FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Our food tours operate rain or shine. We typically spend only 5–10 minutes walking between restaurants, with a good portion of the tour spent comfortably inside the restaurants enjoying the food and stories.

You’ll still experience the neighborhood, but you won’t be outside in the elements for the entire tour.

We can accommodate most food allergies and dietary restrictions. Vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan substitutions are available at all food stops.

If you have a specific food allergy or dietary restriction other than those listed above, please contact us before your tour at (877) 568-6877 so we can confirm whether we can accommodate your needs.

Yes. We offer vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free substitutions at all food stops.

If you’d like to know exactly what foods will be served and what substitutions are available on your specific tour, please contact us before your tour and we’ll be happy to send you a list of the tastings.

You can contact us through our website or call (877) 568-6877.

Yes. We offer vegetarian substitutions at all food stops. Please list any dietary restrictions during the checkout process so we can prepare the appropriate substitutions in advance.

If you book through a third-party website, please email [email protected] with your dietary restrictions before your tour. Because we preorder some of the food for our tours, it’s important to let us know in advance.

We can accommodate guests who keep kosher with vegetarian substitutions. However, the restaurants and food stops on our tours are not certified Glatt Kosher, so the food is not prepared in a strictly kosher environment.

If you have specific kosher dietary requirements, please contact us before booking at (877) 568-6877 so we can help you determine whether the tour is a good fit for your needs.

Our San Francisco food tours are approximately 3 hours long. During the tour, you’ll enjoy food tastings, explore the neighborhood at a comfortable walking pace, and hear stories about its history, culture, and food scene from your guide.

Our public food tours include five generous food tastings. We don’t serve tiny samples—our portions are designed so that after five delicious food stops, you’ll be pleasantly full.

There’s enough food on the tour for a full meal, so come hungry!

Our public food tours include five food stops.

Private daytime food tours with start times between 10:00 AM and 4:55 PM include five food stops, while private nighttime tours with start times between 5:00 PM and 6:30 PM include four food stops.

We serve generous portions, with enough food to make the tour a full lunch or dinner.

The foods you’ll taste depend on the San Francisco neighborhood you choose to explore.

On our North Beach Food Tour, you’ll experience the neighborhood’s Italian heritage with foods such as classic Italian sandwiches, Neapolitan-style pizza, homemade pasta, and gelato.

Our Chinatown Food Tour explores one of San Francisco’s most historic food neighborhoods with tastings that may include homemade dumplings, hand-pulled noodles, dim sum, bao, egg tarts, Peking duck, and other Chinese specialties.

On our Mission District Food Tour, you’ll discover the neighborhood’s Mexican and Latino culinary influences with foods that may include authentic Mexican tacos, arepas, empanadas, pastries, and other neighborhood favorites.

Specific tastings may change as we continually evaluate our food stops and restaurants.

Absolutely. Come hungry! Our public food tours include five generous food tastings, with enough food to make up a full lunch.

Our private tours also provide enough food for a satisfying lunch or dinner, depending on your tour time.

Our food tours cover just under one mile and are designed to be enjoyed at a comfortable, leisurely pace. We walk on relatively flat streets, with occasional stops where you may stand for about 5–10 minutes while your guide shares stories about the neighborhood, its history, food, and culture.

Our walking food tours are not strenuous, and we welcome guests of all ages.

Yes. Approximately 75% of our food tastings are enjoyed seated inside the restaurants, giving you plenty of opportunities to get off your feet throughout the tour.

We may enjoy one food stop standing inside an establishment or outside as a quicker, on-the-go tasting. This combination allows you to experience the neighborhood while still spending much of the tour comfortably seated indoors.

Our public food tours are intentionally kept small, with 2–12 guests per tour. This gives guests a more personal experience with the guide and makes it easier to enjoy the restaurants and neighborhood together.

We also offer private food tours for groups of virtually any size—from one guest to large groups of 150+ people. Larger private events are divided into smaller groups, each with its own food tour guide.

Yes. Solo travelers are welcome. However, at least two guests must already be booked on a departure before our booking system will allow a single guest to purchase a ticket.

If the ticket quantity dropdown starts at two and doesn’t offer an option for one, the two-person minimum has not yet been met. Check back later, and once “1” appears as a ticket option, you can book the tour for one person.

Each San Francisco food tour has a designated meeting and ending location:

North Beach Food Tour: Starts outside Caffe Trieste, 601 Vallejo Street, and ends at Lush Gelato, 520 Columbus Avenue.

