Downtown Charleston Food Tour

Dana was an exceptional guide weaving informative Charleston history into Lowcountry food traditions. The 3 restaurants provided different samples that were delicious and filling.

My husband and I took the downtown Charleston food tour and we were underwhelmed. We are very experienced with food tours and have taken over 25 of them and this one was very disappointing. Our tour guide was knowledgeable and engaging and we enjoyed her enthusiasm; however, the tour itself was less than impressive. The portions were very small, particularly at the last savory stop which featured a fried chicken slider - the piece of chicken was microscopic and the slider ended up being mostly bun. Also, only one stop offered an inclusive beverage other than water, which was soda. I would think that iced tea would at least be offered at all the stops (alcoholic beverages were extra, which is to be expected). I understand that food tours often provide just a sample, but the price we paid ($114 per person) did not equal what we received. Additionally, we expected to walk more around the area, but we barely walked around the corner. The four stops were within a couple of minutes of each other or literally right across the street. Other food tours we have been on incorporated more history and were more informative and covered more ground. One last comment, the time spent at the shop doing introductions and covering everyone’s comfort food could be skipped. It lasted forever and didn’t add much to the experience. Brief introductions of your name and where you are from would be sufficient and take a fraction of the time. Overall, this was an underwhelming tour and I would not recommend it.

We had a great tour! Mimi was the perfect tour guide. We learned so much about Charleston & the food. Highly recommend!

Great selection of local eateries and very knowledgeable guide. Selections started with pork sliders and moved to southern boil, lamb and beef burger, and decadent dessert.

The food was delicious and definitely equaled a full meal. There was very little walking since the 4 restaurants are located very near to each other.

Wonderful food tour. I have been on many food tours. This one gave the most amount of food and everything was yummy. It was hard to hear guide often due to large tables and loud restaurants. We went with group of 5 women and all enjoyed the tour very much.

We appreciated the company reaching out prior to our scheduled tour that was potentially going to be impacted by a major weather event. Even though they advertise "rain or shine" we were allowed to change our reservation. Interestingly we switched from a 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Would the choice of tastings been different? Our guide Mimi is a rock star. Her knowledge of the cultural influences and the historical significance was outstanding. She instilled a welcoming attitude within the tour group of 11. As advertised, our four stops provided plenty of food for a satisfying dinner. We highly recommend this company (and Mimi) as your choice for an introduction to the Charleston dining scene.

Dana was our guide. She was excellent - good mix of Charleston history and food commentary. Highly recommend her as the tour guide. Restaurant and food choices were very good and our group enjoyed the tour.

We had a great time on our Charleston Culinary Tour! We got to sample some excellent food, get a little exercise to work off some of what we ate, and got to learn more about the history of Charleston in general. Definitely don't plan to eat any time before or after the tour- you won't have space. Even though the samples from each restaurant were small, there were a lot of different samples, and the food was very filling. Mimi was a great guide! My only regret is that we didn't book early enough to go on the tour on our first full day in Charleston.

Great walking food tour with Jessi as she shared her story along with the history of Charleston as we enjoyed great food of the area! Highly recommended

Georgia was our tour guide and she was the best! She took us to some great restaurants and we enjoyed all the food. She was so informative as well and so sweet!

It was wonderful. The food was great. Jessy gave us so much great information about Charleston and the food. She took us to great places. Would highly recommend. And I will do it again when I’m back in town.

Guide was Jessie and she was well informed and provided lots of tastings. We so enjoyed the East Bay meeting house that we returned the next day. Was not disappointed!

Awesome time, great information and delicious food!!!

This was the best tour of our time in Charleston!! John was our guide and he was top notch!! The restaurants were great! Loved hearing the history of Charleston along with the food that was prepared for us!! I believe there was 7 in our group so lots of time for questions for John. He was very professional and full of interesting facts!! I wish I had more photos.

5 stars Simon was our tour host and he is the best! Our group of 4 had an exceptional time learning about Charleston history and eating amazing food throughout our tour. We are repeat customers and will return for more fun!

We’ve been on a lot of food tours all over the world and never came away hungry from any of them until now. Portions were all sampler sized what there were of them and no drinks of any sort other than water were included. Can’t remember that happening on any of our previous tours. For the cost, about $100 pp, was definitely overpriced. The food, what there was of it wasn’t bad.

Amelia was an awesome tour guide. We learned so much and she was so knowledgeable! Would definitely come back!

Really good variety of all types of food. The guide gave a great history lesson.

The guide was friendly and knowledgeable. It was a great experience but come hungry.

Our culinary tour was exceptional in a city known for its excellent restaurants. Our guide, John Mulherin, was engaging, humorous and knowledgeable about Charleston’s culinary scene and rich history. Highly recommended.

Our experience with the guide was exceptional. Linda was lighthearted, fun, professional and energetic! Very accommodating of our questions and joined in the fun we were having with the e food. She was so knowledgeable about the history of and architecture of the area! One of the best tours, it’s a must do! There were four restaurants on our tour, one was a dessert place! A perfect variety and the staff of each restaurant was happy to see us and Linda!

John was an excellent guide on history and everything Charleston. Having taken other tours in the past Charleston culinary is always the best

Don’t eat before ! Or after ! Great history information. Delicious choices of low country cuisine. Nice pace. Wasn’t rushed.

