Santa Monica Pier North Parking Lot (Santa Monica, CA)
This one-of-a-kind BBQ extravaganza showcases the best BBQ pitmasters from around the country, a beer garden, and live entertainment featuring a Johnny Cash cover band, Beatles cover band, Metal Shop, and various other acts. The event will bring Ubon's Championship BBQ from Mississippi, Southside from Texas, and award-winning BBQ from Memphis and Kansas City.
Event summary prepared by the Goldstar Editorial Team.
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The last date listed for L.A. BBQ Festival was Sunday September 14, 2008 / Noon - 6:00pm. (view all dates)
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While lines were a little long, the food and fun atmosphere made it worth it...hard to beat BBQ, beer and beach!
It was nothing more than a bunch of mediocre bbq restaurants selling food. The line to get a drink (inclduing water) was 45 minute long. We ate - we left.
It was the worst ever!!! I went in and went out in 5 mins tops... the food vendors did not offer any food samples so we could pre-taste before buying, the lines were 45 mins-to-1 hour long (people I've asked said it felt like an theme park event...long lines), the Verizon vendor folks were rude and pushie with ther flyers (no wonder why they have PR & customer services issues...) and finally if you could give me my Money back that would be great!
db
ps, maybe you should consult the folks that plan "The Taste of LA" events, I would reconsider coming next time...
The event was poorly organized. Lot's of waiting in line in the sun.
There was only one place to get drinks from, and the line was an hour and a half. Not enough shade or places to sit.
Food was good, but not worth the multiples lines.
There were not enough vendors there selling food. My sister stood in line for 2 hours...and wasn't happy with her food. I stood in another line for 20 minutes...only to be told the brisket would take an hour to make more. This was not run very well!!!!!!
The food was great!!! and it was a great mix of people too, we had No problems at all claiming our tickets, the only thing we would do differently is to upgrade to a vip pass next year to avoid some of the lines, but besides that two Thumbs Way up.
I had a nice time, but the event has to be more organized. At each booth, there has to be at least one person taking care of the VIP line. Alternating between each side wasn't worth the extra I spent on the non-fast pass. I guess since most of the groups were not ready for the crowds, many of the meals were over cooked, dried out and/or burned because of the extra high heat used to speed up the process. Lastly, there has to be more representatives from other parts of the country
You could tell this was a new event, not enough trash cans, vendors, or things to do. We waited in a line three hours, for burnt, undercooked ribs and then to late to get into other lines, though we arrived at 1:30pm.
This was a good event because it brought some great bbq places from the midwest out here... friends from st louis and texas all recognized those names..
there were some things logistically that could improve the event... more chairs/tables.. better handling of the bbq (vendors often ran short of supply and ended up undercooking/rushing some of the meat, so it wasn't as tender or smokey as it could have been).. the drink logistics could also be improved as the beer line was VERY long.
The concept is great, restaurants were good, but some of the logistics kept it from truly shining as it could have. I look forward to next year still~
Great food and a fun vibe near the Pier in Santa Monica. $10 per plate was a little spendy and made it less enticing to give everything a try. It also felt a little cramped in the modestly sized venue area. Seating was at a premium, so it was kind of kill or be killed to get a spot to eat, which is crucial because BBQ is a two hand eating operation. All of that being said, good times and real good eats!
I went to BBQ Fest on Sunday arriving around 1:30PM. It wasn't very crowded. Lines for all the vendors were no more than a couple minutes. Baby Blues was about a 10 minute wait. What I don't understand is why was the line so damn long for LC's BBQ?!? We waited 2 hours and the BBQ was just OK... Baby Blues was way better! I loved the tri-tip with Mac and Brie from Parise's BBQ... too bad they're not a restaurant! I was also surprised to see more vendors from the local area than from out of state.... LA cannot be the capital of GOOD BBQ. The brownies... those were the best! Too bad they didn't have milk. Unfortunately, they ran out of cupcakes before I got a chance to sample them. I was going to order some from the website until I checked prices.... 24 cupcakes for $120!?! That's a joke right?! Oh and the beer... by the time we got there... all they had left was Budweiser and Bud Light... yuck! I stuck to water all day. Despite the lack of variety, I still managed to enjoy myself and make the best out of it all. Before leaving, we bought 2 more brownies to bring home and eat with milk! So worth it! =)
Food was great........Music even better. Only one draw back was the long lines for food and drinks. Will definitely do again if possible with VIP pass.
