New York City Food Cart Walking Tour

Fantastic tour! Andrew was such a terrific guide that our 11 year old granddaughter told us she really liked him and learned a lot. That says something! The food we sampled was plentiful and so delicious. Highly recommend and we appreciate what he and his organization are doing to help the community.

Fantastic, educational and delicious tour with Corinne in midtown. We are a family of 5, with three teens. Everyone finished every dish. The pace was great, and love the Turnstile philosophy and community support. Looking forward to doing it again. Wonderful tour!

This was our first tour with Turnstile Tours. We chose the Food Cart and Food Truck walking tour of Midtown, although two additional food tours are offered. We paid $54 each online in advance and tipped $10 each at the end. There were 5 on our tour although Brian said his groups have ranged from 1 person to 16 people. We started at 42 nd St. and Sixth Avenue, walked to 52 nd St. and Sixth Avenue and ended at the starting point, a little over 2 hours later. We could hear Brian very well and he was excellent at finding us both shade and seats on a warm, sunny day. We learned a lot about licensing, permits, inspections, and regulation. Food carts are on sidewalks. Food trucks are in the streets. I was very interested in this because of the Street Vendor Project, an advocacy group that gains donations from this tour. Brian was very personable, informative, and sensitive to dietary restrictions. He ordered for us from 5 hand-chosen vendors. The 4 savory items and 1 sweet were more than I could eat. The chicken tikka from the first stop and the Birria taco from the second stop were excellent. I was too full for the Greek souvlaki and the kata roll. I may not have that last name correctly. The Belgian dessert waffle was good, too. He also bought each of us a bottle of water and handed out plenty of napkins. I highly recommend this tour.

I loved trying the variety of foods. Very good quality and our guide shared interesting historical anecdotes.

Amanda took us on the Walking Food Cart Tour. The food was amazing and we learned so much about the food carts, how to tell which ones are good. Don't eat for at least a day before this tour. We had 4 savory stops and one dessert stop and each one was a meal in itself! Thank you Amanda for an incredible experience!!

We had an absolutely terrific tour of Midtown food carts. Our guide, Amanda, told us all about the delicious food we were eating and the vendors who made it. We really enjoyed learning about the history of food vendors in NYC (and beyond) and their working conditions today. What made it special was that Turnstile Tours has a long working relationship with the vendors. It was clear that Amanda knew them and their work. The tour group works with the non-profit Street Vendor Project, so there is an awareness of social justice issues alongside the amazing food. The tour gave us a whole new perspective on a slice of NYC. Bring your appetite! It's extremely filling (by evening we were still too full for dinner).

The food cart tour was fantastic! Our tour guide Amanda was great! We didn't just eat great food that was filling, but we also had a great learning experience from the culture and history of food carts. Highly recommend!

I did the Food Cart Walking Tour in Mid-town Manhattan with Brian on 8/20, and it was great. We sampled food at 5 carts, four savory and one sweet-all delicious. Brian was a wonderful source of information about the history of food carts in NYC and how they operate today. I'm a native New Yorker and learned a lot, and ate enough to hold me for two days. Highly recommended.

Midtown Food Cart Tour on 8/4 with Turnstile Tours was informative, fun and yummy. I gained a larger appreciation of the vendors and their challenges and their contributions to NYC, especially in the environment of Covid. Brian, the tour guide, was a pleasure, with knowledge, personality and enthusiasm. I strongly recommend this tour and any others given by Turnstile Tours. My experience with them began early in the pandemic with their numerous virtual programs, and they are varied and consistently knowledgeable and personable.

Brian was a great guide. He was very friendly, and knowledgeable about the different carts we visited and the dishes we sampled. The food included some old favourites (e.g. falafel) and some dishes I'd never tried before - but will definitely look out for again - such as kathi rolls. It was all washed down with a lovely cool cup of iced chocolate. :) Thank you, Brian, for an interesting and flavoursome tour!

Doug was a very hospitable tour guide, making it comfortable, engaging, and educational as we walked around, met Food Cart owners and chefs, and tasted the most delicious small plates. (seriously - go for the food if nothing else). Our college class is studying food, culture, power, and art, so this was a perfect place to do field research. Thanks to Turnstile for bringing this kind of tourism to the NYC landscape!

