San Jose Taco Festival of Innovation

Only in SJ would the Taco Festival be, «of innovation».
The festival itself was a lot of fun. Parking didn’t take too much effort and there were tons of different taco trucks. They all basically had long lines so I decided to have an ice cream taco for lunch instead because they had so much of a shorter line! All of my friends had food from various trucks and thoroughly enjoyed all of it.
I look forward to going back again!

I thought the $ 12 entry fee was a bit steep but it was nice that it kept the homeless people out. Decent variety of trucks but lines got very, very long making most of the day standing in line. Some great (and not so great) choices.

My first and ONLY time attending this event.
My husband and I spent a total of 30 $ before even stepping foot into this event. Ridiculous.
12 $ per adult and 6 $ parking.
You spend 30 $ to eat 2 $ tacos that are hiked up to 4 – 6 $ tacos.
There were only about 10 – 12 trucks.
Beer and a shot of wine was 6 $
We could have saved a crap ton of money just going to our local taquiera and dining there.
We will NOT be back.

The good: The food was wonderful! Especially the Horchata ice cream taco.
The bad: For the $ 12 admission fee we really expected a whole lot more. The festival was very small. Only about 12 food trucks. The lines were long, and some of the trucks ran out of certain items. The lucha libre was a joke. We left after about an hour there, feeling really disappointed.

I think we’ve finally hit the point where food trucks can no longer be counted on as the main attraction of an event. I live near eBay and there are three food trucks down the street from my home every afternoon. Near my workplace in San Francisco, Off The Grid has three to four food trucks show up three times a week. There are always free Off the Grid and Moveable Feast events going on every week in a city near you, so why pay an admission fee to go to one?
I’ve gone to this festival every year in its four year run and this year’s was the most disappointing. Way less food trucks this year than in years past. Maybe because they’re holding the event over into Sunday this year there were less people in attendance as well. Really, the only ridiculous lines were for the ice cream tacos and the organizers were smart enough to have two trucks for those this year.
Don’t get me wrong, there are still some enjoyable things about this festival. I love History Park with its abundance of shady grassy areas, picnic benches and nooks behind old buildings where you can sit in semi-​privacy. Seriously, this park has lots and lots of elbow room and with less trucks and people, you now have even more of that room to enjoy. If you go to the Eat Real festival in Oakland, good luck finding a comfy place to sit and eat your tasty truck food.
One thing that I felt was lacking in years past was the beer selection. This year, they finally added Lagunitas IPA to the roster along with Dos Equis lager and one other blonde or amber ale. Also, they added a sangria booth this year which was a nice touch.
I probably won’t go to this festival next year. Paying an entrance fee to eat at food trucks has definitely lost its allure for me in 2015. Still, if you haven’t been to this festival or this park, it might be worth a visit.

The food trucks were great. But we paid $ 6 parking and $ 24 to get in and there was nothing but the food trucks and music (not live). No kids activities, or live music or anything. Just a small festival — it was nice but certainly not worth $ 30 when everything we did could be done for free. We showed up at 5:30 and it was supposed to go until 8pm… Wouldn’t go back.

It was a pretty chill Saturday at the Taco Festival, but we’re some good finds. I loved my Kailua pork Taco!

This festival has lost its allure…
The trucks.
In the last two years I have seen the number of trucks available diminish. This year is by far the worst and has convinced me and my family to not come back again.
I paid $ 12 for this?! (Not including grub) What happened?!
I would say the number of trucks is down by half from 2014, no joke. There were two rings of trucks, one inside and one outside. This time, as I sit here, there is one outside ring that does not even go all the way around.
Skip this event if you were thinking of coming. Not worth it

I took the awesome advice of not buying a pre-​ticket (thanks Unilocalers!) and got in within 5 minutes of showing up. Not so much the rest of our group who purchased ahead.
Lemme just start and end it right here. The Sangria booth (and the LC Couture booth) saved this event for me. There were a lot of lines, and out of the three tacos I had (there 4 hours) I was really only a fan of one of them. 333 if you’d like to check them out.
I expected due to the lack of parking that this would be a huge event — but it didn’t seem that way. A lot of the trucks started closing early or taking breaks — some had huge lines that never went down. I expected crowds, but this seemed more like there weren’t enough open trucks — not that there were too many people.
Some big positives for me were the air accordion dance off — awesome, the coconut vendor, LC Couture (as stated before) with their fantastic hair bow selection, and the sangria tent ladies.
I’d come next year but it was definitely a very expensive event for what you get. Definitely plan to spend $ 50 a pop or more with parking, ticket, and minimal tacos/​drinks.

Great venue for food trucks. We tried 4 trucks based on Unilocal reviews and loved the innovation!
we-​sushi — sushi taco and lobster taco very yummy.
The real deal — fish taco and calamari tacos were great.

