Tastebud Food Tours

I thought that this tour was an amazing way to taste NOLA’s traditional cuisine and meet others touring the city. The tour guide and staff at each restaurant/​tour stop were extremely friendly! Our group was small (7 people) so that made the whole experience pretty pleasurable.
The size of the sandwiches (a brisket po’ boy and muffuletta) were very generous. I was worried after the first stop if I’d get full too quickly! But the Jambalaya and Gumbo samples at Coffee Pot Gumbo were extremely small — the Jambalaya was amazing so I would have loved more!!! The desserts however were a little disappointing, the cannoli? wasn’t very unique at all but the praline was fantastic! I’d recommend this tour to others if you have a few hours to kill, it’s a great way to see and meet others in the city.

Awesome tour w Jeannine! Jeannine did a great job of telling us the history of all the spots we visited and also an excellent history of how the foods we were eating, came about. She knew everyone, everywhere and it made it very pleasant to be in the restaurants and stores. A very educational tour while sampling some seriously delicious food.

An excellent way to spend the day in New Orleans. Libby was a great host. She had an excellent knowledge of the history, great insight into the food and was an excellent MC. The group was small which was nice. Highly recommended.

Really enjoyed the history and all the stops we made. Our guide really knew her stuff and gave great recommendations.

The tour is clearly designed around historical or media based noteworthy places in New Orleans, but if you’re a real foodie, you will not like this tour and think it is a waste of money. For starters, there were 16 people in our group which is far too large when considering the small locations we stopped at, the ability to walk together and clearly communicate with the group. I was unimpressed with our guide Linda (the guide we overheard because their tour was 30 minutes behind ours was much better). We had a person in a wheel chair which is hard enough to manage in New Orleans but our guide for the most part just kept going without concern for the group staying together so we were strewn about. When we did stop, it was very difficult to hear her with such a large group. At the places we stopped we were often in close quarters, the venue’s were unprepared and for the most part appeared annoyed at our presence. Beyond being inconsiderate our guide was inaccurate! While her story of how the cocktail was invented was ‘fun’, it was completely false! The best stops on the tour were Café beignet, the spice store (which isn’t even a part of the tour but the muffalletas were not ready and they didn’t have anywhere for us to sit) and Laura’s candy store. I will say the Café Beignet was better than Café Du Monde which we had tried the previous day, and the candy store lets you sample everything whether you are on the tour or not. The other food wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t remarkable either. The food wasn’t the deal breaker for me. I would tell anyone wishing to sample the food of New Orleans NOT to go on this tour and instead go straight to the French market which has several different vendors and for the same price you can sample much more of the great food New Orleans has to offer. Also, of course look on Unilocal,we had some of the best food finds using Unilocal (and our tour guide hadn’t even heard of those places).

They take you to interesting places… a few icons that have been in business for a long time that you likely wouldnt get to on your own. But the tour was unorganized and skimpy. Tour guide was late arriving, places were not ready for us, and seemed genuinely annoyed by our presence. Two of the five were pieces of po boy sandwiches. The best stop by far was gumbo and Jambalaya at The Old Coffee Pot — nice place, great food, but we were held hostage in this hot, cluttered upstairs storage room for about 45 minutes waiting for our samples. Forth stop was Café Beignet at Music Legends Park for a 3/​$ 3 beignet… nice place and a must for Bourbon Street experience but also not prepared for us. Last stop was a $ 1 praline cookie at Laura’s Candies. Tastebud needs to up the game to get a better review. On a good food tour, the people from the restaurant actually talk to you and treat you like guests. You get a sample of something awesome from their menu, and usually something interesting to drink with your food other than tap water. This was literally the least they could do and still call it a food tour. It didnt help that it was a very busy Saturday afternoon and everyplace was crowded. This might be better on a weekday.

This was our first food tour. Patricia was a fantastic tour guide. We had just the right mix of delicious fare and history. Really enjoyed Patricia’s personality and is a great way to see some highlights of the city.

Linda did a great job leading through a great food tour. We really enjoyed starting at the bar and ending at the praline company, but loved the in-​betweens. The po’ boy sandwich was excellent as was the mufalletta, gumbo, and jambalaya. Thanks!

Went on the Taste of New Orleans tour on 12÷4÷15. It was great and our tour guide, Libby, was wonderful! Not only did we have awesome food to taste, Libby was very knowledgable about the history of the French Quarter and it’s many not so secret secrets. I would highly recommend this tour.

