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.
Réponse de l'hôte
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?