This was our first time attending and overall it was nice. The lineup of taco trucks were great but the lines were definitely something to contend with. As with most events of this nature, go with a group, divide and conquer. One of favourite things at this specific event was definitely the ice cream tacos which kept the spirit of a taco festival alive and well… especially when it’s hella hot.

There were some ups and downs to the organization of this festival. however it was definitely a fun experience that I look will look forward to next year. The festival itself was very fun, lots of different food trucks, the ability to try a lot of food because all the dishes were under $ 5, and some entertainment and great weather to accompany it. The food was very good, and was basically each food trucks specialty placed onto a tortilla. Still a great way to try a bunch of food trucks at once. The entertainment was fun which included a concert, Pro wrestling, and a really awkward air accordion contest.
The festival itself was held in the History Town which made for a nice setting with more to look at too than just food trucks. The lines were definitely a bit on the long side, but that part I was fine with because it has become to be expected at these sort of events.
The problem I had was with the admissions line which was a pain to figure out. I bought my tickets on EventBrite, however if you did not print them out you had to wait in a line to have them scan your phone to validate your ticket. The cash line looked to be even worse so I can imagine how much trouble it was for them. I was really disappointed by this, and hopefully they learn from this next year. EventBrite is still a good, easy system to use, but they need to find a way to get people into the event quicker.

Parking — $ 6
Admission — $ 10 – 12
Tacos — $ 2 – 5
I actually created a Unilocal*account just so I could review this festival.
This was a mess from the very beginning. Very unorganized. I tried to pre-​order tickets online because they were supposed to be $ 10 which is $ 2 cheaper than at the gate. When I got to the page to pay, it said $ 11.50 each. That’s only a $.50 savings. I’m glad I passed on that because the pre-​order line was a mess. And what does that $ 12 admission get you? An orange bracelet and you get to sit on a 5 gallon bucket. Yeah, tables are limited too.
The lines outside were completely unorganized. The Ticket line and the Beer line should have been better labeled and separated. Basically you had 2 lines going to the same booth. About every 20 minutes or so somebody would walk by to tell everyone «This is the beer line» and «this is the ticket line».
After spending $ 30 on parking and entrance for myself and a friend, we were starving. You would think after spending $ 12 for admission the tacos would be decently priced. WRONG. The first row of trucks we hit, all of the tacos were $ 5 each. Nothing special, just your regular taco truck tacos. We found some $ 2 and $ 3 tacos later but I’m not comfortable paying over $ 2 for a taco. Tacos are supposed to be cheap street food.
I think next year I’ll just go spend $ 30 at my favorite taqueria.
Bottom line: Very unorganized. Too expensive

No need for pre sale tickets. Lines are shorter for purchase when you arrive. There were a lot of food trucks. We did get to try a few trucks. The lines were somewhat long but not too bad. Between my husband and I we had 12 tacos and a few different things.
The reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars is one of the truck we went to ran out of fresh coconuts and there were still 2 hours left in the festival. They should come prepared for a full day for their customers.
I’ll probably go again next year.

Yes, there are good trucks there. No, it is not a ‘festival.’ Nice park. how much does it cost to hold an Off the Grid’ there? Less than the massive profit they made from us thousands of people, paying ten or TWelve dollars each. pretty sure about that.
Seafood tacos at Real Deal: 7/​10, Thai food: 5/​10, Regular taco at a taqueria’s truck: a REGular freakin taco

3^rd ANNUAL TACO FESTIVAL
WTF happened? Quality went down the porter-​potty.
Less trucks, more people. And why was the prepaid ticket line wrapped around the block, yet the buy your ticket now line only 30 people deep?! The organizers need to be fired. Everybody was complaining up the yingyang. So what would be the point of getting your tickets in advance. On top if that… Printed out tickets had a faster advantage over those with electronic tickets. Absolutely terrible!!!
Not as much trucks as 2013.
— FRESH COCONUT JUICE ($ 5) by some random Mexican cart. They crack the coconut on the spot. After drinking you can bring back the coconut and they will break it down and give you the coconut meat inside the coconut. Everybody kept stopping us and asking where we got it from. Good stuff!
— SHAKEN FILET TACO ($ 4) by Broth 3rs Kitchen truck. That was the worst taco of all tacos WITHIN the past two years I’ve attended the never. It sounds great «filet» but it was literally a piece of lettuce with tiny bits of meat with nothing special. Portion to price was junk. I was disappointed with this truck. No wonder there was barely no line.
— LOBSTER TACO ($ 3.50) by We Sushi truck. We have to get this every yr. How often do you ever get a lobster taco — taco is a fried wonton.
— SUSHI TACO ($ 3.50) by We Sushi truck. I actually like this more than the lobster taco. Different cuts of sashi on top if a fried wonton. Taste was well executed.
— CALAMARI TACO forgot by what truck but it was mediocre. Barely any calamari. They didn’t have the truck from ’12 serving the really good calamari taco in ’13.
S’MORE CUPCAKE ($ 3.50) by FairyCakes is one of the best cupcakes I’ve ever had. They are here every yr and their cupcakes run out fast. So moist and delicious. I love anything s’mores but this cupcake is to die for!
ICE CREAM TACO ($ 3.50) by forgot what truck was super tiny. I had the mint chip but that mini itty bitty taco ice cream was home in two bites, literally.
Hit and miss tacos. Wasn’t too thrilled with some selected picks. They gave us a red token to give to the best truck and our group of 7 gave our tokens to NOBODY!!!
Will I be back? Maybe. This yr was such a turn off to prior years.

