Chelsea Food Tour

All tickets are nonrefundable. Consider it like buying a concert ticket – that seat is reserved for you and we will be unable to resell it. As a small business with only 12 tickets per tour, it’s important that you purchase tickets when you’re sure you can go. If you can’t make it to the tour you purchased, the tickets are transferable.

Gratuity is not included. 15%-20% is customary in the tourism industry.

Yes! Our Progressive Meal is a full meal! The base package features appetizers, entree, and dessert (~3-5 dishes) and is great for lunch or dinner. For private tours, you can also choose the “add more food” upgrade for an even more luxurious and robust menu (~5-7 dishes) great for a heavy lunch or solid dinner.

Our pricing already includes applicable taxes! For private events, there is a standard $25 per person private event service charge noted. This helps ensure we can tip your guide and restaurant servers for larger/private groups. No surprise “booking fees” or hidden extras.

It’s okay! We can accommodate dietary restrictions and requests for non-alcoholic substitute beverages. We’ll ask for your requests and restrictions during booking.

We strongly discourage it. Everything in your pre-booked tour is ordered and prepared in advance to be ready on arrival at each restaurant. Orders placed after arrival take much longer, and come out with little time to spare before we head off to the next course. Guests end up disappointed, leaving cocktails behind or feeling pressure to drink up. Not a good experience.

Yes and no. Our experience takes the best elements of seated dining, prix-fixe chef’s tasting menus, blended with the best elements of a classic food tour, to create an entirely unique dining experience: the Avital Progressive Meal.

That’s okay! You can still book to reserve your date/time with an estimate and adjust later. We accommodate changes of +/- 20% from your original number. Ask your curator if you need special arrangements for larger changes.

That’s our job! We’ve spent years testing out all of the city’s awesome restaurants, finding those quirky characters, and building a culinary experience with story and purpose (that’s also delicious!) Trust us, that’s why you came here.

We’ll send your confirmed meeting address prior to your tour date. The menu itself, and featured restaurants, follow a prix fixe tasting menu style and are revealed as part of the experience itself as it unfolds. You can explore our example featured dishes to understand the caliber and style of dishes and cocktails we highlight.

Yes! For private tours we accept rush bookings. If you’re looking to book a last-minute event, reach out to us and we’ll do our best to make it happen. Rush charges may apply.

Our public tours sell out fast so we recommend purchasing your tickets at least 2 weeks in advance.

In between delicious courses, your Avital Guide will lead your team through a fun and interactive team building game. Games last about 10-15 minutes each.

Tonight’s Special: Designed in-house by Avital curators who specialize in foodie fun and corporate team building. This creative card game gets players thinking like chefs as they navigate trendy ingredients to create mouthwatering menus. Collaborative and competitive, Tonight’s Special will get your team hungry for more fun!

Embrace Quirky: Our original, and all-time favorite Avital game, Embrace Quirky is inspired by our core values. This simple but effective get-to-know-you game challenges your team to find and embrace their own quirky histories, meanwhile sleuthing out who’s who among their quirky team! Someone here used to be hairdresser to the Queen, someone else drank rum with real pirates, and someone else always ties their left shoe first. Who can it be?

Note: Adding the team building upgrade does not reduce or impact the number of restaurants you’ll visit nor the number of dishes you’ll enjoy. However, adding the team building upgrade does cut in on your “mingling” time during the tour – the in-between moments where you might otherwise enjoy organic conversation time will instead be spent playing these fun and engaging games!

Welcome to the city that never sleeps (and never stops eating).

The good news: you can’t go wrong.

The better news: we’ve done the hard work for you.

If you want grit, history, and flavor that punches above its weight, the East Village is your spot. Think bohemian roots, legendary bites, and blocks that have a story on every corner.

Craving something a little more polished and iconic? Our Flatiron tour puts you right in the heart of Manhattan, surrounded by the city’s most recognizable skyline and some seriously impressive plates.

And if you want cool without trying too hard, Chelsea delivers. Art, culture, and a food scene that’s quietly become one of the best in the borough.

Pick your vibe. We’ll handle the rest.

Oh, we love this question. Here’s the thing: knowing a city and knowing a city are two very different things.

Our guides aren’t reading off a script. They’re obsessive locals with insider knowledge, unexpected stories, and opinions about food that will make you rethink places you’ve walked past a hundred times.

Our guests are often the people who think they’ve “done” New York, but leave with a brand new appreciation (and full belly!)