Went on my 3rd B.O. walking tour and somehow this is my first review. The other two were years ago, but I remember enjoying them as well. This weekend I went on the Multi-Ethnic Eating Tour and it was exceptional. I forget the name of our guide (he was a PhD student and professor) but he was packed full of info, very comfortable presenting it, and all around a top notch guide. Two hours of lots of food and a moderate amount of walking. Fantastic way to spend an afternoon, highly recommended, and now I have to go on more of their walks. read more

We loved our walking tour about immigrants in New York City. Natalie was so knowledgable!

I always love to go on walking tours when I'm in a new city. It is not only a great way to dive deep into a part of the history it the geography or the culture of the city as well as meet fellow travelers who have had similar ideas. This is why we were excited to join the big onion walking tour of a couple of different spots in the lower East side. Big onion is great their emails and reservations were all prompt and efficient. I'd expect at least that if you're not a free tour. I've gone on a few free and paid walking tours in a few countries and really the experience carries dramatically by the time if your guide you get but they all tend to be informative. So on that score big onion was definitely great with lots of local food tastings and information. For the ones that we went on I think it would've been good to have a bit more of a personal connection and personal stories to bring the neighborhood to life. But other than that everything was professionally done. If you are the kind that likes walking tours I definitely recommend. If not you should still try it but you can also try other tour modalities. read more

We just took a Big Onion virtual tour of the Brooklyn Bridge from the comfort of our home. It was fantastic!! The speaker, whose name I'm sorry I can't remember, did a superb job of tying together the different and fascinating elements of the story of this bridge and she had us on the edge of our chairs - all in one hour. With excellent visuals, she clearly put a lot of work into the talk, which we thoroughly enjoyed. We will definitely sign up for more virtuals. read more

I've taken two Big Onion tours, and I enjoyed them both immensely, so much so that now when I know I am going to New York, I look on the Website to see what tours are available. Most recently, my friend and I took a Harlem history walking tour, as she is moving from Queens to Harlem soon and wanted more information for the neighborhood as a future resident. I love how the company employs NYC graduate students; ours for the most recent tour was pursuing a Ph.D. in English, which is my husband's field. The guide was very well versed in Harlem history, and took a lot of questions with aplomb. The tour was close to two hours long, so by the end our feet were a little tired, because you stand for a lot of it (vs. walking), but we were so glad we participated. I prefer Big Onion to some other tours I've taken in NYC and other cities, because the inquisitive and serious nature of the guides makes them great resources (vs. other companies whose guides are basically playing to a crowd as some kind of act). We also liked that you don't pay until you arrive (except for some of the tours that involve food, like the Lower East Side food tour), so you can be flexible on your vacation. It's a great company, and I've learned tons on their tours in the past. I'll be back again for more. read more

Took a private group Greenwich Village tour with Beth. I'm told that all the tour guides are graduate students with history or other liberal arts majors. This was a serious 2 hour stroll in the heart of Greenwich village. We did quite a bit of walking in a figure 8, which was great for any late comers who could join us mid-way through. Many interesting places were pointed out during the tour and Beth was great about presenting facts that were both historically significant (such as the construction of the avenues that shaved off corners of existing buildings) and presently interesting (pointed out the building that was filmed as the apartment in the TV show Friends). Overall - this was a great experience that really made this part of the City come alive, and I would highly recommend on beautiful days when you want to just be outside and are not sure what you can do to kill 2 hours! read more

Took the Brooklyn Bridge and Greenwich Village walking tour with the Big Onion company. They employ Columbia history graduate students, so you really get some great history lessons on the walks. The walks are 2 hours long and very interesting. I liked both, but really enjoyed the Brooklyn Bridge tour as we met near Boss Tweed's Courthouse and then actually walked across the bridge stopping frequently to learn of more historical facts from the guide. The building of this bridge is quite the story. Greenwich Village tour was nice, and certain homes were pointed out. Great author's living locations were noted, as well as the building of the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory Fire that was the spark that changed working conditions forever in the US. Cost is $15. Check out their website, as the tours rotate each day. Very historical and very interesting. read more

