Meet the Market- Food and Fun tour in Pike Place Market
Description
Tasty Tours invites you to "Meet the Market" and embark on an adventure full of amazing food, history and culture with Supersonic John -A true Pacific Northwest local and the only Market Family tour guide. The Market is a 9 acre historic district that can be overwhelming without guidance. Specializing in smaller group sizes Sonic John will lead you through the maze to visit the hidden gems. You will enjoy a wide variety of Tasty exclusive food samples including James Beard award winners, tacos. seafood, pizza and more! Personally meet the craftspeople, vendors and community that make Pike Place Market special. See you soon! Tasty Tours is permitted and licensed by the Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority (PDA) to operate tours in the Pike Place Market Historical District. The PDA requires any business or person conducting paid tours within its properties and in the public areas of the historical district to be pre-approved and to have a license for this activity.
Tour Options
Itinerary
This is the official starting point for Supersonic John's Tasty Tours. The Crumpet Shops easy to see sign make it the ideal landmark to meet underneath to start the tour. You may be met with a rotating sample from one of the Market Family partners!
We start our adventure passing the Can-Can Cabaret and learning about the Markets history and culture before descending into the main section.
Piroshky Piroshky is one of the more popular spots in the Market and you can view the operation through the window into the bakery. Thrill as you witness the expert team creating a wide assortment of Piroshky. Samples provided as dictated by the line.
Honest Biscuits is located on the scenic west side of the Market. I will explain the artists and the craftline as well as showing you the actual location of the first Starbucks before they moved along the way. Enjoy views of Elliot Bay while eating fluffy handmade biscuits with Beechers cheese baked in. Samples are part of the tour.
We stop at the first of the 4 fish mongers in the Market. City Fish opened in 1917. Enjoy free samples and VIP discounts of some of the best alderwood smoked salmon on earth.
The O-Mart stop ! The Oriental Mart won the James Beard award in 2020 and has incredible Filipino cuisine. Meet the legendary Ate Lei at this exclusive to Tasty Tours VIP stop. Sample is part of the tour
DeLaurenti Italian Grocery is located in the Economy Market building near the original entrance to the Market. They opened in 1946 and you will sample the best pizza in Washington state at the amazing lunch counter. This stop is exclusive to Tasty Tours and the sample is part of the tour.
Yes we go by the world-famous Pike Place Fish Co where they throw the fish! I will explain all the history and lore of this attraction as we enjoy free dried fruit and vegetable samples at Simply Seattle.
Don and Joes is the Market butcher for 55 years and counting. A meat and cheese trail mix to go is part of the tour as we go by.
Secret Garden spot. The secret garden is a great place for lunch with public seating and gorgeous views. I will explain the history of the Market and the roles the PDA, Market Foundation, the Market Commons and the Historic District play in making it one of the magnificent 7 public markets in the world and a truly unique community.
Teas from everywhere can be found at MarketSpice.
Visit the longest-running magic shop in the Pacific Northwest and 6th oldest in the USA as we venture where no other tour goes down into the 7 level Fairley Building. Maybe we may see a trick or two!
We pass by Golden Age the World's oldest comic book shop and where Sonic John started working in the Market in 1987
We continue our journey through the Lower Market Levels we pass the amazing Holy Cow records. Always bustling with vinyl enthusiasts as we make our way back to the main level.
The Athenian has the best happy hour view in the Market and also the filming location for "Sleepless in Seattle" starring Rob Reiner and Tom Hanks. You will see the very lunch counter where the scene took place. Wonderful Market Family hangout.
We end the tour with dessert at Chukar Cherries near the Athenian and the bridge to parking. Assorted chocolate covered dried cherries and nuts sample are part of the tour. From this centralized spot you can continue easily on your Seattle adventure. I will get misty-eyed and wave good bye as we depart with you full of food, history and fun experiences!
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
- Specialized infant seats are available
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(425)
Sonic John is THE BEST! The Market is lucky to have him give tours. John’s knowledge, excitement and passion made the tour one NOT TO MISS! Thank you!!
My little sister and I decided to take a little trip to Seattle, we live in Portland so it is fairly close by. We were looking forward to the food tour the whole trip. Upon arrival the tour guide realized we were missing two people so he called them and I am not kidding, on that phone call is just yelling the address we were at while the people on the other line were explaining that they had just gotten confused about the meetup spot (the emails were all over the place to be honest so I don't blame them). From there the guide talked trash about them until they came so already I felt uncomfortable and then he asked where everyone was from and he made fun of the fact that me and my little sister were from Portland cause it is "so close" and there is "no point". He spent the rest of the tour making jokes about Portland and us, I talked to other people on my food tour who said that the guide made them uncomfortable, several people including myself asked each other if he had a drink or something cause he was weird. At some point, two people dipped out of the tour because of him (the people he talked on the phone with). Overall, it just was more stressful than fun and he kept commenting on how little people ate or if someone didn't want to try something. I thought it was weird and generally just uncomfortable, definitely wouldn't book with this company again because he said he was the only tour guide. Last thing I will say is that he also kept saying he hoped that the people who left wouldn't leave him a bad review, he knew it was a bad tour.