We did this tour with a group of 10 people and had a wonderful time. Our guide was very knowledgeable and the food was wonderful. I thought it was a great way to see the city and get a good flair for it. My 90 year old grandma went and also really enjoyed herself. I would highly recommend this tour. Rich was our guide and I would strongly encourage you to take the tour with him if you have the option.

Our guide Jeanine had an obvious enthusiasm for her job. We learned a great deal about the city and it’s unique food. We learned the origins of many of today’s most popular dishes. The high point was eating gumbo at The Coffee Pot.

This was my second time doing a tour with this company, the first was in Chicago. I didn’t think a food tour could get much better than my first experience, but this one was just as great!
Walking around the city and eating the food it has to offer has to be one of the best ways to «see» a city. The food was amazingly delicious and I was stuffed for hours afterwards, whatever you do, do not eat before you go!
My tour guide, David Thomas, was knowledgeable about not only the food we were eating, but New Orleans as a whole, which made it much more fun and interesting. I asked him where some good drinking establishments were afterwards and he let me know all the best places/​times to go for the rest of my stay in NOLA.

Amazing! We had Linda and she was funny and smart. We loved the food and the stories. Small, intimate tours and the best food of New Orleans!

Being that New Orleans is the mecca for delicious fare, I had high expectations for Tastebud Food Tours, especially since the Unilocal ratings were so high. Sadly, the food that we ate and the restaurants that we visited did not warrant the price of $ 44 per person.
First Stop: Serio’s PoBoys. One quarter of a muffaletta sandwich that had fresh cut meats and a zesty olive salad, but mildly underwhelmed overall because of the dry bread. This spot was likely chosen because Bobby Flay had a throw down competition held at this location which was on TV.
Second Stop: Café Beignet. The only 5 star place on the tour. You would think these beignets would be the type they’d serve in heaven. Fluffy and warm to the touch, they’re generously powdered with sugar and sized well. Café Au Lai is also given to eat in conjunction with the beignet.
Third Stop: Old Coffee Pot. This place is popular for these reasons: 1) It’s one of the oldest restaurants in the French Quarter. 2) Guy Fieri featured this spot on Triple D. 3) This building is almost a national landmark since it has spanish influences and survived a horrific fire many decades ago. Other than that, they served us jambalaya which I felt was good and gumbo, which I felt was one of the more distasteful dishes I had during my trip in NOLA.
Fourth Stop: Johnny’s Po’ Boys. The Roast Beef poboy given was about 3 inches in length. The proportions on the sandwich was poor, but my oh my, that gravy is worth mentioning. Very savory with peppery aftertastes.
Fifth Stop: Laura’s Candy Shop. Sampling heaven. This place would make Costco sampling look elementary. To boot, the chocolate here is delicious! The Mississippi Mud is a must try. You receive one free creole praline and 10% off anything in the store.
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Conclusion: One thing I did love about Tastebuds was that a historical and informational element was brought into the food tour. My tour guide, named Patricia, was very friendly and knowledgeable. To her credit, I did enjoy the history behind the muffaletta, the poboy, and the beignet. I just wish the food would’ve made my tastebuds sing; the portions weren’t enough to satisfy me either. For $ 44, I feel I could’ve gotten a sandwich from Verti Marte, Butcher Cochon, and 4 orders of beignets at Café Beignet with change to spare. Overall, pass on this and look at my list of NOLA Eats instead! :)
Extra Notes:
–Accepts credit card online
–Save $ 2 on each ticket using this website below. (Good till 8÷31÷15)
–Don’t come famished and bring an umbrella just in case
–I did like how Tastebud Tours made sure you were hydrated throughout
–Restroom breaks available at different restaurant stops

We felt that this was a great value for the money. There was enough food served that we felt full at the end. Water was free at each stop and other drinks could be purchased. The guide was very informative and helpful. The walking was manageable and reasonable. If you book it, arrive hungry but not famished. Try to go empty handed so you don’t juggle backpacks or purses through the crowds. Wear comfy shoes. Bring cash to purchase things at a few stops. Enjoy!

