We did the China Town food tour and while the food was OK and a few of the destinations were interesting the female guide was very uninformative. She was nice but she didn't seem to know much, pointed to a sign or plaque when anyone in our group asked a question. One of the stops was closed with no exhibition From reading other reviews it seems like Dan Chew should be requested. We would have had a better tour by simply using self guided and paying at the restaurants or other stops. I do think with the right guide the tour would be worth it but our guide was nice person but horrible guide. read more

Do NOT book tours through this company! They did not show and now will not respond to phone calls or emails!!!! I booked the mission desserts tour which was scheduled for March 3rd at 3pm. I got a confirmation email the day before and everything. I showed up the requested 10 minutes early. At about 3:15pm I called the main number. Then began to call the numbers of all of the guides listed in my original booking email. No one called back. I also sent an email to the employee that had helped me book, with no response. I waited until 3:30 pm before finally giving up on them. I have called multiple times since that day, originally requesting to rebook, ending with requests for a refund. It has been over two weeks and they have not responded! This is unacceptable customer service. Do not risk your money! Buyer beware! read more

Total Scam. Booked the Vegetarian Food Tour through Viator (thankfully not directly with Explore San Francisco). And received my ticket via email. I emailed them 2 weeks prior to ask a question and never got a response. I called one week prior and got a message that phone was temporarily unavailable (and it continues to have same message). I got no confirmation prior to the scheduled event. Went to the appointed place at the appointed time and no one ever showed up. No attempt at contacting them was fruitful. Called Viator when I got home and they processed my $396 refund promptly. Don't book an Explore San Francisco company tour. Period. read more

My mom and I signed up for the Chinatown walking tour with Dan Chew, not really knowing what to expect. It turned out to be the most memorable experience of our whole week in San Francisco! We were the only two on this tour (I highly recommend doing this during the winter months, or at least on a weekday) so it was such a personal experience. Dan is such a fun guy, with so many great stories and cool insights, that the 3 hour scheduled tour turned into more like 4! We also signed up for it on Chinese New Year's Eve (not realizing the good fortune we had stumbled upon), so Dan took us through all the markets, showed us all the tasty treats, and explained the traditions that he grew up with/still practices in Chinatown. Dan grew up in Chinatown and still lives there, so he knows ALL of the good spots. To recap a few of what we saw: -Tin How Temple (Oldest Buddhist temple in SF) -Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company (fresh made daily, plenty o' scraps for tasting..) -Vital Leaf Tea (gotta talk to Kenny, he's the man!) -Golden Gate Bakery (get there egg custard tarts!!) Dan's level of knowledge goes way beyond just the facts; he lives, breaths, EATS Chinatown. Somebody give this man a raise!! read more

I have lived in San Francisco for almost 20 years, but I still love playing tourist in my own city! Whether you are a local, or just visiting our fine city, Explore San Francisco is the way to go! I have done the Mission tour, and recently did the North Beach and Chinatown tour, which was very interesting. Our guide, Michael, was very knowledgeable about the rich history of San Francisco. He also engages with you in a way to make you feel comfortable,like he's having fun and enjoying every minute along with you. I got a deal on Gold Star and I think they are still available, so check it out! I also hear they do a tour of the Armory (SF's home for the fetish company Kink.com). I can't wait to do that one next! read more

