3/5 Suzanne F. 10 months ago on Google • 1104 reviews
Tour
guide
was
lovely
and
full
of
recommendations.
Tour
itself
was
very
different
than
past
food
tours
in
that
the
guide
went
into
each
shop
and
either
made
real-time
purchases
(vs.
having
arrangements
w/those
locations
to
have
things
ready)
OR
availed
the
group
to
(already)
free
samples.
There
are
pros
and
cons
to
this
-
one
huge
pro
being
that
the
guide
could
choose
good
places
and
you
could
know
you
weren't
being
"sold"
something
just
because
some
under-performing
shop
had
an
agreement
to
be
on
the
tour.
The
cons
being
"wait
time"
or
"stranded
time"
on
the
tour
when
there
were
other
things
to
do
and
see.
In
fact,
most
of
our
tour
was
spent
at
Pierre
Hermé
waiting
for
individual
macaroon
orders.
Also,
where
the
guide
wasn't
purchasing
something
on
our
behalf,
he
was
just
availing
the
group
to
free
jam
and
butter
samples
at
two
stores
that
would
have
been
available
to
us
otherwise
and
that
felt
like
a
big
rip
off
to
me.
Lastly,
the
tour
was
in
St.
Germain
and
there
are
SO
MANY
wonderful
places
we
passed
that
are
known
for
chocolate
and
pastry,
but
we
just
passed
them
w/no
word
whatsoever
about
those
spots.
NO
mention
of
Alain
Ducasse,
Pierre
Marcolini,
Sadaharu
Aoki,
Gerard
Mulot,
Richard
--
I
could
go
on.
I
specifically
chose
this
tour
because
I
thought
those
would
be
the
places
we
went,
but
we
did
not.
We
only
went
to
three
places
where
he
purchased
something
for
us
(Georges
Larnicol
(mediocre),
Pierre
Hermé
(mass
market
now),
and
Aux
Merveilleux
(truly
delicious))
-
and
the
rest
were
free
sample
places.
I
get
it
that
these
food
tour
things
are
tricky,
but
I'm
starting
to
think
most
of
them
aren't
the
best
use
of
time.