As a Chicagoan, I enjoy doing various tours of my home city. I am glad that I had purchased a…read morevoucher through Groupon for this tour. Making a reservation was very easy for my tour. John was very accommadating. John had verified the location and the time the tour begins. The bus was very easy to locate on Clark Street. Checking in was a breeze. The seats were very comfortable. There are various screens throughout the bus so you will be able to view the snipet of the tv show or movie before seeing the building or location of the shoot. Hint: try to sit on the left side of the bus so you can see more of the attractions. Patrick, the guide, was fantantic. He is was very entertaining and informative regarding the various locations. The tour itself was about two hours. I would recommend this unique tour of Chicago if you are a tv/movie buff.

Great film tour. This was our second attempt at taking the film tour. The first attempt was last…read moremonth when the bus was running 45 minutes late due to traffic on the expressway. Good thing we had a groupon that we could use to reschedule. We didnt want to wait the 45 minutes! So this time the tour was on time. The bus was actually early to arrive. I was extremely happy the bus was air conditioned and smelled lemon fresh! The tour lasted about 2 hours. It was non-stop movie clip playing while the bus was driving us to the places that were shot on film and our tour guide was giving us the history of it all. Our tour guide knew SOOOOOOOOOOOOO much about the movies. I'm impressed she saw them all (or maybe just most of them?). The films that they played dated as far back as 1915 (His New Job) and as late as 2009 (Time Traveler's Wife). I never knew SO MANY films had clips of Chicago in them. How awesome to have this information pointed out to me! I highly recommend this tour!

We have enjoyed Secret Food Tours in several cities and we were looking forward to the Chicago…read moreexperience! I have to add that we completely mixed up our travel plans and were only able to join this tour for the first half, so my review is based on this. Our tour guide, Danny, was informative, patient, and determined to share not only the food of Chicago but the history, characters and charm as well. We met at 11:30am for the tour and he waited until all participants had arrived. If you are late, he will text or call to make certain you can join the group. David began the tour with some history of the Harold Washington Library, where the tour began, and a trip to visit the Vietnam Memorial in the 3rd floor and a quick bathroom stop before we made it over to our first stop at noon for a slice of deep dish. It was very good and apparently the recipe for the crust came from the chef who had worked at Uno first. Hmmm. Our next stop was from some Chicago caramel and cheddar popcorn. We had time to duck on for a quick purchase as well! Danny was really helpful in that he rushed a bit to allow us to make it to the Chicago dog stop. Yay! Qe left the tour after this, but can highly recommend Danny and his tour. He not only shares Chicago treats, but history and interesting facts!

We had a great time eating and exploring Chicago's Loop District while learning about its beautiful…read morearchitecture at the same time. Shout out to our guide, 'Danny', who was extremely knowledgeable and was able to answer our questions thoroughly. We walked quite a bit, so I'm glad I had my walking shoes on. Our meeting spot was at the Harold Washington Library Center (we got a tour of this beauty also). Our 1st foodie stop was at 'Gino's', where I had the best deep dish pizza slice with cornbread type crust. Delicious! We then moved on to 'Garrett's', where we tried a sample of their fan favorite, "Garret Mix," which is caramel and cheddar popcorn mix. Then, we went to 'Luke's' where we had their 'Chicago Style All Beef Vienna' dog. I didn't change anything on it because I wanted to have it how it is and I liked it a lot. Another spot was 'Jimmy's Gyros & Grill', we tasted their 'Italian Beef Sub' no dip with sweet peppers on the side. So good! We had a delicious brownie and then went to 'Tortazo' inside the Willis Tower for a "churro." Overall, we had a great time and learned a lot about the "Windy City".

