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Local Tastes of the City Tours - San Francisco Food Tours in San Francisco

4.8 (199) 2179 12th Ave, San Francisco, CA 94116, United States

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Sightseeing tour agency
Tour agency
Tour operator

Location on the map

San Francisco, City and County of San Francisco, California, US

Phone: +1 415-665-0480
Site: https://sffoodtour.com/

Opening hours

Monday:Open 24 hours
Tuesday:Open 24 hours
Wednesday:Open 24 hours
Thursday:Open 24 hours
Friday:Open 24 hours
Saturday:Open 24 hours
Sunday:Open 24 hours

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Total reviews rating 4.8

199 Reviews for Local Tastes of the City Tours - San Francisco Food Tours 2024:

Review №1

2023-08-01 03:20:33

Brian was our guide for the North Beach/Little Italy Food Tour and we truly enjoyed Brian’s guidance through the North Beach culinary scene. The history presented, pace of the tour, humor, and food tasting were wonderful. The whole experience was fabulous! We highly recommend this tour!

Review №2

2023-06-30 02:32:27

I did the combined Little Italy and Chinatown tour. It was a very informative tour. Scott was an excellent guide. I wasnt aware we were going to get a history tour along with our food. We had tastings from 6 different places. All were excellent. The tea tasting was the best part of the tour. I was a little shocked at the length of the tour. It was approximately 4 hours. I would highly recommend this tour

Review №3

2023-12-05 23:29:23

The owner of this business, Tom, absolutely loves his town of San Francisco, and it shows in the quality of the tours!Our tour guide, Brian, did a fantastic job of giving our group tidbits about local history and taking us to amazing restaurants in the North Beach area that we likely would not have discovered on our own. Brian is a true native San Franciscan who is super proud and passionate about his city. Our three hour walking tour was engaging, delicious, and entertaining. Brians love of San Francisco shows in the quality of the amazing tour he gave to us.Will recommend to anybody visiting San Francisco!

Review №4

2023-05-28 23:32:27

We booked the Chinatown-North Beach food tour and it was fantastic! The tour was a wonderful mix of food, history and comedy lead by a true local Brian. He was endlessly knowledgeable about the areas we toured and showed a true connection to the city. The tea tasting at Vital Tea was one of the highlights. Brian set the bar high for food tours, and tours period. I can’t recommend this experience enough.

Review №5

2023-09-19 22:58:44

This tour was amazing! Isabella was the best guide, so sweet and funny! This is way more than just a food tour. I learned so much about the history of Chinatown and Little Italy as well. I am so glad I booked this tour and will definitely recommend to anyone who is in San Francisco!

Review №6

2023-04-27 16:42:06

We took the Chinatown tour with Isabella and cannot say enough great things! The tour is a great mix of food and knowledge. Isabella was so kind and welcoming as well, leaving my daughter with a sweet trinket of luck for her upcoming nuptials. We felt like friends by the end.

Review №7

2023-11-19 23:45:30

We took the tour of Chinatown and N. Beach. Isabella was very knowledgeable and informative regarding the culture and history. We thoroughly enjoyed the tour and will recommend it to others.

Review №8

2023-04-16 02:59:40

We did the Chinatown walking tour with Scott. He was so full of knowledge on the area and brought so much energy to the tour. You could tell his love for the culture. We stopped at several places and tried dim sum, pork bao, Peking duck, crispy noodles, fortune cookies, handmade chocolates, and tea! Everything we tried was phenomenal. We had plenty of time to enjoy each stop as we worked our way through Chinatown. This is a must do tour when in San Francisco.

Review №9

2023-08-24 11:38:12

This tour was the highlight of my trip! My tour guy was Brian and he gave our group some nice historical facts on San Francisco and took us to some great spots for food on this tour! Book it! You won’t regret it!

Review №10

2023-12-03 04:38:41

Our guide, Scott, was fantastic. He is a journalist and author, and knows an incredible amount of San Francisco history. The food stops were all hits - we especially loved the green beans at Grant Place and the egg tarts to end the tour - and the tea tasting at Vital Tea Leaf was the highlight for our group. Scott was a great guide and wed take any tour he leads.

Review №11

2023-02-22 06:07:45

Brian was such an amazing tour guide! My husband and I had a great time eating all different types of food that he presented to us. We also learned about the Italian culture and history. I’ve been to SF lots of times, but never actually explored the North Beach area and now after this tour we are definitely coming back to North Beach to visit all the restaurants and to do some shopping. Thank you Brian for an awesome tour!

Review №12

2023-11-28 12:58:26

We took the Chinatown Food Walking tour and we loved it! It was a great way to experience Chinatown and taste all the yummy food. The dim sum was our favorite. The tea house was entertaining and informative too! I would definitely take other walking tours!

Review №13

2023-11-18 22:03:59

Brian was our guide for the North Beach/Little Italy Food Tour. My husband and I are from Memphis, TN, so we wanted to experience as many local eateries as we could while exploring the area. Brian gave us that and more! Not only did he give us a guided historical tour of the neighborhoods, he threw in little nuggets that we never would have known just walking around by ourselves. The food was divine. The tours description is not overselling when it says youll be full by the end of the tour! We took the tour in the rain and Brian didnt rush us along. We still received the full tour, and his sense of humor was the icing on the cake! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! We cant wait to take the other walking tour on our next visit to San Francisco! Thanks, Brian!!!

Review №14

2023-10-26 19:36:18

I booked the Chinatown & North Beach Food Walking Tour for a recent girls trip to San Francisco. On the website, under the FAQs, it says that this tour accommodates vegan and vegetarian diets, and to indicate at the time of booking, which I did. When we arrived for the tour, our guide had no idea that 2 members of our tour required vegan options, and 1 member required vegetarian options. This meant that the delicious bakery treats at the beginning of the tour could not be enjoyed by 2 members off the group, as our tour guide had no idea if they were vegan (and our vegetarian could not enjoy the pork bun); no substitutions were provided.The beginning of the tour was super stressful, as the tour guide seemed flustered with the 3 members dietary needs. I felt horrible having booked the tour since it did not meet everyones needs, and our 2 vegan friends debated if it was worth it to stay on a 4 hour walking/food tour when there may not be any food options for them.Our tour guide did her best to find last minute substitutions for my 3 friends; the Peking duck restaurant did a great job with the fried tofu dish, and our tour went out of her way to find vegan dumpling options too. However, some stops were not able (or willing?) to make substitutions. For example, the pizza place would not do a cheese-less pizza or flat bread. I wonder if they would have been more accommodating if they had been given more notice.As someone who has no food restrictions, I loved the tour! The food was amazing, and the tour guide was very knowledgeable. I left full, and with left overs. I would definitely recommend this tour for anyone who likes trying new food, and exploring new neighbourhoods.However, if you have any dietary restrictions, I would urge caution when booking; they do not seem able to accommodate different dietary needs, in spite of what the website says.

Review №15

2023-01-30 19:14:12

Hands down the best food tour we have ever done! Our guide - Lauren, was awesome! She stunned us with local delicacies the whole tour! Sprinkled in some Chinese history in San Francisco. Lauren started us off with breakfast baos, sit down full family style meal at Grant Place Restaurant, chocolates at Jade and on and on! We ate sooooo much food and found some new favorites for when we return to San Francisco!

Review №16

2022-11-20 18:26:02

I did the Culinary walking tour of Chinatown San Francisco. Our guide was wonderful and very knowledgeable. She made us feel comfortable throughout and was very conscious of everyones needs. It was well worth it and highly recommended!

Review №17

2023-08-06 21:35:12

This was such a fun and informative food tour! I enjoyed all of the knowledge Brian had to offer. The food was great and he took us to places that I probably wouldn’t normally go to if I just walked past. Would 100% recommend if you’re a foodie and want to learn more about SF!

Review №18

2022-01-23 19:20:31

Great experience doing the Chinatown food tour. The pace of the tour was perfect and the route was pretty flat despite being in hilly SF so it was very easy to walk it. Portions were perfect and we left full. It was the perfect blend of sweet and savory foods. Highlights were the onion bun and bbq pork bun at the beginning and the Peking duck and walnut shrimp. Our guide Cynthia was very friendly and I plan on booking another food tour with this company next time I’m in SF to explore little Italy

Review №19

2023-11-12 19:07:06

As a native whos been to SF Chinatown before and lived in No Beach, Dougs tour was so satisfying for the soul. Hes an inciteful storyteller with good perspective. I was starving going into the tour and my foodie soul was quite content with some new places to return to. Doug really maximized great usage of time too. Our group was thrilled. And you can do this solo as well if you wanted. All welcome.

Review №20

2022-06-20 01:53:54

We enjoyed our informative and entertaining guide, Brian. There wasnt as much walking as I thought there would be, but we tasted so many more delicious foods than expected. I especially appreciated Brians concern with finding foods my lactose-intolerant husband could also enjoy. It was interesting hearing local historical anecdotes and we also met some unique local residents. I would definitely recommend this tour with Brian, but dont make the same mistake we did by eating breakfast before beginning the tour!

