Seattle Bites Food Tours

Arty is a great tour guide. He started off asking everyone’s name and where we were from. His knowledge of Seattle Pike Place is great - I’ve lived Seattle since 2001 and still learned some new things and parts of the market I had not seen before. And the relationships he’s built with vendors at the market and to acquire the good food for the tastings is wonderful!

We did a this food tour with our host Arty and he was great! He had so much knowledge of the food we were having and about pike place! It was such a great experience to get a taste of a little bit of everything around the pike place market! Would recommend !!

The Seattle Secret Food you with James was superior. We had such a good time sampling the best food and seeing and learning about Seattle. James is an excellent guide.

James did our secret food tour in Seattle, and it was phenomenal. We got to go around Pike Place market, taste so many things, and we also learned a ton of history about the market. Our favorites were tied between the sandwich, chowder, and cheesecake. I highly recommend booking this tour. It was amazing. 15/10.

The tour was fantastic! We got to try foods we wouldn’t have otherwise, and our tour guide Jenn was full of information and great local tips on what else we should check out!

So fun touring the market it’s so huge can be overwhelming but James made it so easy we even stayed a bit to check out some more before heading to the hotel highly recommended

Arty was a great tour guide! Very knowledgable, friendly and whitty! We very much enjoyed our experience and would recommend taking the tour to anyone going to the PNW

We had an excellent food tour in Seattle yesterday. Arty was a great tour guide. He gave a personal testimony on every area that we visited. He was quite informative, friendly , and answered all of our questions. He gave us an insight to the history of Seattle and was very knowledgeable about every area we visited. We would highly recommend this tour to anyone interested in finding a little bit about Seattle, as well as tasting some of the delicacies that were offered. We truly enjoyed this tour, felt it was valuable, reasonably priced, and would recommend it to anyone. It was well worth the price and experience. Arty does a GREAT job!

This tour is an absolute must and a PERFECT curation of the best bites at Pike Place Market! We spent a Saturday morning taking this tour and were blown away by how chill and relaxed it was (especially during a busy Saturday crowd!). They set you up really well with minimalist ear pieces which makes it SO nice. No one has to raise their voice, you can control your own volume and you aren't stuck in too tight of a group - you just flow through the market. Chip, our TREMENDOUS guide, was a fountain of fascinating information about the Market's history. We had been there before, but the backstory of the market made our appreciation and enjoyment of the experience exponentially better. On top of it all, the selection of bites are absolutely perfect. Each one is top notch and the perfect balance of flavor and amount of food. You will definitely get enough to eat, but won't feel like you've had too much or not gotten a variety. We LOVED this tour and highly recommend it to anyone who wants a truly well designed tour and perfect Seattle experience.

I went on the food tour with guide Jonathan Oxorn. What a fabulous experience. He taught me many new tidbit about the market and took us to many of the food businesses for delicious tastes from cheese to clam chowder to pizza to gelato with several others. I recommend it highly, but be sure to come hungry.

I am sooo glad my boyfriend and I did this tour. We visit Seattle quite a bit so Pike Place Market is definitely not new to us, but we wanted an activity to do and since we both have never done a food tour before we thought, why not. Not only did we get to sample many different yummy "bites" within the market, we also got to learn about the rich history and culture of how the market came about. It gave me such a deeper respect for this place. Booking this tour is fairly easy to do online. On the day of you are to meet at the designated location to meet your guide. If there are any issues you can contact the owner Mark directly and they have a 100% money back if you're not satisfied. If this isn't good customer service then I don't know what is. Our guide for the day was Chip. Chip was friendly, funny, and engaging. You can tell he loves his job and is proud to share his knowledge about the market.He remembered all of our names and I felt this made it seem so much more personal than a tour. If there is a large group you will be provided audio headsets but since we were only a group of 6 that day we were able to hear him just fine without them. You can tell there has been a lot of thought put into this tour and I applaud the company for such a wonderful job well done. Not only were the bites we got to sample so delicious, they were a nice variety ranging from the the famous Pike Place Chowder to Elleno's Greek Yogurt to Texas BBQ to Mexican tacos to Paris-inspired crepes to fresh local and seasonal fruits, just to name a few. And let's talk about the servings. They feed a generous amount so that by the end of the tour we were actually full. Totally bang for your buck! This is a great activity for tourists and locals alike to spend an afternoon at the market. A nice plus is if you decide to come back and visit any of the merchants after the tour, you will receive a discount. If you're reading this then do not wait any longer! Go reserve a tour now! For a detailed read about this tour & many other travels,visit http://whenwentravels.com/2018/09/06/seattle-bites-food-tour/

