Our family tries to travel locally and visit New York City every couple of months since we moved to Connecticut. Because we have family living there, it makes for an easy excuse to visit one of the most metropolitan cities in the world. While NYC can be an expensive place to visit, there are still ways to explore New York City on a budget. Our family has done most of the “touristy” things in NYC, and now have our sights set on exploring different neighborhoods and boroughs. We were fortunate enough to receive two complimentary tickets courtesy of Foods of New York Tours and used them to book the Original Greenwich Village Food Tour. Our Greenwich Village Food Tour was the highlight of our weekend in the city. It was the perfect amount of time eating and learning about the history of one of the most picturesque neighborhoods in New York City. I highly recommend the Greenwich Village Food Tour for couples, families with older kids, larger groups, and anyone who enjoys off the beaten path experiences.
Greenwich Village Food Tour Stats
- Availability: 7 days a week, 2-3 times a day
- Price: $54 adults and $35 children
- Stops: 8 (6 on the go, 2 seated)
- Theme: Italian Food
- Duration: 3 hours
- Weather: no cancellations due to rain or snow
Greenwich Village Food Tour Review
Our Greenwich Village food tour began on Bleeker Street in front of Murray’s Cheese, where we met our fabulous tour guide, Marie. From the start, she engaged my children and got them excited about all the foods they were going to try. She began by giving us an overview of what to expect on the tour and which stops were our “bathroom breaks”. We were each given a bottle of water and a guide book detailing our stops, subway map,
It was a rainy day and honestly, I was not too thrilled about walking around and eating food while sloshing in puddles in 40 degrees. Nevertheless, I sent positive vibes out into the universe and we only dealt with rain for about 30 minutes at the start of the tour.
Joe’s Pizza
Our first stop was at a classic New York pizza joint. Joe’s is a Greenwich Village institution. He has been serving up Neopolitan style pizza since 1975. It was a tasty slice with the perfect amount of cheese, tomato sauce, and a crispy crust. I have to be honest though, I am a little partial to New Haven pizza.
O & CO
At this specialty olive oil shop, we tasted 3 items and learned what to look for when purchasing high-quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Not only was it informative, but tasty as well! The first tasting was an olive oil infused with basil atop a french bread. This was a crowd pleaser; however, I find it hard to spend $24 for olive oil. The second was popcorn infused with truffle oil. I couldn’t get enough of this! Sadly, my whole family loved it too, so I could not have any extra. Lastly, we compared balsamic vinegar. I learned that a higher quality balsamic has a thicker consistency.
Faicco’s Italian Specialties
We ate two things from this location – an arancini (rice ball) and a sweet soppressata. We loved them both! Faicco’s was an Italian market filled with house-made sausages, meats, cheese, and a market selling sandwiches.
Trattoria Pesce Pasta
Pesce Pasta was our first seated tasting. This Italian neighborhood restaurant seemed like a replica of what you would find in Italy. It is a small establishment that focuses on seafood and pasta. Ironically, we had a giant meatball with plum tomato sauce. It was the softest, tastiest meatball I’ve ever had (no joke). It was so big that my daughter couldn’t finish it, so my husband and I graciously helped her out.
Rafele Ristorante
This was our second seated tasting and our main restroom break on our Greenwich Village Food Tour. Our tour guide informed us that we could also order wine, soda or cappuccino at an extra cost. We did, in fact, choose to do so and enjoyed a smooth glass of Chianti with our eggplant rollatini (which was filled with burrata cheese). My kids did not care for this one too much, although my husband and I enjoyed it.
It was after this stop on our walking tour, that we began roaming around the small pockets of Greenwich Village. Here is where I went picture crazy… I love the architecture in this area, and Marie, our tour guide, gave us some great information about the area. We even got to see the Friends apartment building!
Milk and Cookies
Cookies are a simple pleasure and one of my favorite snacks/desserts. At Milk and Cookies, they sell a pretty amazing chocolate chip cookie. I checked out the menu and there were many other classic flavors to try. We were told that their ingredients are fresh and that the cookies are baked every day. Our tour guide told us this was a very popular bakery with celebrities and NYC locals, and that there usually is a line of customers. Naturally, this was my kids’ favorite stop. I would happily return to have a $3 cookie here.
Murray’s Cheese
Murray’s is an artisanal cheese shop in Greenwich. I love to try cheese, so I made sure to purchase one before we left. Our tour guide noticed their upstairs area was empty, so she asked the manager if we could sit up there and he agreed. It was a
Paticceria Rocco
Although we did not go inside, the chocolate chip cannoli was as good as I’ve ever had. This is one of my favorite type of desserts, and it did not disappoint. This bakery also sells cakes, coffee, and other Italian desserts. This was the perfect end to our Greenwich Village food tour!
Final Thoughts on The Greenwich Village Food Tour
Overall, our Greenwich Village Food Tour was fantastic. It was a wonderful way to spend our afternoon bonding over delicious food and unique scenery. The historic West Village was even more charming than I had imagined. The “mom and pop” specialty food shops and neighborhood restaurants we visited were even better than I had hoped. If you’re looking for some ideas on where to eat with your kids, check out these 11 kid-friendly restaurants in NYC.
Foods of NY Tours has many other options too. Click here to see an overview of the different food tours offered. While our family has explored many areas of NYC and visited museums, landmarks, and local restaurants, I am still interested in discovering the culture and food of other areas like Chinatown, Little Italy, Lower East Side, Jackson Heights, and Brooklyn.
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We received 2 complimentary tickets in exchange for an honest review. All opinions mentioned here were my own. This post contains affiliate links. I make a small commission from any sale of a product linked to this post. DQ Family Travel is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees. Your price does not change when you click on these links, but it does provide me with a small commission.
This sounds like SO much fun! Those cookies would probably be the highlight for me! 🙂
Yum! I’ve never done a food tour, I really need to give one a go.
This tour sounds absolutely incredible. Will definitely look into on our next trip to NYC.
I’ll definitely have to do this next time I am in NYC!
I do believe that food tours are oe of the best ways to get to really know a place. I’m Italian and all I can say is that these places seem all very “authentic” if you get what I mean! Some of the foods are my favorite ones. Great article!
Ive been to a few of those places – but have never done a food tour anywhere! What a great way to explore a city or a new place!
YUM, I really messed up, I lived in NYC for years and missed all of these (except Joe’s)! Major fail it sounds like. The truffle popcorn, meatball, and cannoli are sounding the most enticing right now…may need to go look for some Italian food tomorrow haha, or an nyc plane ticket…
You had me at popcorn with truffle oil! I LOVE food tours, and this one looks excellent.
That was delicious!
Love those NYC food tours! So many great treats and foods to enjoy.