Review №21

2023-07-23 21:17:52

This was a fantastic tour, with amazing food at every stop. Even the tea (not being a tea drinker) was fun to learn about and try. Our tour guide was Brian, and he was wonderful: knowledgeable and entertaining and willing to go the extra mile for you. It is a LOT of walking, so wear comfortable walking shoes, but I would recommend this tour to everyone who is able to walk it!

Review №22

2023-08-08 17:14:52

We were lucky enough to have Lauren as our tour guide. She was amazing! Not only knowledgable, but also very friendly and personable. You can tell she is passionate about sharing the history and food culture of San Francisco. We had two guests with dietary restrictions and Lauren made sure to accommodate our needs in the most inclusive and respectful way. This tour was incredible - great food, lovely sights and local history!

Review №23

2023-08-23 02:43:41

Brian Raffi brings Chinatown and SF history to life with his culinary tour. He is a beloved and charming local SF man and gave my family a once in a lifetime experience. The food was truly some of the best in the world. It’s hard to choose a favorite but it would be between the Grant Place dim sum and the vital tea spot.

Review №24

2023-09-05 18:23:32

After doing a NYC Chinatown food tour earlier this year, I thought Id try the SF Chinatown food tour. Unfortunately it was not nearly as good as the NYC one. There was a lot of talking and not enough sitting down and enjoying food. We learned a lot about SF history, which was cool, but not enough about the foods, the restaurants and the owners.In NYC I didnt want the tour to end, here in SF I was thinking about bailing out early.

Review №25

2023-07-15 17:23:33

We had a great time exploring North Beach! Our guide, Scott, was incredible, very knowledgeable about the facts and history of the area but also full of personal anecdotes about his time living there. And the food was all delicious! He also recommended some other spots for us to stop at after the tour was over to continue our exploration of North Beach, which was great.

Review №26

2022-07-03 16:37:35

We went on the Chinatown Food Tour with Brian as our guide. We made 6 stops and had a wide variety of food (Cantonese, Hunan, moon cake, chocolate, tea) while we walked around and he told us about the area and the history. He was very clearly a part of the community - knew all the owners by name, knew people on the street - and loved to share what he knows and has learned about this really incredible neighborhood. The food was all delicious. We learned so much. And tip: as the 10:30 tour ends, a local dragon dancing school does a demonstration outside Eastern Bakery at 3:00.

Review №27

2022-12-06 03:50:13

This was an amazing tour! Our tour guide was awesome! Randy was a wealth of knowledge and very accommodating. I did an eating tour as well and they both covered different information so I feel I received a good breadth of knowledge on San Francisco.

Review №28

2023-03-26 20:26:40

We had a guided tour of food in North Beach. It was a fabulous experience. We had walked the area before, and learned a lot more with the guide, Brian. The time past quickly and even though there was only the 2 of us in a group tour, the tour went ahead, rather than be cancelled which we appreciated. We loved, eating great food, the basics done exceptionally, coffee, pizza, focaccia, oranchini, and salami. The guide Brian, was half the attraction. He was as interesting as the tour. Supplemented with history and culture if you wanted it. Would highly recommend to locals and visitors alike.

Review №29

2023-07-31 21:15:33

Best food tour weve been on! Brian was hands down the most knowledgeable and locally connected guide weve ever had! Hes a true part of the community with a wealth of history and knowledge! I would highly recommend him and this tour to anyone!

Review №30

2023-07-02 17:20:51

We took our tour with Brian on a Saturday morning with Brian. Brian was on time and very engaged with everyone he took the time to ask everyone their name and a bit about us all. All the food was outstanding and plenty to eat - Brian was full of info about everything we tasted as well as a story about the person and history of each location. Brian also shared a lot of history while we were walking about - culture, the owners and/or buildings. He gave us extra time and was able to answer any questions about the city. EXELLENT

Review №31

2019-07-14 19:00:26

We had an excellent experience in late June on the Chinatown tour. Outstanding guide. Really enjoyed visiting not only restaurants and getting to taste great ethnic food, but also getting to the local Buddhist temple. We also had a stop at a local tea shop which was very educational and fun! Highly recommend this tour!

Review №32

2023-09-11 17:23:28

We’ve done both the North Beach and Chinatown tours on two separate trips. Both were great and well worth the money. We were stuffed by the end and learned a ton about the neighborhoods. Had Isabella for our Chinatown tour this weekend and she was an amazing guide.

Review №33

2022-04-09 21:43:08

Brian was awesome, knowledgeable about the areas, and all around was a great tour guide. My only recommendation is to make this a 3 or 3.5 hr tour to set better expectations of how long will be walking and on your feet.

Review №34

2023-07-14 18:03:23

We did the North Beach food tour as an intern event. Lauren was our guide and she was amazing! She did a great job weaving in local history (both culinary and nonculinary culture) and worked with us to accommodate any dietary constraints. We got to try a variety of food and finished the tour with our bellies happy and full.

Review №35

2022-10-19 01:07:56

Delicious food at authentic Italian restaurants! We enjoyed the walk, the San Francisco history, and personal stories from our tour guide. We were also happy to get some great views/pictures of the bay!

Review №36

2023-05-31 15:38:09

Family of 4 with 2 teens took the China town food tour the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. Even with the added crowds it was a great time. Our guide shared a lot of history and stories of China town. The food stops were great. Really enjoyed the tea shop & tasting. The dim sum was fantastic. All stops were arranged so we didn’t have long to wait for food. We would book another tour if we get back to San Francisco.

Review №37

2023-07-24 01:09:04

Lauren was an amazing guide. We had so much good food, and learned a lot about the history of Chinatown. I would definitely recommend this for someone looking for a way to see a landmark part of San Fran and eat delicious food.

Review №38

2021-08-17 01:53:43

My friends and I had a wonderful time during our food tour at Northbeach/Little Italy. Brian was a great tour guide, super knowledgeable on the history around the area. We will definitely revisit some spots from the tour.

Review №39

2023-07-18 15:41:04

First hour dragged, very informative by end of sit dwn meal time was rushed. Food portions throughout the walk were nice & fresh

Review №40

2023-05-29 19:42:42

The Chinatown Culinary Walking Tour was more than just a tour and food- it was an experience. Most of that is because of our tour guide, Brian, who not only took knew the history of Chinatown, but some of how it has helped shape San Francisco. He took us to off-the-beaten-path places, both to look at shops (whose owners he knew well) and eat regional cuisine (again, he knew the owners incredibly well!). This was a fantastic way to spend an afternoon, and when I go back to San Francisco, Ill definitely do it again.

Review №41

2022-07-18 23:46:05

We had a fantastic tour of North Beach (Little Italy) with Brian. He was smart, knowledgeable and mostly had us in stitches. He went above and beyond to show our small group around, changing things up slightly to account for my husbands shellfish allergy and answering a million questions. One of my favorite food walking tours ever. Thank you, Brian. Peace out--Kathy, Kevin & Nick.

Review №42

2023-05-15 23:59:47

Brian was an engaging and enthusiastic tour guide the filled our day with local history and a good group atmosphere. This tour fed me the most food I’ve ever had on any other food tour. Delicious food, especially enjoyed the tea shop visit. I recommend this tour!

Review №43

2023-06-21 23:41:38

This was a very well-organized tour of Chinese food and some cultural and historical details in San Franciscos Chinatown. It included two indoor sit-down lunches which, together with savory food samples provided along the route, left us feeling well-fed and informed.

Review №44

2023-12-03 04:51:50

Scott L was great. His great loves of SF, history, and food all come out nicely during his tour. I recommend

Review №45

2023-04-07 19:22:02

We enjoyed our tour last week with Isabelle through Chinatown. Food was delicious and the stops were interesting. The only suggestion I have is that the pace could be sped up a bit. The first hour felt long as we hadnt actually been in a restaurant yet. It got better after that...though we still went over the allotted 3 hours. The kids (6 and 8) enjoyed it overall though the first hour was a little bit of struggle to keep their interest. Definitely recommend overall.

Review №46

2023-01-04 04:23:47

We had a great time! Our guide Brian really made the experience entertaining! Within the first few minutes of our tour we were already tasting delicious food. Brian appears to know several people in Chinatown and North Beach which led to our sidewalk serenade by a local performer in Chinatown, a discussion about fashion with a creator of handmade shoes and apparel and receiving words of wisdom from a 92 year old tea shop owner. All in addition to the history and stories Brian shared. Plus the food, tea and sweets were terrific! Our 17 year old daughter also enjoyed the tour immensely. We highly recommend this experience!

Review №47

2023-09-22 21:37:01

Excellent tour! Cynthia was absolutely the best. She took us to several locations & we got to eat a lot of delicious food along the way. Would highly recommend to everyone!!

Review №48

2023-03-05 02:21:45

Brian was amazing! Full of history and trivia and knew the best places to go in both China Town and North Beach.Loved the tea shop stop where we got meet “Uncle.”Would recommend this tour to everyone. So much food- def come hungry!