My friend and I did the Mission North food tour after finding a deal on Gilt City. We had such a great time- even though we're both familiar with the Mission, the only place we went to that we'd been to before was Bi-Rite Creamery. We were lucky enough to have Michael as our guide, who I believe is the owner. Not only did we get a great sampling of Mission food, but we also got a little SF history as well. We hit up a nice variety of spots- butcher shop, tapas, empanadas, Indian fusion, pizza, chocolate, and Bi-Rite for ice cream. He was also nice enough to buy us prickly pears (aka tuna) to try from the local bodega, which apparently are only in season for a couple months out of the year. We had a generous portion of food, and got to sit down at most of the restaurants. With that said, the portions were mindful not to get us too stuffed by the last stops, so it was perfect. He also took us through Clarion Alley, filled with a ton of murals. He said he has relationships with 30 places in the area, so the stops change depending on the day. He's lived in the area for many years, so he knows it well. If I have to picky, I'd say the only criticism I have is that when we went to Bi-Rite, for practicality sake because of the perpetual long line, he got us ice cream sandwiches. I feel like we missed out on the scoop ice cream they're known for. In my case, I'd been there before so it was fine, but I feel like for those who weren't familiar with Bi-Rite, they weren't getting an accurate taste of it. Overall, I had a great experience and my friend and I agreed we would totally be open to another food tour they offer. Whether you're a local or a tourist, I highly recommend it! read more

We were given explore SF yours by our children for Christmas last year. We had no problem scheduling the tour of our choice for the day we wanted - Mission South. We met our guide Helga Pons and had such a fun day. We popped in and out if several very good restaurants: Mission Pies, Pig and Pie, an amazing taco place, some really fresh sushi - I think we went to 6 places and a finished off with a marvelous gelato. The whole time Helga told us about the history of The Mission and showed us some beautiful and historic wall murals on Balmy. We would never have found this on our own, nor would we have understood the meanings depicted. This was a really good tour and Helga was terrific. read more

Explore San Francisco - Jack seems always to be smiling - Food Tours Near Me - San Francisco, California

Highly recommended. Bought a Groupon last minute just prior to my SF trip. Explore SF honored it for the Thursday morning Chinatown walking tour even though they had no other people participating. Instead of rebooking me for Saturday, my tour guide Dan decided to give me a solo tour. I couldn't have asked for a better tour guide. Instead of rattling down historical facts or following some kind of script, it felt like I was walking and chatting with a friend. While we spent some time on Grant Street, the main strip, under the red lanterns and by the touristy shops, we ventured into the side streets and parks as well. A nice balance of history, culture and local flavor. We visited Tin How temple, burned some incense and said a prayer. We stopped at a bakery for moon cakes, another one for sesame balls. We saw a local butcher shop selling cured meats, including whole ducks and duck "bacon". That stuff looked so good it made me wish just for a second I was a meat eater. We stopped for a free tea tasting and picked up some green tea. Mind you, this was not the food tour, it just turned out that Dan writes a food blog, so we share food and all things related as a common passion. He pointed out Hang Ah Tea Room, the oldest restaurant in Chinatown and some non-touristy restaurants I should (and would) check out. We grazed the local markets where we saw an array of dried goods (scallops, shrimp, root vegetables), live frogs, fish, chicken feet, herbs and fresh produce. Ever wondered what half of the stuff is they sell at your local Asian market? Well here is your chance to get educated. Don't be offended if you get shoved, they're just trying to move along and go on about their business. The pace of the walking tour is totally comfortable, since Chinatown is confined within a few blocks. Definitely doable and customizable, depending on the other people in your group. I am so glad I did this and will definitely use them again next time I am in town, especially now that I know they do vegan food tours. read more

I purchased a tour via Travel Zoo to take my mother on a food tour in SF. I called a few weeks in advance to make sure everything was in order. The first issue was when I called, their phone was having issues and they told me they would call back in a few minutes. Two hours later, I called again. The guy took down my name and number and said he would call me back. Two days later, I had to call again. Not a good start. Finally (after I emailed), they got back to me and set up a tour for the Ferry Building. We got there on time but when the tour guide showed up, he clearly had not set up the tour with the vendors and looked panicked and kept making various phone calls. Finally, after consulting with my mother, we said if he wasn't ready that I would simply call later and reschedule the tour. The guide looked relieved, apologized profusely and left. A few months later, I emailed to reschedule the tour. The website still had the Ferry Building so I asked for that tour. The email I received was short and curt saying that they didn't do those tours anymore (why is it on your website then?). When I asked about another tour, all I got was that everything was sold out on the weekend I was looking at. At this point, I was so done with this group, I just stopped trying. Thanks Explore SF, I just wasted $100 on trying to reserve a tour but ending up with an expired voucher! read more