Turnstiles Tours offer quite a few different tours, we took a Food Cart Tour around the Financial District. You know those food vendors who park along the street selling all sorts of food - not just hot dogs and pretzels like you see on the TV. The tour introduced us to some of the diverse tastes and stories of the city’s street vendors - an inside look at the successes of some and the complexities imposed by this huge metropolis. Our guide, Brian Hoffman was wonderful - inclusive and solicitous, entertaining and informative yet very low key. We didn’t feel rushed at all but in two hours we managed to cover quite a lot of territory (about 2.5km) and a number of food styles. Greek, Vietnamese, Indian and Egyptian topped off with a sweet morsel and great coffee (we offered for iced as it was a pretty hot day - but Brian managed to find us some cool places to get out of the heat). It was really enjoyable. Thanks a lot Brian. Highly recommended. Would do other if their tours if we had time. Next time!

Cindy, our tour guide, was so personable and knowledgeable! She took us to a variety of food trucks so we could sample different foods. We each got a nice sample size at each cart and she ended with waffles for dessert! I highly recommend Turnstile Tours!

So glad we did this! Brian was the best tour guide: informative, personable, funny. He took us to explore the neighborhood FC stars: we had fabulous jerk chicken from Trinidad, amazing freshly made falafel, pork souvlaki, Kati rolls, vegan donuts. All the food we could possibly eat and it appealed to our gustatory adventurous side. And, makes me want to frequent Food Carts all the more.

We did the two hour food truck tour with Brian. Seven guests in all. We did six food stops and were blown away by the diversity - from Bangaleshi to Korean to Senegalese to Himalayan - complexity of flavours and high quality of food. Completely changed our view of street food. Interesting to learn about the Vendy Awards (won by many of our vendors) which can be a good way for others to identify the best of the best. Brian was an excellent guide, informative, personable, flexible and kept things moving at a good pace. We certainly did not come away hungry - suggest you skip lunch. Highly recommended tour.

I booked this tour as a team activity, so we would get to eat good food while learning more about the business we use every day. What a fantastic experience! We learned so much about what it takes to be a food cart owner in NYC, why they charge what they charge and got to taste some hidden secrets of the financial district. Totally recommend for out of towners but also for new yorkers.

Wonderful street food tour! We had heard about New York’s street food scene and were looking for an authentic experience. We were not disappointed! Brian, our guide, was so knowledgeable and passionate about the food and we loved the stories of the food and of the families behind the carts. I cannot recommend this highly enough. An absolutely wonderful experience and highly recommended for tourists and for locals too. Thank you Brian!

This was a really nice tour, Brian was such a great tour guide. Make sure you try the Kati roll, it is the nicest food I had whilst visiting the US.

<p>Excellent tour by a very knowledgable guide. Food was awesome and plenty :</p>

<p>Our guide Brian Hoffman awesome! Great history lesson on the financial district. Took us to the best food carts. The history of the food cart industry is so interesting. If you're looking for a real behind the scenes tour in New York, this is a good one.</p>

This was a great way to spend an afternoon. All the food was delicious and Brian, our tour guide, was fun and informative. I would definitely do another of these tours next time I’m in NYC!

<p>It was a nice walk-about. Interesting info but when comparing notes with some locals not all of the info provided is exactly true but enjoyable anyway. The tour guide was very spirited and interactive.</p>

<p>This was a fun and informative tour. The day was rainy, but our tour guide found places to duck in while we did our food sampling. We were able to taste a variety of food and finished with a delightful dessert. Learned about safety of the food sold from carts and all the regulations they had to abide by. I would recommend this tour to anyone who loves to sample different types of food and always wanted to learn about eating from all the various food carts. The next morning, I bought my breakfast at a food cart with confidence.</p>

<p>Amazing experience! It appeared that I was the only guest, but the tour started and Brian, my tour guide, was just brilliant. </p> <p>There was a lot of interesting non-typical information, details about food cart industry, problems, traditions, and cultural specialities. A lot of detailed food talks around great food tastings - it's for you, food-lovers! It's not about hotdogs or pretzel, all tastings are fancy, unique and related to a particular culture of multicultural New York community. </p> <p>I learned so much about the inner life of the city. This tour is really a chance to dive inside and imagine how new yorkers have a lunch, relax, and live. And - of cause - a lot for tasty food as well as informal friendly chats with local traders.</p>

<p>Excellent tour. Brian our host was very knowledgeable, accomodating and a fun guide. Easy tour with lots of food. Definitely loved veronicas jerk chicken.</p>