We took two more Big Onion tours in the city this year, and had mixed results. The first tour was their Historic Times Square tour, and even though it was a really cold day the tour was great! Our guide was engaging and made sure to go over the history of the Times Square area and also tried to make sure we ducked into the occasional warm vestibule as well. Overall, I'd give this tour a 4.5. The next tour was their Greenwich Village tour. While the guide was a nice, mellow fellow, he had more to say about the various folks who had lived in homes in the Village (jazz great lived over here, "Friends" lived over here, movie was shot over here....) and also had a real fascination with quizzing the group on where the borders for the East Village, West Village, etc. were. I could tell that he loved the Village and was passionate about it but unfortunately we didn't really get much history and didn't get a good feel for the historic aspects of the area. We did, however, duck into Jack's coffee at his suggestion to warm up toward the end of the tour as we were a bit bored and cold. I'd say this tour warranted a 2.5. read more

I took the "Official" Gangs of New York tour, and it was absolutely fantastic, and everything I hoped it would be. I'm not a tourist, I live right outside of the city, and I'm there all the time. I didn't need a tour to point out sites; I wanted to be able to learn more about the history of old New York that I wouldn't be able to find out about other wise. The tour was incredibly informative and interesting, and I learned a lot about areas or subjects that I was only vaguely familiar with before. A 2 hour tour ($20 for adults, $15 for students), is a great deal, and 100% worth it! I would highly recommend that anyone, tourists or NY natives, take a Big Onion tour! read more

My husband, son, and I attended the "Gangs of New York" walking tour. It was pouring down rain through most of it, but our guide couldn't have been a better trouper finding us cover in the area to talk about the movie and the history it portrayed. We had a wonderful group of people from Ireland, England and the States and had wonderful discussions with different perspectives. I'm sure the tour is better in dry weather, but I couldn't be more pleased considering the elements our poor tour guide had to deal with. Go! You will not be disappointed :-) read more

I recently went on the Lower East Side eating tour with a few friends. Our guide, a PhD student, was very energetic and knowledgeable, and they had enough guides to split us into manageable groups. We'd walk a few blocks, stop for the guide to tell us a little about LES history, and then she handed out tasty snacks representing the different ethnic groups in the area (including the best rugelach I've ever had). What could be more enjoyable? A guy came out of the Chinese restaurant when we walked up, bearing a tray of dim sum, and asked if any of us knew what "dim sum" meant. The lovely Audra M, perhaps carried away by the excitement of it all, shouted out "DELIGHTFUL TREAT!" the dim sum guy said that was close enough. At another point I had to be held back from dunking my face in the pickle barrels. You have to call ahead to reserve for the eating tour, but you don't have to pay in advance, and for the other tours you just show up. This would be a great activity to do with out of town guests, but even for our little group of new yorkers it was great. read more

We've been in NYC for 1 week & managed to take 4 Big Onion tours--lucky enough to find on Yelp our 1st day here. For the number of tours they offer, and for how EASY they make it (just show up on the designated corner at the pre-appointed time) they get *****. They already have their schedule planned 5 months ahead, so you can plan ahead too! Seth, the founder & owner, was amazingly accessible & accommodating. We found out about the 6-for-the-price-of-5 deal while on our 1st tour on our 1st day, and he allowed us to apply the cost of that tour toward buying the package, then had the guide from the next tour we told him we were taking show up with the passes for us! It's a great deal anyway ($15--$12 if you're 63+, F/T student or military), but even better in the package, which works out to $12.50/tour). These tours involved a LOT of walking, which I liked, the Brooklyn Bridge/Brooklyn Heights one being the longest. The tours are a full 2 hours, and they cover a lot of ground. As a business owner, I especially admire the simplicity & ease of the operations. The guides range from good to great (though you don't know in advance who you'll get)--I'm sure this depends on your area of interest--ours leans toward social & architectural history. Beth leading the Brooklyn Bridge tour was our favorite (she leads many of the Lower Manhattan tours)--super knowledgeable, fun, warm & enthusiastic. She even stayed around after the tour and gave us a great lunch recommendation (and various other requested into to other participants). When our guides would ask at the beginning of the tour how many had been on Big Onion tours before, I was amazed--I'd estimate over 30%--that is a pretty amazing endorsement for a company that I would think would primarily carter to tourists! The only thing that would add to my enjoyment would be smaller groups--2 of the tours included about 30 people. While I could hear everything, and I don't think the tour content was changed in any way, I just think smaller groups are a little more intimate and easier to move through the city with. read more

