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The Best Food Tours in NYC

Updated: January 25, 2023

Free Tours by Foot is proud to present the only pay-what-you-like food tours of New York City.

If you are looking for a food tour that leaves your stomach full but your wallet empty, then Free Tours by Foot food tours may not be for you.

If you are looking for a fun, filling, and affordable way to take a bite of the Big Apple, come to join us.  

We offer food tours every day of the week, but not all tours run daily.  

We recommend that you take a look at our full schedule to see whether or not a particular food tour listed below will be running when you are in NYC.


Why Choose Us?

Like always, our New York food tours are free to take. We believe in allowing you to name your own price, even free after the tour is finished.

And our reviews speak for us. See what others say about our local guides on Google, TripAdvisor, and Yelp.

And unlike costly food tours that decide for you what and how much you'll be eating, we believe in giving foodies the choice to decide what to eat, how much you eat, and how much you spend.

Each tour stops at 4-5 scrumptious food shops that serve up incredibly delicious and inexpensive cuisine served in portions that can be easily divided and shared or singularly devoured.

Our guides make recommendations and facilitate ordering, but you have the final say.

You choose your own food and pay for it directly (usually between $7-$15).

In between the food stops, you'll have time to digest your food as well as the history of the neighborhood, as told to you by our entertaining and knowledgeable local New York tour guides.


Greenwich Village Food Tour

Our Greenwich Village Food Tour explores the restaurants, shops, food, and architecture of the West Village, one of Manhattan's most historic neighborhoods.

Greenwich Village is a visitor favorite for visitors and locals alike for its shady, winding streets with 19th Century houses, its bohemian roots, and historic Washington Square Park.

Greenwich Village Food Tour

But the Village's tree-lined streets are also lined with some of the best restaurants and food specialty shops in all of the Big Apple.

You'll crunch your sweet tooth with scrumptious desserts, indulge in prosciutto arancini (rice balls) from a shop 100 years old, and eat falafel at one of the first Middle Eastern establishments in the United States.

And in a city known for its pizza, you will try not one but two of the city's best-rated pizzerias, including one called Artichoke Pizza.


Eateries and Foods:

  • Mamoum's Falafel
  • Hudson Bagels
  • Faiccos Rice Balls
  • Bleecker Street Pizza
  • Artichoke Pizza
  • Varsano's Chocolate
  • Molly's Cupcakes
  • and much more!

Audio Tour Version

You can also take our Greenwich Village Food Tour on your own with our self-guided audio tour.

Here is a sample of our GPS-led audio tour version of this tour.

Download this audio tour.

Check out our blog post on things to eat in Greenwich Village which describes some of the below-mentioned locations.


Lower East Side Food Tour

The Lower East Side is known for its blend of cultural diversity and rich history. It's also known for its great food.

This walking tour is a food-tasting tour and is the perfect way to discover this fascinating neighborhood. 

The streets of the Lower East Side tell the tales of struggling immigrants - Eastern Europeans, Russians, Germans, Puerto Ricans - who came to America in search of opportunity.

They brought with them recipes from the 'old world' and you can still taste these foods today. 

Lower East Side Tour

Bagels, Knish, and Dumplings: Join us on our Lower East Side Food Tour, and explore food influenced by immigrant cultures from Eastern Europe, Russia, Germany, Puerto Rica, and many more!

Many of these stops are mom-and-pop shops that have been in business for over 100 years.


Food shops we stop at:

  • Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery (see video below)
  • Kossar's Bialy and Bagels
  • North China Dumpling
  • Sugar Sweet Sunshine Bakery
  • The Pickle Guys*

We don't stop inside Katz's Deli, but you can go inside to taste their delicious pastrami on rye sandwiches.


We also have 3 more food tours that run less often.


Seasonal Food Tours


We also offer several self-guided New York Food Tours

If our guided food tours schedule doesn't work for you, there are other companies offering guided food tours.  

If you are considering getting a tourist pass, you should know that many include guided food tours.  

We wrote a post to help you determine whether or not a tourist pass is for you.

For those interested in an extensive tour covering the culinary and cultural history of various neighborhoods, you may want to consider a Secret Food Tour.

This company currently offers the following outings:

You can also search for individual guided food tours with Viator.

About The Author

Stephen Pickhardt

Stephen is the CEO of Free Tours by Foot and has overseen the transformation of a local walking tour company into a global tour community and traveler’s advice platform. He has personally led thousands of group tours in the US and Europe, and is an expert in trip planning and sightseeing, with a focus on budget travelers. Stephen has been published and featured in dozens of publications including The Wall Street Journal, BBC, Yahoo, Washington.org, and more.
Updated: January 25th, 2023
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