Tastebud Food Tours

Chef Kim, the food tour guide, was fantastic. Friendly, knowledgeable, and interesting. This wasn't his normal tour, but he still did a great job. I love that he had a few specific spots to take our picture, because those pictures came out great. He was definitely 5 stars.The food tour stops, however, were great, mediocre, and just plain bad, so I feel like Tastebud Food Tours needs to do some tweaking as to where they provide food from. I have done many, many food tours in NOLA, and the quality of food served in this one was definitely at the low end of the taste scale.We met our group near Café du Monde. Turns out the group was just my friend and I - perfect!First stop: Armantine Seafood and Spirits - 4 stars. We had half a shrimp po' boy here and charbroiled oysters. Both were delicious, and I would definitely eat here again.Second Stop: New Orleans Creole Cookery - 2 stars, maybe 1 star. Absolutely terrible service and embarrassingly horrible "Shrimp Remoulade". I can't believe they would even say that's what it was supposed to be. Shrimp in thousand island dressing would be a more accurate description. The seafood gumbo was edible, which is about the only kind thing I can say about the place. Third Stop: Cornet Restaurant - 3 stars. At least the manager was nice here, and ready for us. The two fried fish fingers were fine, although how is this a NOLA specialty? The Crawfish Étouffée was decent, if lacking crawfish. The recommended blueberry drink we purchased was tasty, but clearly had minimal booze in it.Fourth Stop: Laura's Pralines and Candies - 5 stars - favorite! We got a praline and our choice of truffle here, and honestly, both were divine. I ended up buying more pralines to-go from her, because we got a discount on purchases.Chef Kim was a fount of knowledge, and I am grateful he managed to get us into lunch at a local spot that was all booked up. I think that Tastebud Food Tours, however, needs to up their game and provide quality, enjoyable, locally-based food at every stop, not just one or two.

Tish was a terrific guide! Good energy, friendly, and informative - told great stories about the area. We went to four places. Walking around the French Quarter was fun, too. I tried a po'boy sandwich, muffuletta sandwich, jambalaya, gumbo, and pralines. It gave me a good sense of regional cuisine. We were seated inside interesting restaurants to enjoy the samples. So the balance of walking and resting was perfect. The amount of food provided was enough to fill me up for lunch. The praline was fantastic!

We booked our tour and got Suzette, I think we struck gold. Suzette clearly loves her city, she is knowledgeable about the culture, food and history. She doesn't gloss over the dark history of the city, rather she talks in depth about how the history of New Orleans has made it into the incredible city it is today. Her knowledge is expansive, beyond what she talks about on the tour, so make sure you ask her questions! You will learn a lot.We actually bumped into suzette later on that day as she was practicing a new part of her tour, she stopped and chatted to us about her new segment. The laws of Louisiana! Absolutely fascinating! I feel like we could bump into Suzette in 10 years time and she would still recognize us and say hello. Lots of people run tours but few have the warmth and friendliness of Suzette.

We had a wonderful time with Tish on this food tour! She was very knowledgeable about the city, the food, and all of the restaurants that we visited. We really loved that she took the time to get to know our group, talk to us about the history of each of the dishes, and provide a locals guidance! We have taken another food tour in the area before, and while we felt that the dishes were similar, we felt that this was a personal experience. We are really looking forward to doing a "prohibition" alcohol tour with Tastebud soon!!!!

My recommendation: Do this tour and ask for Suzette. They are correct when the instructions are to come hungry. My group was able to enjoy a muffuletta, po boy (beef), gumbo ya ya (chicken), alligator with grits and finally a praline at Laura's. In addition to explaining the history of the food, she provided us with the history and interesting facts about New Orleans itself. She was able to answer any questions we had and we had a few.

My group of 10 did a food tour with TISH!!! We came as a bachelorette party, which could have been a tough assignment, but Tish absolutely joined the group with such ease and an eager spirit. She was so knowledgeable of New Orleans culture, casual and personable to be around, and was full of stories about local happenings. We thoroughly adored and enjoyed our day with Tish and would recommend her to anyone coming to NOLA! As for the food, we got way more than we expected. All of us were full and happy by the end of the tour, having eaten two sandwiches, boudin balls, gumbo, jambalaya, and pralines. It was such a fun way to eat a lot of the food we knew we wanted to try upon visiting. TLDR; we ate a lot, totally worth it, request Tish as your tour guide!!

We took a New Orleans Fat Tuesday Food tour of the French Quarter with Roger on Friday, 9/30. It was our very first activity after arriving in New Orleans, and a very memorable one! Roger was engaging and not only did he arrange for plenty of food samples throughout the afternoon to fill our bellies, but he also gave us a full historical tour of the French quarter neighborhood as we walked from restaurant to restaurant. It was an all-inclusive tour. Roger really provided a unique local's perspective. My favorite part of the tour was the opportunity to throw beads to locals and tourists from atop a restaurant balcony (optional activity). This really put me in the spirit of being in New Orleans. Thank you Roger for a fun afternoon!

We took the French Quarter food tour in October with Suzanne. She was such a friendly, knowledgeable, and passionate tour guide. You could really tell how much she loves the rich culture, history, food and people of New Orleans. She gave little history lessons as we walked from restaurant to restaurant and really engaged the whole group in conversation. All the food we tried was great, signature New Orleans food, but the best dish was the beef po' boy from Nola Po'boy. So messy and delicious! If you only have limited time in New Orleans, I highly recommend this food tour!

Suzanne was a wonderful tour guide. Our family had so much fun and learned a lot, all while enjoying delicious food!

The absolute best!! We recently booked a craft cocktail class and luncheon through Tastebud Tours for a group of 10 and were beyond thrilled. This 50th birthday event far exceeded our expectations and we made lasting memories. The Briquette tasting menu, staff and of course the cocktails were perfect. Lynn went above and beyond and was amazing! He customized our experience by getting to know us, working closely with the restaurant owner, and communicating effectively. We were given a private class at Briquette Restaurant where our mixologists, Toby and Timmie, made the experience perfect. I am So grateful to everyone involved and we plan to use Tastebud Tours again! They are the best!