My mom came to visit over Memorial Day and we did the Lower East Side eating tour. It was great! We had a wonderful guide, learned a ton about the history of the area, and also enjoyed the snacks. It wasn't a full meal, but it was certainly enough to keep our energy up. What a brilliant idea for a walking tour! It was a little long (about 3 hrs) but didn't feel it at all. I'm confused by some of the poor reviews complaining about the heavy emphasis on history--these are historical walking tours, so of course there's a lot of history! If you read so much as the title, that shouldn't come as a surprise... Obviously if you find New York history boring, this wouldn't be for you. But if you're even a little interested, I would highly recommend this as a slightly off-the-beaten-path activity for anyone, New Yorker or tourist. We learned a lot and left happy and full. read more

Judson Memorial Church was kind enough to arrange a group walking tour for two weekends . Last weekend was Little Italy and the area surrounding the church. This weekend was Gramercy & Union Square. Having been raised partially in the area and after going to college four years right by Gramercy Park, I found it very interesting. Our guide, Josh Wolff, was very knowledgeable. However, there were things that he did not know that those participating in this tour informed him and others about. He was very gracious about that. He also took the time to get to know a little bit about his customers since today was a small group. I may take advantage of these tours in the future. read more

Friendly people. Greatly enjoyed the DUMBO walking tour, I learned a ton. The guide (Zach), was very friendly. They also offer some food/booze-related walking tours. I'd definitely recommend this company, and will likely return soon. Check out my dope pics from the tour on inztaGrm (drewby222). Perhaps some upgrade ideas: -Pamphlets explaining the area's history -Go inside some buildings (tough, I know) Cheers! read more

Big Onion was mentioned in some NYT wkd story so I signed up as an activity on which to take my visiting mom. Now, I have lived here for 6 years but we took the LES tour and every street we walked on was new!! It was great. The guide had a PhD in history and was super into the tour, answered questions etc. There were some tourists on the tour who I think wouldve benefited from taking a more generic tour as these almost assume you know SOMETHING, not a lot, just some. I intend to go on another one this weekened if its any testament to what I thought. Highly recommend. You just show up- no need to reserve except for the eating tour (after which I was full). Pay when you get there in cash. read more

really good tour if you want something different from the usual. a no nonsense but interesting tour led by passionate grad students usually. I think better to spend 18-23 on this rather than a 50 or more tour on the major sites. took harlem and multi-ethnic tour read more

This was such a cool tour and one of the most interesting parts of a recent trip to NYC. I was looking for a walking food tour that would also includesome serious NYC history - and boy, did I find it! Our guide was (I BELIEVE - forgive me if I'm wrong) Elizabeth, and she was wonderful. The tour takes you through several different parts of lower Manhattan, to include the famous Chinatown and Little Italy areas. This was a true walking tour (no sitting!), coupled with a "nosh" of SO many different and interesting tastes from a variety of different (often Zagat-rated!) holes in the wall. From halva (which I'd never had but loved), to delicious italian cheeses and meat, to the most unusual ice cream I've ever had (you'll have to go on the tour to find out about this one!), we tasted at least 8-10 (maybe more?) delictable treats that excited the senses... but more to the point, along with each stop and food, came an interesting story artfully delivered by our guide. If you're looking for an interesting tour about the melting pot that is NYC, tasting some great food, walking through famous parts of lower manhattan, and all for nearly half the price of the rest of the food tours you'll find - make your reservation for the multi-ethnic tour given every Sunday at 1 p.m. by Big Onion Walking Tours. OH, and if that's not enough - all the guides are grad students with some history-related focus, providing the tours to make extra money. Our guide informed us that the founder of this company began as a grad student, looking to make a little extra dough to make ends meet. So, thanks starving college students with a passion for history and the city. Great experience. No frills, but totally fun, interesting, informative, and delish! read more

