I really enjoyed getiing to walk the market and sample a lot of things i had never had befor or would have every tried.

Excellent tour guide and food samples!

We all learned new things - thanks Kathy!

The 2 hour tour on West Side Market gave both my wife and my self an interesting new insight of the variety of American food and food culture: far from only being fastfood & Coke, as we might tend to believe in Denmark. Thank you very much for a guidance full of enthusiasm. Betty & Egon, Denmark

Barb was an excellent tour guide. She was personable, outgoing, lively and very knowledgeable. I've been to the market many times, but my parents were in town from Florida and I wanted to take them on a guided tour. We learned tons of new things, and the market felt both familiar and new. Highly recommended and fun!

I bought these tickets as a birthday gift for my boyfriend. We both live in Cleveland and love going to the West Side Market, but most of the time, we only get produce when we go. We had no idea what to expect for this tour. We ended up being in a very small group of 4 people total. It was a blast!! Our tour guide was funny, knowledgable, and sweet. The 5 of us had such a great time exchanging stories. As for the food, it was delicious! We tried SO many different foods and ended up having a bag full of leftovers from our samples! I would totally recommend this tour to any locals or tourists!

Knowledgeable and friendly guide. A fun way to spend a couple hours. Enjoyed meeting the West Side Market vendors and hearing their stories

Great tour with tour guide Michelle. A local lady with loads of great info re market history and how the market is changing to be in step with current trends of buying local, eating organic. Vendors are knowledgeable and proud of their wares and friendly ... uber friendly. I always try to do food tours when I'm in a new city and this one did not disappoint and you come away with a whole bag of goodies.

Michelle gave us a wonderful market your laced with Cleveland history, market traditions and tasty samples from a dozen vendors. It was a terrific two hours and we left with the feeling that we were part of the market family. Take this tour!

Our guide was very knowledge and personable. The experience was a lot of fun!

Michelle was our guide for west side market and she was very friendly and knowledgeable about the vendors and the history of the market and building. Would highly recommend the tour to friends and family. After the tour we did plenty of shopping some at the stops she took us to

Our guide, Michelle was enthusiastic and knowledgeable. The vendors were interesting and the food was good. It is a little pricey but we had a good time. We had a 19 and a 22 year old with us and they enjoyed it.

The guide and vendors were friendly and fun.

We spent a nice two hours touring the West Side Market, but I don't feel the price we paid was worth the visit. It would have been nice to go into the depths of the market where regular patrons are not allowed, or to have done something more special than taste some wares and hear a brief history,

The overall tour is just "okay" but the tour be enhanced greatly by including more trivia,and more history / statistics about Cleveland. It felt a bit rushed and while some "samples" were generous, a few were not and therefore, the cost was rather high for the amount of food and lack of "story line" behind this tour. Perhaps I am spoiled with food tours in NY that offer very indepth information about the vendors, the foods and local history. The cheese lady in particular needs to know her tiniest of samples were barely visible to the human eye (although she in fact, gave the most indepth background and education about cheeses). The tour is rather carb laden and a bit heavy on sweet stuff too. I wouldn't say "dont do it" but just set realistic expectations. Also, we had a newbie guide and that could have been part of it.

This is a great way to not only see the West Side Market but also understand the history and significance of the place. Of course how can you go wrong, trying tasty samples from an eclectic set of food vendors. After the tour it is impossible not to go back and buy more to take home!

As with most Clevelanders, we're familiar with the many landmarks throughout the city, but rarely take the time to really slow down and enjoy them. The West Side Market Food Tour was intended to do just that. We have visited many times, but typically on a busy Saturday with specific food stalls in mind and with somewhat of a "get in-get out" mentality.

We started our tour outside the Market with a friendly welcome by our guide, Michele. She explained a little about the history of the Market and a bit about the architecture. Just when the delicious aromas from the street were making us salivate (we ate a very light breakfast in anticipation for all the food samples), we headed inside.

This began the real highlight of the tour - the many stops at various vendors to not only sample foods, but also learn a little about the history of some vendors, many businesses that have been in the family for generations. Michele kindly introduced me and my husband to each vendor. While we sampled everything from a refreshing jicama, mango & cactus salad to a freshly squeezed juice blend, she would share information about the product or vendor's history and in many cases, carry on an engaging conversation with the vendor where we learned even more. If you book a tour, you'll really luck out if you get Michele as your guide because she also happens to have a background in the culinary arts. So, not only did we sample all these delicious foods, we also gained tips throughout the tour about how to use various ingredients.

Whether you're a local like us, or visiting from out of town, I highly recommend the West Side Market Food Tour!

A few tips:

- Come hungry - we visited over a dozen vendors!

- Bring your camera - you can get a great aerial shot of the entire market from the balcony.

- Wear comfy shoes - you'll be on your feet and from time to time will have to quickly shuffle out of the way (for example, to let a butcher through with a meat cart!)

- Bring extra cash - though many vendors take credit card, there are some that only take cash. You'll want to explore the market and revisit vendors after the tour!