Delicious opportunity to sample key dishes of Charleston with a charming guide who is knowledgeable about the history and the food scene of the area

We had a great time on this culinary tour. Our guide John was great. He was knowledgeable and fun. I was impressed with the amount of food and it was delicious!

A day packed full of adventure, fun, new experiences for J1 students from Turkey, Poland, and Kazakhstan. We had a great time and the food was aplenty.

Come with an Empty Stomach. Plenty of food samples are served. Includes informative education about history of Charleston

Our guide, Mimi, was excellent. The four restaurants gave us a great overview of low country cuisine and Mimi taught us how the history and food are intertwined.

It was a really great experience. We drove in for the tour and appreciated that the meeting location was easy to find once parking was found. The restaurants that were chosen were all in good proximity, organized and had delicious food. The options chosen were perfect. I was especially impressed that our guide, Georgia was equally concerned about assuring we had a good time and the tour happened, while constantly trying to locate two people who were missing from the tour. It showed how much she cares about the participants and their experience. It was great. I’d highly recommend it to anyone who is taking it under consideration.

Great tour for the whole family. We had a great guide named Summer who didn’t just talk food, she also knew so much about the city’s history. Kind of like two tours in one. Great variety of Southern food from BBQ to seafood and other good stuff in between.

John was great. Informative,interesting and knowledgeable

Overall, it was a great experience - great food. The only negative was the dessert- it was carrot cake - it is not very southern and cake was dry.

Jessi was very knowledgeable and brought us to great restaurants. She told great stories and made recommendations based upon our questions

Our guide was friendly and knowledgeable about the city, restaurants, and of course the food we sampled. There was plenty of food - you will NOT be hungry at the end of tour. Would do this tour again.

Summer did a great job! Her knowledge of Charleston, connection to local people was great addition to just food

We had the best time, such a wide variety of food to sample. The guide was wonderful! We also were told a lot of information

It was an excellent experience. Our tour guide Amelia (Meme) was a wealth of information. The restaurant and food choices were exceptional. The other people who were on the tour were a lot of fun. It was worth the time and money

So glad that we did this tour. Our tour guide Amelia (meme) was fantastic. She is a wealth of information. The other participants that also attended the tour were so much fun. Great restaurant options with delicious food.

This was a very fun tour with a group of fun people tasting some very interesting foods. First time I ate collard greens and the guide’s advice to eat it with cornbread was spot on for a delicious taste. Pulled pork with coleslaw was amazing as was the fried chicken. Only water was usually provided unless you wanted to buy a drink but that was fine. The guides were informative and pleasant and worth the price. We went to several local restaurants and the only miss was the coconut cake at the end which may be someone’s favorite but not mine, though they did offer a substitute.

Great tour guide and we were lucky to have a good group of people that made it fun. We tried several restaurants where the pulled pork and collard greens were amazing as well as the shrimp and chicken. If you’re not a fan of coconut cake the dessert will be a miss but definitely worth the time to get a history lesson and a full stomach.

Awesome experience, well done and worth your time to do. Not only did we get to sample the food and drink, but our guide also gave us the history of the food, drink, and city.

It is fabulous. Friendly people along with the guides who were friendly and knowledgeable. Glad that we did this

Excellent tour and great cross section of food to sample, the different restaurants were delicious, our tour guide John was very informative and knowledgeable about the food, culture and history of Charleston! Definitely recommend!

Fabulous food and history tour of old Charleston. Our guide Summer was really great and knowledgeable. The 4 food stops were very filing, even our teenage son was full at the end! The history of the city and of the food dishes itself was excellent. While it was hot and humid outside, our short walks with cool indoor seating and ice water every stop made it no trouble at all.

Mimi was very knowledgeable and friendly. Loved her choices and she was great at recommending future places to try.

Our tour guide Michael was very good and we had a nice time and tasted some great food. However, all four restaurants were literally within one block, some across the street from each other. In order to extend time before each restuarant, we would be walked around the block so he could give us some facts and information about the city. We did this between each restaurant since they were all steps from each other. I would have preferred the restaurants to be more spread apart so we could have seem more or Charleston as this was our first day in the city. We did really enjoy all but one of the four stops.

Simon was a wonderful tour guide. He was very knowledgeable and gave us plenty of time at each location to eat and have drinks. The food at the first two locations were excellent, the second two were ok but the drinks we bought at the last stop Carmella's made up for it; they were delicious. All in all I would definitely take this tour again or even another tour with Simon!

My mom and I took the food tour in Charleston. I appreciated the meeting place which was a store front where water and tea was offered, a bathroom and most importantly, air conditioning. It was very hot but our tour guide Michael was very considerate about keeping us in the shade while telling us some local history. The restaurants we went to were all very close so the walking part was easy. We very much enjoyed all of the food on the tour. They were mainly things I probably would not order so it was fun to taste new things. The portions were just right too! Our group had 14 people but Michael did a nice job of sharing his knowledge and explaining what we were eating on both sides of the table so we all were included on the information. Michael was very friendly and easy to listen to. We very much enjoyed all of the stories and historical information! We learned a lot!