Yes Big Onion Tours are awesome! More New Yorkers should get over themselves and go find out something new about their city. I believe all the tour guides are Phd students and all have different specializations so you could possibly go on the same tour and get a totally different perspective. I went on the Harlem Tour years ago so I don't really remember it but I also recently went on the LES eating tour. The Pickle Guys are awesome and I want to go back and try some of the more unusual pickled items. Our guide was cute and informative. Be prepared to still be hungry at the end of the tour though, this was not a full on meal. Hopefully I will go back and do the Five Points Tour someday... read more

We did a Central Park tour and it was pretty good. I feel like as a first timer, I wouldn't have known what to look at first so this was a good way to get started. It was about a 2 hour tour but we still only saw a tiny portion of the park. Our guide was a native New Yorker and PhD student in history. He had tons of information and most of it was really interesting. I think we were just so excited to be there that we stopped paying a lot of attention but it was great to get an overview of everything. I wish he had mentioned more things about what else was in the park so we would have an idea of other areas to explore after the tour. We missed out on Strawberry Fields and I had no idea what it was until a few days later and by this time we didn't have time to go back to the park before our trip was over. There was definitely a number of locals taking the tour that offered additional information and that was cool. Our guide refused to tell us what he felt like was safe and unsafe in the park and other locals spoke up. That was a little annoying though. read more

The Chelsea/Highline Tour. Very misleading - the tour guide squeezed in the Highline the last 10mins. Experienced a few new facts. If you want to take this Chelsea/High Line tour - do not take it if you want to go to the Highline. We stand for 15 minutes, then walk for 2 minutes..stand again.. Tour Guide - Adrian. Talked mostly with her eyes closed. Laughed every 5 minutes. Valley girl voice, out of town student. Goes off on tangents. A 20-something European girl in the group was bored. A 50-something out-of-state man was on his phone for a little bit. When you ask the tour guide a question, it takes her a few minutes to get to the point, or she'll laugh and have a glazed look - "I don't know.." (somebody would whisper, "just google it") She talks about something else entirely that has nothing to do with what we are looking at right now. She does not deviate from her information that she got from her professor or books. When we tell her some fun fact...she laughs...glazed look..."fantastic!". She points out a building or sign..but we can't pictures because we are across the street or down the block from it. Get a resident or a person who has lived in the area for a while. Divide the tour into 2 separate tours - one Highline, one Chelsea. We need to stand right at the building or sign that the tour guide is talking about. read more

Super accomodating. Sharp! Thank you..............('Kyle') The upper Eastside tour was enjoyable. Certainly not bipartisian...which made it just that much more fun! Thanks for the memories. read more

I have only taken their Harlem tour, but I would not recommend it. The guide was a recent PhD grad who talked like an academic. The foreign tourists on the tour kept asking her what certain words meant, yet she still continued to use vocabulary from the GRE study guide. I found the content of the tour to be strange, as she mostly talked about the architecture of the houses and managed to never say a word about Malcolm X or anything else about Harlem after the 1920s. We passed another walking tour from Harlem Heritage, and the tour guide seemed much more energetic. I had decided against that tour because it was $10 more expensive, but now I wish I would have gone with them. Their tour guides are also lifelong residents of Harlem so they might talk more about Harlem's recent past. Their group was also about half the size of ours, which was 25 people and felt unwieldy. read more