Review №49

2023-03-07 03:37:26

I booked the North Beach tour for a team building work event, and we all had a blast! Lauren was extremely knowledgeable & friendly, and answered our many questions. We arrived hungry and left happy & satisfied. Most of us on the tour were locals, but Lauren still managed to introduce us to a several hidden gems and teach us about the rich culture & history of a city that we often overlook in our day-to-day lives. I would definitely book with this company again!

Review №50

2023-03-09 00:50:40

Great time with Brian. He really helped our small group feel welcome and comfortable with him and each other. The food stops were amazing, never would have found such authentic and great food by myself. Enjoyed ourselves so much we went over time and stayed for hours in Vital Tea at the end of the tour.

Review №51

2022-12-18 21:47:26

I recently took the North Beach Food Tour with Brian. I live in the Bay Area and wanted to learn more about the history of North Beach and find some new spots to eat, I was not disappointed! So much delicious food and a lot of great history. Brian is a very popular guy in the area and I appreciated him going above and beyond to ensure our group had a memorable time. Hoping to do the Chinatown Food Tour next!

Review №52

2022-12-10 21:47:39

I’ve been on a ton of food tours in a bunch of other countries. This tour of Chinatown was awesome! The history lesson was excellent and the food superb. Great way to spend a couple hours strolling this historic part of SF while indulging your mind and your stomach. Brian was a super knowledgeable tour guide and would recommend this tour for anyone.

Review №53

2022-12-18 17:16:23

We had a great time on our food tour of Chinatown! All of the food stops were very delicious and touched on a wide variety of foods and drinks. Our tour guide, Brian, was very knowledgeable and entertaining, providing many stories and local tips. I would definitely recommend this tour!

Review №54

2022-12-05 14:54:21

Our group had a wonderful time on our Chinatown Food Tour with Brian. The historical information presented along with the food, presented with great flair by our guide, really allowed for a deeper level of appreciation of the food, architecture, and culture. The food was excellent, and we especially enjoyed seeing the Fortune Cookie Factory. Would definitely recommend - and Ill book another the next time Im in town!

Review №55

2022-11-07 15:46:13

We had such a great time on our food tour of Chinatown and North Beach with Lauren!! I have lived in SF for about a year now so it was amazing to learn more about the places I visit regularly. She paced out the food perfectly so by the time I thought I couldnt have another bite, we walked and talked and was ready again for another AMAZING stop. Truly will recommend to all of my friends and visitors. And I personally would do it again.

Review №56

2023-02-14 18:48:19

Definitely a 5 star food tour!Our tour guide, Brian, was everything you could ask for in a guide. He was entertaining, funny, knowledgeable, and overall a good person to hang out with for a few hours.We did the Chinatown tour. The food was fantastic! I would highly recommend!

Review №57

2022-08-23 04:20:20

Yeah, Brian (noted -- with an I) needs a raise. This Chinatown/North Beach tour was without a doubt one of the biggest highlights of our week-long stay in SF. He had an extensive amount of knowledge, charisma, and energy to really make the tour feel like it was worth significantly more than what we paid. Food was delicious and plentiful, info qualitative and interesting, and overall vibe one to cherish. Even with a theatrical reenactment gone wrong in the Chinatown square, I am genuinely without enough words to portray our wonderful experience.This is a tour I would highly recommend to anyone in SF (visiting or local), and one we will probably take again just for fun. It lasted almost six hours (instead of four), and we loved every minute of it. Serious bang for the buck.Cheers to Brian and the LToC crew!

Review №58

2022-05-23 15:03:50

Isabella was wonderful on the Chinatown culinary tour. She went out of her way to accommodate my sons and my vegan and vegetarian diets. We had plenty to eat and the meal at the Grant Place Restaurant was the BEST tofu and green beans Ive ever had! It was so delicious, Ive been craving it ever since. And at the next restaurant my son ate all the ... was it lo mein?? Not sure, but he loved it. It was such a fun and memorable experience! Highly recommend it.

Review №59

2022-10-31 19:35:29

This was a very fun tour, with wonderful tasters, enough to fill the tummies and more! North Beach is a very fun and active neighborhood. There was a lot of history shared which was interesting but sometimes was too much and too fast. I know Brian was super knowledgable and from this neighborhood, so it was fun to see so many familiar with him on the streets. Loved this little taste of Italy and all it had to offer.

Review №60

2022-07-03 03:43:37

It was the best Brian was an awesome guide he knew his history of Chinatown and San Francisco highly recommend this tour he went way above his responsibilities love you Brian

Review №61

2022-10-31 21:57:28

We did this tour yesterday with Brian and had a great time. The food was phenomenal, the tour was exactly what we thought it would be, and for a food tour we got more food than I was expecting. The Italian food in North Beach tastes like my grandmas recipes and made us Italians feel right at home. Thank you Brian for helping us experience the local cuisine and culture of North Beach!

Review №62

2022-08-05 21:29:31

We did 2 tours on 2 separate days. We did theLittle Italy Tour on a Monday, and our guide was Brian. Brian was very entertain and fun. The following day we did a China Town tour with Isabella. The Little Italy tour was great. We stopped by a lot of Iconic spots (cathedral Church), a couple of pizzerias, sandwich shops, etc. The food on the Little Italy Tour was enough to get full. My husband and I wished we had of skipped breakfast. It took about 3 hours. China Town was really fun and Isabella gave a lot of historical information... We stopped by the Women of Comfort Statute, We visited the Oldest Fortune Cookie Shop in the US ... another beautiful church. Again... lots of food! We stopped by a Tea shop (Ital Leaf). It was great, we were provided a tea tasting. We ended up purchasing some tea to take home. Both tours are 100% walking, so bring some comfortable shoes. I enjoyed walking around the city and viewing the sites. Plus, you have the opportunity to take some beautiful pictures. It is great for family fun! I would purchase again!

Review №63

2022-10-29 23:48:50

We had a great time on our walking tour of Chinatown and North Beach yesterday with Brian. Lots of good history, amazing food and random experiences that make these the best sorts of tours when visiting a new city. Many thanks, highly recommend.

Review №64

2022-04-21 02:57:27

We had a tour today with Brian and had the most amazing time! He was super energetic and funny! Had all the knowledge for both places on the tour and for places to recommend outside of the tour path. Have loads of local places to now explore!

Review №65

2022-06-02 02:18:43

This tour is a must whether you’re new to or a native of San Francisco. Brian, our guide, made this food-tour special as he was tireless and attentive to our needs from beginning to end. Being a native of SF, he not only had true ‘backstreet’ knowledge of the history and neighborhoods of Chinatown and North Beach but also seemed to be a part of the community itself with all the people he knew. The places we ate at were all amazing from the bakeries with the best moon cake and the creamiest cannolis to multi-generation, family-owned restaurants featuring authentic Chinese dim sum and hand-made Sicilian pizza. My friends and I had a great time and would not hesitate to recommend this tour. A big thank you to Brian for his engaging energy and love of both his city and the people in it

Review №66

2022-10-31 20:46:48

My wife and I took the Chinatown walking food tour this past Saturday and it was fantastic. I fully expected to mostly ignore the guide and just enjoy the food but to my surprise my expectations were completely shattered. Brian was great, think Robert Downey Jr. but younger and more funny. He also very obviously knows his stuff and is a regular in the neighborhood. At multiple points during the tour he was greeted by name by the locals and the stops were all prepared for us and knew the drill. The food was also amazing. I consider myself pretty well versed in East Asian cuisine but I was introduced to something new on this tour even and it was delicious. The tour covered both Cantonese style and Hunan/Szechuan style food and both locations were so good. The piece de resistance was the tea place though, the proprietors were delightful and their relationship with Brian is obviously a special one. Dont hesitate to book this.

Review №67

2022-08-22 14:54:15

The tour guide (Isabella) was wonderful. She was kind, informative and witty. My daughter and I enjoyed the generous portions at each stop and the food quality was great. I would highly recommend the tour to anyone looking to explore and taste goodies from China Town and Little Italy in San Francisco. Thank you to Isabella and the tour operator for a lovely memory!Catherine Wieckowska

Review №68

2022-04-24 00:47:36

We had a super fun time on the North Beach/Little Italy food tour! We took our 3 year old along, and werent sure if she would enjoy it, but she had a fantastic time. She wants to grow up to be a food tour guide now :) We did bring our e-scooter along so she could hop on whenever she was tired of walking. We also requested vegetarian options and were very impressed by the food across all 7 stops! There were a few non-food stops along the way, where our guide (Lauren) told us fun facts about the citys history. Id highly recommend this tour, even for folks with kids!

Review №69

2022-06-20 04:19:57

Our North Beach/Taste of Italy tour was fantastic. Lauren was a wealth of knowledge and did such a great job of mixing fact with fun. We learned a lot about the neighborhood history, tasted great food along the way, and were thoroughly entertained. I would highly recommend this tour, as well as Lauren.

Review №70

2023-03-07 20:21:54

Incredible experience with Lauren as our guide! Would highly recommend this food tour both for delicious eats and a dive into Chinese American culture. Lauren was a wealth of knowledge about the history of Chinatown and the origins of the foods we sampled. Bring your appetite!

