3 hours (approx.)
Daily Tour
12 people
English
Experience this Italian-influenced North Beach neighborhood with a four-course progressive dining experience. With an intimate group of 12 people or less, follow your food-loving guide to many of the neighborhood's iconic restaurants starting with appetizers followed by an entree and finishing with dessert – all while exploring the neighborhood through your belly and your eyes. Enjoy experience-enhancing alcohol pairings (add-on can be purchased at the time of the tour) while tasting fare at some of the most popular spots as well as some hidden gems. Tastings may be selected from wood-oven pizza, to arancini, to cioppino (a seafood stew invented by San Francisco’s Italian fisherman), to handmade traditional cannoli, to California gelato. Hear gourmet gossip about some of the establishments' owners and learn about North Beach's history, from the Gold Rush to modern day.
Meet in the Jackson Square neighborhood – a 10-minute walk from Downtown San Francisco – in the late afternoon to start your walking tour. Come hungry, as you’ll be getting lots of food on this 3-hour tour, which follows a flat, easy route.
Following your expert local guide, delve behind the scenes of Little Italy’s food and restaurant scene, hearing fascinating historical facts and stories along the way, like how this neighborhood was once part of the Barbary Coast – San Francisco’s red-light district in the 1800s during the California Gold Rush. You’ll also visit hidden Prohibition-era tunnels where booze was smuggled into the city.
5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
Though you’ll learn a lot of interesting history, this tour is about the food. Enjoy a cheese tasting at a trendy wine bar. Then indulge in an Italian wood-fired pizza made in the oldest pizza oven on the West Coast; built in 1935, this treasured tool was copied by Wolfgang Puck at Spago and Alice Waters at Chez Panisse.
Pop into a gourmet boutique shop for a sweet-and-savory treat such as artisan agave caramel drizzled over popcorn- yum! Top your culinary journey off with a visit to a historic Italian bookshop-turned-café, where you’ll fill your own delicate cannoli with an Italian cannoli maker.
3 hours • Admission Ticket Free
You’ll find that all the tastings add up to a satisfying meal. Your tour ends in the evening a few blocks from your original departure point, where you’re free to continue exploring this fabulous San Francisco neighborhood bustling with vibrant nightlife.
Please note: Places visited and tastings are subject to change based on availability.
5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free