This tour is an absolute must for history nerds!! I took the tour of the financial district--I can't recommend it enough. My tour guide, Erica, was so great! I loved hearing about the little things like why there are pock marks on the side of the JP Morgan building, why buildings in the area tend to narrow at the top, and that Hillary wasn't the first woman to run for president. There were so many great architecture fun facts and overall just really fabulous story telling! If you're a fan of the tenement museum & looking for a quality walking tour, Big Onion is a must. I'll be back every time I come to the city. Can't wait to take the Five Points tour :) read more

Did the black history tour for mlk day and was pleased with the entire service. It's a walking tour and was cold but despite the weather our guide remained upbeat and was extremely informative. I will take more with this group for sure I learned so much! read more

Took a tour of Green-wood cemetery today. Was a great experience - learned a lot not only about the cemetery but about some fascinating moments in early NYC history. Guide was very knowledgeable, prepared and handled our large group very well. Touched on the unsolved murder of Mary Rogers, Henry Bergh (founder of the ASPCA), Henry Ward Beecher, DeWitt Cllinton, Elias Howe (and his dog Fannie)... basically people I've never heard of until today. Love that! read more

Our guide, Kieran, who has a masters in urban planning, gave us a truly fantastic tour, themed on art, sex and rock n roll. He was so knowledgeable and friendly. I learned a lot about a city I've lived in my entire life. I highly recommend this to tourists or New Yorkers alike, it is a great way to explore different neighbors. read more

Love these walking tours once the weather turns sunny and warm to complement the event. If you love the history and culture of NYC, you'll love these tours. The guides are very knowledgeable and bring old photos of what the city used to look like. My favorite so far was the Brooklyn Bridge/Brooklyn Heights Historical tour. Fantastic history of the bridge and the area! We've also taken the Historic Lower Manhattan tour and would love to take the multi-ethnic eating tour. Check out the website for schedules. You won't be disappointed. read more

Loved this walking tour of the financial district! We went as a group from school and although it was a little chilly, Erica did a fantastic job. She was interesting, fun, and covered a wide range of information. Definitely would recommend this tour! read more

We really enjoyed the Lower East Side Ethnic food tour! We got to sample pickles, tofu, Italian cheeses and salami, fried plantains, Chinese flavored ice cream. We learned a lot about the history while eating. Our guide was Greg was a Phd student and passionate about history and the area. My 77 year old mom kept up and it was one of the highlights of her trip to NY! read more

Today we had an amazing historical walking tour of the Lower East Side highlighting the waves of immigrant groups from all over the world that came to this country . . . along with the food. Our guide Paul was very knowledgeable and passionate about the subject and made a point of engaging and educating us. Highlights included: 65 degree weather in December! Fried Indonesian plantains Vietnamese summer rolls Malaysian jerky Kosher Sour pickles from The Pickle Guys Di Palo's soppresetta and parmigiana reggiano La Bella Ferrara cannolis A foodie's paradise! We thoroughly enjoyed this tour and will be taking another one. read more

