New York City Food Lover's Tour

We recently visited New York and signed up for the New York City Food Lovers Tour with Sterling Tours to have a private, 4-hour food tour of Manhattan. Our guide was Tom Orzo who has many years of experience as a tour guide, and who worked as a baker for 20 years. We cannot say enough good things about him. He called us two days before to find out about our interests. We told him that we used to live in NYC 40 years ago and that this was going to be a trip down memory lane as well as a food tour since I love to cook. The day before the tour he called us again and apologized profusely because his customized Mercedes van had broken down. He said that since he was going to tour us in his personal car, that he would extend the tour. We were delighted when he picked us up in a comfortable Toyota the next day. Indeed, the tour extended to over 5 hours, and instead of touring just Manhattan, we also went to Brooklyn! This shows what an honest and fair gentleman Tom is. We visited many bakeries including the famous Dominique Ansel and the Little Pie Company. After buying the most delectable, wonderful pastries in three different bakeries, we realized that we would not be able to consume everything if we kept buying, so we regretfully only window shopped. We visited the Chelsea market, the Winter Garden across from the World Trade Center, the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, etc. to name just a few. Tom told us about the development of many historical buildings, the present problems that the city faces, the cleanup process, and had numerous suggestions for the following days while driving us around. He is an excellent driver and so helpful to get us in and out the car since we are elderly. He loves his city and was so accommodating and flexible. Tom drove us to two apartment buildings where we used to live and patiently waited while we took numerous pictures, and drove by the places we used to work. I learned some bakers secrets from him too. At the end of the tour, he dropped us off at a restaurant in Brooklyn that we had googled beforehand and wanted to visit. We highly recommend this tour as it is personalized and you can go at your own pace according to your own interests. We have traveled a lot and Tom certainly ranks as one of the best tour guides we have had!

Excellent tour around all the foodie spots with funny stories and interesting information. Tom was engaging and fun and thoroughly likeable, taking the time to chat with our two teenagers and make us all laugh. We tried some amazing food and bought loads of things to take back with us once we were feeling pretty full! Do this early on your stay to orientate yourself and to get tips for great places to eat while you're in New York.

An excellent tour,Tom really knows his stuff. His research into bakeries in New York was over and above expectations, he nor only researched the bakery but knew an out it history,background even who owns it. He was a mind of information, we will recommend this tour to our friends.