This was probably one of the best tours I've been on, and my fiancé (who has very high standards…read moreabout these things) agrees. We booked a tour for Saturday at 2 pm. There were some technical difficulties and the TV system on the bus ended up not working. Mr. Frank Calabrese Jr was very professional and good-humored about the situation. He offered everyone on the bus the opportunity to come back free of charge so that we may have the full experience with the photos he had been intending to show us. He proceeded to do the tour without the presentation, which honestly was great in itself. He is a very good story-teller, and had a great narrative. He had notes with him but only referenced them a few times to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything. Everything was super authentic and off the cuff. I loved that we went around Chicago and we were able to get glimpses of how the city was like in the 60s-90s. What made this tour so great was that these stories were first-hand. It didn't come from someone who spent hours studying the history; this was his real life. He was very genuine about his experiences, and his anecdote about his kids at the very end of the tour made me tear up a bit. He even invited us to stay for happy hour at the Chop House to have a drink with him to talk. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone, regardless of whether you know the mob history or not. I personally didn't know too much, and still was captivated by his stories. He does have a book (which I definitely intend to read) and a movie in the works!

I'm a huge fan of true crime and Chicago history, so I'm surprised to say that this was my first…read morecrime tour ever. But everything happens for a reason, and it seems that reason was that I was meant to wait until the perfect one came along -- that, my friends, happened to be the Family Secrets Tour. I met Mr. Calabrese Jr. weeks ago when he presented some of his intriguing life stories at an event at Chicago Chop House, and I knew that evening that I had to book and experience the real deal, aka his bus tours. My friend and I booked a tour for a Friday afternoon recently that started at 2pm, and though there was a bit of a delay because our bus's TV monitors weren't working, Mr. Calabrese Jr. smoothly filled the time with some behind-the-scenes stories he said he usually doesn't share on the tour. I was hooked immediately. To be honest, before this tour, I had no idea the stories his family was involved in were so high-profile (I even talked to my family afterward, and they ALL knew every detail and were mad I didn't invite them! Sorry family!). But even while he showed us news clips, a lot of photos, and told all of his stories, he remained modest, which made the entire experience endearing. Mr. Calabrese Jr. is super charismatic and a great storyteller, and you can tell he genuinely loves telling his story and showing everyone around the neighborhoods where he grew up, and where big moments happened in history to people who were in "the life." I truly enjoyed this tour and I recommend it for anyone who wants an real, honest, non-theatrical recap of Chicago's mob history. The Family Secrets Tour is engaging and delightful. Thank you so much for captivating us, Frank! Can't wait to bring my family along some time!

My husband and I have lived in Chicago for over 20 years but we still like to do tourist-y things…read more We took the tour yesterday (7/3/26) with Winnie Westside as our guide. We had a little hiccup at the very beginning with a malfunctioning bus door, but Winnie and our driver handled it with grace and humor and soon we were on our way. The tour covers a lot of ground and I heard a lot of out-of-town visitors happily exclaiming about the cool Chicago facts and sights they were learning about. I had a renewed appreciation for the city I've come to love as our driver expertly shuttled us all around town. On such a hot day I think everyone appreciated not having to leave the bus, and having a guide in costume and in character really makes it more fun. I used to take this tour with all of my out-of-town visitors years ago when it was two guys and a school bus painted black, and I've taken it periodically since they expanded. I'm happy to say it's still as great as ever, and I'll definitely keep this tour in mind when people come visit me this summer.

Marie was a wonderful host! We loved her. She did a great job and was very educational and funny…read more I learned a lot. My dad and I had a lot of fun. The bus was easy to get to. The raffle was a nice touch. Ps - she said her mom reads these. HI MOM!!

Super amazing experience. Carla was even more amazing and went above and beyond and took a picture…read moreof us and sent it to me because I was scared of damaging my phone so I did not bring one. That's where guys were amazing and for first timers we felt extremely comfortable and shockingly we did not flip over! We can NOT wait to come back! Reccomend the Historical Tour!