We loved the tour. Guide was so friendly and knowledgeable merchants friendly and generous...samples abundant and delicious...what a wonderful market...we will go back!

Our tour was on Friday morning and the market was very busy. The Market itself is very diverse and interesting. The building is wonderful. All of the vendors were friendly and helpful. The food that we sampled was delicious and varied.

Our group may have been too large for our tour director. She spoke in a "sing-songy" way that was hard to listen to and did not command the attention it should. Most of the group were distracted by the sights and sounds of the bustling market. The falafel vendor actually interrupted her, so he could fill us in with the most accurate information.

I know this was a tasting tour but I would have appreciated a more thorough tour of the market, more of its history and more interaction with the vendors. For example, the owner of the cheese shop was wonderful, explained what we were tasting and lots of background. Would have been great to get that type of 5-10 minute history and background from the other vendors, too, instead of just being handed food to try. The owner of Maha's Felafel even nicely interrupted the tour guide to talk about his felafel which was completely off the script and was fun. All in all, the tour was pretty much as described and is certainly worth doing. But engaging the vendors to tell their stories would have made it a real home run

Lots of fun ... Great way to spend an afternoon

Despite living in Cleveland her entire life, my wife had never visited the City's historic and famous West Side Market. I had made a few quick stops there over the years but admittedly was a bit daunted by the labyrinth of stalls, masses of people, sights, smells and foreign tongues. The two hour tour of the Market, given by our knowledgeable and friendly guide Kathy, was just what we needed to get our bearings and develop an appreciation of this treasure in the heart of our City. By the time our tour was finished, we pretty much knew our way around the great hall and the other stalls in the ancillary building. In the process, we were treated to various goodies from 12 or so of the vendors -- including falafels, olives, yogurt, juices, chocolate, beef jerky and enough other samplings that we decided to forego lunch! Kathy also provided us with some history lessons along the way. This was a very fun and informative tour, which we highly recommend. We are already planning our next visit to the West Side Market.

Visited July 2014

It was nice to have the individual contact with some of the vendors and a sampling of their wares. In fact, by the end of the tour, the lunch we had planned on was no longer an option. The samples oftentimes were very generous and plentiful, so we were too full for lunch. My criticism would be of the guide and his lack of knowledge off "the script" and his lack of enthusiasm. It would have been very nice to have more information about the facility, the vendors and operation of the market.

My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed our tour of the West Side Market in Cleveland--we met quite a few of the vendors and sampled goodies from their stands. Highly recommended!

The tour guide, John, was knowledgeable and on-task. We learned some history, architecture and fun facts about the market. We were given background information and numerous samples from a great variety of vendors. Highly recommend this tour.

Fun tour! History of West Side Market and some of the vendors included in the tour. Tour provided interesting samples at many different vendors.

We had a great time on the West side Market tour. Even though we are local and have visited the market several times, we learned more about the history. We also got to sample from several of the vendors, some of which we were unfamiliar with. I highly recommend this for anyone who is local or from out-of-town.

Our tour of the West Side Market was given by an interesting and informative group of people headed by our great guide. We enjoyed all the delicious samples given and went back to some of them after the tour to purchase some of their wares. We have recommended this to our friends already. Good job!

I know the market well but this tour provided an enhanced experience with tales of rich history and personal introductions to vendors. A great deal of fun and wonderful samples of various foods. I highly recommend it for any cultural foodie.

My friends and I really enjoyed the tour of the West Side Market. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable about the market and told us many interesting facts. The vendors we stopped at were so friendly.... oh and the food tastings were delicious. We really enjoyed the experience.

The West Side Market Food Tour was fantastic! It featured great food and interesting local history. We've already recommended this activity to friends and family and we're excited to do another Cleveland Food Tour soon!

enjoyed the tour of West Side Market ... guide provided an overview of area and Market history, pointed out some of the interesting architectural aspects of the building ... then led us around the Market, explaining various vendors as we passed them, along with some of their history, while stopping at better than a dozen vendors where we were able to sample their items ... some of the samples were unique and all were quite tasty.

It was an informative and worthwhile endeavour. The tour guide seemed knowledgeable and friendly. I was with my adult daughter and she seemed as satisfied as much as myself.

A person needs to be really interested in FOOD to throughly enjoy this tour. I am a person one of those people

Our tour guide was Denise. She was very nice and I found the history of the building and some of the vendors very interesteing. It was nice to see how passionate the vendors were about what they do. We live about 2 hours away from Cleveland. During the tour we got to sample many different foods. Do not eat before your go :) If we lived closer we shop here all the time!

The five local women in our party had a great time and learned some new details about the market. Our guide was personable, friendly, and informative. Due to the brutally cold snowy weather we missed the outside architecture. The vendors were all open and welcoming to our group. We received many delicious samples from the vendors we visited.