<p>This tour was my favorite part of visiting NYC, 6 generous samplings from food carts that are from different ethnic groups. Highly recommend !</p>

<p>Great tour and a fantastic way to see New York and eat like a local, the story behind how food carts originated and the modern problems they have was all very interesting. Every cart owner was happy to chat, answer questions and were very welcoming.</p>

<p>This tour was sooooo amazing. We were just with the 2 of us and the guide. We got told so many things about the history of food and foodcarts in NY and also about NY itself. The food we had at the carts was really very good as well and we tasted some food we never tried before. The last cart we went to was a funny one for us because it was Belgian waffles and the names of the waffles and snacks they have were all written in Dutch and since we are from Holland we could read what it said and the names were real funny :- I would really recommend this tour to anyone visiting NY...especially to the ones who want to do something outside of the box that every tourist does.</p>

<p>We loved it. It was informative, well paced and delicious fun.</p>

<p>There were only four of us in the group do we got a lot of attention from Doug. Each cart we visited represented a different country's cuisine. We learned about regulations in NYC on the carts. Learned history of food carts with many old pictures. A great time and very filling!</p>

<p>Brian was fun and informative. We learned so much about the Food Cart culture and rules AND ate some delicious food. Highly recommend!</p>

<p>Bryan was a great host on this tour, he is a lot of fun but very informative. The food from all the trucks was great, we would never normally eat from trucks like this on the street.</p>

<p>This tour and our guide Bryan was just great. Highly recommended. We tried food that we would not have been brave enough too and it was all great. We also learnt lots of the history, we had no idea about, very interesting, I won't spoilt it. I love doing the food tours, you learn so much and get to try the local cuisine, some better then restaurant quality, definitely the case here.</p>

<p>Loved this tour. Brian was awesome, really knew his stuff about New York and the food scene. A definite do during any visit!</p>

<p>Sarah our tour guide was great! So lovely and found places for us to eat and hide from the snow. The vendors are lovely and their food is delicious! <br/> We would have loved to have tried more but the 2hrs went really quickly. <br/> Thanks again</p>

<p>Wonderful guide made this tour very rewarding and unforgettable in all aspects. New what he was talking about, also the social and regulative sides.</p>

<p>Super fun, and the food was great! The tour guide, Brian, was awesome. Highly recommended.</p>

<p>Loved it. Food was awesome and the tour guide was great! Highly recommend this tour.</p>

<p>The food was really good, but the value for your dollar wasn't there. Waffles and dinges is not to be missed. Find it, buy speckuloos to take home!</p>

<p>Interesting tour and sampling of 6 different food carts around Midtown Manhattan. The tour guide was enthusiastic. I would suggest doing this tour early on during your trip so you have time to go back and try a full meal at some of the carts if you like what you sampled.</p>

<p>A lovely small group of only 4 people. Guide - Brian was wonderful. Extremely passionate about what he does and it shows! He was incredibly knowledgeable and took the time and care to find out about each of us on tour. The food from the food carts was delicious. Waffles at the end were a high point</p>

<p>Our guide, Brian, was informative, interesting, and enthusiastic. The food was great. We would do it again.</p>

<p>Amazing tour and tour guide! Interesting informative facts, really good food and a fun afternoon. Definitely the highlight of our trip! would recommend this to everyone!</p>

<p>An excellent way to spend an afternoon in NYC Brian was our tour guide and he was magnificent. Enthusiastic friendly and really helped to make this tour superb</p>

<p>Awesome tour! The food is amazing and you learn all about the food and the background of the carts and trucks, plus you get all the info on how fresh the food is and how the carts must be cleaned and maintained everyday! Our tour host Brian was fantastic, very interesting and made the tour great!</p>

<p>Great fun way to see and learn about the city. Brian was an amazing guide who knew his subject, the people and how to make you feel part of his world of food in NYC!<br/> The food was also amazing, go hungry! <br/> This trip should be at the top of your list</p>

<p>I had a great time exploring the different types of foods availble and story's behind the people who ran them. Our guide was excellent with his knowledge and passion for the food, a great tour.</p>

<p>This was a fabulous tour. Cindy, our guide was knowledgable and had a whole host of fabulous cart food to try from Jamaican chicken, Nepalese cuisine, halal food and the most delicious Belgium waffles. A must do tour. It was delicious and great fun. Mick and Heather, Sydney Australia</p>

<p>Went with my sister and we enjoyed every minute. Very interesting tour. Would do it again!</p>