I helped plan our corporate holiday party event and Michael helped us set up with the Chinatown/North Beach tour for 34 people! I was a little nervous after reading the Yelp reviews, but the problems seemed to be mostly Travelzoo related .... and I had a similar problem booking a craft beer tour through Living Social. I'm absolutely thrilled we went with Explore SF. We had a wonderful time! Michael and 2 other guides led us through everything from a tea tasting and dim sum in Chinatown to pasta in North Beach and a really special culinary surprise at the end. They incorporated our ideas for holiday games and made the day really special. (I went to college in SF and lived there for years... and they managed to impress me.) Michael and I spoke via email for a long time before the event. I think that my only minor issue is that as they grow as a company it would serve them well to have someone designated to handle the administrative tasks. No matter. They delivered on everything they promised.... in fact, we got way more than I expected! I hesitantly went with a couple of Michael's suggested stops and I'm so glad I did. The tour itself and the tour guides were all fantastic. I would recommend them in a heartbeat and I would definitely use their services again. Thank you so much for giving us a wonderful holiday party! I love the pictures you posted of our day! read more

I did a double date for the North Beach food tour. Like others have said, it's fun to play tourist in your own city and hopefully learn a few things that we may have taken for granted because we grew up here. The overall experience was "A-OK", it met my expectations and I'm glad the tour guide chose the places that she did. Molinari's sandwiches were delish, the pasta at Cafe Macaroni was delish, and Golden Boy Pizza was delish (having always been on our list of drunken late night sop up spots). The free olive oil and balsamic stop was a great choice and I enjoyed the tasting. We ended with gelato and canolli's, both very pleasant. I minused two stars because 1). While the tour guide was VERY nice and I'm sure very knowledgeable, she was a bit awkward. When we were eating, she would stand in front of us like she wanted to perform something but instead blurted out random facts. I felt bad for her so I laughed at her jokes and smiled all the time. We still tipped her well. 2). There were some difficulties in communication when booking the tours. Lots of back and forth and too many people involved. I called one number, was then given another number, and then given a couple of email addresses, etc. Maybe an online system might be helpful if they don't have one already? Overall, I think I can manage to find my own way around the city (with the help of trusty yelp). read more

I recently took the North Beach Food Tour from Explore San Francisco. This was a great experience. Our guide was fun and she very knowledgeable. We got information on food history in North Beach plus some overall history of the neighborhood. Food choices were great. Five stops plus a tasting. Time was given in between stops so we weren't too full. One of the highlights of the tour was our ending spot. We went to the top of a parking garage in North Beach. Best view of North Beach and the Bay. Loved this tour and plan on doing another Explore San Francisco Tour. read more

Little Saigon Food Tour: Absolutely amazing! I booked this tour for my mom and I, as we are both foodies, and love Asian foods. This tour focused on mainly Vietnamese, Thai and Korean foods and culture. Our guide Jennifer was great! She had a fun personality and had a wealth of knowledge. We learned all about the community of Little Saigon, interesting facts about the culture, and all about the flavors and different ingredients used. She even took us into a local market and showed specialties and the ingredients to make some of the foods we tried. Now for the good part, the food! Spectacular! The first stop was a full meal in itself. The next few stops were small little family run places with the most friendly staff. Jennifer ordered for us and and not the norm either. We got to share and sample several different things. Thanks to this tour we went to places and tried foods that I never would have on my own. Every place she took us was very clean and nice, but not commercial or chain. Food from the heart and soul of the Asian community. Definitely worth the time and you won't leave hungry! read more