Chinatown Food Tour: Starts outside East West Bank, 1066 Grant Avenue, and ends at AA Bakery, 1068 Stockton Street.

Mission District Food Tour: Starts outside 826 Valencia Street (The Pirate Store) and ends at Tartine Bakery, 600 Guerrero Street.

Your booking confirmation will provide your exact meeting instructions. Private food tour ending locations may differ.

No. Our food tours end at a different location from where they begin, allowing us to explore more of the neighborhood along the way.

However, the ending location is generally only about a 5–10 minute walk from the original meeting location.

Your booking confirmation provides the exact meeting location for your tour.

Your guide will be outside in front of the designated meeting location, not inside the establishment, and will be wearing a Sidewalk Food Tours button.

Don’t worry about searching for your guide—the guide will also be looking for you and the rest of the group at the designated meeting point.

We recommend arriving at the meeting location 10–15 minutes before your scheduled food tour start time. To be fair to guests who arrive on time, our tours depart promptly at the scheduled start time.

If you’re running late, call us at (877) 568-6877, and we’ll do our best to help you locate the group. Our guides are actively leading and narrating the experience, so they may not be able to answer their phones immediately.

If you arrive late and are unable to find or join the group, your tickets are not lost. A $20 per person rescheduling fee will apply, and the remaining value of your tickets will be converted to a Sidewalk Food Tours gift card credit that never expires. You can use the credit to book the tour for a future date.

Dress casually and wear comfortable walking shoes or sneakers.

Since our tours operate rain or shine, we also recommend checking the weather before your tour and dressing appropriately for the day’s conditions.

Yes. Restrooms are available at restaurant stops along our food tours.

Yes. All of our San Francisco food tours are wheelchair and mobility-scooter accessible. Strollers are also welcome.

We don’t provide wheelchairs or mobility scooters, but guests are welcome to bring and use their own.

Our food tours cover just under one mile on relatively flat streets, and we walk at a comfortable pace.

At several points during the tour, guests may stand for approximately 5–10 minutes at a time while the guide shares stories about the neighborhood. We also sit down inside restaurants for approximately 75% of our food tastings.

If you have limited mobility, we recommend considering whether walking approximately one mile with intermittent periods of standing is comfortable for you. Please contact us before booking if you have questions about your specific mobility needs.

Yes! Our food tours are family-friendly and appropriate for children. Our guides bring each neighborhood to life by sharing fascinating stories about its history, culture, and food scene.

Since every child is different, we recommend considering whether your child will enjoy listening to the guide and exploring the neighborhood during the approximately three-hour experience.

Kids especially enjoy trying the different foods along the way—and, of course, the dessert stops are often a favorite.

Strollers are welcome on our food tours.

Pets are not permitted on our food tours because we visit and dine inside restaurants and other food establishments where pets may not be allowed under local health regulations.

Service animals are welcome in accordance with applicable laws.

Complimentary water is served at the restaurants during the food tour. If you’d like water while walking between food stops, we recommend bringing a bottle with you.

At some restaurants, you may also purchase an alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage on a separate tab. Additional beverage purchases are made directly between you and the restaurant and are not included in your food tour ticket.

Yes. Alcoholic beverages are available for purchase at some of our restaurant stops. You may order a drink directly from the restaurant and pay for it on a separate tab.

Alcoholic beverages are not included in the food tour ticket price.

Your food tour ticket includes all of the food tastings from the restaurants, bakeries, and locally owned food businesses we visit. Our public tours include five generous food tastings—enough food for a full lunch.

Your experience also includes an approximately 3-hour guided walking tour led by a knowledgeable and personable food tour guide who shares stories about the neighborhood’s history, culture, people, and food scene.

Guide gratuity and additional beverages purchased from restaurants are not included.

Our public food tours are $99 for adults ages 18 and older, $79 for children ages 4–17, and free for infants ages 0–3.

Your ticket includes all five food tastings—enough food for a full lunch.

Complimentary water is served at the restaurants. Guide gratuity and additional alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages purchased directly from restaurants are not included.

No. Tour guide gratuities are not included in the price of our public food tours.

If you enjoyed your experience, a gratuity of 15%–20% of the tour price is customary and always appreciated.

Yes. All food tour tickets must be purchased in advance. You can book directly through our website or call us at (877) 568-6877.

Advance reservations also allow us to coordinate with our restaurant partners and preorder food for the tour.

We recommend booking your food tour as early as possible, particularly for weekends and other popular dates.

Booking 1–2 months in advance gives you the best chance of getting your preferred tour and date. Last-minute reservations are sometimes available, depending on availability.