We had a lovely time with our tour guide, Libby, who seemed to know the city inside and out. I have to say, the Muffaletta was definitely my favorite stop… or was it the beignets? The staff who served us at the Old Coffee Pot seemed annoyed. The restaurant had closed early that day and it was obvious that a couple of them had to stick around to serve us and were not happy about it.
But other than that, the tour itself moved at a perfect pace and allowed us to experience the city and sample many of the foods for which it’s well known. Great job!

Richard did a great job. He is a retired principal, and he gave us a lot of history on the area and food. Very interesting. And he’s a natural speaker. He encourages questions. Our favorite stop was the first one: Spiro’s for Muffaletta (sp). We also enjoyed the Music Legends Park for the live music and public restrooms (rare in the FQ). We were stuffed when the tour was done and enjoyed it very much.
We actually took a total of 4 tours (3 were Free Tours by Foot), and this was our favorite.

If you want a taste of New Orleans in an afternoon, then you will definitely want to take this tour. We had Linda as our tour guide, and were very happy with all of the information of the city that she gave us as we walked from each location. My two favorite stops on this tour were the Old Coffee Pot Restaurant, and Johnny’s Po Boys. These places had the best gumbo and Po’boys that I had during my stay. Make sure you come to this tour hungry, as you will eat a lot. If you have any dietary restrictions, MAKE sure you tell them before you start your tour (I suggest calling them ahead of time). There were people on our tour who needed vegetarian options, and they made sure that there was something tasty for them at every location. The first stop serves you a FORTH of a muffuletta, and it is HUGE. They also give you your choice of water or soda. (You can purchase alcoholic drinks if you want). You get to try one beignet at Café Beignet, but it too is fairly large. These beignets are made to order, so they don’t start them until the group walks up. You also get a small cup of their Café Au Lait. I enjoyed learning some of the history of the Old Coffee Pot Restaurant, while we sampled the gumbo and jambalaya. (You are given water here with your sample). These portions weren’t very big, however, the first two portions of the day were, so I think that if every stop serve large portions, then you wouldn’t be hungry at all by the time you finished the third stop. We then walked on over to a tea & spice shop, which was interesting, but probably my least favorite spot on the tour. They had tea for us to try here, which was chilled. The cold tea was nice since we had just walked a bit to get here. If you want to buy spices, salts, and sugars that aren’t typically in your grocery stores, then this little shop is great. Pretty much every spice and salt that you could want can be found in this store.
The next place we tried was Johnny’s Po’ Boys, which we had down by the river. We were again given bottles water with our samples (I really appreciated that they kept us hydrated). The view of the water was absolutely beautiful and it was nice to sit down and eat while conversing with the rest of the group. After everyone finished eating and taking pictures, we went to the final stop, Laura’s, where we all received a freshly made praline. Apparently this is the only place that still makes and sells the creole pralines. However, they let us take a sample of whichever praline we wanted (they offered a couple different flavors). They also had things to sample all over the store, so my sweet tooth was more than filled. I actually saved my praline for later as I sampled a ton of different sweets.
I thought Linda did a fantastic job of keeping our group together (there were 16 of us I think), and I felt like everyone was able to hear what she had to say when we would stop and she tell us a little history about a place. I also thought that she did an excellent job of interacting with the entire group. She really made an effort to chat with every person on the tour, and made sure that everyone had gotten their taste buds fill before we’d move on to the next stop. She also gave us a few recommendations to try out before we left town, and they were spot on!
This tour is a fabulous way to explore the city, learn a little history, and sample of the signature dishes the New Orleans has to offer.

I recently went to New Orleans for a bachelorette party for my cousin. Knowing that the group was a bunch of foodies, I decided to book this food tour.
Richard was our guide and he was wonderful. We sampled from from 5 walkable, local eateries. Richard gave us the history of every meal we consumed as well as some tips and facts about NOLA as we walked through the streets! Some of the stories were a tad long winded, but we absolutely loved this tour!
I recommend this tour for any group looking for some brief and interesting history as well as a tasting of the best of each meal indigenous to New Orleans.

While I was in New Orleans, I went on 4 food tours. This one was just OK. The guide, Linda, talked more about herself than the history of New Orleans. The group was large — about 12 people, which was embarrassing walking through the French Quarter. People were honking at us to get out of the way and I have never felt like such a blatant tourist. Ugh.
I much preferred my food tours with the Confederacy of Cruisers and the New Orleans Culinary History Tours.