Review №71

2021-10-24 21:50:01

Brian was a fabulous tour guide!! SUCH a good value for all of the food we ate. Loved the tea tasting. Tour went a little over in time, which we didn’t mind at all!

Review №72

2022-08-01 17:02:30

My 12 year old daughter and I decided to do a food tour in SF and she picked this one. We had a great time and learned a lot about the North Beach neighborhood. Theres a lot of history within each neighborhood of San Francisco, and it was interested to learn while eating great food. Our tour guide, Lauren, was very fun and really enjoyed sharing all her knowledge about this area. The various restaurants were delicious. We did visit a fudge shop, one of the top 25 in the country, but since I dont like fudge I wasnt a huge fan of this shop. Wouldve preferred gelato as a dessert option, but thats just personal preference. I would still recommend this tour and the guide - come hungry for food and knowledge!

Review №73

2023-01-01 22:23:27

This tour and our fantastic guide Lauren deserve all 5 stars! Lauren greeted us with warm delicious dim sum, and a wealth of information. She kept the 8 of us entertained and well fed for the next 4 hours! I would encourage all who can, to tour with this company and enjoy the Local tastes of San Francisco!

Review №74

2023-03-07 16:41:32

Isabella was great! She made everyone feel welcome and was generous with the amount of information she shared about the history of Chinatown in San Francisco. The choice of restaurants, bakeries and even a tea shop was excellent. We highly recommend. Thank you to Isabella!

Review №75

2023-03-06 05:25:22

Brian was an amazing tour guide! There was history, fun, and lots of food! He also took us through unique shops along the way, which really added to the whole San Francisco experience.

Review №76

2022-01-06 17:07:05

I just did a great food tour with Isabella - the Chinatown/North Beach tour. It was me and 2 sets of couples. The tour lasted about 4 hours (longer than I expected, but she told us right at the beginning and seemed to be flexible if any of us needed to stop early). We learned all about various places in Chinatown and Chinese culture and sampled many different foods, then went to North Beach and had more walking and more food! My favorite stop on the whole tour was the tea tasting - its somewhere that I dont think I would have found on my own. It was a great way to spend an afternoon, get a glimpse into a couple of neighborhoods, do a lot of walking, and try some new/yummy foods!

Review №77

2022-01-25 03:02:23

We did the Chinatown Food Tour with Brian and had such a great experience! Brian was a very entertaining guide and was so knowledgeable about the history of Chinatown and the food we ate (which was amazing!!) We never would have found the restaurants ourselves or connected with the restaurant/shop owners as much as we did if we did not take the tour. Would definitely recommend!

Review №78

2023-01-23 00:04:05

We really enjoyed our North Beach food tour. Our tour guide Brian was fantastic and knowledgeable! Our group had a prescatarian and he took great care of making sure there was always something unique to try for them. We would definitely do another tour with them again

Review №79

2022-09-10 17:24:15

Brian our tour guide was amazing. Very knowledgeable and had our group laughing. The food was amazing as well The highlights were the Peking Duck and also our trip to the tea house. Would definitely recommend this tour to anyone interested in getting to know Chinatown and North Beach

Review №80

2022-09-06 15:17:01

The tour itself is great and worth doing if you have some free time in the city. How enjoyable the experience is ultimately comes down to your guide. Ive done this food tours twice in 3 years and the first experience was excellent (with a guide called Blondina). The most recent tour didnt score so high. Our guide was loud, brash, over-powering and spent almost 4 hours talking about himself, it would have been funny if it wasnt so annoying. He was pretty rude to some of our group in the first 5 minutes which set the tone for the day. Team building wise it did the trick as we all tried to hang out at the back to avoid him, it made memories for different reasons I guess!

Review №81

2022-05-04 05:44:58

We loved the Chinatown walking food tour and Isabella was amazing! She was great at making us feel welcomed and very knowledgeable about the history of the area, had a lot of fun facts to share with us, and even some funny jokes. The food was fun to try and I think the restaurant choices were well made. I would do this tour with Isabella again in a heartbeat!

Review №82

2022-05-31 02:21:35

Brian was an excellent tour guide through Chinatown and North Beach. We heard about history, architecture and lots of great stops for food along the way. Brian gave us enough time to even shop at every stop to bring home some many goodies! Brians humor was intoxicating for the entire group!

Review №83

2023-09-10 13:45:36

Great tours of both Chinatown and North Beach! Brian was an amazing tour guide. I would do this again.

Review №84

2021-12-03 23:01:47

This tour (Chinatown/North Beach) was fantastic! I took a group of 12 co-workers that hadnt really met before due to the pandemic. We booked an afternoon tour (2:30-6:30, theyre flexible on how long the tour needs to last) and were led by Isabella who was an awesome tour guide with a lot of knowledge about the city since shes been here a long time. Tom, the business owner, was very easy to work with and accommodating, and they clearly have great relationships with the business owners in the area because everyone treated us very kindly and were happy to see our guide.Ive lived in SF for 6 years and havent done any experience like this before. Im glad I started with Taste of the City food tours :)

Review №85

2022-01-23 22:56:44

Cynthia met our group at the location that we were told to meet at with some Chinese pork buns and special bread. It was a delicious way to start a food tour. Cynthia was extremely knowledgeable about China Town and took the time to share show us things that you would only learn on a tour about food, art, architecture, tea and more. We shared desserts, Peking duck, special rice, and enough that most of us were changing our dinner reservations to later times. My husband and I will book Cynthias North Beach/Little Italy tour for our next visit.

Review №86

2022-11-14 02:06:06

This was an exceptional tour. I am not a foodie but my DIL is so I got us tickets not expecting much... after all its only food. It was fantastic. Brian, our tour guide, was great. I loved all the historical details and trivia he knew. He was so entertaining. Id sign up for another tour just to hear him; who cares what the cuisine is. He was totally knowledgeable about the history, friendly and accommodating.

Review №87

2021-06-15 02:52:54

Thoroughly enjoyed the China Town food tour. My guide was lovely and knowledgeable about the area. Ive been to San Francisco many times but Isabella showed me new places and taught me new things about a city Ive always loved visiting. All the food stops were tasty and small hole in the wall type places that I really enjoy visiting. Id recommend the tour to friends and will be back another time for the North Beach tour.

Review №88

2022-09-01 19:54:34

I experienced a wonderful tour of North Beach with my guide, Isabella.The food was delicious, I learned so much about the SF history and Isabellas personal anecdotes really put this tour over the top! They were also able to accommodate my vegetarian diet easily. Highly recommend to all!

Review №89

2023-01-26 16:24:46

Fantastic tour! Our guide, Lauren, was incredibly informative while also adding her own wit and energy into the tour. The food was phenomenal and I walked away with knowledge, a full stomach, and a desire to bring my friends to this tour next time they are in town!

Review №90

2022-08-03 00:03:21

We never do recipes but….loved loved this tour. Our China tour with Bryan was the highlight of our San Francisco trip. It was thoroughly rich in history foremost as well as entertaining and the food was delicious!!! We cannot recommend enough.

Review №91

2022-11-23 02:46:02

I had a very nice time on the Little Italy/North beach walking (food) tour of San Francisco. We had food tastings at 4-5 restaurants/delis/bakeries. I would recommend this tour. A nice mix of local history and food tastings.

Review №92

2022-08-06 21:30:27

A great tour with lots of stories and nuggets of local history and some amazing food along the way! Come Hungry! Our tour lasted quite a bit longer than the 3 hours shown, but it was well worth it and the end of the tour was only a short walk to our hotel (a different direction from the start which was also close.Lots of surprises like the fudge sample being a full bar and not just a bite! Great Tour Guide!

Review №93

2023-06-16 23:13:36

Wonderful combination of cultural history and cuisine. Our guide, Brian, was informative and entertaining. Great food and loads of fun.

Review №94

2022-06-21 21:52:16

The entire experience was very professional and pleasant. The manager was so kind and accommodating as we had a medical emergency before a tour. The tour itself is a lot of fun. Isabella our guide was knowledgeable, engaging and extremely adept at arranging for dietary accommodations. Ample food on the tour- you will not leave hungry!! Overall a 5star experience...I will be promoting this to my local friends as a visitor must do!

Review №95

2022-08-07 21:16:01

Amazing tour, would highly recommend. We took the Chinatown Food Tour; Brian was an entertaining, informative and helpful tour guide with a real enthusiasm for the food and local history. Good amount of food stops and everything tasted incredible!

Review №96

2022-10-10 20:45:57

We went on a tour with Brian, who was just awesome. He was hilarious and very entertaining. His knowledge of the history of the city and how he tied that to the architecture, and most of all, the food, made for an extremely enjoyable evening that I would highly recommend!

Review №97

2022-09-23 14:54:03

I highly recommend the Chinatown/North beach walking tour especially if you are lucky enough to have Brian as your guide. I have been on other foodie tours, but this one is the best by far. Brian is so informative, knowledgable and adds his own sense of color and humor to the tour, I learned so much about the city. The only thing that I would criticize are his jokes, sorry Brian, lol! Also, the stop at the tea house is so much fun, what an experience! If you decide to take this tour, be prepared for alot of walking and eating. The food is phenomenal and you wont leave hungry!