This was such a great (and tasty) way to explore Pike Place Market. The meeting place was easy to find and our guide Chip was wonderful. He shared all sorts of stories about the history of the market and the area with us along with information about the foods we were sampling and the establishments and people that produced them. By the time we were through I was not only full of good food but full of knowledge! I've done many food tours. It's one of my favorite ways to get to know a place because the foods we eat are a reflection of who we are and where we came from. This tour is one of the best I've been on. Our guide was fun and engaging, the tour was well structured and interesting and the samples we tried were incredibly generous and really yummy. I also appreciate that Chip was very sensitive to the needs of the group. One of the people was in a walking cast and he was very careful to make sure she was comfortable and able to keep up. I highly recommend that if you have the time, you add a Seattle Bites food tour to your itinerary and if you live in the area you should go too because I'm sure you will learn some things you didn't know.

Silas was such a great energetic tour guide! Everything went so smoothly and all the spots he took us to were delicious. So happy with our experience I hope to do it again!

This was by far the best money we spent in Seattle!!! The tour was informative, entertaining & delicious!! We had Jan Marie- the owner- who was tons of fun & literally knew every vendor (by name) in the market! Even my husband, who usually loses interest quickly, had a great time! We went back to the hotel full & happy! (The only thing I would recommend is wearing very comfortable shoes.. we were on our feet for about 3 hours.)

Totally recommend this tour for several reasons that are all important: 1. Chip (tour guide) was/is entertaining. 2. Food portions are generous and not a lot of fluff with chocolates, etc like others. 3. There are headsets for the tour. This might not seem like a big de but it's a HUGE DEAL. We saw other groups, no headsets which meant it would have been impossible for the guides to be engaging with their guests - it's just not realistic in Pike Place Market (SO LOUD). 4. Our group was smiling through the tour... other tour companies, not so much. See headset comment above, probably has to do with lack of connection with guests. Fun morning/afternoon activity!

Not that this place needs another review for you to know that it's a great tour, but just in case you're still wondering if you should do it or not, I'll write my 5 star review. Two things you should know about my travels - I'm all about the history of the city and the food. This tour combined both in such a way that I was happily full, never bored, and more truly interested in the city's history. Our tour guide was Kristin and at first I thought she was a little too upbeat for a rainy Seattle morning. I'm used to blue skies in southern Cali. But I was wrong, Kristin was great. She supplied us with headsets and tote bags. Although the headset was a bit uncomfortable, I was fully appreciating it in the market when it would have been really hard to hear. Plus, it allowed me to take pictures while still listening to her speak. The tote bag just carried 2 Dixie cups for soda samples and a food tour map. At the end, I gave back my bag so she can reuse it. Hey, I did learn from Kristin that Seattle is very Eco conscious! Someone already yelped in detail about the food stops on the tour, but, in case you don't wanna scroll all the way down, I can add my two cents: 1. Taste (at Seattle Art Museum): smoked salmon flat bread. So good! There were 13 or so on my tour, and I was still able to get 4 samples, while most stuck with the polite 2. Hey, it was THAT GOOD for me! - treated to a short history on how the restaurant came to be, from a little cart on the street to the restaurant adjacent to the museum. 2. Crepe de France (at the Economy Market): nutella and banana crepes with whipped cream and dry lavender soda. -Kristin explained why this part of the market was called the Economy market. Very good story, complete with why there are ramps instead of stairs. (For the horses back in the day!) 3. I Love New York Deli (inside the Public Market): 1/4 of a pastrami sandwich, potato knish, and fresh pickle. I think there might have been a dry soda here too. VERY BIG BITE! It could have been a mini meal! -treated to a history lesson on why the floors have names on them. Very interesting. I came home and repeated the story to those I showed the pictures to. Ask about the love letter on the floor! Walking through the market to the next stop, we passed by a cool looking creamery which also has a great story behind it! I think this is where Kristin taught me about Seattle's "seamstress" past. She also explained to us why the Sanitary Market is called the Sanitary Market. 4. Pike Place Chowder (Post Alley): generous sample of the New England Clam Chowder. -treated to a story of why they are no longer allowed to enter the best clam chowder contest. (I also ate here the day before, you can read my separate review on the other chowders.) 5. Uli's Sausage: loved their cole slaw! Also had rhubarb dry soda, which I liked better than the lavender one. 6. The fish place next door (I don't know the name): BEST smoked salmon ever! So fresh! AND they let you have more samples if you want! 7. Corner Produce: Samples of pluots, apples, and nectarines. The guy asked what our group wanted to sample and that's what we came up with. Very good and very sweet. I ended up buying a pluot and a nectarine. 8. Saffron Spice: Tikka Masala (did I spell that right?) with saffron rice and a homemade blueberry yogurt smoothie. YUM!! and it was a HUGE sample! 9. Seattle Coffee Works. I wrote a separate review for this place because I took a coffee crawl (DO NOT TAKE THE SEATTLE BY FOOT COFFEE CRAWL!) and this was a stop on that tour as well. But they have really good coffee. At Uli's, Kristin starts to explain why there are no longer any Japanese vendors at the Market. Right before going up to Seattle Coffee Works, she finishes the story. It's a really sad story, but also a really important part of the Market's history. She also talks about the man who saved the Market. She kept my attention the whole length of the tour, and I am someone who can be easily bored. She made sure to ask us at the beginning if anyone had any food allergies or special diets. One tourist was a vegetarian, and Kristin was able to call ahead on her cell to the vendors we were visiting and each place arranged something special for her. Nice personal touch. It was about a 2.5 hour tour for $42. Well worth it to have the huge samples and hear the colorful past of the Emerald City. I highly recommend it. I should say that I was also checking out the Savory Food Tour, but the stops on this one looked better. They're about the same price. But in the end, I am thrilled that I chose this one. And when I go back to Seattle, I will take this tour again!

