeses are displayed. The description of the various cheeses and their qualities by one of the resident cheesemongers was very interesting. However, it seemed that he pulled samples from some of the more expensive cheeses ($25 and up per pound) so I don't believe that anyone actually purchased any. This amounted to a loss of sales for diBruno's. And, It would have made sense to provide at least one cracker with each cheese and even a half of glass of wine in order to really appreciate the cheeses and to help to make a transition between the individual tastes. Instead, it was one sample right after the other with all of the tastes piling up on your tongue. Not exactly an opportunity to savor each one. Our guide preceeded her introduction of the cheeses with a too-much-information intro of herself. Do I really need to know where she was raised, how many guide jobs she has, where she lives and how much she likes to drink? I don't think so. It simply was not professional. You CAN be friendly by being more interested in your group than in talking about yourself. Honestly, who cares? But so many guides feel the need to go on and on about themselves these days. And to say that the tour is the top-rated tour in all of Philadelphia, including the Liberty Bell, Constitution Center, etc. is just ludicrous, I don't care what one source she cited. The second stop was to taste some new teas. The teas were great but each person received the equivalent of a quarter cup. And it was cold. Why not provide a full cup (the cups were the size of those in a Chinese restaurant) and let people decide if they wanted to finish or not? Oh, yeah, and the introduction at each of the three locales (for cheese, tea, and gelato) was preceeded by horribly outdated pictures in a foreign country where Liz was compelled to tell us, "Notice how that man's bare hand is thrust into the vat of cheese? Well, that shot was taken where there are no food and health regulations". Why not just take new pictures in the US if you are compelled to show them. And why show them at all? I mean really, here is a cow? Does that really add value? At the last stop, we sampled yummy gelato made from some surprising and exotic ingredients. But, at least after sampling each flavor with a separate plastic spoon, we each were given the opportunity to choose one of the samples to finish. Really? Why couldn't we each choose a "fresh" flavor of our own choosing? Conclusion - A fun idea, but too skimpy for the $.

My husband and I signed up for the Decadent Gourmet Tour after reading about the great reviews on Trip Advisor. Our tour guide was friendly, enthusiastic and knowledgable. During this tour, we visited three establishments; I'd return to all of these spots again and one was so fabulous I've been talking to people about it ever since and can't wait to return! I'd like to participate in one of the NY tours next.

Last month we took a tour of the Chelsea Food Market in NYC with the same company. The tour guide was incredibly entertaining and the food was really varied and delicious. By comparison, the Philly tour falls way short. First and foremost, the food isn't all that great. Tomato pie. It's a pizza dough covered with a marginal marinara sauce. We eat in a pizza place: upstairs, to a dark, dingy, private room and eat while the guide shows you pictures of other tomato pies. Then pretzels - okay, this is Philly, but not the traditional shape because the place we go to makes so many, not by machine, that they quicken the process by making a figure 8. Then cheesesteak - again, totally Philly- but not at one of the 2 competitors for the title of the real deal - some hole in the wall that's convenient for the tour. And fries smothered in velveeta. Then hoagies - more bread - in the Reading Terminal market which should be a great place to tour but no, grab the hoagies and a seat. Dessert - chocolate covered pretzels - a little redundant - and a chocolate chip cookie which, despite being delicious - was not a very imaginative choice. As for the tour guide, she was a very nice lady but honestly, she is not a Philadelphian (she grew up in the suburbs and doesn't "know" Philly like she should for this job) and she is not a foodie. Both of these things detract from the tour. The architectural aspects were interesting. It was a pleasant afternoon but not a great tour.