Korean Festival Houston

I attended the Korean Festival for the first time 2015 with my husband, son and family from out of town. We paid 10 $ for parking a few blocks away which we didn’t mind but once we got there we regretted it. We pretty much just took one walk around and left. Lines were so long for food, and there were vendors but I was hoping to find authentic items, souvenirs etc, but instead just saw many booths with typical flea market style finds. The day was warm so standing in long lines to wait for a small food sample just didn’t seem worth it. They over price simple things such as WATER. The place was so crowded that it became overwhelming and just got to the point that we decided to leave. Not to mention we were hungry. There were booths that had children activities but nothing out of the ordinary. It’s not anything I plan to do again. We left and went to eat sushi which made the rest of the day feel like it was worth getting out of the house for.

Long lines, disorganized, shortage of food, and no real celebration of Korean culture (besides the food). Would really benefit from observing how the Italian Festival is run.

I advise you to ban the shaved ice vendor because paying 5 bucks for a scoop of half-​melted garbage vanilla ice cream on top of a full cup of ice and some measly fruits is thievery. Didn’t evne put any condensed milk or any sweetener for that matter (don’t you dare tell me the ice cream was the «sweetener».) I didn’t experience any of the chaotic lines that these people mentioned but I could totally see it happening. There was really nothing you could actually do at the festival other than walk around and eat at the vendors or just watch the performances. We were there when the performances weren’t that exciting so I guess shame on us for being there at the wrong time (I believe evening had the more exciting ones).
Kudos to your samsung VR thing though, that was worth a star.
Anyways, never are my friends and I ever coming again.
Surprised this event even had a page that I could make a review on too.
1/​10, never coming again.

This is the first and last time I will go to Korean Festival. Until they improve their service and vendors. Lines were ridiculously long for food. I waited 1 hour in their KBBQ line with hardly a sign of moving. Although, they were cooking it fresh. By the time I got my food, half of my day was already gone. I didn’t have time to visit the other vendors. There was really no excuse for them to have problems after hosting Korean festival for over 3 years I have heard about them. On Facebook, they had to expect 11k+ people to attend. They really need to change the location if every year– it gets bigger. Everything from the food and beverages were overpriced or how many tickets they need were written so small on their sign. Bring your own water/​canned soda because they’re charging you $ 3 a pop. I’d understand if it was $ 2, but $ 3 is outrageous. I didn’t have a problem with parking, but it was $ 12 right near Discovery Green. Literally, the only fun thing about this event was the Samsung Gear VR experience. My best suggestion is just go to H-​mart or a Korean restaurant for your Korean fix.

Went for the first time this year 2015. It was the best festival I’ve ever went to. Performances were absolutely fabulous and the best part was listening to Terry Im the beatboxer and took pictures with him, so adorable!!! The food was ok, kinda expensive. The merchandise was amazing for Kpop fans and I even did the kayak. There was the booth for you to write your name in korean which was awesome, now I know how to write my Korean name. It was all worth it since it was free.

This review is purely for the food vendors part of the festival. Highly unorganized. Food was over priced and cold. I took my 81 year old grandma there for her birthday (trying to do something different than the normal dinner and cake). She stood in line for an hour and was refused service by the time she got to the front of the line because they thought she cut in line (1 line split into 2 then ppl started arguing about which line was the real line). We didn’t want to make a scene and just walked away but truly, that was terrible. First of all, we didn’t cut in line. It was just pure chaos. Secondly, bullying an 81 yr old for a bowl of beef? Really? No food is worth that. Shame on the vendor.

Each year I see the pictures and I miss the festival, but this year, I put down reminders and it just so happened we were doing a morning bicycle ride near by. So instead of looking for parking around discovery green, with all of the construction we were able to just lock up our bikes and walk into the grounds.
The festival itself is kind of small, but the best part it is FREE. There are so many festivals in town, where you pay for admission, then pay for food! At least this one you just come on in for free, and buy tickets to then trade for food and drinks. There were a lot of freebies too. The rice pop cakes were delicious! The guy making them was so nice. There is also entertainment on the stage, they had acts throughout the day. People were able to put down their lawn chairs and blankets and enjoy the beautiful weather.

We loved it! Gorgeous weather, parked at a meter so only $ 2, great kids’ activities which exposed them to the Korean culture (the whole reason we went), YUMMY food and awesome traditional Korean entertainment. We got to relax on the hill and enjoy the show. The kids got to kayak, play on the giant splash pad and trampoline and check out the life-​size Rubik’s cube. Well done!

I thought that this festival was well organized. There was ample parking, good entertainment, and good food. I was just a little disappointed that they didn’t have Korean sushi. I’ll just have to go to H-​mart to get my fix. I did enjoy their bulgogi, galbi, japchae noodles, and pork dumplings. Yumm! The added bonus was that it was such a beautiful day to walk around discovery green, and admire all the sights, sounds, and smells of the festival.

To my surprise, nobody wrote about Houston Korean Festival on Unilocal.The festival started in 2009. I attended the festival in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012. This year, I volunteered at a visual booth. I had a Korean traditional costume. I asked guests to take pictures with me and other volunteers. I arrived around 8;30am.Regarding parking spots. There were a lot of parking around Discovery
costs$ 10-​$ 15.This is some event parking rate. Discovery Green is beautiful. The festival started around 10am. Just like 2011, Korean traditional farmers dance started dancing. I really like their taiko music.
1.Booth
I walked around the booths. I could see kids
seemed to me that kids could play Korean traditional games. I could not see a lot of booths which showed Korean culture. But there was one booth, which sold Korean
was nice.
2.Food venders.
This is the most important area. I really love Korean foods. I like Kimchi. Korean said, «Ki-​m-​Chi is a Japanese assent. Kim– cheee is a Korean accent. I leaned how to pronounce Kim cheeee. Korean Foods are rice, meets and
seems to me that some squid was very popular. They were supposed to sell Korean beer. They sold Japanese Asahi
didn’t make sense. I wish i could see some Korean sake and beer in 2013.
3.Stage
I was working. I didn’t see most of the performers. I heard that Taekwondo performers were great. K-​pop is very
seemed to me that many people enjoyed Gangnam style dance. I heard that the mayor Parker was on the stage. I wish I could see Mayor’s Gangnam style dance. I was 100% sure she didn’t.
I worked at the festival all day. When Koreans took picture. they said Kim-​chee, instead of cheese. Yes, Kim-​chee is more delicious than cheese here. I helped to set up the booth. I carried a lot of Kimchi and water. I worked at the Visual booth. i don’t remeber how many people could take pictures with me. I had a Korean scholar’s costume. Even I was not as smart as the scholars. It was raining in the afternoon. A lot raindrops kept falling my head. We worked. After the festival, I stared cleaning up. Discovery green was so beautiful in the evening. The Festival was supported a lot of volunteers and KASH, Korean American Association Houston. I really appreciate their efforts. Kam sa ni da.