LOVE Jan!!! She is the founder of this business and you can feel her passion about the Market. To start, she knows everyone name & where they are from so it shows she does her homework. Then as the tour goes we taste (all such great food) and meet all these wonderful local chefs/market stalls you can feel the connection everyone has to the Market. Fun way to eat & learn about the history of the Market. The ear piece, great idea because we did loose sight of her because of the tour crowds but was never worried since she was in our ears. Recommend this even to local Seattle-lites!

I was visiting Seattle from Los Angeles and thought a food tour would be a fun way to get to know the city of Seattle and explore the Pike Place Market. This tour was alot of fun as Jan Marie was very energetic and very knowledgeable about the history of Seattle. Compared to the food tours in LA, the food bites here were huge! This was my breakfast and my lunch! The food was all delicious too!

If you're reading this, you've probably decided that you want to take a food tour on your visit to Seattle, and you don't know which one to select. Do yourself a favor: Close this window, and go to the Seattle Bites site NOW before they sell out while you sit on the fence! As far as I'm concerned, this isn't just the best way to tour Pike Place Market and the surrounding area - it's the ONLY way to do it. Forget about going it alone, as you'll likely miss all of the interesting history, and you'll overlook the true hidden gems at the market. Jan Marie was an amazing host - truly engaging and entertaining for our small group, and it really shines through that she loves what she does. I wouldn't hesitate recommending this tour to any family member or friend, as I feel it is an AMAZING value. We left after nearly 4 hours with Jan Marie, and we were stuffed!!!

Chip is one of the best when it comes to the history of Pike Place and the food. We have lived in downtown for a couple of years and have been to pike place a few times but never saw the gems Chip took us to. The food was amazing and the portion sizes were perfect to taste. Loved food from each restaurant. A very PNW experience. I plan to bring my guests for this unique experience.

There's no question about it, Seattle Bites is the BIGGEST bite of the Pike Place Market. I didn't quite know what to expect on a food tour, but was really impressed with the quality of the bites and the enthusiasm of our guide. The very first bite of smoked salmon on flatbread was amazing and the pairing with dry soda was outstanding. A few gastronomic hours later we finished up by sampling artisan Italian wines--I was ready to head for Tuscany! Another surprise was how well the remote listening devices worked. I could wander around the market but still hear the presentation and not miss a beat. If you've got a few hours to spend in Seattle, this tour is a great way to astonish your taste buds.

Jan Marie, the owner and our guide for the day, was lovely! My friend and I were visiting foodies and were the only ones on the tour. We hit it off right away with Jan Marie. The tour is supposed to be only 2 hours, but it ended up being a girls' day at the Market that lasted longer than the usual tour. Wonderful! Jan Marie was fun and informative. She allowed us to wander off to take pictures and even posed with us for a couple of pictures. I have since recommended to all of my local friends. Everyone would have fun with this tour! I booked the tour online before my trip and received a confirmation call from Jan Marie herself the night before. I told her that we were vegetarian and she said no problem. I have to admit, I was skeptical when I hung up on the phone. I figured we'll just end up eating salads, juice, and fruits all day. It was a fresh market, after all. I was pleasantly surprised to start with a wild mushroom flat bread pizza at the Seattle Art Museum. The food only went up from there. I was more than full from the tour and had to start turning down 1/2 of my portions toward the end. The best part? Even though the tour had alcohol, she had non-alcoholic options for the pairing. I love it! I'm gonna start doing that for my dinner parties. Thank you Jan Marie for a wonderful time!