We did the Chinatown Food Tour at 11am on Sunday. The tour was scheduled for 3 hours. My husband and I ended up having the undivided attention of our guide, Dan Chew. Dan grew up in Chinatown and took us to only places that he would go on his own. We really got the "Chinatown through the backdoor" experience, if you will :) We had moon cakes with lotus paste, Chinese chicken wings, prawns, did a tea tasting, had wintermelon cookies, some sour dried mystery fruit, and dim sum, all at different places. We also climbed several flights of stairs to visit a Buddhist temple in the heart of Chinatown, and visited the site of the first public school in CA, now a bustling public square where we saw many people playing card games and socializing. Dan was incredibly friendly and knowledgeable not only about Chinatown and its history and food, but also about San Francisco's history in general. He even showed us some graffiti art by Banksy that we definitely would have missed if not for him. We had a great time and before we knew it, four hours had gone by. What a great way to see the real San Francisco, away from the main drags crawling with tourists. Next time we visit SF, we plan to do one of the Mission tours. read more

Native or visitor, if you love San Francisco, you really owe it to yourself to take at least a few walking tours of the city. My friend and I had a great time on the Folsom District tour and learned so much interesting history behind one of my favorite parts of SF. Our guides Alixx and Sister Mora were both lots of fun and very knowledgable about the area, giving us personal glimpses into the city's raucous beginnings and insights into what shaped the Folsom District over time. If you're open-minded and want to learn about the city's history in a fun and personal way, I can't recommend this tour enough. read more

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G food tour!!!!!!! First off, huge thanks to Michael who was able to squeeze in a last minute reservation for me, after I experienced a booking fiasco with another food tour company, using a Groupon. Needless to say, I did get a refund from Groupon and gave my business to Explore, instead... So my husband and I attended the North Beach tour on Friday at 3:30pm and the Chinatown tour on Saturday at 11am. Our tour guide, Dan, was just absolutely awesome...scratch that...MORE than awesome! Dan is very personable, knowledgable, and as one Yelp reviewer mentioned, "he feels like a friend!" During the North Beach food tour, we ate quite a bit and saw some pretty interesting sites! We ate pizza, pasta, sandwiches and dessert. I was soooo full once the tour concluded, and that is a good thing! Prior to this tour beginning, I was afraid I would still be hungry at the end. I loved the fact that in between visiting various sites, we stopped and ate a little. Dan did great with not allowing us to get too full at any one place, with whatever he ordered. My husband's favorite part of the North Beach tour was Molinari's Deli. My favorite parts were dining in a unique Italian restaurant, and eating Tiramisu and a Cannoli at the very end. :-) One of the interesting places we visited was the Shrine of Saint Francis of Assisi. I certainly wouldn't have discovered that place, unless I researched places to see on my own. So onto the Chinatown tour...that was also pretty awesome! Since Dan grew up in Chinatown, his knowledge of the area was quite remarkable! I certainly won't view Chinatown in the same manner, after attending this tour! The food was great as well!!! My favorite parts of the tour were visiting the fortune cookie factory and the tea tasting. They both were very unique stops on the tour! After visiting the Vital Tea Leaf, I won't dare purchase another box of Lipton teabags again. ;-) Once again, Dan is truly awesome and really helped to completely my sightseeing vacation to San Francisco. I certainly look forward to booking and taking another tour, whenever I'm back in town! I very much highly recommend booking a tour via Explore San Francisco. This company is amazing and really cares about the satisfaction of its customers. If your tour is scheduled with Dan, that's a BONUS! ;-) Enjoy!!!!! read more

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Being someone who knows a lot about san francisco history myself, i was very impressed with Micheal, our guide's knowledge and passion for the city! My sister came to town, so i decided to "play tourist" in my own town. It was fun and informative, and Micheal was also very entertaining! I'm putting it on my list of things to do with out-of-town guests. read more

Went to San Fran for a quick weekend trip and thought the best way to check out all the great food San Fran has to offer was to do a food tour. We signed up for the north beach/Chinatown tour with a travelzoo voucher. Took two days for them to email/book my tour with one follow up call. When we showed up for our tour, another tour guides got into an accident and our guide had to take over, which is fine, we're flexible people. The "food" tour was lacking of food. We had only had 3 food sampling over a 3.5 hour period. Our guide talked about the history of San Fran which is fine but this is a FOOD tour, talk about the food and feed me!! We didn't even get do the other half of the tour we paid for because our guide was already 3.5 hrs in. Would not recommend this tour. read more