Sometimes. Same-day food tour bookings may be available, depending on the tour and remaining availability.

For a same-day reservation, call (877) 568-6877 or email [email protected] so our team can check availability.

Yes. You may reschedule your food tour at no charge if you contact us at least 72 hours before your scheduled tour start time.

If you need to reschedule within 72 hours of your tour, a $20 per person rescheduling fee applies. We preorder some of the food approximately 72 hours in advance, and the fee helps cover food that has already been ordered.

To reschedule, email [email protected]. If the fee applies, we’ll send you a payment link and help you reschedule your food tour for a future date.

All food tour ticket purchases are non-refundable. However, we offer a flexible rescheduling policy because we understand that plans can change.

If you contact us at least 72 hours before your scheduled tour start time, we can convert the full value of your ticket(s) into a Sidewalk Food Tours gift card credit that never expires. You can use the credit to book your food tour for a future date.

If you need to reschedule within 72 hours of your scheduled tour start time, a $20 per person rescheduling fee applies because some of the food has already been preordered.

Our food tours operate rain or shine.

In the unlikely event that Sidewalk Food Tours needs to cancel your tour, we’ll first work with you to reschedule your experience for another date.

If you’re unable to reschedule, we’ll issue you a full refund.

Yes! Sidewalk Food Tours gift cards are available and make a great gift for friends, family, couples, food lovers, and anyone who enjoys exploring a city through its food, history, and neighborhoods.

Gift cards can be purchased through the “Buy a Gift Card” link on our website. Gift card credit never expires, so the recipient can choose the tour and date that work best for them.

Our San Francisco food tours are designed to help you experience the city’s neighborhoods through their food, history, culture, and local character, rather than simply visiting the usual tourist attractions.

We seek out neighborhood restaurants, longtime favorites, and local food spots that help tell the story of each area.

Our tours aren’t just for visitors. San Francisco locals also join us to explore neighborhoods beyond their own, discover new places to eat, and learn more about the city they call home.

Our goal is for visitors and locals alike to leave knowing the neighborhood better—and with a few new favorite places they may want to visit again.

We carefully curate each food tour by seeking out locally owned restaurants, neighborhood institutions, longtime favorites, and distinctive food businesses that help tell the story of the neighborhood.

Our team researches and visits potential food stops, tastes the food, considers recommendations from our local guides, and evaluates how each restaurant fits into the overall tour experience. We continually review our tours and make changes when we discover a restaurant or tasting that can make the experience even better.

Sidewalk Food Tours was founded in New York City in 2011 and has been leading food tours for 15 years.

We began offering San Francisco food tours in 2013, which means we’ve spent more than a decade introducing guests to the food, history, and culture of San Francisco’s neighborhoods.

Our San Francisco food tours are led by knowledgeable, personable local guides who bring the neighborhood to life through its food, history, culture, and stories.

Our guides don’t simply lead you from restaurant to restaurant. They share the stories behind the neighborhood, point out places and details you might otherwise walk past, answer questions, and help guests understand how the area’s history and people shaped its food scene.

Our public San Francisco food tours are conducted in English.

Our guides sometimes take photos with or of guests during the tour. If you prefer not to be photographed, just let your guide know.

Guests are always welcome to opt out of photos.

Yes! We offer private food tours in San Francisco, including private North Beach, Mission District, and Chinatown food tours.

Private tours are a great option for families, friends, celebrations, corporate groups, team-building events, and other groups that want a food tour reserved exclusively for them.

To inquire, complete the inquiry form on our Private Food Tours page. Our team will confirm availability for your requested date and time and help you plan your experience.

Family & Friends Private Food Tours are $109 per person for adults and children, for both daytime and nighttime tours.

Corporate Team-Building Food Tours are $118.42 per person, for both daytime and nighttime tours.

We can accommodate everything from one guest to large private and corporate events with 150+ guests.

For larger events, we divide guests into smaller groups, each led by its own professional food tour guide. Groups can follow staggered routes through the neighborhood while sharing the same general starting and ending locations.

We recommend booking large private events as early as possible because we may need to coordinate multiple guides and restaurant arrangements.

We operate on most holidays throughout the year.

Our food tours are closed on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day.

Our public San Francisco food tours run on the following days and times:

Mission District Food Tour: Friday and Sunday, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM.

Chinatown Food Tour: Saturday and Sunday, from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

North Beach Food Tour: Saturday and Monday, from 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM.

Private food tours are available seven days a week.