If you are visiting Cincinnati for the first time and want to understand both its food and its neighborhoods, Secret Food Tours Cincinnati is an easy way to do both in one afternoon.
The Cincinnati food tour combines several local specialties with stops through three historic neighborhoods, and you use the city’s free streetcar along the way. We spent about three and a half hours eating, walking, and learning how Cincinnati fits together from a local guide.
This was my third Secret Food Tour in my third city, and none of them have disappointed me.
Food tours are one of my favorite ways to explore a new destination because you are not only trying local food. You are also learning how the city works from someone who actually lives there.
Since I had already taken Secret Food Tours in two other cities and enjoyed both, booking the Cincinnati tour was an easy decision.
If you are planning more sightseeing around the tour, my One Day in Cincinnati Itinerary for First Time Visitors shows how we fit Cincinnati’s neighborhoods, food, skyline views, and evening plans into the same trip.
We booked the Secret Food Tours Cincinnati tour.
The tour begins around Findlay Market, travels through Over-the-Rhine, and continues toward The Banks. Along the way, you visit three historic Cincinnati neighborhoods while trying several local foods and learning about the city's history and food culture.
The history never took over the experience, which I appreciated. It is a food tour, after all.
There was enough background to understand why certain foods and neighborhoods matter without turning the afternoon into a history lecture.
This tour cost $75 per person.
There was also an optional upgraded drink package, but we did not add it. We don't drink so that was an easy choice for us.
I booked a few weeks ahead and had no problem getting a reservation. I would not necessarily wait that long in every city, especially during a busy travel season or on a popular weekend.
Cincinnati was less crowded during our visit, and we took the tour on a Friday, so booking a few weeks out worked well for us.
Our tour began at 11:00 AM and lasted around three and a half hours.
We walked a few miles overall, but it was easy, slow-paced walking with plenty of food stops in between. We also rode Cincinnati's free streetcar twice, so you are not walking the entire route.
The weather happened to be perfect during our visit, which definitely made spending several hours moving around the city more enjoyable.
The tour begins near Findlay Market in Over-the-Rhine, usually shortened to OTR. Our meeting point was very easy to find.
The tour does not finish back at the starting location. Our guide showed us how to use the free streetcar to return to our car afterward. I actually liked that.
Instead of simply depositing us where we started, the tour taught us how to navigate Cincinnati on our own. We used the streetcar again later in the trip, so learning the system was genuinely useful.
If you have extra time in OTR before or after the tour, many of the murals I included in Best Cincinnati Murals You Should Not Miss are in this same general part of the city.
There are parking lots near Findlay Market along with some street parking.
We paid around $15 to park.
Even though the meeting point itself was easy to locate, I would give yourself at least 20 extra minutes to find parking and walk over. There is no reason to start a three-and-a-half-hour food tour by sprinting through Over-the-Rhine because you underestimated parking.
There were only five guests in our group, including Brad and me, plus our guide.
It was a great group size.
Everyone could talk, ask questions, and get to know one another without the experience feeling crowded. The smaller group also made the tour feel much more personal.
Our guide was a Cincinnati local who was friendly, knowledgeable, and organized. She kept everything moving at a comfortable pace and explained the city and its food without sounding scripted.
She shared stories about Cincinnati's German heritage, local traditions, and the neighborhoods we were passing through, but the food stayed at the center of the experience.
That balance worked really well for me.
I am not going to reveal the exact restaurants or the Secret Dish because discovering the stops is part of the fun.
I will tell you the types of food we tried.
The tour moved back and forth between sweet and savory dishes, which I loved. It kept everything varied instead of making the afternoon feel like several versions of the same meal.
If food is a major reason you are visiting Cincinnati, I also put our other meals, local specialties, and favorite stops into Best Places to Eat in Cincinnati From Breakfast to Dessert.
We started near Findlay Market with a handmade local treat.
It was a simple way to begin the tour and also gave us a chance to spend time around one of Cincinnati's major food destinations.
We then visited a well-known local spot for what our guide considered one of the best goetta breakfast sandwiches in Cincinnati.
Goetta is a Cincinnati specialty made with meat, oats, and spices. It came to the area through German immigrants and became one of the foods many Cincinnati locals grow up eating.
Trying it in a breakfast sandwich made it a very approachable introduction to one of the city's most recognizable foods.