I highly recommend doing a food tour! We went on the Mission tour and went to five restaurants and also learned some history of the area while sightseeing. Food selection, drinks and tour guide were all great. I highly recommend it and can't wait to do the Chinatown North Beach tour next! read more

I've done 1 of their Mission food tours as well as the North Beach food tour. Both guides were very personable and interesting people. The guides were very generous with their time and patient in answering a myriad of questions. The food stops were quality choices...we had the option to learn from some of the vendors, both their history/customs as well how the food was prepared. My only criticism (very minor) was the order of the food sampling on the Mission tour left many of us unable to partake in the last few stops as we were too full for the earlier stops. It would have more pleasurable to prioritized by food offerings rather than geographical order. We were offered additional dose of history on the North Beach Tour, with many of the locals in attendance learning lots of new things. I would definitely recommend this company. read more

Four of us went on the Mission Dessert Tour. Loved David. Got confirmation email as well as a personal call from David the day before. Recommendation for parking was easy. Greeted with treats for us to take home. All of the food was tasty. David is very easy to talk too and fluid with conversations within our group. (two moms and to 12 year old girls). He did follow up with sending pictures of us and the itinerary of where we went. Our favorites were Sixth Course and Craftsman and Wolves. The owners of Sixth Course gave us a look into their latest creation of Artesian Chocolate filled eggs for Easter. We each chose gelato desserts. Each was unique and true in its flavors. Mine was an ale gelato. Wow, frozen beer dipped in chocolate. We came back later in the day to purchase a few eggs for Easter. All of the chocolate, even the dark had a smooth silk texture. Craftsman and Wolves was the perfect ending as we were at the end of our sweet buds and were able to satisfy our savory as well as get another unique tasting of sweet. They had a layered dessert with Earl Gray biscuit with Lychee foam and Hibiscus jelly that was light, complex, and wonderful balance in texture. Great fun to eat. Xanath Gelato was our first stop. We would have like to heard from the owner/background of the business more. They had a display of a variety of vanilla spices/beans for retail but without background it was just a display. Could have played well in the unique qualities of the place. Good gelato not great tour quality. Samovar Tea Bar was very lovely. For inlanders who have not had much in "real spice" Chai to me was a treat. If you are a Starbucks fan this is overly spicy and not sweet. Nice that the owner was there and the man who made our tea came over to talk a bit about the tea/place. The chocolate tort was fantastic. With future tours I would want to have a couple classic teas too. This was 50/50 with our group as two were 12 years old and it was "too spicy" for them. From a parent view I liked they were expanding their horizons. Dandelion Chocolate to me was fantastic as I'm a lover of dark chocolate. Not much in options for the milk chocolate lover. The toffee was a perfect brittle, not hard on your teeth crunch. The Bar we split was out of this world. It had a brown butter cookie bottom with a soft camel center and a smooth chocolate ganache on top. There was more to the food that this but then this becomes a novel. Super cool to go down one of the mural allies of the Mission district. It is a bit sobering to feel to power of the murals. They represent just a glimpse of the daily life/struggles within the area as well as some of the results of political muscle on the neighborhood. A must. Nice history and background by David. If you are looking for in depth history this is not this tour. Lots of nice tidbits on the walk around the neighborhood. I will book again for our next visit. read more

I have been on 4 tours. One with my extended family and then 3 with groups from work. I think the Mission tour was my favorite, but China Town was a close 2nd. You have to pace yourself so that you don't eat too much, and the food and local owners are great. The walks are short, but they give you time to digest and mingle. You can also sit with different people at each spot so a great work event. The tour guides are very friendly. I needed something in my car once and one of the guides walked me back 1/3 of the way thru the tour and we then joined back up with the group. Definitely worth your time! read more

