AppeteasersUSA

My husband and I took the Appeteasers tour in PB yesterday after getting a deal on Living Social. The guide was amazing but the tour left much to be desired. We went to 5 locations and only 3 (2 of which were different parts of the same building) served food.
Location 1– Fred’s Mexican Café. We got mardigras beads and a wrist band when we arrived and were shown where the other 15 or so of us were sitting. The restaurant was really cute and we got 1 single Chicken Chingaderas, Fred’s original Mexican Egg Roll, and it was good but a very small portion. Luckily they had free chips and salsa. The drink specials were $ 5 strawberry or regular margarita’s and they were tasty. The manager came out and talked about his restaurant and his other locations. We were there for about an hr which seemed long when you only have 1 little bite to eat.
Location 2– the bar that is a part of Fred’s called the Typhoon Saloon. We got 2 appetizers here 1 slider and decent size sample of their sweet potato tater tots. I do not eat red meat so they made me a chicken slider which was very nice. They place had beer pong tables and a night club inside. The food was great and one person from every group got free VIP to the club for a year. Drink special’s were $ 3 Coors Light or Miller Light draft. We were notified at this club that our next location was a pub that did not serve food.
Location 3 — Brewley’s Pint. We got here and their small glasses of draft were $ 3 and the large glasses were $ 5. I think this was the price everyone off the street got. There was no food, other than the free popcorn in the back. I asked the guide why an appiteasers tour went to a pun without food and he said that 2 of the restaurants backed out on him last minute. He seemed very upset and sorry that this had happened. He told us he was quitting appateasers and this was his last tour. He said restaurants in the area could not see the value of his group bringing in 15 – 50 new customers through their doors and so they could see the location and get a taste of their food. This is nuts. Restaurants spend thousands on advertising to try and get people through their doors and here is a chance to get a bunch of people in to taste their food. They complain about giving a tiny sample? Everyone in the group got drinks and paid too much in my opinion so they make their money back, Oh well…
Location 4 — Cabo Cantina. This location was HOT (very warm) and they had a great sample of a full Sunset Roll. They were delicious and the drinks were their regular buy 1 get 1 free (same drink). We got the Cancun margarita ($ 8) and it was DISGUSTING! One sip and it made me feel ill. They also make a very big fuss about moving stools. There was a group of 5 girls in our tour that wanted to sit together and the host kept taking away one of the chairs they brought over and said that one of them had to stand. There was still room if they had been allowed the extra chair for people to go by and the other chair was not needed by other patrons. It was very strange.
Location 5– Sinbad Café and Hookah Bar. This last location did not have food either but did offer 3 large hookahs for the group to share for free. The flavors were peach, sex on the beach and fruit roll up. We left right away as we were hungry.
Overall the group leader was super nice and fun so they got 2 stars. I think restaurants have to realize the opportunity they have here. They should be giving us menus at each location so we can see what they serve and prices, they should also be giving us coupons to come back. Normally these tours are $ 30 per person. I would have been really pissed if I had paid the full price for this tour as we probably got about $ 10, if that, worth of food and the drink specials were not special. I do not recommend this tour, at least the one in PB

My boyfriend and I recently went on an Appeteasers tour in North Park. We bought Living Social deals in February and time was running out to use the vouchers so we booked the first opening we saw. While we would have preferred Gaslamp to North Park, we now have a reason to go back too!
We started the tour at True North, a neighborhood bar by day and nightclub by night. After getting checked in, name tagged and «leied,» we settled in at the bar. The owner of True North soon brought us a sample of the Burner Burger and tater tots. They also offered us $ 3 drink specials and we let the drinking commence! After about half an hour, our group convened on the back patio for a quick run-​down of the days’ festivities by our friendly tour guides. Then it was on to the next location…
We visited Casa de Luz, a vegan restaurant a couple blocks down the road. While I’m not a fan of vegan fair, I did enjoy the fresh, clean look of the spacious restaurant. The macadamia cheese stuffed mushroom, while not up my alley, was a creative food choice for the sample.
Our next stop was Sipz, a vegetarian, Asian-​inspired restaurant. Had I not been a couple drinks into my day, I may have heard the vegetarian part and realized that the «chicken» and «beef» were not real meat. But in my slightly tipsy state, I tried the fake meat and found it to be surprisingly realistic. Kudos to Sipz and Appeteasers for getting me to try something new. :)
El Comal, a family-​run Mexican restaurant about a block off the beaten path, was by far my favorite stop on the tour. The potato and cheese empanada was incredible and the $ 3 margarita was the smoothest, freshest drink that I have ever tasted.
The final stop on our 4-​hour tour was Wang’s, a modern Asian restaurant with a beautifully decorated dining room.
All in all, I’d say the event was a success. I’ll definitely look into getting a group of friends to go next time as I can only imagine that a group atmosphere would add to the festivities. The Appeteasers crew mentioned that they’re working on starting more neighborhood restaurant crawls, such as Hillcrest and La Jolla, and I’ll be keeping my eyes out for more info!

This was the 3^rd food tour (2^nd in downtown) I’ve done in SD all with different companies and I have to agree with the first reviewer, this one «takes the cake!» The appeteazers USA tour seemed better organized and because it was 1 hr longer than the other tour it gave everyone ample time to drink… a lot! Since most places downtown have happy hour 7 days a week it was the perfect booze & food tour. My biggest issue with the other downtown food tour was too many carbs at every location. I felt like even though it’s called an «appeteazer» tour the food handed out by most places actually seemed more plentiful and a perfect mix of protein and carbs. The food highlights consisted of; The Field we were given a mini sheppards pie, The Beer Co, which had really good flat bread pizza w/​lots of veggies, and at Donavans Seafood we were given a fish slider, half a fish wrap, and a pear-​vodka cocktail that knocked my socks off!
I would recommend this tour for anyone who’s interested in getting a taste of downtown without paying a fortune and still leaving with a nice buzz at the end!

I went on the dt tour last weekend with a group of friends and we had a great time. The tour guides were really nice and relaxed and they made sure to take care of each and every guest. We got to do a lot of stops and most of the places really hooked up the food. I recently went on a Hillcrest crawl with a different company (see other reviews) and this one takes the cake when you are comparing. The only two stops that really lagged on the food was Tipsy Crow and Freds, but at least Freds hooked up a coupon in case you wanted to come back. Id def recommend this tour. We grabbed a Living Social deal and it was a great deal.

This was such a fun experience! It was well set up and all of the restaurants were totally prepared for us to come. The group leaders were very amiable and made it a comfortable and friendly environment. What a great concept — snacks and drinks for an inexpensive price, and all planned for you!