Our next sweet stop was at a family-owned Cincinnati ice cream shop that has been making ice cream since 1870.
Its famous chocolate “chips” are actually large, irregular shards of chocolate created through a special process.
This is the kind of ice cream you are still thinking about later.
Next came one of Cincinnati's more unusual creations from a popular late-night local spot.
Imagine everything you like inside a loaded burrito, sealed together with a crispy, extra-cheesy tostada crunch.
It was messy, indulgent, and definitely not an average burrito.
Our next sweet stop had previously been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.
A true Liège waffle is made with brioche-style dough and Belgian pearl sugar. As it cooks, the sugar caramelizes, giving the waffle a crisp exterior with a soft, buttery center.
This was not a basic breakfast waffle. One bite made it very clear why it has become one of Cincinnati's famous waffles.
Save this for later on Pinterest so you don’t forget it.
No Cincinnati food tour would be complete without trying Cincinnati chili.
Cincinnati chili is very different from traditional bowl-style chili. It is a uniquely spiced meat sauce commonly served over spaghetti or hot dogs and topped with a large amount of shredded cheddar cheese.
We tried ours over a hot dog, although the way it was served made it feel almost like a chili taco hot dog. It sounds a little unusual, but this is a Cincinnati food you have to try at least once while visiting.
The Secret Dish was my favorite bite of the entire tour.
That is all I am saying because I do not want to ruin the surprise.
We were able to sit down at almost every stop. That made a big difference over a three-and-a-half-hour tour.
We had enough time to taste the food, talk with the group, and listen to our guide before heading to the next stop. Nothing about the pace felt rushed.
Yes. We were quite full by the end. The individual portions are tasting-size rather than full meals, but there are enough stops that the food adds up quickly.
I would not eat a full meal immediately before the tour. Unless you wake up several hours before the starting time and need a light breakfast, arrive ready to eat.
The Secret Dish was my favorite bite. I genuinely liked everything we tried, though.
Naturally, I liked some foods more than others, but there was not a single stop where I thought, “They could have left this one out.”
The variety helped. We tried sweet foods, savory foods, Cincinnati classics, and dishes that locals actually eat rather than spending the entire afternoon sampling variations of the same thing.
Yes. I would return to most of the stops on my own.
That is one reason I like taking food tours near the beginning of a trip. If you find something you really like, you still have time to go back before you leave.
We followed our afternoon food tour with dinner at Boca, which ended up being one of our favorite meals of the trip. I go through everything we ordered in my Boca Cincinnati Review A Memorable Date Night Restaurant.
I told Secret Food Tours about my food preferences ahead of time.
There was no alcohol or seafood included on this particular tour, so my restrictions were not an issue.
Our guide also told us about a previous guest who was an extremely picky eater. She went out of her way to find something that person would enjoy instead of simply leaving them without food.
That story made me feel confident that the company would at least try to work with reasonable dietary requests.
If you have allergies or significant food restrictions, I would still contact Secret Food Tours before booking. Available substitutions can depend on the restaurants and dishes included in the tour.
The tour gave us a better understanding of how Cincinnati's neighborhoods connect and why certain foods are so tied to the city's history. We heard about Cincinnati's German heritage and local traditions while moving through three different areas of the city.
By the end, I felt much more comfortable navigating Cincinnati and had a better idea of what locals actually enjoy eating.
For us, yes.
For $75 per person, we received several food tastings, around three and a half hours with a local guide, rides on the free streetcar, and an introduction to multiple Cincinnati neighborhoods.
We also left full.
The value was not only in the amount of food. We tried foods we may not have known to order on our own and came away understanding the city better than we did when we started.
I think this tour works especially well for:
It may not be the best fit if you strongly dislike trying unfamiliar foods or do not enjoy walking and moving between different areas of a city.
Book ahead, particularly for weekends, holidays, or busier travel periods.
Plan to arrive 10 to 15 minutes before the tour begins, plus at least another 20 minutes if you need to park and walk to the meeting point.
Do not eat a full meal before the tour. There is plenty of food.
Wear comfortable walking shoes. The pace is easy, but you will cover a few miles.
Bring a water bottle and your phone. That was really all we needed. A Brita Water Bottle works well for a long sightseeing day when you want to refill as you go, and a Phone and Wallet Crossbody Strap is useful when you are constantly pulling out your phone for photos, maps, and the streetcar.