We took the Chinatown tour, and I'll be brief, since others already seem to be raving about it. :) My boyfriend and I went on the Chinatown food tour as my birthday gift to him. (I obviously know how to buy presents because I benefited from this one, too!) Dan was an awesome guide. In the beginning, he took the time to ask about what foods we liked, the kinds of sights we were interested in, and how adventurous we were feeling. The restaurants he took us to were great. As far as food is concerned, we did soup at Far East, Dim Sum at some hole in the wall with a name I can't quite remember, Egg Custard Tarts at the Golden Gate Bakery (which were awesome, by the way - coming from a guy who is usually "meh" about egg tarts), got some nice crispy roast duck and pork at another hole in the wall, (I guess I should've taken notes) and finished up with a Tea Tasting at Vital Tea Leaf. In addition to the food, his knowledge of the neighborhood and city was super interesting. We saw the home of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, took a walk through gambler's alley, went into the Tin How Temple (the oldest in San Francisco), sampled a cookie at the fortune cookie factory, took a look inside a few markets, discussed historic architecture, and had an all around good time. Highly recommended. It was a fun, personal, and friendly tour. As far as logistics were concerned, the company was super easy to deal with. We actually booked last minute (2 days in advance) and they were accommodating and called to verify that everything was good to go. (So much for brief. I tried.) read more

Dan Chew was our guide, and did a fantastic job! He showed us many features of Chinatown that the average tourist would never discover on our own. In addition, the food tour left us stuffed, although each stop was paced so that we had time to digest a bit before the next one. When my daughter's 2-year old girl started crying, Dan pulled out a small toy dragon and gave it to her, which quieted her. This tour company has obviously made excellent contacts within the community, and we were treated well at every stop. Dan himself has a pleasant, easy-going personality, and passed along a lot of very interesting cultural and architectural information as we strolled through this colorful part of San Francisco. I was particularly fascinated to see the temporary home of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen while he was in exile. Highly recommended! read more

Took the North Beach tour with leader Dan. He knows the neighborhood and runs a great tour. The tour lasted 3.5 hours he customized the stops based on our preferences and had answers to all of our questions. Highly recommend it. We have taken several food tours and the tour guide was wonderful, the food superb, and the history and knowledge of the area was fabulous. read more

My husband and I had a BLAST exploring the Chinatown food scene with David! He was so welcoming and informative. We cannot say enough great things about this experience. It was definitely the highlight of our trip to SF. Thank you for making our day! read more

This is by far the best tour you'd ever go on. So awesome you'd wish this tour was available in any city in the world! It's a food tour (can't beat trying new foods) that also gives you a little history lesson while site-seeing! The tour guides are super nice and there is so much food to sample you'll be so stuffed. I hope this company expands; best tour of any both domestic and international!!! Great opportunity to experience culture via food! Doesn't get any better!!! read more

No call, no show. Don't waste your time with this company. Our friend booked a food tour of the Mission months in advance. Payment was taken. No confirmation was sent within 30 days of the event, and calls to them went unanswered. The day of the event, we waited until 15 minutes after the appointed time, and called to find out what was going on. Our friend still hasn't heard from the tour company. Payment was handled through a third party who promptly processed the refund but gave no explanation. We ended up doing our own food tour of the Mission and had a great time. read more

