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Austin Downtown walking tasting tour with Secret Food Tours

Austin Downtown walking tasting tour with Secret Food Tours

Overview

On our Secret Food Tour: Austin, let our guides and your stomach lead you through the busy streets of Downtown Austin for an urban gastronomy experience in the central and historic area of the live music capital of the world. You'll try numerous foods, from our famous BBQ brisket to banana-leaf-wrapped tamales that have remained virtually unchanged since 5000 B.C., plus lots more. Don’t forget our Secret Dish as well!

City: Austin

Wed 25 Sep

Other dates

You can choose the date already on the booking website

Starting at $87.00

Make a reservation

Wed 25 Sep

Starting at $87.00

Make a reservation

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What's Included

Water

Pork Soup Dumplings

Specialty Iced Coffee

BBQ Brisket & Pinto Beans

Our Delicious Secret Dish

Breakfast Taco

Monster Cookie

Additional Info

Wheelchair accessible
Public transportation options are available nearby
Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible
Suitable for all physical fitness levels
*Please note: the itinerary and menu is subject to change, based on the locations' availability, weather, and other circumstances.
Face masks required for travellers in public areas
Face masks required for guides in public areas
Hand sanitiser available to travellers and staff
Social distancing enforced throughout experience

Cancellation Policy

All sales are final. No refund is available for cancellations.

Traveler Photos

Reviews (208)

stacyawm

Mar 2020

I sent this in a private email to Secret Food Tours twice, giving them the opportunity to explain to me the experiences that were not up to my expectations. They never replied, so I am making my complaints public. My group of 4 adults took the Austin food tour on Saturday, Feb. 8 with Devonte S. and Joseph P. As we are veterans of food tours around the U.S., we have some commentary on this tour. A friend of mine had recommended Secret Food Tours based on an experience she had had in another city. As we are planning to travel to that city, I researched it, and found the Austin tour, too. I happily signed up for it. I'm not quite sure now that I want to partake in another Secret Food Tour. The Austin tour was billed as below, and my comments, where appropriate, follow each item. •3-3 ½ hours guided food tour of Center City, Downtown historic district •5 stops: Our tour only included 4 stops: 1.Coopers Old Time Pit BBQ, 2.Second Bar and Kitchen, 3.Perry's Steakhouse & Grille, 4.Gloria's Latin Cuisine. Our dessert was a monster cookie from Henbit Cafe, but not only were we not taken to that location (Devonte carried a shopping bag with the cookies and handed them out at Gloria's), but our group was shorted one, and I ended up without a cookie. (My husband shared his with me.) Devonte and Joe insisted that giving us these cookies constituted the 5th stop. I would have loved to have been taken to Henbit Cafe and seen the underground food hall that they only told us about. Not visiting the fifth stop was my biggest complaint of the day, and I feel that we should be reimbursed 20% of the cost of the tour. •A passionate and experienced local guide: Our guide Devonte, while lovely, shared with us that this was his first-ever tour, and he was quite inexperienced. Joseph, who was shadowing Devonte, was co-leading only his second tour. Their inexperience was felt by all. We had no assigned table at Coopers, and Devonte had to cut up the slab of meat as we all sat around and waited, with no discussion from Devonte, Joseph, or a Coopers chef. We all walked inside Second Bar before we were shuttled outside to a table. Things felt smoother at Perry's, where we were joined by a chef who described both the restaurant's history and the method of preparing the food we sampled. It was my family's favorite stop. Our last stop at Gloria's was fine. •Great insight into Austin food •Stories about Austin culture and history: We felt that there could be more chatter on the walks between restaurants with some city history and trivia. With the exception of a group photo at the Willie Nelson statue (which I still have not received from Devonte), there was virtually no culture. •Small intimate groups (11 people max): Our group consisted of 13 people. At the first stop, there was not room for everyone at one table, and my family had to sit at a separate table, making us feel like outsiders of the group. At our third location, another couple was not able to sit with the group and had to sit at the bar. •An authentic, unforgettable experience that will leave you full and satisfied. I will say that, all issues aside, we did enjoy the food we sampled on the tour, the guides were genuinely nice people, and the group was friendly. But the negatives sadly outweighed the positives, and I will think twice before booking another Secret Food Tour.

Response from Host

Jan 2021

Dear Stacy First of all please accept our apologies for the delay in answering your review, we won’t lie to you. The Covid Pandemia is a crushing blow for our business and we are now working on a skeleton crew to survive and welcome you in the near future. You will not be surprised if I tell you that we have literally been submerged by emails and that only now that the year is over can we have a better idea of where we go and therefore what we can offer back. I also thank you very much for the time and details of your review. It really helps us to assess and address issues to help us improve. I have to say in the light of my researches that Murphy’s rule applied in full to your tour with a combination of little issues putting a damper on your tour The stop issue I unfortunately do not have a clear and satisfactory answer to give you as we sometimes have a partner shop that becomes unavailable. About Devonte and Joseph, initially you were scheduled with our veteran and beloved guide Logan but family issues made him unavailable the very morning of your tour so rather than canceling on you at the last minute we had to resort to asking our junior guides Devonte and Joseph to step in, we thought that doubling the team (usually Logan is man enough for the group size) would ensure a pleasant memory, obviously reading you the quality was there but the experience was missing. This lack of experience had an impact on the culture, fun facts and little stories that usually keep you busy between locations. About the size of the group, a party had to reschedule their tour at the last minute and were only available on that date so we decided to accept them on your tour as an exception. We are glad to see that you have enjoyed the food and the dedication of our guides. Also, regardless of any decisions, as the pandemic has put our business on stand-by, we have put together a 1h Virtual Tour for Paris, may we offer you to book it for free for you and your relatives as a token of our appreciation for your patience, understanding and the time you took writing us in detail?

LauraAndChrisM

Mar 2020

My husband and I like to participate in food tours in all of the cities that we visit and we were definitely stuffed after spending over two hours with our guide Joe walking around downtown Austin. We were in a smaller group of 3 guests which enabled us to have larger portions at our stops and we definitely got our money's worth. There was some initial confusion locating our guide at the meeting spot and Joe took a little while to warm up to us initially but then we all had a great time. We kept hearing how Austin is known for breakfast tacos and would love to see that added to to the tour.

Response from Host

Jan 2021

Thank you Laura for taking time to give us feedback along with a great review, we will try and make it more obvious for the guide to be spoted, none of our tours has left anyone starving and we try hard to make sure you have not only value for money but very importantely quality as well. I would also like to let you know that while our operations are on standby due to Covid we have created a small virtual tour of Paris keeping the same spirit of fun, passion and information, please come and have a look at the website

jhwwre

Mar 2020

A very good tour. Lots of variety in the food. My only complaint was the 2:45 start time, too late for lunch and too early for supper. I would suggest moving the start up to 1:30 to avoid the lunch crowds.

Response from Host

Jan 2021

Thank you very much for your kind review and for your feedback that helps us to improve. We will review the starting time if possible but some of our partners set us some business windows we need to comply with. I would also like to let you know that while our operations are on standby due to Covid we have created a small virtual tour of Paris keeping the same spirit of fun, passion and information, please come and have a look at the website