Review №98

2022-04-12 00:10:18

Moderately paced tour of North Beach with lots of stories of the people, food and The City. Food portions were generous, so eat only lightly before the tour. Brian was both entertaining and knowledgeable and made sure everyone felt included. Great way to spend an afternoon.

Review №99

2022-07-16 20:46:53

When my brother booked this we didn’t know what to expect. We’ve never done a food tour but IT WAS WORTH IT! We loved this experience on our trip. Our guide, Brian was very informational about everywhere we went. He even took us to local shops that have contributed to San Francisco history for generations. We even met Tom (Brian’s boss) and they are just overall good people. If your looking for something to do, this is it! Thank You Brian and Tom! - Christano, Barry, Ufi, and Lina

Review №100

2022-05-23 13:54:11

This tour was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon experiencing parts of the city that we wouldnt have seen with a typical tour. Our guide, Isabella, was personable and knowledgeable, and her excitement and love for San Francisco is infectious. This tour offers beautiful and unique views, history and personal tales of the city, and many samples of local foods - an incredible value and a memorable afternoon!

Review №101

2019-07-24 22:26:40

Great tour with amazing food stops included. Our tour guide (Brian) was very immersed in the culture, enough to be on a first name basis with many of the restaurant and store owners I specifically enjoyed the variety this tour included. We were able to learn about cooking techniques, visit a religious temple, and discuss how the history of Chinatown SF built the life for those the population that lives there. The food choices were fantastic and introduced me to a few dishes I had never heard of before. Surprisingly though my favorite stops were focused on the history of Chinatown and Chinese culture. San Franciscos Living Room and a stop at a local tea shop offered more insight into a world within a city than I imagined a food tour ever could. Ill 100% recommend this tour to anyone and any group and would recommend a tour with Brian any day, any where.

Review №102

2022-10-25 16:50:56

We had an amazing time. Brian, a true native of the area, was a fantastic guide. We enjoyed his humor and his deep knowledge of The City in general and North Beach in particular (dont call it Little Italy!). The food tastings went far beyond pizza and macchiato (although we had those of course) and included delicious tidbits like arancini, locally made salami and olives, chicken focaccia and cannoli . Other stops included the Peter and Paul cathedral (where we inadvertently crashed a wedding!) and the Fugazi theater. All in all it was a perfect way to spend a day in one of the worlds great cities. Allow extra time to park if youre driving in.

Review №103

2021-12-03 23:26:41

Im from the bay area and this was my first food tour in the city. My work did this as a fun team bonding event and it was lots of fun. Even having grown up here, I learned something new at ever stop. By the end of the tour, it felt like a full meal. We did the Chinatown and North Beach Tour. The food highlight for me was the peking duck! The owner at the tea house was hilarious and really informative. Im going back to do a little shopping soon. We wrapped up with a few delicious pizzas, cannolli and wine. Our guide was super friendly, professional and knowledgeable. Through out the tour shed stop along the way to give us not just food info but city history too. All in all, it was a great time!

Review №104

2022-07-12 00:46:23

We had a great time with Brian our guide. He was a local who knew his history . The food was fabulous, and the weather was sunny. Will do this again when family comes to town. Highly recommend this tour if you like to eat !

Review №105

2022-02-07 03:42:31

We had a fantastic food tour through Chinatown and North Beach with Brian. Highly recommend selecting Chinatown/North Beach combo, as you’ll get to work your way through a few (6+) courses of different cuisine. Brian was very knowledgeable on food and history of the neighborhoods which made the experience top notch.

Review №106

2022-08-21 21:20:15

We had an incredible experience with Cynthia, our tour guide, during the Chinatown/North Beach San Francisco food walking tour. Could not recommend it enough! If were ever back in the area, we will definitely be doing another tour, maybe even the same one 😁

Review №107

2022-01-15 06:05:53

Cant say enough positive things about Brian (tour guide) and Tom (owner). Accidentally booked the wrong date and realized it 2 hours before we thought our tour was to start. Tom took several calls from me and graciously squeezed us into the tour that day.Brian, our guide, was informative, organized and entertaining. He asked if he could give us a more in depth tour, even if it meant going significantly past the allotted 3 hous. We agreed and spent the next several hours exploring Chinatown and North Beach, eating very well and reviewing the history of the neighborhoodsMoney very well spent, now we have lots of new places to explore...

Review №108

2020-01-21 22:02:22

We took an afternoon Chinatown food tour to begin our weekend getaway, and wow did we start our weekend off right! Brian was very informative and knowledgeable about the history of Chinatown and gave us lots of information about the food that we tasted as well. We made several stops throughout our afternoon together, and each was tasty and informative. We ended with a very interesting tea tasting. We re-visited some of the restaurants/shops throughout our weekend visit and felt so much more aware of what to order by having this foundation. Thanks Brian!

Review №109

2022-07-08 20:20:34

Isabella is a great tour guide. Her commentary was friendly, interesting, and a great complement to the tasty bountiful food. The tea tasting was particularly fun. The morning tour had no other customers so we had a private tour.

Review №110

2022-06-26 17:27:48

Booking was simple. Brian was high energy and a fun host. A true San Franciscan! Food was awesome and he did a great job having it ready at our arrival! I will be booking the China Town tour next.

Review №111

2022-10-09 19:38:27

Fine and entertaining in many ways and the food varieties were great. The history was also good and the culture was interesting. However I felt like I was being pushed to buy woks, chocolates and give tips. The last tea stop was initially interesting but ended with a heavy handed sales pitch to buy tea. This was hard to take after already spending about $150 on tickets.

Review №112

2022-04-03 23:10:52

The tour was a great mix of history and food. Brian put his heart and soul into guiding our group of 11. He knows not just which restaurants to choose, but which menu items. He generously exceeded the tours 3-hour time frame to assure we went to all the stops and got all our questions answered. He is a gem and Ill look for this company for future tours.

Review №113

2022-02-07 02:37:53

Lauren was very knowledgeable of the whole North Beach / Little Italy area, including history of the area and cool and quirky landmarks. She was friendly, very accommodating to our 7yo child, and highly available via text leading up to the tour when we had questions about specific details. The tour itself is worth the money, especially if like me youve ever walked through a neighborhood like Little Italy and wished you could taste a little of everything. The tour was well-paced and packed just enough into the 2.5 hr period.

Review №114

2019-08-12 21:34:02

My friends and I went on the North Beach/Little Italy food tour for the first time. Patsy was our tour guide and she was wonderful. She told us about the history and she was knowledgeable about the city and the food and was able to answer our questions. She made sure we were all taken care of when it came time to eating and drinking. We really enjoyed the variety of places we went to and the food was delicious. We would take the tour again and definitely recommend it to our friends and family.

Review №115

2022-07-07 17:17:10

The tour guide was amazing. The amount of food left us almost too full to eat at the last stop. This tour was phenomenal and Id suggest it to anyone to get a wonderful Little Italy neighborhood experience in half a day.

Review №116

2021-10-16 04:20:58

My fiancé and I have done many food tours around the world and this was one of our favorites! We lucked out when we were the only two to have booked yesterday morning’s tour so we got a private showing with Isabella! Isabella was amazing, she was so knowledgeable and kind and we had so much fun talking and walking around Chinatown with her. Isabella was so thoughtful that when I asked her for a recommendation for xiao long bao, she went and purchased a couple for us while we were tasting tea. Above and beyond! All of the food we tasted was so delicious and I loved how we had a few moments where we could eat and enjoy the food on our own. I couldn’t recommend the Chinatown tour more!!

Review №117

2021-09-29 23:49:44

My mother and I had an amazing time on our food tour with Brian. He was full of history and humor! We enjoyed trying new dishes and treats. My favorite part was tea tasting! A day well spent!

Review №118

2022-06-23 14:55:47

We found this tour (Chin a town foodie tour) very disjointed and everything seemed to be a bit random. The tour guide, I think his name was Brian, seemed to know what he was talking about, but he kept jumping about from one thing to another.The food was ok and plentiful.We also seemed to spend time going into shops. Although there was no obligation to buy anything, it just seemed a bit weird.The best bit was the tea. shop at the end

Review №119

2014-10-07 18:08:55

This was a fun tour I went on with girlfriends. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. We went to a bakery and other places in North Beach. It was very scenic and informative. The only downside is that the food didnt blow me away until we stopped at the last pizza place we went to. Would have been nice to have a variety of pastas. Perhaps integrating Chinatown and Northbeach together into a tour would be nice, since theyre in the same neighborhood anyway. I would recommend the tour to visitors of SF, and tourists, but not SF natives or foodies.

Review №120

2019-06-07 22:08:00

We enjoyed great June weather and some wonderful tastes in San Francisco. Getting a culinary tour of North Beach is like a local experts guides to the flavors of San Francisco. Every food sampling today was delicious. Some of the restaurants were beautiful and I would definitely return to.Cynthia was a very kind hostess and served everyone with a smile. I appreciated the spots where she added history to the tour. She was very polite and considerate to all of the guests.It felt a bit long, though enjoyable, and it would be good to carry a bottle of water for in between stops.I think just about everyone, local or visiting San Francisco, woukd enjoy this tour.

