Mission 18th Street San Francisco Food Tour

The Mission: Carlos Santana attended Mission High, the oldest public high school in SF in 9th grade just before he started touring. Great food and pubs, nothing but indy, including the home made pasta shop with the sandwich board out front that proclaims: We have more kinds of pasta than Trump has felony convictions!

Often these city food tour are long on narration but short on really interesting food, because of the time of day and the dynamics of having a group come in to taste one plate. THIS WAS THE EXCEPTION. The dishes were all uniquely different from things I’ve tried before. We ran the gamut of tastes of Mexico, Asian fusion, African chocolate and more. Of the six stop I thoroughly enjoyed five (which is a high average). Our guide Paul was informative and unscripted.

Such a lovely day with Adrian in the Mission full of delicious food and history of the area! We will definitely take another tour with Edible Excursions!

Such a beautiful experience! Joshua was so knowledgeable and well versed not only in the food but also the history of the neighborhood. We all learned so much and it was amazing to meet the owners of all the restaurants and learn more about the stories. We went as a family for a Father’s Day celebration and I would 10/10 recommend for anyone with foodies in their family!

If you are a Bay area resident or someone coming in for a visit to San Francisco, the Mission 18th Street San Francisco Food Tour by Edible Excursions is not to be missed! We were so fortunate to have Lisa, the owner as our guide. She was a wealth of knowledge and clearly had relationships with the restaurant owners and staff. It is a three-hour walking tour, but it is all flat and not a lot of distance is covered. We started at Arepas, a Venezuelan restaurant. The food was excellent, and the Sangria divine. If you are looking for some Venezuelan food products, they also have a small store with edibles generally not found in the US. We moved onto Abanico for coffee and had a wonderful chat with the owner. Next, we ate at Cafe de Olla, a Oaxacan restaurant. It is small and bustling and the food authentic. Most of our group was up for trying Chapulines, or edible grasshoppers with their fresh tortilla chips. They were spicy and, no, they did not taste like chicken, haha. If you are craving the food of Oaxaca, you definitely need to try this small, charming place. The last "main" stop was at Tacolicious. We were treated to the Tuna Tostada Contramar-Style. Having eaten at Contramar in Mexico City, I was really excited to try this. The tuna melted in my mouth, so delicious. Lastly, we rounded out the tour with dessert at Dandelion Chocolate where we learned the process by which chocolate is made and finished the three hours with a visit to Bi-Rite Ice Cream. The salted caramel ice cream was so creamy and true to the flavors. This tour was an amazing view into the revitalization of the Mission. Along the way we passed the vibrant murals and learned about this forgotten area. Having taken the wonderful Edible Excursions tour at Ferry Plaza, I would say you can't go wrong with any of their tours, but this one felt really special getting out into the neighborhood may people avoid. Don't miss it.

We did a private tour with our friends and family. There were many dietary restrictions amongst us but all the places we visited were able to accommodate us all. There was a nice variety of places we visited and we were absolutely stuffed at the end of the 3 hours. Lisa was great. She continued to help us with questions of where to eat even after the tour ended. She made sure that we enjoyed delicious food for the rest of our visit. Her recommendations were spot on. I would highly recommend this company.

I'll just say that we love food tours! This one didn't disappoint. We were celebrating my Niece's Bat mitzvah and they customize the tour to her tastes and what she wanted to show off. Lisa was a great gide, full of fun facts and stories, and the merchants really knew her and participated.

I would not schedule unless they are for sure going to hold the tour that day. I was expecting to go to the tour on 8/4 and it was cancelled the last week of July. They supposedly processed my refund 7/27 and it is now 8/6 and I have still not gotten back my money. Turns out they didn't process the refund until 8/3 and now I have to wait 3 to 7 business days...

<p>There was a mix up on where to meet and none of the establishments seemed to know we were coming. It was a little awkward but Karen, the guide, was enthusiastic about her neighborhood and the selections were good. I've done many of these, this was on the pricey end and a little unorganized.</p>

<p>Enjoyable food tour with some really good food from great establishments. The area is a great place to wander for a couple of hours. Highlights of the food include the pastrami on rye with celery soda, pupusas and tamarind aqua fresca really, really good...we returned to this restaurant!, tamales, tacos and, to finish, wonderful ice cream! Very enjoyable tour. This wasn't the most organised of the food tours we have been on - a few of the restaurants weren't prepared and ready for us so there was some waiting around, our tour guide appeared a little distracted although she was very informed! and we had a group of older people on the tour who struggled to keep up with the pace - the tour guide didn't always wait for them to arrive to start explaining where we where or what we were about to eat. That being said, we would recommend this tour and tasty food on offer.</p>

<p>I loved this tour. Wish I had done it on my first day in San Francisco, rather than the last. I feel like I missed out on so much great food in the city. Lisa was a fabulous guide. Full of knowledge and enthusiasm. Highly recommend the tour.</p>

<p>Terrific Saturday strolling through the Mission. In addition to the wide varieties of treats and samples, the murals were really amazing and a nice way to take a small break between foods. I learned a lot about the area and the food was really diverse and delicious. I will definitely return on my own to more than one location.</p>

<p>Great guide. The tour was well planed and executed. So much food!</p>

<p>I took my brother on the tour as a birthday gift. We had a great time in the Mission and were stuffed afterwards. Word of advice: Only go on this tour with someone you want to make conversation with for three full hours.</p>

Lots of tasty samples and interesting talks with restaurant owners. We visited some places I'd heard about and always wanted to try as well as some I knew nothing about am happy I got to try!