The most favorite two hours spent while in Seattle. Four full yummy drinks ( all a little on the sweet side-which I love) paired with some amazing food. A small flight of beers and a home-made pretzel to end a lively perfectly paced tour. Our guide, Judson was awesome and made everyone feel comfortable. Highly recommended!

This was a fantastic tour. Chip was full of interesting stories and information about the Pike Place Market. Sampling the food was fantastic and delicious. History of the market and its business owners was amazing and brought to life with the tour. Thanks Chip and Mark! Well done.

I've been on at least 3 other pike place market tours with different vendors as a Seattleite hosting out of town guests, and can confidently say this is by far the best. Our guide, Marla, was very knowledgeable of the market and had a great relationship with the producers. I liked the slower pace of the tour and very thoughtful presentation of market history, most of which I hadn't heard before. As previously mentioned in other posts, food portions were generous and tasty. Nearly all the producers were on my own personal list of places that I love in the market. Do yourself a favor and book this tour for your out of town guests. You will not be disappointed.

We found the Seattle Bites Food Tours through Yelp! And what a great find it was! On our trip to Seattle, we went through a couple of different tours of the city. We did an Underground Tour, a Bike Tour, and a Food Tour. What more can you ask for. Out of the three, I liked the Seattle Bites Food Tour as well as the Seattle Bike Tour the most. What I like about the Seattle Bites Food Tour is that everyone gets their own "voice receiver" thingy. Not sure what it's called but you're able to hear the tour guide from anywhere you're standing. And she doesn't have to yell in busy/loud places. We begin the tour by meeting at the museum. You get to sample food from there, and you also get a free Seattle Bites reusable bag. (How nice!). From there we take a walking through Seattle going to various little shops/restaurants. Most of the restaurants had great samples for us to try out, and we went to several spots. If it weren't for Seattle Bites Food Tour, I don't think I would have been able to sample all that Seattle has to offer. There were a ton of places, and even more on the list you get which would give you discounts if you came to their store after the tour ended. This was a perfect way to try almost one of everything! And in addition to the great food, we also had a great tour guide who knew a lot about the history of Seattle and little stories about the restaurant owners. It made you feel like they were family. I would recommend trying out Seattle bites Food Tours the next time you are visiting Seattle. You'll love it!

Our tour with Chip was very good, informative, tasty and would definitely recommend and do again. Chip was the perfect guide for the tour. I feel I know more about the market, it's history and present.

We planned a brief trip to Seattle for vacation and had very limited time. The afternoon we arrived, we made a quick solo trip to Pikes Market. It was jammed with people shopping for fruits, vegies, incredible flowers and various tourist trinkets. It was all fairly impressive but it seemed much like many 'attractions' that have people coming to see what the hoopla was all about. THEN, the next morning, we showed up for our tour with Seattle Bites and we got a whole different picture. When we originally signed up for the tour a few weeks before our departure, we thought it might be a fun opportunity to sample some of the treats from around the market without committing to a full lunch or dinner. And, it was that, but it was so much more as well. Our guide was Kristen, a lovely redhead who had not only a terrific knowledge of the 'foodie' places of the Pikes Market area, but a great sense of humor, incredible knowledge of the history of Pikes Market and its restaurants and food stalls, and a delivery of her stories that was captivating and entertaining. We hung on everything she had to tell us and were always being amazed with her terrific 'show and tell'. We visited the modern 'Taste' Restaurant in the Seattle Art Museum where they are known not only for their food but for their programs of sustainability and recycling; Crepe De France housed in the building that used to be used for horse and wagon deliveries; heard the story of Seattle's Best Coffee and got to sample some of the best fruits and vegetables I've had since I moved from Southern California....maybe even better. We tried curry at Saffron Spice and corned beef at New York Deli, two food stalls we probably would never have found on our own. And don't forget the homemade sausages at Uli's and, without doubt, the best white clam chowder ever at Pike's Place Chowder. Terrific. More importantly, we were taken through the back alleys and hallways of Pike's Market to explore shops and food stalls that we never would have found just wandering the main pedestrian ways of this fabulous place. This was a fun, educational, entertaining and thoroughly filling way to see Pikes. Thank you, Kristin, and thank you Seattle Bites for providing such a wonderful and insightful way of learning about Pike's Market. If you don't do anything else when you're in Seattle, do take this tour.

We had a really great experience. Our guide (Kristin) was excellent and I must give her a lot of the credit for the overall good time. You really get a good sense of downtown Seattle and Pike Place Market. The stories behind each place we visited were entertaining even if not true? Our stops: 1st: SAM Taste, we had the flat bread w/ salmon, very tasty. 2nd: Crepe De Franc 3rd: I love NY Deli 4th: Pike Place Chowder (Awesome) 5th: Seattle's Best Coffee (now owned by Starbucks, didn't know that) 6th:Pure Food Fish Market 7th: Saffron Spice 8th:Stilnovich Corner Produce 9th: Uli's Famous Sausage Overall really worth it. I learned about places I would have never tried. In fact went back to at least 3 of the places prior to leaving Seattle.

