Gourmet Santa Monica Walking Food Tour with Delicious Dish Tours
Description
Experience the vibrant beachside city of Santa Monica with Delicious Dish Tours. While enjoying views of the ocean, the mountains, and the famous pier, taste some of the best food SoCal has to offer. Between tastings, learn about the history of this hip seaside resort town from an expert guide. On this tour you will: * Enjoy 6-8 stops at top-rated eateries * Sample unique dishes beyond typical tourist fare * Delight your inner child with an adventure on Santa Monica Pier * Learn how a 1970s drought created modern skateboarding culture * Sip soup from the juiciest Chinese dumplings * See where Old Hollywood stars drank illegal liquor during Hollywood’s Golden Age * See where SoCal fitness culture got its start Perfect for food lovers, beach enthusiasts, and those seeking to experience Santa Monica's unique blend of laid-back coastal vibes and sophisticated cuisine.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Dating from 1926, this hotel is in the National Register of Historic Places. Rehabilitated in 1999 and renovated in 2008, it harkens back to the days of “Gold Coast”, a former nickname of Santa Monica.
This park commemorates the historic African American experience in Belmar and surrounding neighborhoods of Santa Monica. Many African Americans were displaced by the “Build America Better” campaign to “clean up” Santa Monica in the 1950s.
This city park was previously owned by the Bruce family, African Americans that moved to California during the Great Migration. In the 1920s, it became a place of recreation for African American families. In 1927, the property was taken by eminent domain and the buildings demolished. The Bruce family sued but only received a small settlement. In 2021, the property was returned to the descendents of the Bruce’s who later sold it back to the county for $20 million.
A city park dedicated to the Tongva people who lived in the Los Angeles area for thousands of years.
The site of gym equipment that was installed near the Santa Monica Pier by the Works Progress Administration (Federal New Deal agency) in the 1930s. It was used by famous bodybuilders of the time, including Joe Gold, founder of Gold’s Gym. The original Gold’s Gym is in nearby Venice.
A popular shopping area in downtown Santa Monica, which features many shops and restaurants.
One of the remaining historic recreational piers left standing in Santa Monica and neighboring Venice. It hosts a small amusement park (Pacific Park), concession stands, areas for fishing, and views of the beach and oceanfront.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
- Not recommended for travelers with spinal injuries
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- The itinerary is not fixed because we will visit different eateries depending on operating hours and availability of menu items. We will visit about 6-8 each tour.
- The total time for the tour includes the time spent at eateries and the time to walk between them.
- Not recommended for travelers with serious food allergies
- We can accommodate some dietary requirements, including vegetarian and pescatarian. Please indicate your requirements when booking. If we cannot accommodate them we will fully refund your booking.
Reviews(18)
Danny was amazing! so much fun. I highly recommend this tour!
Thank you for the fantastic review! We’re thrilled you had such a fun time with Danny and appreciate the recommendation. Hope to have you join us again for another delicious adventure! 😊
Great walking tour, excellent restaurant stops, very informative.
Thank you for the kind review! We’re so glad you enjoyed the food, the walking tour, and learning more about Santa Monica along the way. Hope to see you again soon! 😊
Denise was amazing! Not only did we have great food she was a wealth of information and at the same time made it very fun! I highly recommend Denise
Thank you for the wonderful review—we’re thrilled you had such a fun and delicious experience with Denise! We’ll be sure to pass along the recommendation and kind words 😊
At this price point, you're probably thinking the guide can stay on topic and on course. You would be mistaken. We got a rambling presentation about sewage, her ex-husband, Disney Tokyo, and the neighborhood around UCLA. We got semi-lost (guide: "this place is so hard to find!") en route to the second stop and entirely lost (guide: "do you have your phone? I know the restaurant's somewhere near here..") on the way to the third, which is when we decided not to add wasted time to our wasted money. Get yourself a guidebook and light a few hundred bucks on fire, you'll be better off.
We’re sorry to hear this wasn’t the experience you were expecting. Our tours are intentionally designed to be both informative and personable, and our guides are known for bringing energy, local insight, and individuality to each experience. We consistently receive strong feedback from guests, so this is not representative of the typical tour. We’ll review your feedback with our team, and if you’d like to discuss further, please feel free to reach out to us directly.
What a great gift! Delicious food! New places I’ll definitely go back to! And a local history lesson by the amazing Niall! What a great tour guide! A variety of food and everything was a gastronomical treat. It was in my neighborhood even and I learned so much. I got this as a gift and now I’m going to give it - to pass it on. This is experiential and social - more of what we need in the world these days. I highly recommend.
Thank you so much for your kind words! We’re so happy you enjoyed your time with Niall!
Denisse was a wonderful guide. She was fun, knowledgeable about the food and history of the food, and got us to try new items! Everything was delicious!
Thank you so much for your feedback! We are so happy you enjoyed your visit! All the best and thanks for your business!
Our tour guide Denise was fabulous. Kind and friendly. Our gripes are with the company. The restaurants chosen are chains and should not be part of a food tour. Also the description of the tour should be updated as it does not reflect the spots visited. Finally, none of the cultural bits of the tour were incorporated. No discussion of speakeasies. No skateboarding culture. I would not recommend this tour, though i would recommend this guide for maybe a tour of Venice or downtown LA
Thank you for your feedback, and I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed your time with Denisse. She is a fabulous guide and leads several of our neighborhood tours, including Venice and Downtown Los Angeles. I’m sorry that parts of the Santa Monica tour didn’t fully meet your expectations. Some of our longtime favorite food partners unfortunately closed this season due to the impact on tourism from wildfires and ICE-related disruptions. We are currently exploring additional options, and we are deeply committed to restaurant partnerships with a special focus on outstanding local eateries that reflect both the quality and cultural diversity of the Los Angeles region. We also appreciate your thoughts on the cultural content. Santa Monica has its own unique culinary and historical focus, while topics such as skateboarding culture are explored more deeply on our Venice tour. Thank you again for your thoughtful comments. We’ll use them to continue refining our tours.
We had a wonderful time wandering Santa Monica with Niall and trying amazing food. I think we had six stops in total. We never felt rushed, Niall provided great history of the city and interesting facts about the food and restaurants, and thoughtfully answered all of our questions. All of the food was included in the tour price, and we could purchase beer/wine at most of the stops. The croffle (croissant/waffle) was incredible, and we were definitely full by the end of the tour. Would highly recommend.
Thank you so much for your review! We are so happy you enjoyed your visit!
Denise brought us to some excellent places to try things we’d never tried before. Food tours are such a unique way to learn about a city!
Thank you so much for your review! We are so happy you enjoyed your tour!
It's not fair for me to rate the food since we had so many eating restrictions that the company created an itinerary for us that isn't what they normally choose. The food was good; the most excellent thing we ate was the squash blossom taco at The Curious Palate. Our guide, Aphrodite, was full of information and a lot of fun! She gets 5 stars for sure!
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback! We’re thrilled to hear that you enjoyed the squash blossom taco at The Curious Palate and that Aphrodite made the tour enjoyable with her knowledge and fun personality. We truly appreciate the 5-star rating for her! We understand that dietary restrictions can sometimes affect the tour experience, and we always strive to provide an itinerary that balances inclusivity with the quality of the experience. We’d love to know how we can improve and better tailor the experience to meet your expectations in the future, so we can ensure that every guest leaves with a 5-star experience. We look forward to welcoming you on another tour soon!