Review №121

2023-04-11 04:56:46

The China town tour was excellent. We learned lots of interesting facts and tasted delicious foods. Brian was very entertaining. It was a lot of food!

Review №122

2022-06-10 00:15:59

This is a must try if in San Francisco! Our tour guide,Isabella, was great. She was flexible with the route, informative on the history, and patient with the pace. The food was plentiful and Amazing! We felt we learned alot about the culture and got to taste a ton of food.

Review №123

2021-11-05 23:52:47

Oh my Gosh, Isabella was a fantastic tour guide. We met at the Gates to China Town...greeted with fresh backed onion twists...there was so much great information about the city and area. We walked through China Town and Little Italy. We had desserts, tea tasting, fortune cookies, duck, Dim Sum, Cannoli, fudge and ended with margarita pizza and a beer. Great Value and FUN!

Review №124

2021-12-06 17:56:46

We took North Beach Italy and Chinatown walking tour. Upon arrival we were warmly welcomed by the tour guide, Isabella.She is such a warm personality and highly motivated, knowledgeable guide (recommendable!). I truly enjoyed and learnt new things in history,Geography and food.

Review №125

2022-01-04 01:31:39

If you are on the fence about taking this tour, take my advice and schedule it. This tour is the perfect way to navigate through the hustle and bustle of Chinatown. Isabelle, our guide, brought a combination of real-world personal experiences and historical knowledge that made this tour so genuine. The food is excellent too!

Review №126

2022-11-21 18:33:30

We had a fabulous time on our tour. Our host, Brian, was a wealth of interesting information. The food we tasted was delicious and pleased all members of our group.

Review №127

2022-11-03 17:28:43

We thoroughly enjoyed this tour. It was informative and very tasty! :+). Our guide, Isabella, was very knowledgeable and it was a pleasure to spend the day together. We also got to meet some of the locals which is always a treat when on vacation.

Review №128

2014-08-05 18:32:06

We have now taken 2 tours with Tom. The first time, we took the North Beach tour. We found Tom to be both personable and a fountain of local knowledge. Moreover, he more than filled our bellies with incredible food. Stop after stop we were offered delicious options. We had such a good time that on our next visit to San Francisco, we signed up for the Chinatown tour. Again, we were treated to a wonderful time. If you want to learn about the city (not just food related, but a good general history) and eat really well I encourage you to try one of these tours. Tom is a local gem.

Review №129

2014-09-09 19:29:15

We did the Chinatown tour a few years back to celebrate my wifes birthday. We had a large party which got split into 3 tour groups, but all met back at the restaurant for the birthday luncheon. The company did a great job planning the entire event. We came up with unique touches that made the birthday celebration truly special. The guides were knowledgeable and friendly. All our guests enjoyed the tour. I would like to try other tours are offered Local Tastes of the City since its a great way to explore this beautiful and historic city.

Review №130

2019-05-11 16:55:54

We took the Chinatown and North Beach Night Walking Tour with Brian as our guide and it was amazing! We got to eat so much delicious food (including the worlds best moon cakes and authentic Italian cannoli). Brians knowledge of the city and its history really made the experience come to life. This tour is a great way to explore Chinatown and North Beach.

Review №131

2022-12-08 05:09:12

We had an incredible time! A lot of our group were locals but we learned a ton from Isabella. She was such an amazing guide! Will definitely do this tour again with other friends

Review №132

2019-03-18 20:07:07

We really enjoyed this tour. Cynthia did a great job of presenting the culture and history of the San Francisco north beach area while escorting us to several shops in addition to the restaurants. Our tour group was fairly small, just six people with Cynthia. I thought this was perfect since it gave us a chance to interact with the other tour members and still be able to hear Cynthia. This was quite a good experience.

Review №133

2021-11-24 20:37:03

We did the North Beach Walking Tour with 10 other people in the group. It was great to interact with others and get a feel for the neighborhood. Brian was a great host, knowing the area and giving tips and history about the area was awesome. We highly recommend this Tour.

Review №134

2016-09-01 23:49:21

I love these tours! Ive done Chinatown and North Beach with my family and its something everyone enjoyed. Loved the french bakery and the fresh ground coffee beans, and love the tour of the church. In Chinatown the fortune cookie factory was a favorite as well. The tour guides have a great sense of humor and I would recommend these tours to all.

Review №135

2022-06-01 21:34:12

What a wonderful and worthwhile experience! We took a number of different tours around the San Francisco area, and this was, by in large, the best of the bunch. Kudos to you Brian and thank you for such an exhilarating tour. Worth every penny!

Review №136

2014-09-16 18:09:55

The walking tours were some of the best experiences my wife and I had on our trips to SF. A friend had recommended the Walking Chinese Food Tour, which is the first one we took. It was fantastic visiting the shops and seeing how fortune cookies were made. Please keep in mind this is a walking tour and the China Town area has lots of hills. Although the group doesnt move along at a sprint, it does need to keep moving in order to see everything within the time window. Wear comfortable clothes and walking/jogging shoes. As my wife put it, dont worry about looking cute on this tour.The following year, we took the tour of Little Italy. It was a lot of fun! We enjoyed the bakeries, the culture and the fresh roasted coffee, which is the best cup Ive ever had! This tour didnt have as many hills as the China Town tour and it moved at a bit slower pace. Be prepared to eat A LOT!! We had made reservations to eat at an Italian restaurant at the end of the tour and had to cancel because we werent hungry at all.The City offers a ton of different sights to be seen, but the best ones that weve experienced were these walking tours. We always recommend these to anyone visiting SF who havent already done them. Enjoy!

Review №137

2014-11-07 12:59:03

My fiance and I definitely enjoyed our Chinatown tour with our guide, Tom. We took the Sunday morning tour with one other couple. We talked at length afterward that it was better than we expected it to be, even after reading positive reviews about it. We liked that we got a nice overview of the history and perspective of Chinatown from a San Fran native and learned a lot of interesting facts. The food was delicious and was totally different from any other Chinese food weve had before. In fact, we are still salivating when thinking of those steamed pork buns and the bean-filled sesame balls! The tea tasting room was also nice and a great way to end the tour. Thanks again for the entertaining and informative time in Chinatown. Dont change a thing, it was all perfect!Visited April 2014

Review №138

2022-10-08 23:23:24

Great tour with Brian! He went out of his way to be flexible, and always had more than enough stories to share for any pause or detour. Food was delicious and the stories behind the local establishment made it even better.

Review №139

2014-12-30 18:04:02

We thoroughly enjoyed our North Beach Tour with Blondina. She had interesting stories about everything we saw as well as about herself. She paid strict attention to our dietary needs and provided excellent tastes of the local cuisine. I would recommend this tour for visitors to SF, as well as natives. We saw the North Beach area in ways we had not viewed it before. It is a great group activity.

Review №140

2014-08-06 06:12:29

When I visited San Francisco, I asked the concierge about Food Tours and she recommended this tour. I absolutely loved The Tour of Italy. It was so much fun. I enjoyed the food tastings but the tour guide added so much trivia due to his extreme knowledge about the area it added so much to the overall experience! The tour made my visit to San Francisco so much more memorable. I cant tell you how many people I have shared those same tidbits of information I learned from that tour. I cant wait to visit the city and attend more tours!!!

Review №141

2022-02-11 17:07:40

Brian did an incredible job hosting the Chinatown Food Tour. He was entertaining and knowledgable, and the food was delicious!! This tour was the highlight of our trip to San Francisco. Thank you Brain!

Review №142

2022-10-24 00:54:54

Just did the North Beach/Italian tour with Brian. It was awesome! Brian was very informative and entertaining. The food was delicous too. Highly recommend this tour company.

Review №143

2020-01-31 07:41:53

In town as a tourist, or a longtime resident who never ventured outside your own neighborhood? Don’t miss these tours! I recently took a tour of Chinatown and it was chockful of hidden sites, heretofore unknown factoids and authentic Chinese cuisine. And I’m a SF native!!! Tour guide ISABELLA is not only incredibly knowledgeable about this little gem of an enclave, she is warm, friendly and funny. I highly recommend this company — you’ll end of knowing more than the native San Franciscans!

Review №144

2014-10-07 19:49:17

Our family took the North Beach/Little Italy tour with Tom. A fantastic experience. both food/drink wise as well as a terrific history lesson. We liked that Tom was organized and prepared and took special care to coordinate with the local businesses to ensure our experience was perfect. We have toured with other groups in SF and found that experience to be sub-standard compared to this North beach tour. We will definitely take another tour with this company.

Review №145

2021-12-30 00:29:22

Our family group from grama to 8 year old loved this trip, the combination of history, geography and good food were a great way to start to understand and experience San Francisco and Chinatown. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and entertaining.

Review №146

2022-09-11 19:00:15

Great experience and some great food. Would definitely recommend. Almost saw Tommy Lee in Chinatown!