You have got to be kidding me on this. I went way out of my way to show you a fun tour. Absolutely ridiculous inaccurate review. The people who showed up late and lost where drunk out of their minds. What you saw where two intoxicated guests a situation I have never had to deal with before.. Thats why they left, thankfully. I never said one thing about Portland either other than have a safe trip back come on with that stuff. Even got you a magic trick for free. All the other guests on this same tour gave me 5 stars for dealing with the drunkards. My tours are never bad. Good luck out there.
The actual tour was helpful in learning about the market and how to maneuver the chaos. I rated this tour an overall 3 because of the rudeness and lack of compassion of John the owner and tour guide. When I informed him that my husband had stepped away to use the restroom, he went ballistic. He was more concerned about his next tour than the individuals he was currently directing. He was rude in his comments and only cared about moving on instead of waiting for my husband’s return. I apologized to the other tour participants as my husband has some health issues. They were understanding but John was NOT. He was a total jerk! Other participants agreed that his demeanor and comments were rude, unnecessary and lacked concern and compassion. I told him so and he could have cared less. I would recommend going with a different tour guide for a better experience. Cba
Hi folks - I stop at the bathrooms right off the bat and did so on this tour. I ask every ten minutes if anyone needs anything from water to restrooms - The Market is 9 acres and 30 buildings, a complete ancient maze - and on Saturdays upwards of 20 thousand people are crammed into it. The bathroom signs are vague and bathrooms often have lines. I know where the easy bathrooms are if you ask me on the tour. However if you just vanish without telling me and get lost in the massive crowd over and over again it is unfair to the other 10 guests that have to wait to keep waiting while I find lost ones. Being direct about trying to find someone in a crowd is hardly being rude. The tour is two hours and I have premade samples and a timed route. Good luck.
Jon was so informative and funny.We would never would have known about the intracaticies of the many levels of Pike Market. The food samples were great.
Thank you for taking my tour I had a great time showing you around the neighborhood. I am glad to hear you got a lot of information. I have been here many years and I always enjoy sharing my knowledge - Please get your discounts and Safe travels.
John was amazing and knowledgeable. He knew so many people and facts about the market and area which made it incredibly enjoyable. Many random samples on top of the 'scheduled' stops made our group of 4 feel full without being uncomfortable. His personality and stories were worth it alone, but the food pushed it over to an incredible experience. Sonic John really lived up to his name!
I am so happy that you enjoyed the tour. I had a blast showing you around the Market. I can get samples from a variety of places because of my connections so I am thrilled that you enjoyed it. Thank you for supporting small businesses and for visiting the Pike Place Market. Come back anytime. Safe travels. Sonic John
You learn about the layout of Pike's Market. The food samples are minimum and basic, a pizza slice, one biscuit and a taste of a hot dog. All were tasty but not unique. No drinks of any sort although there were numerous fruit and juice places.
Its "Pike" place not "Pike's" Not sure what food you think is going to be offered in a 9 acre 119 year old blue color working-class 30 building public Market outside of the Piroshky, smoked salmon, fruit, James Beard award winning Filipino food, chowder, pizza, Seattle dog, etc that you did get. And yes all are Tasty.
We enjoyed learning about the history of the market and the samples from various businesses. It would have made it even better had we followed a more logical path as it was difficult to find places we wanted to return to after the tour.
I have taken an extremely precise and logical parh for the past 10 years. The Market is 9 acres and 119 years old. I show my guests the route right at the start of the tour in front of a giant map of the Market. During the tour I give you a portable map and other tips on how to navigate the 30 buildings. At the end of the tour I show you the entire route we just completed. I give all my guests plenty of tools to navigate the Market. Its up to you to remember where you want to go maybe take a picture or ask me something specific you wanted to see? Glad you liked the history.
Our tour guide Sonic John was very passionate and knowledgeable about the market. He did a great job navigating a couple of tricky guests on our tour, and his decades of love for the market and its community shone throughout our experience. He was great!
Thank you so much for exploring the Market with me. I had a great time guiding you through the crowded maze. Thank you for supporting small business! Safe travels. Sonic John
I love going to the pike , but it cracks me up every time all these private purveyors of artisanal and specialty items and I went on a very unbusy day... Guess where the line was at Starbucks Coffee.In fact, they cattle Guarded everyone by lining people up in this steel barrier because the actual store is so small.You can't fit a line in it.. And people were doing it.. I'm amazed at what people will pay for overpriced , s*it. The people lined up actually looked like cattle going to slaughter... Or in this case sheep.
Great tour, tour guide was great and very informative. You can tell he knows the history very well. The group was great except for the couple that we had to wait for that arrived late and intoxicated (Benjamin couple) other than that it was a great time.
Thank you so much for taking my tour. Yes that couple was taking their vacation to the extreme for sure haha. I appreciate your patience. I also had a great time showing you around the Market. I give you five stars back! - Safe travels! Sonic John