This tour is two for two in my book! I've taken the Seattle Bites Pike Place Market tour twice now. Once, as a birthday present for a friend, and again recently with visitors from California. Both times our tour guide was Kristin. Her big personality, and genuine passion for the market, added so much to our experience. Even though I grew up in the NW and lived in Seattle for five years (not far from Pike Place), I was impressed by the city's nostalgia and the market's history. By going on this tour, I saw more of the market than I ever had before. The food we tasted was delicious! I could eat banana-nutella crepes every day of the week.. and that chowder.. oh mama! Plus the people we met along the way (other tour guests, store owners and managers, one unruly busker, and some very cute produce vendors) all made for a memorable afternoon. Our friends from the Bay area are now researching food tours in San Francisco for the next time my husband and I visit them. Jan Marie and Kristin, if you don't have a tour there yet, please consider it - and I will recommend yours to everyone we know. Thank you and geshmak!

This is one of the best Seattle city tours you can take. It is fun, entertaining, informative & you get great food. Jan Marie was our guide & she is a pistol. So much energy and knowledge. She has really learned as much as she can about the Market and has formed relationships with many of the vendors. You can tell she is well liked around the market which makes the tour even more fun. The price is very reasonable for all that you get. You basically get lunch along with the history of the Market. I can't wait to take it again!

Just. WOW! What a great find this was! Thought I had missed the opportunity for this tour - emailed re availability..long story short, a tour was opened up for my husband , myself and our college student granddaughter. Delightful and knowledgeable, personable, Amy was our guide. What a pleasure she was. Navigating Pike Market without the guidance we received would have been...so much less. We were educated on the history, the ins and outs that makes this such a special, unique place...oh, yea, did I mention ...the FOOD!!! We sampled such a variety of wonderful foods..and the servings were generous. Well worth your time and money...and customer service was stellar!

We did this tour at the last moment. There were 6 people total. They were waiting for us when we arrived. There were no tote bags for us and only one of us got a head set to hear the constant conversation from our guide Kristin. The website says this is a large bite walking tour with bits of trivia along the way. The large bite thing is not really true. We had 8 tastings. Two of them were an ounce of coffee and an ounce of prosseco. Two of them were exactly the same, smoked salmon, one was on flat bread the other in a plastic cup. The second stop we made was dessert. It would have been nice if they had saved that for last. With a little work this could be a really nice tour. We learned some interesting facts about Seattle that we didn't know. It was a good was to spend an extra 3 hours. Kristin was very knowledgeable and witty. Was it worth $42.00? NO.

I loved the food tour! It was a crowded Labor Day weekend, but our guide kept us together, and made it so much fun. The food was incredible, and our guide was personality plus. So many interesting things to know about the Pike Place market, from the history and the vendors that are there right now. I'd only suggest that you bring a water bottle, and a comfortable pair of shoes. I've been to the market many times, but never had such a great time, or stayed as long. Rain or shine, go, go go, it's more fun! than a barrel of monkeys.

I had an outstanding time on this tour and plan to do it again with guests from out of town. Our guide, Marla, was very fun, personable and knowledgeable. She memorized everyone's name and kept the tour paced perfectly. The food by itself is worth the price - added all up you're going to be eating a decent-sized meal. It's also a great way to try some Pike Place chowder without having to wait in line! Tip: You can bring your own headphones to plug into the portable transponder they give you. Here's what we had (in the order presented): - A banana, almond & nutella crepe from Crepe de France - A roasted pork & pineapple taco from Los Agaves - An 8 oz. bowl of clam chowder from Pike Place Chowder - Fresh yellow peach, 'Taylor Gold' pear, and 'Rainier' cherry samples - Milk & honey Greek yogurt from Ellenos Real Greek Yogurt - Chicken curry with saffron rice and a mango smoothie from Saffron Spice - Chewing gum (there is a reason for this...) - Smoked salmon from Pure Food Fish Market - Apple chicken sausage & poppy seed coleslaw from Uli's Sausage - Blueberry balsamic & lemon-infused olive oil from Quintessential Gourmet

Off-season in Seattle means a private tour! My friend and I were pleasantly surprised when Marla, our host, informed us we were the only people on the tour. We started things off with a full sized crepe, then it was off to sample some fresh fruits and Greek yogurt. We ate some life changing clam chowder, sampled some smoked salmon, BBQ, and sausage. Marla sprinkled in a history lesson and was a pleasure to talk to. She was prepared with utensils, napkins, hand santizer and even took us to the famous "gum wall" and produced a package of gum in order for us to leave our mark! A must do - come hungry, leave happy! :)

Nice variety of 'bites', plenty to eat, fascinating insights into the market's history and the folks behind the counter, and an assortment of coffee and brewing methods at the final stop. Our tour lasted 3+ hours. Jan Marie is an excellent guide with a magnetic personality. We had a blast!

