Taste of DC

I’m giving this review a 3 instead of a 1 because I came back on Sunday after a really bad experience on Saturday. Probably not the planners fault, but it coincided with the Million Man March a few blocks away, and there was confusion on where to go to get in line for the Taste of DC. I had to encounter an ignorant heckler who told me, «The Million Man March is that way», as if I wanted to have any part of that.
There was a 45 minute delay of entry on Saturday due to what they called a security check. I had another appointment so I had to leave. Luckily I was able to redeem my ticket for Sunday, and I had a much better time. However, why did I have to buy a ticket online which would entitle me to a free drink, and then have to pay for samples of other items. The good thing is that I received a free coupon for a Shop House bowl on the way out.
I don’t think I’ll come back next year unless they change to a better system that allows people to get in free and then pay for food and drinks, or buy a ticket that covers the food and drinks.

Getting in was very easy they had lines divided to make it a fast entrance. The food selection was awesome. Live Music was set up in two different spots which made it so much exciting. Beer and wine selection was beyond amazing. All in all such a fun experience would totally do this again next year.

On the one hand I enjoyed the event. The weather was nice, I liked the location, the variety of food was pretty OK, they had nice selection wines, and great! selection of beers.
But… there were few downsides:
* It was really misleading to write that the ticket for the event gives you one drink and one dish (of rice/​noodles). Of-​course you would expect to get this food dish in the food festival itself!
But… no!!! You get a coupon to get the food in ChopT, not even at the same day of the event!
* So, actually I felt like I paid entrance and got nothing in return, because it’s not like the food inside was cheap or anything (the prices were relatively low but the most portions were small! — I do think the portions should be small so you can taste many different things, but 5÷6÷7÷8 $ for a dish… too much.)

I definitely liked the Taste of DC, but I can’t say I loved it. There were so many vendors, but when you have to wait 20 minutes to get a taste that you pay for after already paying an entrance fee, it’s a turn off. I’m a teacher and my money is very closely budgeted, so I was very conscious of every line I stood in. I ended up eating a small sandwich that was pretty good, not fabulous, and paying $ 25 for beverage tickets that got me a Sprite for my sister, a Diet Coke for me, and a full glass of wine each. This is on top of the entrance fee.
It wasn’t bad, again I didn’t hate it, but I wasn’t in love with it. For the budget conscious it’s not very practical because you leave feeling like you only tried 0.0001% of what was available. Samples typically cost between $ 1 – 8 which sounds inexpensive but adds up quickly when you want to try everything! I found myself very quickly spending $ 30 on top of what I paid to enter the event. I don’t remember what that was but I think it was between 12 – 20 dollars. Another 25 dollars went to beverage tickets, because you couldn’t pay for drinks with cash or cards at many of the stands, 8 went to a sandwich, and four went to a yummy cupcake. I’m not sure I’ll go back.

Meh. This was a mixed bag.
Pros:
+ Lots of diversity in vendors.
+ I had some fantastic food that I would have never had if they hadn’t been at this event
+ Loved that there seemed to be a lot of smaller brewers there that I would have never tried if they hadn’t come out to this.
+Props to Heritage Brewing for describing their beer and letting us have a sip BEFORE charging us for their beer, totally made up for having no menu/​descriptions available.
Cons:
–What precisely is the point of purchasing tickets in advance if you still have to wait in line with everyone who hasn’t purchased tickets???
–Considering how much I paid for tickets, I felt the prices for everything were a little overpriced, I’m choosing to chalk this up to this being a city… I guess.
–There was a cigar booth… that they put in the CENTER of the venue! Why on earth would you put something so polarizing in the middle of everything??? There were several things around there that I wanted to try but the smell was DISGUSTING so I didn’t. Also, I don’t like that people were allowed to walk around smoking the cigars.
–A lot of the brewers had signs describing their beers, but most of them did not. A Taste of Dc employee just shrugged and went «just look at the stick thing above the taps» Many of those were NOT helpful and many of them just had a plain pour spicket… it baffles me that small brewers thought it was a good business plan to just stand there leering at passersby rather than letting people know what kind of beer they had, no wonder why there were entire tables with no line.
–I got a cupcake that looked DELICIOUS while on display and probably would have been delicious… if only the vendor hadn’t put their table out in the blazing sun (they had a tent, so WTF) and melted the frosting. All the boxes were sealed so I didn’t discover this until AFTER I purchased it.
–Some of the non food vendors were very very aggressive towards us, I came to eat food, not get a subscription to a newspaper or download your app!
–Some of the booths had huge lines which was fine/expected…what was not expected was that they were letting people just walk up and order, completely cutting the line! Seriously, WTF? And no, these were not other vendors/​employees, these were just people who didn’t feel like waiting in line.