Check the weather because parts of the tour are outside. A small Danvek Mini Umbrella is easy to keep in your bag if rain is in the forecast.
If possible, schedule the tour near the beginning of your Cincinnati trip. It gives you time to revisit restaurants or neighborhoods you discover along the way.
Absolutely. This was my third Secret Food Tour in my third city, and the company has not disappointed me yet. For Cincinnati specifically, I liked that it combined food with enough local context to make the rest of our time in the city easier to plan.
If food is a major part of how you like to explore a city, Secret Food Tours Cincinnati is a very useful introduction.
If you end up booking anything for your trip, using my affiliate links helps support my blog at no extra cost to you. I spend a lot of time researching and writing these guides, so I really appreciate the support.
We stayed downtown at 21c Museum Hotel, which made it easy to explore more of Cincinnati after the tour. Read my 21c Museum Hotel Cincinnati Review What to Expect for details on the room, parking, location, and museum.
You can also compare Cincinnati hotels through Booking.com.
You can book the Secret Food Tours Cincinnati tour directly if you want to take the same tour we did.
For other Cincinnati activities, I also use Viator and Get Your Guide when comparing tours.
For one of my favorite Cincinnati skyline views, read my Devou Park Guide Best Cincinnati Skyline Views.
If you want something different to do in the evening, my Ghost Baby Cincinnati Review: Is This Underground Cocktail Lounge Worth Visiting? explains what it was like visiting the underground cocktail lounge and live music venue.
If Cincinnati is part of a larger Ohio trip, see The Best Day Trips from Columbus, Ohio for more ideas.
Booked this Bryson City yurt for the ‘ber months and it’s already my top fall pick this year. 🍂
The Junaluska Yurt sleeps six but feels more like a stylish cabin than a yurt, two real queen bedrooms with actual doors, a full kitchen, and a private bathroom with a walk-in shower. Check-in is just a door code texted to your phone, no lobby, no waiting.
The real win is outside: wraparound porch, private fire pit, free firewood, a gas grill, and Smoky Mountain sunsets that stop you mid-sentence, picture all of that with October color on the ridgeline. Heads up, the last stretch in is a gravel road, so skip the low-profile rental, and there’s no restaurant onsite, you’re minutes from Bryson City, Dillsboro, and Sylva for dinner.
Two to three nights is the sweet spot. (We actually stayed in the dead of winter and it was still stunning, fall just takes it up a notch.) Full review linked in bio.
Italian food felt like the last thing I expected to find in the middle of the Appalachian Mountains... until I sat down at Ilda in Sylva.🍝
They call it Italian-Appalachian, and that’s not just a tagline. Homemade pasta, craft cocktails, local ingredients pulled straight from the mountains around it, this is the kind of meal that makes you forget you’re two hours from the nearest city. It’s cozy, it’s a little upscale, and it is not a walk-in kind of place, call ahead, because tables go fast on weekends.
It’s not cheap, and it’s not trying to be. But if you’re already making the trip out to Sylva, this is the one reservation worth planning your day around.
Full write-up, including what to order, link in bio.
Booked my fall cabin before September even started, and I’m not sorry about it. 🍂
These are the stays that make you actually want the cold to hurry up fireplaces, mountain views, the kind of porch you don’t leave. Not every one of these is going to fit every trip, but if a cozy fall getaway is on your radar, this is the roundup to start with.
One of my favorite travel seasons is almost here, and I have zero chill about it. 🍁✈️
There’s just something about fall trips cooler air, apple orchards, that first flannel of the season, food that actually makes sense with the weather again. I’m already mentally packing for it before September even starts.
If fall is your favorite time to travel too, tell me where you’re headed... I’m taking notes for the list.
Pack your bags... ✈️🧳My hiking and road trip gear shop just got a refresh, and this is everything that actually earns a spot in my bag. The dry bag pulls double duty for beach days and trail days, the Osprey backpack is the one I grab for anything motorcycle or day-hike related, and the GoPro comes with me literally everywhere at this point.
Nothing on this list is filler it’s all stuff I’ve used, packed, and repacked more times than I can count. Full shop linked in my bio if you want to build out your own kit before your next trip.
Follow @travelwithwendyplummer for Beautiful Beach Destinations, City Guides, Foodie Spots, and Luxury Hotel Recommendations.