I have dealt with Explore SF two times. The first experience was amazing. Dan Chew (fantastic) took us on an amazing tour of China Town and North Beach...just perfect. The second and most recent experience was the exact opposite. Frankly, I gave them over 10 opportunities to prevent me from writing this poor review, but they basically failed every time...so here goes. I purchased vouchers for a tour on travelzoo. I then purchased even more for the same tour directly from their website. So we had a group of 6 people ready for a killer tour, many from out of town, and we were psyched. Then Explore SF calls me, the night before the tour, and says that the tour is cancelled because the guide had a family emergency. Huh? You have only one guide that can lead the tour? Seems like poor planning to me. However, I gave them the benefit of the doubt based on past experience. Super bummed, yes, but...I roll with it. So they send an email to confirm that the tour is cancelled and ask if I want to reschedule or a refund. I immediately reply "refund" since all parties will have left the area by the time a rescheduled tour could be had. I get no reply. I reply again a week later asking for a refund. I get no reply. I call and leave a message. I get no reply. I call again a few days later and leave a message for a different person. I get no reply. Finally, a couple of weeks later, I'm finally able to reach someone who says, via email, that they have already processed my refund and I should be seeing it soon. Wait...wait...wait...no refund after a week or so. I go through the same process over the next few weeks of call, leave message, email, call, call, email...and finally I actually get a live person to answer a phone and they state that the refund is now the responsibility of my credit card company since they "processed it" already. Now, mind you, I have had refunds back to my card before...usually takes about 24 hours. So...I call my credit card company. "No...they have never contacted us and there is no refund in process" the card company states. So...I contact Explore SFAGAIN..."sorry...nothing we can do...just wait longer". I dutifully wait the full 30 days that Explore SF says it can take for the refund to process...nothing. And so, after all of the time I've spent trying simply to get the refund they offered, I file a dispute with both Travelzoo and with my card company and as of today, have all of my money back. But really? Does a reputable company operate like this? I love the Bay, and I love small businesses, but this one is really run by the seat of the pants. When it's "on", it's great! But when anything goes awry, they just don't have the professional systems in place to address the customer service side in a measurable way. read more

My boyfriend and I thoroughly enjoyed our Mission Food Tour with these folks. The tour guide really seemed to know the Mission well including many of the business owners who we got to meet. There was more food than we could possibly eat, which might have been an indication that they were still learning how to pace the tour. That said, I truly enjoyed learning what a pupusa was and eating some of the best in the Mission. We also got to taste the fare from some of the newer arrivals in the neighborhood such as the hipster butcher shop with to-die-for hotdogs and the newer Asian fusion restaurant. We closed the tour by walking some of the art mural alleys--we really got culture and food tours in one, which we loved! read more

Our children gave us the tour as a Christmas gift for our upcoming trip to SF for the birth of our granddaughter. We had the best time. Michael the owner and Isabelle our tour guide provided a delightful afternoon. The stops we made were well thought out and planned well and very informative. The food we sampled was interesting and tasty, gave us a real feel of the Mission District. The adult beverage samplings were an extra treat. Michael topped off the tour by sending us home with the best desserts ever, provided by Pie Fridays, not to be missed! read more

I've now done two walking food tours with Explore San Francisco, both led by Dan Chew. Dan is interesting, informative, friendly and great at catering his tours to the group that is there on that particular day. Both times, I've left feeling much more educated about SF and completely stuffed! Highly recommend for groups or even alone as this activity tends to draw very friendly inclusive people. read more

Awesome tour and tourguide!!! It was a small group -just me, 2 of my girlfriends, the tour guide Alixx, another tour guide and a trainee. So basically, it was just my buds and the 3 tour guides. lol. I liked how they took us on the Northbeach/Chinatown tour at night eventhough it was just going to be the 3 of us. It was such a fun tour, good food, good company. I enjoyed it a lot and I will definitely visit those places he showed us again with my family! Don't forget your comfy shoes - you'll get some much needed exercise in between eating lots of good food! I definitely recommend!! read more

Michael and David were so nice and friendly! While the tour didn't seem too structured, they guided us to some very interesting and tasty spots in the Ferry Building, all the while making it fun. Some tastings we would have never tried on our own - worms, 'meat in a cup', mushroom jerky, for example, and I really liked the unique eats aspect. My husband was hoping for a bit more history of the building and the area - history buff that he is, but we still had a great time, had some great tastes, and Michael and David continued to be tour guides when it was over, leading us to our next destination as a kindness to us tourists. read more