Absolutely excellent! Was visiting Seattle from NY and was torn between Seattle Bites and Savor Seattle. So happy that I ended up choosing Seattle Bites. To me, it seemed as if the tour company is very much like the food stops - small, family-centered, and local. Based on the reviews, it seemed like Savor Seattle was more flashy and focused on the established and more famous eats, and I am very glad I ended up picking Seattle Bites. We were very fortunate in having one of the vendors as a member of the tour. She greeted vendors on the other stops with warm hugs and jokes. The Market has a genuine sense of community. Our tour guide Kristin was phenomenal. So enthusiastic, passionate, and entertaining. I was so impressed by how smoothly she coordinated the tour, and attended to every detail. Between food stops, she gave insightful historical information, which added truly valuable depth to the tour. She also had laminated historical photos which added perspective. Her delivery was so poised and well prepared - it was like enjoying a performance. I wouldn't be surprised if she is actually trained in theater. Plus, I am a really really big eater, and I was SO full afterwards. Ended up having a rather late dinner. This tour is worth every penny! Highly recommended and would definitely do this again with friends/family. On the tour, there was also a father and his adult son visiting from the east coast, and both said they are planning to come back and do the tour again next year when they visit with their spouses. Yes, this tour is really THAT amazing.

This tour is great for Pike Place newbies like me. My tour guide Kristen was very knowledgeable! She showed us the main areas of the Market and we tried a lot of delicious food. I loved having an individual ear piece. It really helped.

I've done the other food tour offered in Pike's Market, and this one was just as good. They take you to completely different places, which is nice if you've done the other one. They give you a little headset so you can hear the guide's information. The guide was very knowledgeable and sweet. For the price of the tour, you get to keep a little tote bag and you get to eat lots and lots of delicious food. We were 100% happy!

Amazing, amazing, amazing!!! My husband, Nelson and I were raving to our family and friends about Jan Marie and this food experience! We completely agree with all the reviews that have been written about it. We learned so much about the Pike Place Market, tasted extraordinarily great food, and met real down to earth people that were passionate about their particular food. Jan Marie is an AWESOME tour host. We were very lucky to meet Mark, her husband, who came along with the tour. We shared the tour with another couple, Robin and Don, and it became such an intimate friendly afternoon. We felt that the day was spent with friends that we've known forever. Don and Robin were Seattle locals and were able to add their own little tidbits about the market and yet they said that they learned so many things that they never knew before. Nelson and I went back the next day, before our flight home, to buy 4 bags of clam chowder (we got our discount!!!) and some teriyaki salmon, kinda pricey, but worth it. That was my birthday present!!! I truly feel that I made new friends that day. Thanks Jan Marie and Mark! It really was an unforgettable experience. We have already told our families and friends to plan a trip to Seattle and to make sure they do Seattle Bites Food Tour. Can't go wrong with Jan Marie!!! I hope to be able to do this trip again, hopefully with my 3 kids... Luchi from Upland

There are so many great reviews.... what can I say... "ditto". Kristen was GREAT. I too that she was maybe a little too "chipper" in the morning. But she turned out to be the best!! My wife was told about this tour from a friend at work and I would recommend this tour to everyone. I spoke to a person who grew up in Seattle and he didn't even know all the history that we learned that day. If you go to Seattle.... do yourself a favor... take the tour.

Best tour ever!!!! I would recommend this to everyone! All the hosts are amazing, fun and kind. You really leave feeling a true connection to the market and the people!

Really enjoyed the tour of the market. The curated selection of "bites" were on point, with a standout being the Greek yogurt stand just outside the market's entrance. Our guide, David, was both knowledgeable and patient, and managed to facilitate a great tour in a busy public place while spinning a fascinating narrative about the market's history and how it has at times connected with not just the city but also the world/nation at large.

This was our 1st tour out of 4 tours while we were in Seattle. And the best. Loved the voice receiver, so we did not miss anything because others around us would be talking and exclaiming yum, yum. I have food sensitivities and every stop except the coffee was able to accommodate me. I was amazed! Kristen had such a great sense of humor and was full of historical facts. My only complaint was that they did not pass out business cards so I could hand them to everyone I told. Big plus was that the meeting place was only 1 block from the light rail so super easy to get to. Another company that we did not use had a brochure that suggested that you have a light snack before the start. Do Not Do that with this tour. There was plenty of food. My Husband could not finish and that's unusual!

