I’ve taken food tours in other cities, including Dublin and Singapore, and these NYC food tours with Nice Guy Tours are truly top-notch. Overall the best differentiators for this experience are: the value, the ratio of food to walking tour, and the friendliness of the guide (Dante).
I started with booking the Greenwich Village tour solo at the last-minute due to my unexpected availability. Despite joining the group as a party of 1, I felt very much included, and Dante did a great job of keeping everyone engaged. I was staying in the village, so I had already explored some restaurants on my own, but it was much better being taken to some of the best spots and learning more about the neighborhood and the food.
I had such a great experience on my first tour that I booked the Lower East Side tour for two days later, and I brought along a friend. My friend is vegan, and Dante was very responsive via email in advance as we corresponded about vegan offerings on the tour. Overall, Dante was super accommodating for my friend and her vegan restrictions, and we both enjoyed more-than-enough amazing food.
Across both tours, I really appreciated Dante’s recognition of evolved health/sanitation standards, as he ensured that each party had its own sauces/plates/napkins/etc. The tours also have a great balance of food and walking/information and neither felt too slow or too rushed. These tours are also a great value: given the high prices in the city, the price of the tours is amazing considering you’re given more than a full meal, get to try food from several spots, and are given a tour of the neighborhoods.
When I travel, I prefer to support smaller businesses instead of larger tourism enterprises, and Nice Guy Tours is a perfect example of a great small business that truly cares about its customers and the community. Out of curiosity, I asked Dante about his tour group size minimum (since I’ve had tours in other cities canceled due to low bookings), and he said it’s one — meaning he would still operate a tour with just one customer; I was very impressed by this commitment to customer service.
Comparing the 2 tours: if you can do both tours, then you definitely should — I thoroughly enjoyed both! If you have to pick one, then I’d say the Greenwich Village tour was a bit more interesting of a walking tour experience and the food on the Lower East Side tour was a bit more interesting, so pick based on which aspect you might value more — you won’t be disappointed with either choice.