There are a lot of negative reviews on the Taste of DC Unilocal page, but you won’t find any gripes from me. This is my second time attending the event and I had a great time the last time and I had a great time on Sunday. I got my ticket from Groupon for $ 15.00 (I waited too late and missed the $ 12.00 tickets) and got a free drink ticket. My bf and I got a parking spot (free parking) and walked a few blocks to the entrance. There was no long line – we got there around 12:30 p.m., 12:45 p.m. Here are the booths where we sampled food:
The chicken teriyaki on a skewer and fried rice place (I don’t remember the name)
Ben’s Chili Bowl
Olivia’s Macaroons
Claudia’s Steakhouse
Buzz Bars Truck
My bf and I shared and it was enough for us. I thought the band, for the most part, was okay. The weather was just perfect. I noticed also in the reviews that people said you can just go to a restaurant if you want to try their food. Sure, you can do that, but then you might miss out on some places you never heard of. Last year, I discovered Spice 6 and this year, I discovered Olivia’s Macaroons, buzz bars, and Claudia’s Steakhouse (I knew of Claudia’s but never tried their food). The macaroons were just yummy (loved the honey lavender), I never had octopus (really good), the ceviche was nice and spicy, and I liked the pineapple rum punch pop. My bf enjoyed the 100% beef hotdog from Ben’s Chili Bowl – he knew of Ben’s but never ate there. I think next time I’ll get one regular admission ticket and one drink lover ticket – my bf and I don’t drink a lot but it would have been nice to sample some of the beers/​wines and some of the beverage gardens only took tickets. All in all, my bf and I had a good time and would go again.

I wasn’t sure how to feel about this event after reading the reviews but my husband and I decided to go with some friends that were going and bought the drink lovers package on living social. When we first arrived at the event it was a scary sight, the line to get into the event wrapped around a building for almost three blocks. We got in line and stood for about a half hour moving really slow towards the front. I even started looking at refund options because I didn’t want to spend my whole day in a line. After seeing that you weren’t able to get a refund I started wondering how long we were really going to have to wait. Finally magically the line started moving and kept moving at a great pace until we got to the front of the line. Once we were inside we took a map to look around and plot out where we wanted to start. We walked to the back of the event where the beer tastings were. While we were back in the beer garden area there was a stage where a chili eating contest was taking place and Joey Chestnut was participating and actually won. That was a fun thing to see and my husband got a photo with Joey. We spent the day using our tasting tickets and buying some food to try from different local restaurants. The weather was great and we had a really great time. Some of the lines were long so we didn’t try certain things but overall a really fun event.

I attended the Taste of DC on Sunday, 11÷11÷15 and totally enjoyed it. The lines moved quickly, the vendors were welcoming and the live music was awesome. The 2 bands I saw (Feel Free and World Town) rocked! I loved that the food vendors had samples for $ 5 and under. Even though they were served on small plates or bowls the portions were generous. Some of the food vendors offered smaller samples that were free. The wine and beer samples were generous too. Overall I was impressed with the quality of food, beer and wine served.
Other vendors such radio stations, banks, phone/​tv/​Internet providers, insurance and transportation companies had lots of freebies including backpacks, sunglasses, hats, water bottles, portable cell phone chargers…
I will definitely go back next year!