I love taco festivals! I was able to get my entrance ticket for $ 7 or so at a discounted price because I had gone the year before and they had a special code for those attendees. Parking can be tough but we were lucky and parked at a park nearby and walked over. Good luck finding street parking. All I can say is to keep circling around.
I was there from 1−5pm just walking around, mostly standing in the long lines to order and to wait for food, and to eat. There are so much trucks to choose from including Mexican, Korean, Japanese taco trucks but there are also dessert and fruit carts. I got the ice cream taco while my friend when to the fruit stand and got a huge cup of mixed fruits for $ 4 – 5 dollars. You will be standing in the long lines to order for 20 – 30 minutes for the really good trucks and another 20 minutes to actually get your food. That is why you will be there for a long time.
Place I went to (Everything is $ 5 or less)
Fish Taco Wabo– Shrimp and fish tacos. Shrimp is better
WeSushi– Lobster taco is a MUSTTT
Supertacos el Conrro– they have a HUGEEE quesadilla that can be split with two or three people easily. Horchata is delicious there too!
Rockos– ice cream tacos had a HUGE one hour wait and was not worth it
**TIPS**
1) Most of the trucks accept credit card now but it is always safe to bring cash!
2) Come with an appetite and split with friends so you get the most of the festival. Most tacos come in two so you can share.
3) Enjoy!

I gotta belly full of tacos and a smile, a beer in the hand and a smile on my face!
For a mere $ 10 entrance fee we enjoyed a day full fun in the sun. There were at least 35 trucks, luchador wrestling, an air accordion contest, kid’s play area, music all day, beer booth and a shady area to sit.
Once again Moveable Feast has outdone themselves with organizing a family fun event for all to enjoy.

One of those things that sounded better in theory vs the actual experience. Good intentions, fair to midland execution.
Put on by the Moveable Feast folks, which do an excellent job with that food truck movement, this event was held at History Park on a spectacular Sat afternoon and featured over 20 trucks from South Bay, SF and even LA.
But here’s how it went down…
94% waiting in lines, 2% actually eating, 4% trying to find parking
Entry: got there noonish and massive ticket holder line had already formed… get to the front and discover why: only one person scanning! Versus 8 people in the tent selling tickets, grrrrr!
Food Quality: Everything we tried was good — above average but for any taco that was a little more exotic or interesting you had a minimum 45 min wait before that sucker was in your belly… sorry, just not worth it! Plus Nom Nom truck was a no show, boooo!
Seating: seemingly only available in VIP section which had tables n chair… lame-​o! The did have some of the red buckets in one section (as they do at MF) but not nearly enough. Then we happen to stumble upon additional tables but hidden behind the trucks or off the beaten path, which is fine, but we only found them with pure dumb luck… how about some signage peoples?!
Bands: solid, electic mix of live music + DJs so they def get props on putting together and interesting bill!
So after about 3 hrs and only 4 tacos, it was time to bail. For my money & time, you’re much better off just hitting the weekly MF event (and no cover!).

It was a really nice festival. Great weather after days of rain and thunderstorms.
Set up by the people from Moveable Feast.
Parking for this event wasn’t the greatest but I didn’t mind the walk.
Large turn out. Was standing in line for my second truck when they announced it was sold out.
As usual we sat on red buckets like all the other Moveable Feast events.
My favorite of the day was the Fried Calamari Taco from Eat On Monday truck.
The tacos from Soulnese were pretty good too. They seemed to have the smallest lines but were underrated i guess.
I really liked trucks with hot and crispy tortillas. Most of the fillings from every truck were pretty good but a crisp hot tortilla really makes a difference.
Both the chicken and beef tacos from Whisk on wheels had really crisp tortillas but they tasted really similar.
Lines were not that big of a deal for my group.
We devised a plan to split up.
Buy a taco for everyone in our group and meet up by the Toyota Prius.
It worked out for us. I had like 8 or 9 different tacos.
On the way out I saw the mini golf course in the back… So sad I missed it, looked like fun. Still a kid at heart.