Heart & Soul of Greenwich Village Food Tour Review
If you’re looking for a food tour to explore some of Greenwich Village’s best eats, sit down and prepare to feast.
Living in the city these days means Caroline and I spend most of our time either working on our walking tours or eating at home to save money. We only treat ourselves to the delights of New York City eats every now and again. When the opportunity came up to take a food tour and explore the Big Apple through it’s Greenwich Village restaurants, we jumped at the chance.
Foods of NY Tours is an incredible local food tour business here in the city. They’ve been around since 1999, which means I was barely feeding myself when they began sharing the best food in New York City with the world. So they know a thing or two about food!
While they offer many different food tours around Manhattan and Brooklyn, we chose to join their Greenwich Village “Heart & Soul” tour because it’s one of their most popular experiences.
So What Was It Like?
Our day began with meeting our group at a classic Italian family-style restaurant in the heart of Greenwich Village’s bustling Macdougal St. Joanna, our guide greeted us and instantly made us all feel welcomed. She prepared us for what we were about to experience in the next three hours of our day.
PS… Joanna was a rock star guide who really made us feel like old friends!
After introductions, we headed to our very first stop, Cafe Dante. In an effort to not ruin the allure and surprise of the stops for you, this will be one of the few restaurants I will name in the review. You will have to join them on a future tour if you want to know all the fun stops first-hand!
We kicked off the many tastings with my personal favorite on the tour: Cafe Dante’s with Sea Salt on honeycomb, cranberry, and pecan sourdough flatbread. If that doesn’t get your taste buds salivating then the photo below may.
One slice of this stuff was not enough for me, but I quickly learned to pace myself as we had seven more tastings to go. The burrata cheese was so soft and flavorful that I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to go back to traditional mozzarella ever again.
Once we finished with our first tasting, our guide Joanna took us around Greenwich Village. She shared not only the history about the food we were tasting, but also the surrounding areas such as Washington Square Park and the like.
From exploring the Village’s fast-casual Indian cuisine…
Exploring where to get the best coffee beans…
Finding a hidden gem to grab fresh spices, tea, and honey…
To all kinds of desserts and cookies…
Every fifteen minutes we were trying or exploring something new. It made the tour so endlessly exciting!
And last but certainly not least, we need to mention the empanadas. Those sweet, sweet Empanadas.
Caroline’s favorite and a close second fav for me were the empanadas from a place called Cuba.
There, we had a variety of traditional Cuban foods. The crust on the empanadas was perfectly crunchy and thick, while the fillings of spinach, cheese, and beef made for an almost out of body experience.
I wanted to eat more of these but at the tail end of the tour, my stomach was telling me that wouldn’t be wise.
Final thoughts
After sampling more than ten different foods, I left this food tour stuffed and extremely satisfied.
Being a New Yorker, I often find myself getting stuck in a routine and forget that there are hundreds, no thousands, of new restaurants and activities I have yet to explore. This food tour was no different. Now Caroline and I have a list of Greenwich Village spots that we must return to for full meals.
At a price of $54 per person, this food tour doesn’t disappoint!
In fact, I am stunned at how affordable it was for just how much food you get during the tour. Alcoholic beverages are not included in the price, so be sure to bring an extra $10-$20 if you’d like to enjoy some wine or mojitos along the journey.
If a good blend of food, local businesses, and history is what you’re looking for in a New York City tour, I’d recommend giving the Foods of NY Heart & Soul Greenwich Village tour a try!
Okay, time to go find that cheese again…
Full disclosure: Opinions are our own and we have not received compensations for this review.