Oh man. This was bad. The line on Saturday (for prepaid tickets, too) took 45 minutes. It was deep into Chinatown. The festival is at Penn Quarter area. Once in, every single booth/​restaurant had HUGE lines.
We had the drink lovers package and wasted our first one on one of the «beverage» tents. They just served wine (small glass), Budlight and Goose Island. Make sure you walk all the way down (past the terrible crowds!) to the beer garden area. $ 2 samples, and $ 7 full pours.
Still way overpriced and food trucks/​tents were SO crowded…
Tip: Buy a groupon deal. About an hour before we left we googled Groupon and found a $ 15 off deal.

I felt a bit apprehensive after reading multiple reviews indicating lines were long, people were unpleasant, and it wasn’t worth the entry fee, however, I had a completely different experience and can rate this as one of my favorite festivals I have been to since arriving in the DC area in late July. First off, I felt I got a good deal on my tickets. I used Goldstar for the drink lovers package which, through this discount website, was $ 34.00. This included admission into the festival, the free shop house entrée ticket for future use, one complimentary beer/​wine/​soda, $ 25 worth of drink tickets, and a souvenir tasting glass.
Next point I should mention is our wait in line to enter was *maybe* 5 minutes and this was around 12:30 when the festival started at noon. The day I went was also Sunday so maybe there were lighter crowds in the beginning, however, I’m not sure where these massive lines people have talked about were cause they sure were not there Sunday afternoon. As for waiting in line at booths, it was a similar experience. If we waited at all, it was no more than 5 minutes. We left the food and switched to just drink around 3:30, so maybe lines were heavier later, but again, that was not my personal experience.

There was a wide representation of trucks and restaurants, basically something for everyone. I loved how each place had at least one item priced between $ 1-​$ 3, allowing you to sample a lot of things on the cheap. You could also purchase full size items, although I only stuck with tastings. My boyfriend and I would just order a tasting item and split it, which we found to be very effective for allowing us to try the most items in the most economical way. Here is what I tried:
— Stoney’s buffalo Mac and cheese with corn bread ($ 4 plus $ 1 for the corn bread. It had a nice kick and I enjoyed the shell pasta. The corn bread was tasty– sweet, not dry at all)
— Smoke and Barrel’s smoked pulled pork and jalapeño grits ($ 3– this was my favorite food tasting! The grits had a creamy consistency and a hint of spice without being overwhelming. The pork was tender and the BBQ sauce was off the chain!)
— Luke’s Lobster shrimp roll bite ($ 3– meh, bread was really good, shrimp flavorless)
— Texas de Brazil Brazilian Sausage ($ 3– smoky flavor, crisp, very good. Came on tiny roll which I felt was just filler. I let the BF eat that.)
–Crab cab food truck mini crab cake slider ($ 3– it was mini alright as in nibble for me, nibble for the BF. I thought it was a good taste though and I’d seek them out again in the future.)
— Borinquen Lunch Box food truck beef empanada ($ 4– restored my faith in empanadas! Crisp shell, flavorful beef filling with peppers and onions. I’d definitely seek this out again)
— Willie T’s Lobster Shack lobster roll ($ 4– meh. Bread tasty, hint of garlic. Lobster was pretty flavorless and plain)
— Rito Loco’s fish taco ($ 3– YUM! It was hot off the grill, filled with fish, nice spicy sauce. Would definitely eat again!)
— Captain cookie and the milkman ($ 4– can’t go wrong with BYO ice cream sandwich! Great finish for dessert)
If I could have physically fit more food in my stomach I would have since there were several places I was unable to try. Now for the drinks– beer tastings were $ 2 or $ 7 for a full pour. The drink lovers package gave you $ 25 worth. Tastings we quickly found were the way to go! Three tastings equaled more than a full pour we discovered and you could try more that way. They had a variety of breweries and I really enjoyed trying some new IPAs and, surprisingly, a cinnamon apple hard cider that could prove very dangerous at 7% ABV. Wine tastings were $ 1, not sure about full pours. They had some mixed drinks too.
Another highlight were the adult beer pong and Jenga games set up, which we enjoyed playing, especially after indulging in drinks first (I think it made us better but who’s to say…) the entrance was a couple blocks from Archives metro– can’t get much more convenient than that! I’d absolutely return to this event next year!