All of us had been shopping at the West Side Market for many years; but none of us had known the history of the Market. None of us had tasted the many different samples that we were treated to on the day of our tour. Some were surprisingly WONDERFUL!; some . . . well, at least we tasted them:-) Our tour guide was so knowledgeable about the history of the market and the architecture of the actual building that we all came away with a different feeling and appreciation of just one more great building in our great city. There were 6 of us; and it was a perfect number. We were able to stay together and enjoy each other's company while being able to stay out of the way of the other shoppers at the market that day. The time spent on our tour (2 hours) was just enough time for the tour. We were able to converse with a wide variety of the vendors while sampling a wide variety of products. Afterward, we had plenty of time to shop and leave before rush hour in Cleveland. It was a bit chilly--being January in Cleveland--but the Market was plenty crowded, showing that it doesn't stop Clevelanders from coming down for a great deal and fresh food! Some of us are already planning our next trip down to the Market for our next shopping day. A word to the wise--Plan ahead--come down with a list and know what you want to shop for. Don't be afraid to ask around for some of the better deals:) People are very friendly at the Market. All 6 of us had a great experience on our tour!

Purchased this as a gift for my mom for Christmas and we had a great time! We toured the outside and inside of the west side market and visited 10-15 vendors. So many food samples... Make sure you come hungry!

I am a chef who is familiar with the market and have been shopping there for years. I usually go to the same vendors and basically don't even see the other ones. This tour with very friendly and knowledgeable guides was a great way to learn about the market, expand my shopping base and find great new vendors! I took my friend as a gift for her birthday. Instead of just taking her out to lunch, we tasted a whole bunch of great stuff- juice, falafel, cheese, olives, yogurt, popcorn, apple fritters, honey, etc.!!! We talked to shop owners and sampled their wares. We saw how they are passionate about what they do and enjoyed meeting them. The tour was a history lesson, a cheese lesson, an olive lesson, etc. Fun! Afterward, we shopped for an hour, until we couldn't carry any more bags! Can't wait to go back. My friend and I will take the Tremont Tour next spring!

Great for Foodies. Enjoyed the diversity of all the food. I would recommend this tour to anyone that would like to know more about the West side Market.

My mother and I had a great time on this tour. She is local and I grew up in Cleveland though no longer live in the area. It was wonderful to meet the vendors and sample the food at the market. I think knowing who you are buying from makes shopping there less intimidating. Wish I lived closer so I could shop every week. As a food tour--this was awesome. We were stuffed by the time we left. Would have loved to hear a bit more about the history of the building itself, or to have seen the lower level (though I don't know if that is even possible).

My husband and I were in Cleveland for a weekend getaway. The West side Market Food tour was the first thing on our agenda and turned out to be a wonderful way to get started. Kathy, our tour guide, was prompt and friendly, and gave us a bit of background on the market before we actually went in. We visited 10 or 12 stands with generous samples at each. In fact, there was so much food given to us that we filled our reusable bags that Kathy had given to us. The vendors we met were so friendly and knowledgable, and the food we tasted was both varied, fresh, and delicious! If we had toured the market on our own, we would have missed so much! After the tour we did go back to several vendors and make purchases. Our only regret was that the market isn't open on Sunday so that we could fill a large cooler and take more things home with us! We would recommend this tour to both visitors and locals.

Our guide spoke about the history of the vendors with much enthusiasm...it was a great way to spend a few hours and we will definitley be back. Awesome tour!

We thoroughly enjoyed our tour of the West Side Market! As a local, I've often shopped there but this was an enlightening experience as we met many of the vendors, learned the history of the market and tasted food from some of the best vendors at the market. Bravo!

This was a fun little tour through the West Side Market, albite if you've been going there for a long time it really wouldn't be for you. Our guide, Kathy, was very knowledgable and very caring throughout the trip. We were able to try a few new things that we probably would have before and got to know and listen to some of the awesome vendors there. Who knew I would have liked a peach (which I can't stand) vanilla lemonade? I would have liked to been able to go into places in the market that normally you wouldn't be able to like the basement or clock tower. All in all it's a fun little jaunt and I would highly recommond it to anyone who has never been to or is gunshy about going by themselves.

My boyfriend and I went on the west side market tour Oct 26th and we had a really great time! It is inside so the weather was no problem at all. The food was really great, and there was a lot of it! The fresh peach lemonade was so good I ended up buying a quart of it. Some of my other favorite were the falafels, hummus, meat pies, dried fruits and vegetables, mexican cactus salad, blue potato cakes, asian pasta salad, and of course the different types of cheese. This is just a very small amount of what we got entirely. We were both stuffed by the end of the tour and there wasnt a thing we didnt like. The people at the market are extremly knowledgeable about their products and super nice, it was well worth the money we paid! The best part was our tour guide, kathy! She was absolutly perfect. She was a lot of fun and really knew what she was talking about. She had great connections with everyone at the market making it an even better experience. She knew the history very well and had some great personal stories to go along with the tour. The information she provided was so interesting it really got us to want to learn more about the market. There wasnt a question she didnt know the answer to. I found it really nice that she introduced us to everyone by name, it made us connect with the vendors well. I would recommend this tour to everyone, especially if kathy is the guide! Take this tour!!!!

5 of us met and spent a rainy day learning a great deal about the history of the market and meeting new vendors! We had a great time and I look forward to getting to know these vendors and using them for other shopping experiences.