I was debating on two different food tours while visiting Seattle. This one versus the Savor Seattle food tour. I decided to go with this one because the food bites sounded more enticing than the other one (i.e. crepes!). When I got to Seattle, I got a call from Jan Marie explaining that Kristin would be our tour guide for the next day. I thought that was really cool for Jan Marie to call up and welcome me to the tour. It made it feel really personal, like I was an old friend. My brother and I got to the Seattle Art Museum to meet Kristin the next day. And we discovered we were the only 2 people on the tour, so we had our own private tour of the market! I think most of the other tourists were with the other tour group. ;) Kristin was really friendly and energetic. She knows all about the market history as well as the vendors we visited. She made us feel welcomed and was very hospitable, always on the look out for us to watch our step from the cobble stones or steps in the market. I would definitely recommend this tour. The bites are BIG and you don't need to eat beforehand or afterward because the food samples are so filling. A sample of what we got: Restaurant Taste (in Seattle Art Museum) - smoked salmon flatbread with creme fraische. Delicious! You can taste the smokiness of the salmon and the red onion makes a delicious contrasting bite to the salmon and creme fraiche. The flatbread is soft and chewy. My brother and I got the whole 6 pieces to ourselves since we were the only one on the tour! Crepe with banana and nutella - we each got a whole crepe with banana and nutella and whip cream for ourselves! The crepe batter was very soft and light. You can't go wrong with banana and nutella! We also got the first taste of lavender flavored dry soda, which was pretty interesting! Next was, pastrami on rye with potato knish and pickle, with a celery-flavored dry soda. Yes, celery flavored dry soda! Sounds odd but it works well with the pastrami and mustard on rye. I normally don't like rye bread but this was delicious! It was my first time trying potato knish, too. And I also normally don't like pickles but Kristin explained how they make their pickles without using vinegar and this pickle definitely tasted really good! This is next to Daily Dozen Doughnut Company. Clam chowder from Pike Place Market - OMG! This is the best chowder I've ever had. No wonder it won so many awards. Delicious! It has bacon in it, which is what probably makes it taste so good. It's really creamy and includes many clams. I wanted more and more! Perfect for a cold day in Seattle! Warms your stomach. :) After chowder, we got to try Uli's german sausages with sauerkraut. by this time, I was so full already. But the sausage taste really meaty and not fattening. Kristin will explain the amount of meat and fat in the sausage. This sausage was meaty and didn't taste very fattening. It went great with the curry ketchup! We also got to try Rhubarb flavored dry soda. The dry soda was ok. Next door to Uli's sausage was where we got to try Alderwood smoked salmon. Delicious! One of the best smoked salmon I've tried. The salmon teriyaki one was good, too. Our last tasting was at this wine shop. We got a taste of prosecco (white wine) with a small bite of prosciutto. I don't like wine so this was my least favorite bite of the tour. The owner knows his wine info and kept talking about it but I didn't really care for it that much. We also got a taste of a red wine with a tiny sampling of a truffle (not the chocolate kind of truffle, but the fungi kind). This was good but it probably would tasted better if it was paired off with a bread or pasta to taste the difference in flavor. Kristin was very accomodating to our needs, i.e. if you have any food allergies, etc. We forgot to tell her we're both a little allergic to wine. Overall, I would give this 4 stars. .5 off for not giving us bottled water during the tour. I was pretty dehydrated and the dry soda was too much for me. Another .5 off because it didn't take us to the other popular places that I wanted to go to like Beecher's cheese or the Russian Piroshky. But then again, if I wanted that, I could go to the other tour. :) Excellent food. Big bites. Friendly tour host. I had a fun time and my belly was full! Try it!

I took two out-of-town visitors and we had a great time. As an 8-year market neighbor, it's easy to get stuck in the rut of going to my early favorites and not exploring. As a foodie, touring with JanMarie gives an experience I can't get as a neighbor- a snack-size bite at multiple places rather than a whole lunch at just one stop. With the walking it was filling but not bloating. The sun probably helped, but I truly enjoyed the afternoon and I look forward to doing this one again with my next visitors, not to mention returning to a place or two on my own in the next couple weeks.

I had an absolutely fantastic time on this tour. I went back in March of 2009, on a cold wintery day and Jan Marie (the guide) was an absolute delight. She was VERY knowledgeable of the historical background of the places and shops we visited. I went on this tour with an empty stomach and finished so full, I had food coma! All the places we stopped were terrific, the food was fabulous and the host was adorable. I would HIGHLY recommend taking this tour, even if you are a Seattle native. I live in northern California and was visiting my gf, who is native to Seattle, and even she was blown away at how much she learned on this tour. Fun, fantastic, bubbly host and I'd probably do it again in a few years. Super fun!