Lots of interesting foods but long lines especially to enter the festival itself. Very unorganized staff at entry. Very clean overall lot of staff picking up trash which is nice. Should be more places to sit and eat.

While this event has much potential, I found it more annoying that fun. The event is on a street with road bumps built into the street, so if you are not looking down you can trip. The food lines are long with not as many vegetarian options as I would have liked to see. People bump into you and don’t say excuse me. The only thing I enjoyed was hearing the bands. If you want to go to a good food festival, I highly recommend Taste of Georgetown. At least that festival is free to attend, and you don’t have to worry about running into political protestors and shady characters.

This was my first visit to Taste of DC and I was very excited. What a letdown .
I bought our tickets in advance, hoping that would help save time in line the day of. That was a waste… the line was was three blocks long AND went around the corner. Luckily the line moved fast, at least until we got to the only entrance for the event. We waited in the pre-​paid line, which was the longest and slowest moving. There were plenty of people working, but they just didn’t seem to know what they were doing. People were pushing forward trying to check in.
Once we got in we promptly purchased our drink tickets, which was kind of a waste also because most stations also took cash. There were a plethora of restaurants, however only their names were displayed. You had to wait in long lines to find out what was on the menu.
Walking around was rather complicated since the bike lanes were in the middle of the open area and people were tripping on the cement road barriers, a highly dangerous situation when you have people drinking as well.
There was a stage set up with a live band performing… horrific! The poor girl singing may have been tone deaf and had no idea how to sing into a microphone. It was noticeably awful.
I will say that there were plenty of porta potties spread throughout the event, so restroom access wasn’t a problem.
Did I mention that there was a cigar station!!! I appreciate that the vendor was trying to do business, but people were smoking cigars everywhere. With the breeze, there was no way to escape the smoke. I recommend a designated smoking area so those of us that don’t smoke don’t have to suffer.
The bottom line is that this event is not worth the frustration. If you wanted a regular serving of food or beer the prices were the same as if you were in the restaurant itself. Save your time and head elsewhere.

If you are thinking of going to Taste of DC do not waste your time or money. We went around 1 today (about an hour after it opened) and the line to get in (whether you had a ticket/​voucher or not) was around the block and then some. The staff was also incredibly rude. We left and came back around 4. There was still quite a line. We finally got in. The place was beyond packed, to the point where you couldn’t even move. The food was insanely expensive ($ 10 for a small Mac ‘n cheese) and the lines for everything were insane. So we decided to leave. Well, the only exit was next to the entrance. One small exit. We had to wade back through all of the people just to leave. I would not recommend this event to anyone and would not go back myself. This was one of the worst planned and managed events I have ever been to.

Okay I can’t rate just yet, as I’m still waiting in line. Oooo yeah the line is ridiculous. My friends and I purchased tickets way in advance only to wait in a line that was wrapped around the corner. Tip for next year, have a line for folks that purchased tickets in advance. #1girl2spoons
So once we got in the vibe was awesome. I was looking forward to @hotnjuicycrawfish but overall @tasteofdc gets #2spoons. Great selections. Loved @oliviasmacaroons just delightful. Looking forward to next year already. #1girl2spoons
The lines were long but after some recon and having more than one person in line it went fast. The wine was cool, was excited to see #eppa n the roster this year, as I already love them. Many folks complained about the line, my girls and I spent about 30 mins but it wasn’t bad as we were throughly entertained. We enjoyed it. This was my third time, and my friends first and they loved it. Great tapas plates and the folks we ran into at the vendors were cool. All of the staff we came in contact with was helpful and nice. Love this event and recommending to friends for next year.

OMG!!! My favorite event is coming up!
Let me tell you, get there early the lines are long but they go pretty quickly. Pre-​purchase your ticket on Groupon, they have a deal going on right now. I bought mine and I am headed there on Saturday. You get to taste different foods for really cheap around $ 1-​$ 3. Don’t bring lots of cash, the places are pretty cheap to buy food from. It is such a fun day, they have live bands and the crowd is fun. Definitely recommend.