This was the first year for this Bar B Q festival, so lets hope next year it is better planned!!!
Only ONE bar seems like an ill conceived idea for the size of crowd.
Two bars at each end of the event could have aleived the long lines. The watered down "concert" beer was a disappointment, with the only options being Bud or Bud light...
There was only one stand selling barBQ sauce...you would have expected a large variety of rubs & sauces to purchase. Lack of seating forced many to sit on pavement while eating.
I highly recommend this event to anyone who loves BBQ. I would also recommend getting the VIP pass since there was a big difference between waiting in line behind 50 people and waiting behind 5 people. To the event planners: I would suggest having a larger area next time and add more places to sit. $10 seemed a little steep for the BBQ, and having cheaper food prices would allow people to sample a wider variety without emptying their wallets. Overall, though, it was worth it, especially by purchasing the VIP pass through Goldstar, and I plan to go the next time it's held.
Hi There,
I was really excited about this event and was somewhat disappointed. Here's why: 1) I don't understand why I was charged an entrance fee and then a separate fee for food. Also a separate fee for drinks, and desserts. Perhaps for a count of people? Seemed to be gauging people a little too much. 2) Portions were small for $10 - I liked the ribs I had (Missouri) but didn't think the portions were a whole lot for the price. I would also have preferred to sample from various booths and wouldn't have minded add ons i.e. paying more money, but I think the price points need to be worked out and posted on the website. 3) I wanted to see and meet master BBQers demonstrating their craft and skill - several chefs would be great - even for a limited time. 4) I missed (thankfully!) the 2 hour wait time ...so while the event was a great idea, the organizers need to go back and assess what worked and what didn't...and publicize that next year - because unless I hear of some improvements, I definitely won't go back. Great idea, but needs to be fine tuned. Also, get enough food! :) Great ribs, but wanted more.
I really enjoyed myself, the food was great and the Johnny Cash cover band was excellenct. My favorite BBQ was from Bandanas from St. Louis. MO.
The event was fun, although there weren't nearly as many BBQ booths as we had expected. It was pretty disappointing that some of the beer and food ran out a third of the way through the day! Fortunately, we went early and avoided the worst of the crowds that were just getting there at 2:30PM as we were leaving. I can't imagine that standing in those kind of lines to get ripped off in the food lines was much fun for anyone. We all thought that the food was way too expensive for what most of them were serving.
Although we Goldstar members did get a discount of $5 admission, I think it was a ripoff to charge $10 for each sampling. Ideally, there should have been some free samplings like how food festivals used to be. Or maybe, charge $3-5 for a smaller sampling so people can actually sample all the booths. After 2 samplings ($20) and one beer ($5), I was done for the day. I waited in the long line for LC's bbq, which was supposed to be the best, but I was not impressed at all at the "spareribs" they cooked up. The Memphis-style ribs at the other end had no line and tasted much better! The best part of the festival I thought was the nice, blonde who was handing out FREE samples of her brownies. For the next one, I say charge $20 entrance and make every sampling FREE with the option to purchase more quantities.
I think the event could have been organized better. The lines were really long and some booths actually ran out of food which sucked. Overall, Goldstar did a great job in regards to the tickets.
Food was delicious but many vendors ran out of food. In addition, I wanted to attend Saturday becasue of the original scheduled entertainment. When we arrived, they stated that the original line up of bands changed from Saturday to Sunday. We were not notified.
This was the worst set up ever! They put the entrance and exit at the same spot, it was ridiculous! The lines were soooo long and there was no order to any of it! One beer line for 1000+ people (2 at a time). The food smelled good, but I could not stand in an hour and half line to pay $10 for 1 piece of meat. Makes me think twice about going to any events in Santa Monica.
Wasted $$$$
This thing was poorly planned. Super long lines for some of the pitmasters. The cost adds up quickly. $10 a serving was pretty pricey considering we had to pay an entrance fee. For example, a couple ribs & a mini-cup (a few ounces) of beans = $10. At the County Fairs, vendors would charge similar prices, but would give you complete meals (meat, a couple sides, cornbread). Not so here.