I am so happy to have had the opportunity to try this tour with some other Yelpers. Let me just say…read morethat I have tried A LOT of food tours (both Chicago Food Planet neighborhood tours and TWO chocolate neighborhood tours) and this one ranks up there in the top! Out of all the tours I've done, I learned the most of Chicago history here. We not only stopped off at food locations but also at historic landmarks (i.e. The Drake hotel). It was a rainy AND windy Chicago Sunday, but despite the weather I had an awesome time! Lynn did a really great job with our tour and handled the weather situation without difficulty. What a great easy going guy! We visited: --Pizano's Pizza (I may have found my new favorite pizza spot. The deep dish and thin crust pizza were delicious! I am still trying to figure out how they get that crust so crispy!) --Sarah's (The brownie was definitely good...I've never met a bad brownie, but it was not the best I've had) --Downtown Dog's (Good Chicago hot dog--stay away from those peppers!) --Heaven on Seven (The gumbo was really delicious! I may have to come back to try more food!) --Billy Goat Tavern & Grill (I've lived in Chicago for over 4 years and FINALLY made it to this place! Sadly, the cheeseburger was not good. But I enjoyed learning about the history of the Original Tavern and the Billy Goat. Definitely a Chicago tourist spot to visit, if not eat at) --The Purple Pig (I've been wanting to check this place out too!!! That strawberry ice cream IS DELICIOUS!!!!! It tasted like something from my childhood!!! Very nostalgic for me! The outdoor seating was very nice! I enjoyed visiting ALL the locations on our tour, but my favorite EATERIES were Pizano's, Heaven on Seven, and The Purple Pig. For $44 you definitely get your money's worth if not more. The tour guarantees enough for lunch, but I can tell you that you'll be filled up for dinner too!! LOTS OF FOOD to keep you full. I started cramping towards the end from eating so much!! Just a note for those that decide to come, I recommend NOT driving. Your parking meter will expire. The tour is longer than 2 hours and the tour does not end where it begins. Also, the tour is designed for sit down dining so that you will always have a nice comfortable seat and a nice ICE cold drink (so you're not drinking the warm water you've been carrying around). The tour is NOT rushed at all which I enjoyed A LOT. You can also shop during the tour stops too, which many food tours don't allow. The duration of my tour was from 11am to 2:45pm. I recommend keeping your schedule for the entire day open so that you don't feel rushed to get somewhere else. I would definitely recommend this tour to my friends!

The knowledge our guide had about pizza, its history, and Chicago's history made the trip…read moreinteresting and memorable. The pizza choices were spectacular. Hard to say no to another piece when they taste that good. Couldn't recommend the tour more. Six stars!

What an amazing highlight on our visit to Chicago! After briefly catching a tour feature on a…read moremorning show, my family of three decided to give it a try and we were not disappointed. Steve served as our "doughcent" and his energy was contagious. He was passionate, knowledgeable and engaging. Even my 12 year old enjoyed it. We kicked off our adventure at Labriola for a perfect deep dish. After introductions and a bit of Chicago history in a small private area in the back, we tasted our first slice and were even able to check out the oven. There was a vegetarian option, which I appreciated and sausage for everyone else. Everyone appeared to really enjoy it. I really thought it would stand as my favorite, until we arrived at Stop two - Paulie Gee's. Oh em gee- my favorite of the day. It was so unexpected, but so good. The crust was the star of the show and as a bonus, we received a special appearance from owner and chef Derrick Tung. Our third stop was Pat's, where we enjoyed more great history and a generous servings of tavern style pizza- very very thin, but flavorful. My favorite was the veggie (artichoke, spinach and peppers), but I like the cheese, too. Owner Gina Pianetto and her team were very attentive and gave us a quick background Ian's overview of the restaurant. Our final stop was Robert's Pizza and Dough Co. for delicious artisan style pizzas - wild mushroom for veggie lovers and a fennel focused pizza with fennel salami and braised fennel. Chef Robert came out and gave a wonderful background and how he got started. Another phenomenal pizza. The mushrooms were super high quality and beyond delicious. The crust was great. A wonderful wrap up to the tour. I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone visiting Chicago. Perfect size group. Intimate, but enough to enjoy opportunity to meet other. Perfect stops, timing and comfortable transportation. Bravo Steve - well done!

We enjoyed seeing the sights with Chris as a knowledgeable guide! He puts together an experience…read morethat works best for the things you want to see and your schedule! A truly unique experience.

Chris has a unique perspective and fun-loving nature that's totally infectious once you hop in his…read morechariot! Get ready for some fun times on wheels with his crazy and customizable tours!

Guide was distracted by protest, and was constantly apologizing for being able to give a proper…read moretour since we were unable to access most sites due to road closures. Even the guide recommended that we ask for a refund since he was unable to give his normal tour. Despite the company's satisfaction guarantee, they refused a refund.

Great tour. Our tour guide Carrie was very knowledgeable and friendly. We really enjoyed the tour!read more