This tour was the absolute worst, period. Avoid this NY rip-off! We signed up for a "multi-ethnic" culinary tour. Their site claims it "explore the history [with] a series of food sampling stops from some of the significant and historic shops & markets". There was a $10 surcharge for the "food" that we would experience, making the total $20 per person.It was cash up front. The guide took us to a non-descript meaningless corner, where he told us of the Domincan population that never really lived there and delivered a long, boring lecture on architecture (wasn't this supposed to be about food?!). He then reached into a plastic grocery bag which contained small bags of items, pulled out a tin of plantains from God-knows-where, put its cover on the ground and gave us each a plantain slice or 2. Then put the cover back on the leftovers. Iiiick! There was no Dominican restaurant, shop or market. Seeing this was bogus, we found the tour group with the guide who had taken our money. We approached her and asked for our money back. She called "Seth" who of course, said "no". But she assured us that she would make us happy. She didn't. She led us to a corner near Chinatown where we got a small piece (or maybe two!!) of Jewish chalava (sp?). Then went on for over 20 minutes about the Jewish influence in New York (wow, that was news...) After that, she promised we'd get some really great Chinese food. All right!! She led us under the Williamsburg bridge past a Chinese sidewalk market to a shady spot where we got another 20-minute lecture on immigrant history (hey- where's the FOOD??!!). Eventually she reached into her plastic grocery bag and produced a bag of candied ginger and some mango gumdrops (I don't recall seeing one Chinese eating either of these "delicacies" the week I was in NYC..) and gave each of us a couple. We decided then to let them go on and we bailed. So, to recap our $40 "culinary" tour we got 4 plantain slices, 3 chunks of chalava and 3 gumdrops - between the 2 of us. Shoulda just gone to Katz's. read more

Big Onion Tours are such a great, inexpensive activity at $15 ($12 for students and seniors). The fact that their regular walking tours don't require reservations makes it easy to attend on a whim. Even though I live in NYC and have visited most neighborhoods, I learned a lot from my guide on the Brooklyn Bridge / Brooklyn Heights twilight tour. We did certainly skip over some of the historic spots in these neighborhoods, but I guess you can't really cover everything in only 2 hours. Our tour ended in Brooklyn Heights and the guide was especially helpful getting the tourists to the necessary subway lines so they could get back to Manhattan. read more

Took the lower east side food history tour. It was ok, not great. The history was spotty and tended to center more on New York and US in broad terms than the LES. But the guide was very knowledgeable and friendly and it was nice to get a more informed view of the neighborhood so that made it worthwhile. I guess I was expecting a little more food history but all in all worth doing. read more

Sometimes misrepresents what you will actually See They are only as good as their tour guides If you don't get a good leader Good luck read more

Did the multi ethnic eating tour, which seemed to have an identity crisis between being a history tour and a food tour. The tour guide knew a fair amount about the history, but I knew more about the foods we were sampling, which was a bit disappointing. Still a fun opportunity to check out some of the cultural roots of the area, though. read more

I love Big Onion! I found it randomly while looking for a fun weekend activity and it was definitely worth it. We did the food tour in the Lower East side and the tour guide was peppy and knowledgeable - plus we got to eat a wide variety of ethnic foodie goodness, from fresh made mozzarella to cannolis to sour pickles. The tour is very historical and you learn a lot about the different groups that have settled over the years in the LES and it is amazing to see all the layers of different culture that have accumulated over time. Every one of the tour guides here are PhD candidates in history or a related discipline so they know their stuff! Plus the tours are inexpensive and a great group activity. read more

We did the Harlem walking tour this past Saturday, our tour guide was Clay. I thought he was fantastic. The tour had a lot of information and not knowing really anything about the history of Harlem, I found everything interesting and never condescending. There was an awkward moment at the end of the tour when a local resident interrupted us, and I thought Clay handled it professionaly and with class. I would definitely take another Onion tour again. read more

I'm not sure how I came across Big Onion tours but I'm glad I did. We took the Downtown Walking Tour and our guide was very knowledgable! He explained the history of Battery Park, Bowling Green, the US Customs House (now the American Indian museum), walked to Francois Tavern, the Federal Building, NYSE, Trinity Church, to say the least. Our guide was pleasant and always willing to answer questions. He was not a jerk or pompous like some tours I've taken before. Next time i'm in NYC, I will definitely look them up again as they have several other tours available. Best of all, it was free! But it should be a good idea to tip though. =) read more

Another great day in NYC! We had Nicole for the lower Manhattan tour. She was very enthusiastic! She kept making sure that all of us heard her because of the windy conditions. This was my third Big Onion Walking Tour and once again we dove deep into layers of history and stories that we never knew. Such wonderful way to spend the day, learning and being outside. Thank you Big Onion! read more