Festival Cubano

Its okay I guess. I go every year because I am Cuban and it just feels like I’m obligated to go. But I am always disappointed by the food as it is not authentic or even tasty. Lat year they started charging an entrance fee which I didn’t mind if it meant their wouldn’t be bangers and homeless people begging for change inside. What pissed me off is they made us throw away our bottled water before entering. It was 100 degree day, my kids’ faces were red and we were all sweating. How dare they not allow people to bring their own water into the park to keep themselves hydrated in such dangerous heat conditions? On the plus side my kids enjoyed the rides and entertainment. I Enjoyed the few freebies that I received and the little trinkets that I purchased from a few stands. That’s about it

Festival Cubano was good. They charged $ 20 to get in so that eliminated most of the deadbeat gang members from the area. This is a pretty good fest but it is not «Cuban.» Much of the food and people seemed Puerto Rican but they did mix in some Cuban songs.
This is a fun place to bring the kids early in the day. There are very big corporations here that are all trying to fight for the Latino market share. They «go big» with giveaways, free games, photo opportunities… etc. it’s $ 20 to get in but you don’t need to spend much money here to have fun. I also felt very safe. Even in the evening when more people came, it was mostly older folks with lawn chairs. Well worth coming to check out the festival.

This was a fun festival. There were hand rolled cigars, great music, live entertainers (dancers) and lots of food. Admittedly the festival would be better called the Latin American Festival, but it is what it is.
In addition to the aforementioned items, there was a car show, clothing vendors, cellular phone service providers and auto insurance vendors too.
Valet Parking was $ 15 and there were a few neighborhood private lots offering parking too. Off street parking was scarce.
All in all, this could not hold a candle to a Cuban Fest in Miami but it is a great family event that I look forward to attending again next year.

Festival Cubano is a lot of fun! Not really sure its authentic «cuban» but most of the food there is either Puerto Rican, Mexican or from some other Latin American country. The food is very pricey. about $ 8 for a pincho (kabob) or $ 5 for an arepa. They had hand rolled cigars throughout the festival which was very cool to buy. I went to the festival on the first/​second year they held it and the admission was free ($ 5 suggested donation) but now its $ 10 per person which I think is a lot (hence the 4 stars). Its $ 15 if u get there after 6 apparently so plan accordingly!
This year they had good music sets… was there for Eddie Santiago, Rey Ruiz and El Gran Combo and all 3 did not disappoint anyone! My only problem here is that they do not follow the times they specify beforehand. The shows were delayed by 30mins or so which makes the last band perform less. Not cool!
Overall a very family friendly festival which I will probably be back for next year and hopefully they have groupon deals again :) Also, bring your lawn chair so you can enjoy the music comfortably!

I had an absolute blast this year. The line up was awesome, the food was amazing, and the rides — funnnn!!! The atmosphere is what I love the most — people dancing to the music, performances… Smiles, laughing… And all around great time! Can’t wait for next year.

This festival is… Ok. I’m generously giving four stars because I don’t really know that I consider myself an expert knowing what to expect of a «Festival Cubano»
First of all, not that Cuban. It’s Caribbean, Mexican, Central American… nothing that Cuban about it. It’s general Latino… which makes me not understand why this year they introduced another general Latino Festival there in the same park like a month later. Go figure.
The food booths are good, but pricey. The rest of the booths are Xfinity, phone companies, banks, general stuff like that.
What makes this event so worthwhile is the live music. They have some pretty well-​known acts come through here. El Canario was at this festival a couple years ago. They had a really good Celia Cruz cover band here once — all that really good. I know that they had some sound system issues with El Canario, but… that happens some times.
So in sum, live music = 5 stars. Everything else = 2 – 3 stars. Averages out to a generously awarded 4 stars.
(I am a high school Spanish teacher)

My family and I anticipated this year Cuban festival. We were so dissappointed in everything (Saturday night). There weren’t many vendors at all. The Cuban restaurant I was looking for wasn’t there:(The sound stage sucked, BIG TIME! The mc was talking too much, I think he was stalling us. Finally when the artist came up he was acting like he was on drugs. His performance sucked so bad that was our que to leave and we wasn’t there no more than 30 minutes. I won’t be back to that festival.
It diffently wasn’t worth a hard earned penny.

If you’re into music then this would be a festival for you. If you’re expecting to get authentic Cuban cuisine and art or anything else from the vendors forget about it. Almost all of the food vendors were Mexican or Puerto Rican. We did not see a single vendor that had authentic Cuban cuisine except for a Cuban sandwich stand.

It’s a Sunday morning and my wife, oldest son and I all head up north to Riis Park on 6100 W. Fullerton to check out the first annual Festival Cubano. I had my best Guayabera on and we were ready to go. I saw the article in the paper on Thursday. I checked out the website on Friday. Unfortunately we were too busy to go on Saturday (open 10:00 am to 10:00 pm both Saturday and Sunday), so we decided to head north on Sunday.
We arrived around 11:00 am. It was raining out and there was a nice cool breeze. About half of the display boothes were still not open yet. No one was performing on the main stage that was setup. There was Hispanic music playing from one of the local radio stations. We sampled foods from Señor Pan (which their samples were as excellent as their restaurant food, you can read one of my earlier reviews on this fine restaurant), Café Cubano (which after sampling some delicious treats we will have to go to the actual restaurant and try their menu) and 90 Miles Cuban Café (which I couldn’t believe how expensive their samples were, so I’m not too sure if we will try their actual restaurant menu).
We also checked out some of the art and jewelry boothes. There was Galeria Cuca which we bought some prints from and also some nic nacs. We also stopped at Cabin Tiger Studios where we liked a few of their prints, but did not buy any as they were expensive. Everyone told us about the live music, dancing and the show that we missed from Saturday night. It sounded fun!
We walked and talked with some very friendly individuals for about two hours. We had a really nice time, even in the rain. We will definitely head back for the second annual Festival Cubano (if they have one next year). Next time I think we will get there around 4:00 pm on Saturday and stay into the evening so we can hear the music and watch the dancing and the show.