Secret Food Tours Austin — Local services in Austin

Benjamin was an excellent guide and the group we went with was lovely so we had an enjoyable experience. The four stars is because the menu is not what was advertised when I booked and I had been looking forward to trying a nice variety of foods.

The advertised menu in all the places I researched before booking was 6 stops including brisket, a breakfast taco, a smoothie, a fusion dish from a food truck, soup dumpling and monster cookie or flan dish.

The Secret Food Tours website itself mentioned the items above and while during the tour our guide let us know that some places had changed, I would have liked to have known in advance that we weren’t getting what we signed up for. In reality we only stopped at 5 places - which was disappointing considering the cost per person was the same as it would have been for the advertised 6th stop. We didn’t stop at a food truck either which I was very much looking forward to and I think would have been a must-stop because of the food truck scene in Austin. We had a breakfast taco (this place started as a food truck, but we were at the brick and mortar). We had a pastrami slider - I’m not sure if this was supposed to be the secret dish or a fusion dish - it is a little unclear and we definitely did not get both. We had a kids-size smoothie (very tasty) and brisket which was delicious, then finished with a cheesecake/flan combo that was also good.

While the group and guide made it an experience worth having, the fact that we were shorted one stop (without being make aware in advance) and that they were not the stops I was expecting based on their website and others like Viator, I can’t help but walk away a little disappointed. As a foodie and a person who loves to cook- I wanted a range of small bites to really experience the Austin food scene, both in locations and variety of the dishes chosen. The cost was pretty high for what it was ($160 for 2 of us, plus a tip for the guide) and it would have gone a long way to include the 6th stop. While I understand that something like a soup dumpling might be a better choice for cooler weather, there is so much food in Austin that it would have been easy to make a stop by a food truck or have some other seasonal food. I would recommend better transparency and/or backup options for the company.

All in all, the food and company was good, but I do think there’s a ton of untapped potential that could make this an incredible tour reflective of such...

I originally signed up for the South Congress Austin tour with Zachary. However, about 45 minutes before the tour, he texted stating me and my partner were the only ones who signed up for the tour so he offered to switch us to the downtown tour, reschedule, and continue as is. I let him know that we preferred the downtown tour food list so asked if we could switch (since he offered that) and he stated that it would be no problem and switched me to the downtown tour with Kate (who was wonderful) and Zachary told us the change was approved by his supervisor. However, when we arrived, Kate told us it had not been approved. We were able to join the group but had to miss out on the food at the first stop due to the short notice as it would extend the time and would not be fair to the others. Let me be very clear.. I 100% agree and understand that stance but it is because Zachary failed to reach out in time to make this change that we were left in this situation. He could have reached out earlier in the day or the day before to let us know but his lack of planning became my problem. Kate did offer another side dish at a different stop in order to make it up to us but this could have all been avoided had Zachary reached out in time to make the change (as I responded immediately to him). Kate was a wonderful tour guide and made us feel welcomed and was very knowledgeable about the area. The only reason for not having a full 5 stars is because we were told the change was approved and were not told there was a caveat. The food was amazing and the tour was...

I love food tours. I did not love this food tour.

PROs: Some of the food was yummy. Cool to get to try different stuff.

MIX: The spice level was higher then we were used to... could be a pro or con depending on your palette.

CONs: The tour guide Ben barely did his job. He did not give us information about the city or even describe what was unique about the food/restaurant. One person in our group was vegetarian and they had a very sub-par experience. The introduction to vegetarian food should be "and the vegetarians will get something else" without telling them what it was even. We did not get drinks (not even water) at some of the locations which was weird... I always need a drink when I have something to eat- especially things like cheese or chocolate. Half of the tour was Mexican food; We wish we had a larger variety. It was a mix of high quality and low quality food. For example, the first taco stop was similar to something from Taco Bell. The last item was a chocolate chip cookie with nuts in it. So, I just didn't feel like we got a truly foodie experience.

I would not recommend this tour.

Update: The tour company just reaching out to me via e-mail and offered me a free food tour IF I TOOK DOWN MY REVIEW HERE!! Is...