Review №147

2014-08-26 19:27:54

My teenage daughters and I did the tour of the Little Italy area. The guide was friendly and very knowledgeable. The tour was well planned and hit lots of fun places. We learned about roasting small batch coffee and sampled excellent coffee drinks, toured the back of a bakery where we were offered delicious breads and cookies, saw fudge being made in a candy store and more, ultimately finishing with a sit-down meal of gourmet pizza. It was lots of fun.

Review №148

2019-05-18 00:41:44

We did the China Town & North Beach Tour. Our guide, Brian, was exceptional! His humor & knowledge of the area was great. The food (which was more than we could eat) was superb!! Highly recommend doing this while youre in town!

Review №149

2014-08-20 20:39:33

My husband, daughter (12), son (15) and I took the North Beach tour. We had a great time walking around and tasting the different foods. Tom was entertaining and very knowledgeable. I have to eat a gluten free diet and there were even items for me. We went in July so it was beautiful weather as well. Would definitely recommend!

Review №150

2014-12-30 17:37:25

Unfortunately, I would not recommend the North Beach food tour. For Valentines Day last year, my husband and I took the tour with some friends. It was fun spending time in North Beach but I was disappointed with the quality of the tour. The tour guide was friendly but the overall presentation/information was light weight. When I take a tour I really want to learn about the area, the culture, and the history. The tour was at a elementary level when I had expected at least high school level experience.

Review №151

2014-08-08 20:54:26

I had a wonderful time on the tour.....it was a very rainy night but the guide made it fun, interesting and very worthwhile. We had some amazing food along the way and incredible conversation that included history of the city. I felt like I had a behind-the-scenes foodie tour of San Francisco. Definitely recommend for visitors who want to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time while visiting the area and sample some great food.

Review №152

2022-08-18 15:01:53

This tour was the best of both worlds! The tour guide was great! Entertaining and informative! Take this tour to get the most bang for your buck. The food was so yummy and it was well balanced between sweet and savory bites!

Review №153

2014-09-30 18:26:01

The North Beach tour was one of the highlights of my trip to San Francisco! It was great to hear about the history of the area from a guide who clearly knew the area well! And the food was memorable, too. Amazing bread, coffee, and chocolate! Im sure Ill be back to try one of the other tours on my next trip.

Review №154

2022-10-06 18:45:26

The food was delicious, the history is wild, and the characters along the way unforgettable. Definitely worth the trip.

Review №155

2014-09-10 01:17:49

My daughter and I did a Mission tour with Chris. We loved the pace and the food was great. My daughter is a vegetarian and they accommodated her beautifully and she had more than I did to eat! There was so much great food, but what made the tour really great was Chris and his knowledge of the area and his relationships with the owners of the stores and restaurants. I will definitely take another tour with Chris the next time I am in San Francisco.

Review №156

2022-10-24 15:47:27

So much fun and so much food! Tour guide was exceptional. Quality of tour, food, snacks, drinks and experience we well worth every penny. My favorite stop was the teahouse.

Review №157

2016-09-26 00:45:08

This tour is fantastic! This is the second time I have taken house guests....and everyone is delighted with the food, and the history of the City and especially North Beach. Our guide, Blandina is wonderful! She knows so much about the area. She is fun, and truly cares about all of her guests. I plan on taking this again soon with local friends. I recommend this event completely!

Review №158

2014-12-28 22:16:13

We took the North Beach Walking Food Tour with Blandina and it was wonderful! Blandina lives in North Beach and knows all the locals personally. Her love of the city and the North Beach neighborhood shines through in the tour. We learned about the history and culture of the area while enjoying tasty snacks and beverages all along the way. Unlike most of San Francisco, North Beach is fairly level, so its not a difficult walk. I would definitely recommend this tour for a taste of Little Italy in the Bay area.

Review №159

2022-09-18 05:23:42

Isabella did a magnificent job taking us from place to place within Chinatown and Little Italy, making sure we have enough stops and lots of trivia along the way. It was completely worth my time and money.

Review №160

2018-02-03 22:40:16

We went on the Chinatown/North Beach night tour with Cynthia, I believe. It was a great tour overall. We walked through some of Chinatown, saw fortune cookies being manufactured, checked out a few stores in Chinatown, and then headed to North Beach. It was a nice evening and Cynthia was very knowledgeable on the area. Would highly recommend.

Review №161

2014-10-07 18:13:49

My husband, two daughters and I took the San Francisco Food Tour through Little Italy. Our guide was knowledgeable and funny. He made the experience a positive and educational one. The Food Tour was a highlight of our San Francisco trip!

Review №162

2014-10-01 14:02:02

My sisters and I did the Chinatown/North Beach night walking tour and LOVED it. We had a great time exploring parts of Chinatown that we never would have visited, particularly the tea house. This is a great activity for groups or families. You will not regret it!

Review №163

2022-03-23 04:21:11

Our Chinatown food tour with Lauren was worth every penny, every minute, and every calorie!I went with my parents while they visited from the East coast, and it was a highlight of their trip.

Review №164

2014-08-27 05:29:37

The perfect way to spend a day in San Francisco! Great sites, a great guide, and AMAZING food. I took my bestie from Minnesota and we both had a wonderful time. We drove in from Sacramento and were delayed in traffic on the Bay Bridge. I called Tom and he told me exactly where the tour was. He even stayed on the phone with me to make sure we met up with the group. On top of everything else, excellent customer service! We are looking forward to taking another tour! Thank you!

Review №165

2014-08-30 18:31:37

This was a good tour and well worth the cost. We did the North Beach tour, and I really enjoyed the behind the scenes looks as well as trying some restaurants that seemed more for the locals than the tourist. The guide was very knowledgeable. Pace was good. I took my tweenage son, who is something of a foodie, and he had a good time as well.

Review №166

2014-09-02 19:46:19

Went on a tour in the North Beach area and I would say it was mediocre. The food was good and we tasted at a good variety of places, but our tour guide was a bit long-winded and there were long stretched (up to an hour) where we didnt eat any food. But it was a fun way to see the area and learn the history. I loved going in to the old Catholic church and loved the bread stop the most.

Review №167

2015-01-23 15:36:59

Traveled in January 2014 and this tour was the favorite part of my trip. Our tour guide Blondina lives in the North Beach area, so was able to give us a lot of history. All the food was yummy too (coffee, sweets, pasta, pizza, etc.). Highly recommend!

Review №168

2014-09-25 00:43:56

We had a wonderful time! The guide was very knowledgeable and was able to add a lot of color to the tour. The food was amazing! So many stop and savor moments, from foccacia to chocolate to olive oils, it was a wonderful and filling afternoon. A bonus, we got the opportunity to see some of the hidden gems of Little Italy, and go off the beaten path and find local treats.Its totally worth it!

Review №169

2016-09-27 21:06:37

The Local Tastes tour was a delightful way to learn about San Franciscos Chinatown and experience it first-hand! From the time our guide met us at the entrance gate and began explaining the symbolism of our surroundings, we felt transported back to an earlier time. We walked at a leisurely pace and listened to a fascinating historical narrative between tastings, which included multiple restaurants, a tea room, open-air market and a fortune cookie factory. The quantity of food was generous and in fact more than we could eat - so we took the leftovers with us for an afternoon snack! The entire experience was a very good value for the cost and left us completely satisfied and wanting to find similar tours in other cities.

Review №170

2015-01-07 17:07:03

It was a glorious day in SF (not always a given, especially weather-wise) when several of us took our walking/foodie tour of North Beach (Little Italy). Not only did we visit a coffee roasting venue, we had pizza, cannoli, and other delights. Our tour guide, Blondie, was a delight (she even wrote a lovely childrens book). We also visited a beautiful church.

Review №171

2016-10-02 03:46:51

Had a great SF China Town tour on September 8, 2016. Our guide, Lois, was a font of knowledge on the history and culture of the area. We had some great food at several places including a fortune cookie bakery, delicious BEGONI Bistro, another bakery where we enjoyed a moon cake and some dim sum samples, and last was a wonderful tea tasting at Vital Tealeaf. Everything was delicious, and we saw quite a bit in our 3 hours. I would highly recommend this tour and our guide, Lois.

Review №172

2019-08-22 19:54:09

My daughter and I loved the North Beach/Little Italy food tour today with Blandina. She is an absolute repository of knowledge, anecdotes and side stories as well as little visits that transform the tour from a foodie walk to a cultural stroll through art, history and love of life. Thank you!!!!

Review №173

2014-09-16 18:06:57

Its been a while since we took this tour, but it has stayed with us for years. Every single time we return to San Francisco we revisit the places we were shown. Every single time we revisit the places we are so glad we took the first tour! These guides are terrific, great sense of humor, taking care if someone cant walk quite as fast, might need to rest for a moment, but most of all, know exactly what they are doing! In fact, writing this review makes me realize that we should take the tour again and find out everything else we have been missing! Thank you, LTCT!!