Took the Chinatown tour with leader Dan who was born and raised in Chinatown. It shows. He knows the neighborhood and runs a great tour (we were a group of 12). he kept up the pace for 3 hours (one much needed rest stop at the tea house for tasting). Started and ended on time. He customized the stops based on our questions and had answers to all of our questions. Highly recommend it. Only suggestion would be to move up the tea tasting so you get a break earlier in the tour. read more

We took the Soma District walking tour. We stopped at quite a few sites, got the history of the neighborhood, its "unsavory" past and the city's schemes to redevelop the area. We learned how it started off as a working class neighborhood and then moved to what it is now. The guides were very informative, one a Sister of Perpetual Indulgence who was totally entertaining. Highly recommend this tour. Totally fun. read more

My family (two adults and two kids) took the Chinatown food tour with Dan Chew. He is an awesome tour guide that made the real Chinatown come alive for all of us. As an out-of-towner, I was a little intimidated by the prospect of exploring Chinatown on my own, so I decided to sign up for the Explore SF tour. I am *so* glad that I did. I learned more about the history and culture than I ever would have on my own. Dan provided personal anecdotes and took us to many off-the-beaten-path places that amazed and delighted us. I cannot recommend this tour highly enough. read more

Bought this as a birthday gift and it did not disappoint. We were the only ones on the tour which was like uh oh because we just dreaded the fact of awkward silences and this was our first tour. Yet the guides were very welcoming, funny, polite, and informative so it turned out great. Learned a few new things of San Francisco history and enjoyed its wonderful food. The company of the tour guides is what really made the tour. We enjoyed every minute of it and will most likely go on another tour. read more

If I wanted to work as hard as I did to book this. I would have just done it myself, done some research on yelp and omitted going to this tour at all. I, like many others, had travelzoo vouchers for this and was excited to see my backyard. Mind you though, I grew up here so whether we chose Chinatown, North Beach, or otherwise we would of had a good idea of the area. My fiancee though did not so we figured we would pair up with another couple and head out for the sights. Booked on travelzoo which was fine.. The problem came when trying to redeem them. Communication was poor as I booked and my name with three random names came up as the people in my party. When I called and asked about it, they said well we couldn't open your attachment. Yet they randomly picked three strangers that they just assumed were in my party? The whole booking process took about a week, in which the tour that we wanted they initially didn't offer, then got cancelled due to an emergency which is fine and I get it.. But then we booked the North Beach tour. Finally after 4 days of trying to book this bastard, they finally got it right--the day before the tour.... We meet up a few minutes early and this IS the food tour.. Although we learned a little bit of history and we had some food.. I believe this was far from a food tour.. We had a little bit of pasta, a slice of pizza, a coffee, some olive oil and balsamic, a cannoli, some truffles and fudge. When we asked if the truffles were the mushroom or the chocolate variety, she wasn't sure. It felt like we were going where the tour guide liked to frequent, not necessarily a wheres where of San Francisco's North Beach. I was thinking more that this would be a wine and cheese and perhaps some prosciutto, some pasta, some gelato but instead it seemed we had more sweets than anything else.. I appreciate sweets as much as the next person but it seemed to be a bit much.. About three of the places we frequented offered free items anyways so what did our tour really pay for? I understand for $55.00 it was I guess okay but I would be pretty livid if I paid $110 for this tour. Overall our guide was nice but I don't think that she would of been an expert for the food tour. I would of liked to see a little more focus on food. Such as what goes into what, possibly a back tour into Molinari, maybe a tour of the inside of a kitchen, or otherwise. DEFINITELY WOULD NOT DO THIS ONE AGAIN. read more

I'm new to San Francisco and so I decided to do the Mission Food Tour (North). It was a bit of a rainy day, but that didn't stop us from having a great time. Michael, our guide, is a great people person and he has the ability to sense what the group is feeling (food wise), giving us a semi-customized tour based on the group's preferences. Michael's knowledge of the neighborhood was impressive, making the tour very informative and entertaining. My favorite stops were Southpaw and Dandelion Chocolate. Would go again! read more