(757) 634-3602
Offers walking food tours of select local establishments in Williamsburg, VA.
Mindy’s Review…
There’s something exciting about going on a food tasting adventure
and not knowing exactly where you are going or what you’ll be eating. If
you’re wondering where you can experience this, look no further than
Taste of Williamsburg. Its a unique concept to the Williamsburg area
which takes you around to multiple establishments while trying a variety
of different foods. I love the idea of combining little tastes from
different restaurants, as opposed to one huge meal where you are stuck
at just one place. Taste of Williamsburg’s tours are the perfect outing
for people who don’t like to plan because they can sit back, relax, and
let someone else plan their eating adventure for them. Taste of
Williamsburg currently offers 4 different tours to choose from. For our
review, we went on the Colonial and College Tour, which took us through
the Merchant’s Square area and also through parts of William and Mary.We began our tour by tasting some ribs that were quite flavorful and I’d have to say worth getting messy for. After the ribs, we headed over to a fun candy shop where we were sent off with a little goodie bag of candies. Soon after the candy shop, we visited a store lined with shelves of different spices, sugars and teas. We were able to smell as many spice jars as we wanted to and also tasted one of their recently made sugars. This was one of my favorite stops along the way. After our noses settled down a bit, we ate some yummy fried pickles at another spot. Next, we took a break and sat down at the next restaurant to eat some gourmet mac n’ cheese. It was a simple dish served steaming hot with crispy and bubbly cheese oozing at the top. After eating all that food, we walked it off by taking a tour of William and Mary. I really enjoyed all the educational tidbits about the college and getting to walk around a part of Williamsburg I had never explored before. We worked up a a small appetite from the walking, so we ended the tour by sitting down for the “Hot Holly sandwich”. This was nice and toasty and had a good combination of flavors. The whole tour was a fun way to try multiple dishes from multiple restaurants. I enjoyed it very much.
My Favorite Thing: My favorite thing was the educational tour walking around William and Mary. I had actually never been around those specific areas before, so it was interesting to see and learn about them. I really enjoyed the Wren building and all the history involved there, as well as the sunken gardens. It’s beautiful over there and I look forward to bringing friends and family back to those spots again.
What I would like to try next time: Dessert Attack Tour – “Let us guide you on the stairway to dessert heaven in this visit to four to five establishments, where you will savor their most delicious desserts. Items on the tour will include an amazing seven-layer chocolate cake and a bag of candy. In addition, the tour will feature a combination of four of the following: creme brulee, cheesecake, mousse, fondue, warm fruit cobbler, smores or fondue, bag of candy, spottedick, and more! “- Um, need I say more?
Eddie’s Review…
A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That.
With so many places to eat here in Williamsburg (at last count there were over 300), I sometimes find myself wishing that I could somehow more efficiently satisfy my culinary cravings of this great town of ours. I’d love to be able to sample dishes from Williamsburg’s many different chefs, or to experience the vast array of eating atmospheres we have here all in one outing. I mean, wouldn’t that be great? To just pay one price to tour around Williamsburg and taste it’s array of flavors? Wouldn’t it? Oh well, I guess we’ll just have to leave that to wishful thinking, right? Well, as you probably already know by reading the title (or Mindy’s review first), there’s a way to do just that.
Taste of Williamsburg opened their doors about a year ago offering locals and tourists a culinary tour through Williamsburg, VA. They currently offer four different tours (Dessert Attack Tour, Colonial and College Food Tour, Merchants Square Food Tour and William and Mary Food Tour). During their tours you visit a number of local eateries, sample one of their dishes and then depending on what tour you go on, take a guided historic walking tour of some of the sites of Williamsburg.
For our review, we took the Colonial and College Food Tour. We started off the tour in Merchant’s Square, a charming retail village directly adjacent to Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area. It offers a wide range of shops along with some of the best restaurants in town. It’s one of the top areas to come to when visiting Williamsburg. While there, we visited our first restaurant. It’s an established restaurant in town known for good food and fun decor. We tasted a sampling of their award-winning barbecue ribs. I’m pretty picky when it comes to ribs, so I wasn’t sure what I would think of these. I was very pleased though when I took the first bite. The flavors were awesome. The sauce is what really stands out. Very distinct and very delicious. After the restaurant, we walked through a few stores sampling many of their fine products and receiving a few goodies to take home ourselves. One of my favorite places to visit though was a tiny tea and spice store. It’s walls were packed with custom blends of teas and spices from around the world. We then visited a couple other restaurants, one with a “gourmet” mac and cheese which was very good. After this we went for a nice stroll through the College of William and Mary and learned about it’s history and the many famous people that walked it’s halls. We ended the tour at a typical college town bar/deli right across the street from the football stadium. I love these kind of places. Nothing fancy, but the character and history of the many students that have walked through it’s doors is something you can just feel. All in all, I think the tour is a great way for any visitor of Williamsburg to experience not only some of the tastes we have here, but also a bit of the history that has decorated so many of its restaurant’s walls.
My Favorite Thing: The Barbecue Ribs. That sauce was delicious.
What I would like to try next time: The Dessert Attack Tour. I mean, come on.
We then moved onto the main course with one of their signature sandwiches entitled “The Griffin” – “Chicken Breast, Romaine Lettuce, Vine Ripe Tomatoes, Fontina, Avocado, Herb Mayonnaise, Multigrain Bread”.
A good, clean and “healthy-feeling” sandwich. I loved the multigrain
bread in this sandwich. It was very tasty. Then came the pizza. Their
pizza is wood-fired in a special European stone hearth oven to give them
that fantastic crust and chew. We tried their Buffalo & Tomato – “Crushed Tomato Sauce, Italian Buffalo Mozzarella, Pecorino Romano, Basil”.
Amazing. One of the best pizzas in Williamsburg. The Buffalo Mozzarella
is imported from Europe and has a nice creamy and rich flavor to it.
And as previously mentioned, the crust is fantastic (I’m not going to
say “no pun intended”). It’s slightly charred from the stone hearth oven
with a nice thin and chewy center. Just like I like it. We ended our
meal with one of their hand-spun dessert crepes, The Diablotin – “Chocolate Mousse, Strawberries, Vanilla Sauce and Whipped Cream”. That vanilla sauce is delicious. It’s nice to have a place in town that serves really good crepes… and pizza.