Mark is the owner and was very responsive as we had done a food tour with a competitor last year and really wanted a unique experience...not just a repeat of what we had experienced. He assured me that his tour would be worth it with hardly any overlap with the food and history of the market. He was right. Marla was our tour guide and did an excellent job. They made my wife's birthday extra special and even did an extra tasting for the whole group. If you are trying to decide which tour to try, I'd say try this one and then do the others.

Love Love Loved this food tour! Kristen was AH-mazing!!!! She told us lotsa fun stories. I had a day to spend in Seattle and obviously HAD to try the food at Pike Place market. Met people who had flown in from Australia, New York etc. Everyone had heard good things about this tour :) Many of the locals I know didn't know about some of the stuff that I learnt on this tour. We tried a whole assortment of food. Great quantities and variety of dishes and drinks :) We ended the tour with Wine! Perfect :) I would highly recommend this tour to ANYONE visiting Seattle.

Very enjoyable and fun experience. Our tour guide, Virginia, did a great job explaining the history and culture of the market and the food we sampled was fantastic. I don't eat meat and she always presented me with veggie options at each delicious stop along the way. Learned a lot and ate a lot. What's not to love?

I was really looking forward to a tour with Jan Marie for my birthday but just as I was traveling from LA to Seattle for the holidays, she was coming to California to visit family. Needless to say, I was bummed. But she promised that Kristin would keep my whole family entertained or she would give me a refund so I decided to sign up anyway. I'm sure Jan Marie is great but Kristin is awesome. She's witty, sarcastic, funny, knowledgeable, and friendly. There are a couple of competing food tours out there that are bigger and more established but I choose Seattle Bites after reading hundreds of reviews of all three companies on Yelp and TripAdvisor. Here's a list of the reasons why Seattle Bites is the way to go: 1) Small company - Jan Marie, the owner, leads most of the tours. When she's not available, Kristin is the tour guide. Some of the competitors are so big that they have so many tour guides that vary significantly in experience and quality. 2) Small tour - When we returned to the market a few days after the tour to shop, I saw the competitors. One had about 14 people in the tour group and the other had 16. Our tour only had 6 people - the maximum that Seattle Bites takes is 12. 3) Big Bites - After trying large samples at about 8 places, I was full. I read reviews about people on other tours who were still hungry after the tour :( 4) Variety of Businesses - The tour took us on a global culinary adventure. We had crepes, flatbread, pastrami, smoked salmon, fruit, clam chowder, German sausages, coffee and Italian wines. It was a great lunch. It was so much fun and even though all three of us have been to Pike Place Market before, we learned a ton about the history of the market, the stories of the various vendors, and the market's significance today in Seattle. I have given 5 stars to many businesses; but Seattle Bites Food Tours belongs at the top of the 5 star list.

Jan Marie is AWESOME! I took my fiancee for a suprise birthday weekend trip to Seattle and we took this tour on Saturday. It was pouring rain, yet we had a wonderful time. The samples are good, however, the history is fascinating. Jan Marie is a woman who loves where she lives and it shows. It was great to hear details of the city, it helps you feel more connected and learn of the struggles the pikes place market went through, we made friends in our group and ended up spending a wonderful afternoon with Jan Marie and her husband over a glass of wine. I cant wait for them to visit Phoenix so I can show them around my city. I would HIGHLY recommend this tour!

Great tour of pikes market ! Best way to see the more popular spots. Which would have been difficult on our own. We had the best tour guide EVER in CJ ! He was very entertaining and kept the tour lively for 2 plus hours. The food was great and there was lots to try! My daughter has a nut allergy and CJ not only made sure she didn't receive anything with nuts but he arranged for a nut free substitute!! Definitely recommend this tour and CJ!!

This is the ONLY way to experience The Market. Guided tour with very interesting historical background of the beginning and ups and downs of Pike Place Market Forget waiting in line for food. Your guide goes to the front of the line to pick up your delicious "food bites" from a variety of vendors. We are not normally ones for tours but we are so glad we did this one!!

Had a fabulous taste of Seattle thanks to Seattle Bites & Kristin. Such a funny & knowledgable woman w/ LOTS of energy! It was just my bestie & I, and we enjoyed every minute. :) highly recommend it!

What a great tour! Full of interesting information and plenty of food for lunch. Liked the headsets because the market is noisy and you'd miss a lot without it. Plus, it gave you the freedom to wander off or lag if you wanted or needed to