DC’s annual food festival was amazing! I loved Taste of DC. Despite warnings from other people who said they didn’t enjoy it, I decided to attend anyway, being the foodie that I am, and had a very pleasant experience. The fact that it was raining the day I went to this food truck festival should indicate how much of a foodie I am.
I visited a number of trucks and enjoyed the food and the very reasonable prices. The trucks I visited include:
–Carving Room
–Tortilla Coast
–Sprig and Sprout
–Circa at Dupont
–Sprinkles Cupcakes
–Captain Cookie and the Milkman
They also had a number of other restaurants that I did not try, but they were very representative of the amazing food you can find around DC. Each truck gave out little samplings of their food for $ 1 — 10, depending on what you ordered. There are also non-​food promotions from various vendors, including Geico, Farmers, etc.
Oh, and there is an alcohol (wine /​beer) portion of the festival, which I did not partake in during my particular Taste of DC experience. But I’ve heard they have a great selection.
The festival runs once a year (typically in early October) and there are two dates — Sat /​Sun. There is really only one entrance to this festival, despite the fact that they completely close off several blocks of Pennsylvania Ave, so that kind of sucks. The closest metros are Metro Center (blue/​orange/​silver lines) and Archives (yellow/​green lines). The line to get in can be long, but it wasn’t when I was standing in line (1pm on the Saturday of the festival). Admission was $ 10 and each food truck you visit charges for the items of food you purchase there (reasonable).

This place sucks, I don’t even know where to begin. First off there is a long line you have to wait in just to pay $ 10 to gain entry. Once in, there are many restaurant options selling full meals. They are slightly reduced in price, but the lines are long. On average it takes about 15min just to get to the front of the line. Then you buy full meals, which fill you up, so I wonder where the taste of dc part comes in. They need to offer smaller samples at a fraction of the cost so the customers can enjoy the different foods dc has to offer. Also, most of the foods are premade so they are stale and meant for bulk sale.
The kicker were the drinks. We had to wait in line for about 15 min to convert out cash into drink tickets. Each ticket had a $ 1 dollar value, and essentially you payed for your beer or wine with the tickets. Beers were $ 7, so 7 tickets. The problem is that you can’t trade in your unused tickets, so you end up getting more tickets than you need, just in case, bc you will not want to go back and wait in line for more.
All in all this place is a complete and total waste. You will have a much better time choosing a restaurant with your friends and having a nice meal in comfort. Long lines, poor food quality, stupid drink tickets and a waste of a $ 10 entry fee.

— Tickets in 2014 can only be used for beverages, not food.
— Livingsocial ticket packages aren’t always the cheapest, because two days leading up to the event, they cost more than the tickets from taste of DC website.
— Get there early for your favorite food vendors, otherwise you’ll be in lines for a long time.
— Support vendors that use gloves religiously handling your food. Your health, stomach and well being will thank you.
— Bring a sack/​small backpack, or grab one at the event. There are some fun and free souvenirs to take back home, and you don’t want to carry them in your hands while handling food/​drinks.
— Plenty of porta-​potties, but none of them will be clean. Don’t expect toilet paper either.
— Try to specialty beer/​wine at both ends of the event, rather than settling for bud light. Beverage tickets can be used for specialty drinks.
Most of the food item are somewhere between $ 3-​$ 5 for bite sizes, $ 6 – 8 for medium bite sizes and $ 10-​$ 15 for larger items or specialty seafood items like lobster/​crab sandwiches. Beverages are $ 2 for water (or 2 beverage tickets), $ 3 for soda, and a bunch more for wine/​beer.

Decent array of vendors? Yes. Worth paying to get into? Not really. There are so many good street festivals in DC there’s really not much reason to go to this ticketed one, which charges by the day and doesn’t allow reentry. I got in on the cheap, but still not really worth it to pay for entry and then food. It’s crowded and there aren’t many places to sit, and you’ll want to have bags handy.
Indeed, Columbia Heights day was the same weekend as this one, and more worthwhile and free as I saw it.
What I will say is that the choices are reasonably good. A variety of restaurants from around the area, and the food trucks come out for an extra run. Getting an interesting array of vegetarian choices isn’t hard; even a vegan could probably cobble together a decent meal as a couple of all-​veg establishments showed up.