Review №174

2014-08-30 23:38:14

I attended this tour twice, once two years ago and the last time was about a year ago. I would have to say I really enjoyed the first tour better, we had the same tour guide Tom, I think his name was? However, we stopped at more places on the first tour, maybe it was the time of the year, Im not sure, but it was just so much better the first time. We were able to eat fish tacos, taste authentic coffee, go to a bakery and taste fresh bread, we even went to an Italian joint where we sampled fresh dishes, it was delish! And the walk wasnt hard, it was all relatively close proximity to everything. It was very easy meeting up for the tour and we ended at the same spot and enjoyed our last dish, pizza. This is where we said our goodbyes and was given an Ipad in case we wanted to leave a tip. On the second tour, I must say it was extremely easy to book as I called the same day an arranged our reservations over the phone with Tom. Anyways, if your passing through or have sometime I would recommend this tour, it was fun!

Review №175

2014-08-12 18:30:42

Our trip from Texas to San Francisco was one that my husband, my mother and I had to dupe my father into taking. The Local Taste tour offered a personal view of parts and places of San Francisco that we would have never visited otherwise. My father loved the entire experience and all of us thoroughly enjoyed the yummy food and drink we enjoyed on the tour.

Review №176

2021-12-28 22:31:48

We had a fab Chinatown tour with Lauren. Good mix of historical and food related info with some super delicious bites along the way and interesting hidden gems. Def recommended, and thanks! 👍

Review №177

2014-12-12 08:14:43

My husband and I went on the tour for my birthday, we got lucky that no one else had booked the early tour that day and ended up getting a private tour. Our tour guide Blandina was amazing! she knew so much about the neighborhood and we had a really great time.

Review №178

2014-09-09 18:20:47

What a fabulous tour. Been to San Francisco many times and was looking for something different. The tour was informative as well as delicious. All our stops involved some type of refreshment or food and it was delicious. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and very engaging. Couldnt recommend this more!

Review №179

2023-01-02 20:45:37

We had a great time. It was a little rainy but we had a small group and loved every minute tasting and learning about the history and culture of Little Italy. Thank you!

Review №180

2015-03-19 02:17:40

We were contacted two hours before the tour was supposed to start and told that there were low numbers for our scheduled tour and could we cancel or move to a different time! And this is for a company that has a 48 hour, rain or shine cancellation policy! We said we could not cancel, we were only in the city for one day, so the tour company agreed to meet us as promised. The guide was 15 minutes late, and while he was an amiable fellow he seemed to be more interested in spending time on his tablet/laptop than guiding the tour. Food tastings were average, nothing you couldnt buy or find yourself in Chinatown of most major cities in the US. The tea sampling was very good, but overall a disappointing experience. Wouldnt recommend this outfit.

Review №181

2022-08-01 18:21:02

Isabel, our guide was extremely knowledgeable, funny and pleasant. We had a ball walking, eating local delicacies and learning the history. If you plan to visit this must be on your list of things to do

Review №182

2014-10-07 18:08:14

Took the Little Italy tour and turned out to be our favorite part of a week in San Francisco! Great food and the tour guide was very informative on the food and area. I recommend all my friends traveling to San Fran take this tour!! Will not disappoint!

Review №183

2015-08-31 18:00:51

We went on the North Beach/Little Italy Food Tour. Ad states we would see Bay Area Olive Oils, a chocolatier and freshly baked bread, but we saw none of that! We were taken to a candy shop and given a small bag of candy. Disappointing. Also, went to a sandwich shop where we had a small sandwich. The coffee shop was good and the pizza at the end of the tour was very good. Ad needs to be rewritten if those places are not included in the tour.Our tour guide Blondina, was knowledgeable about the area, but talked way too much about herself, her political views, etc. At the end of the tour, she read us a childrens book (she wrote) that had nothing to do with the food tour. She continued with how expensive the rent is and how it is going up because of people with money that are, apparently, swaying the mayor. This is not what we paid to hear.While the little food we sampled was very good, it was overshadowed by this guides personal issues.Upon our return home, I called the management of this company who was very apologetic and said this was out of character for this tour guide. He offered to return some of our money or give us another tour of San Francisco which was appreciated although I declined both.For the price paid per person, we felt there should have been more food involved, and certainly more information.

Review №184

2014-08-05 19:13:08

Fun tour to learn more about the city and enjoy some delectable foods along the way. My favorite was the focaccia place, but I do not know if that is still part of their tour stops. Very fun time! Recommend the Italy tour. :)

Review №185

2014-09-03 03:34:07

I went to SF for a day tour and was looking for something unusual and awesome to do. This tour was all of that and then some! The guide was knowledgeable and fun as were the locations she took us to. I met some great people in our group and enjoyed all the food we tasted. So much so, that when I go back to SF, I plan on visiting these sites again! Thanks for the awesome memories!

Review №186

2016-06-15 14:03:58

My husband and I went on the North Beach/Chinatown tour with Eileen on June 2nd. We were very disappointed. Very little food and not very good. Spent a lot of time in Tea Room and then we were pressured to buy something. Ate mostly sweet things and mediocre pizza and wine at end of tour.

Review №187

2014-09-02 18:22:07

This tour was absolutely awesome! I never leave reviews on these things but it really made our trip. It was a great way to learn about SF. in a city where EVERYTHING is expensive, this was a great very reasonably priced treat. We got to see the city, learn about the neighborhood, and see how coffee was ground, pasta was made, AND got lunch, snacks, and coffee. cant say enough. I know first hand its tough to find a quality experience through yelp and places like that, so please take my word for it--this is awesome. very much worth it. we still talk about it.

Review №188

2023-01-19 05:01:42

We had an entertaining, educational and enjoyable time. Our host, Brian made it all happen with his hometown experience and personal stories.

Review №189

2014-09-02 19:37:01

My wife and I had a great time, both fun and tasty, taking the North Beach/Little Italy tour. We had a small group so we even had delicious left overs for dinner. Very well paced with no rush but still making it to several delightful locations.

Review №190

2014-11-14 19:58:34

We toured China Town with Tom and saw lots of unusual places we would not have seen otherwise.Loved the fortune cookie factory, love the market and the ceremonial store with the paper items used for burials, explanation of the instruments interesting.But didnt like the dim sum served in the back of a bakery, wasnt very good.Tom is a lovely man just wish he would explain more about what we were experiencing as we walked through the area. We happened on a public park and would have loved to know what the history was and what people were doing now?History of the Buddhist temple (before we entered) we visited would have been interesting. Sort of felt rushed in order to see it all.Might want to slow down and watch this world go by! All in all, I would recommend a tour Chinatown.

Review №191

2014-09-03 15:14:21

We have gone twice on the North Beach walking tour. We highly recommend it! It is a casual walk in the neighborhood. You will hear a lot of anecdotes about the neighborhood from someone who truly loves it. Be prepare to sample delicious goodies at numerous stops.

Review №192

2023-05-08 14:45:52

It was a great opportunity to learn the area and to eat some really good food. The host was entertaining and knew the neighborhood well.

Review №193

2022-11-28 15:03:30

Such a fun tour! Delicious food, lots of interesting history. Our guide Lauren was amazing!

Review №194

2022-10-04 08:32:51

I think this is less of a taste/food tour and more of a SF tour. The tour guide was knowledgeable and friendly, liked her. Wasnt impressed with the local tasting, left hungry after the tour.

Review №195

2015-01-15 02:30:15

Learned more about the city than actually eating and trying new food. It was more like an insiders look on the history of San Fran rather than a eating tour. We DID try food but it was rather samples than small plates/appetizers and often it seemed like the restaurant was doing the tour a favor rather than the other way around. The tour guide bused the tables herself and even served all the food and water instead of the venues actually serving us. I didnt expect a 4course meal and sit down service but some type of service from the businesses would have been nice and appreciated.My group ended up going to eat afterwards. We enjoyed all the insider information the tour guide provided but we expected a bit more actual food and tastes rather than free samples from restaurants doing us a favor.Informative but not filing basically.

Review №196

2014-09-10 13:01:41

Weve been on many food tours in many cities and our experience with Local Tastes was as good as it gets. Informative, great anecdotes, good pace and great food left us with a desire to get back to San Francisco sooner than later.

Review №197

2019-07-16 06:02:32

Brian was very knowledgeable and adapted the tour to the interests of the group, one of the best tour guides Ive ever had! The food was great and there was a lot of variety. I highly recommend this tour!

Review №198

2020-01-26 05:00:35

Cynthia led our Local Tastes of the City Little Italy tour.Well organized, upbeat, patient and friendly.We saw and leaned so many things!I look forward to our 3rd tour China Town!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Review №199

2015-01-05 16:38:16

The tour was interesting but the guide was awkward. He was friendly, but had an awkward style that was difficult to be around for us. We saw some interesting things and places, he was knowledgable, and in that regard we enjoyed it. The food we ate was odd and fine for tasting, but wishing we were able to eat something we were comfortable eating. Our expectations were for it to be a food tour, but we didnt eat any food for at least one hour, and then it was only the one stop for food, which was just appetizers. (dim sum) We expected to be fed a little more. He did know a lot about the city, which was cool, and we enjoyed making the fortune cookies and I loved the music shop. I just remember feeling so much relief when it was over.