There was only one booth for the drinks. This booth probably had the longest line there. The people looked like they were waiting in line for a ride at disneyland. I we had to settle for buying bottled water from one of the pitmasters rather than waiting in line for some beer.
People were sitting on the asphalt eating. Definately not enough tables. It was challenging trying to cut up some ribs or sausage links while standing.
Hopefully the organizers learn from this first go around and improve next year.
Probably the most ill planned "festival" I have ever been to. For the amount of tickets they sold, they probably only had available seating to 1/4 of the people. It really sucked to try and eat BBQ off of a paper plate while standing. Other than the band, there is nothing else to do but walk in a small circle around the parking lot and sit on hot asphalt. This could be so awesome! Needs a new venue and more participating restaurants. I must have gotten there at a good time too cause as I was leaving the venue the line outside went all the way back to the pier. There is no way they were ready to handle all of that traffic. Unless things change, I will not attend next year. I would rather go to a restaurant.
WHAT A RIPOFF! WHAT A TOTAL DISASTER. We attempted to attend Saturday afternooon only to leave in frustration. Yes, my tickets were there and easily retrieved, but beyond that it was all lines. The music was good, but not much else.
After standing in line for 30 minutes to purchase a ticket to get a drink we then attempted to get food. The lines for each bbq vendor (there were only 6 or 7, not enough) were so lengthy they intersected with one another, and none were moving. It was 3:00 and they had run out of cooked food, were waiting fo the next batch to cook on the grill and after one in our party was sent to scout he was told it would be up to an hour until they could serve again at 3 sites! We gave up and left, stopped at the entrance/ticket desk and asked to speak to someone about a refund, but were totally dismissed. Tried to advise people standing in line waiting to get in and wondering why they were continuing to sell tickets and let people in to an event that obviously wasn't functioning.
Whoever planned the event was clearly an amateur, should not be paid and should be fired. This is LA, not some small town. Large, well-run and organized events occur every day. Mnimally, advertisement should have warned to expect long lines and up to an hour delay for food Ideally there should have been more vendors, multiple purchase points for each, especially beverages. This wasn't a chartiy event, so dissatisfied customers should have been provided with a responsive place and person to handle complaints and given a refund. If they expect to hold this event again I'd suggest you go back to the drawing board and plan it with people who know what they are doing.
There was a gross miscalculation on the interest in this event. Lines were too long even for the VIP pass holders. They ran out of wine, some beer, tables, chairs, and garage cans. Instead of enjoying the beautiful day we left after an hour because we were tired of waiting in lines that didn't move and standing in a parking lot. There are much better places to blow $10 on a single plate of smalll portions of food then here. Hopefully they will make the appropriate changes for next year but I will not be going back.
SERIOUSLY OVERPRICED FOR WHAT YOU GET IN RETURN!!
**UNORGANIZED-- Even though I purchased the VIP pass that came
with a goodie bag. The staff never mentioned it and I only got it
because someone else who had purchased a VIP pass started
talking about the goodie bag and told me where to go to get mine.
**NO CAPACITY PLANNING--Vendors had started running out of food
by 2pm on BOTH DAYS!! HELLLLOOOO!!
**NO CAPACITY PLANNING--Very limited number of table and chairs
for people to sit and eat (so people had to hover over you like flies
waiting to jump into your seat the moment you got up!!). If you
considered yourself too dignified to do the hover thing then you just
sat on the hot asphalt to enjoy your food. For $50 entrance fee, sit
on the asphalt to eat? Come on now people!
**INCONVENIENT--BBQ vendors could not sell beverages. You could
only buy from the beverage tent, but in order to buy from the
beverage tent you had to first purchase tickets to be able to buy
beverages. We were lucky the girl felt sorry for my husband who had
stood in the 20 minute line and she sold him the drinks. We never
did find out where to get the tickets to buy the beverages.
**LACK OF CHOICE--For the amount of money they charged for entry
there should have been a lot more vendors in there to choose from
to add some variety and novelty to the offerings.
There was maybe eight or nine bbq vendors and one dessert vendor.
**DIRTY--Did they hide the trashcans or did they experience some
kind of ration on trash cans, because we had to walk around for a
while before we found one (but it was overflowing) so we ended up
taking our trash to the big green dumpster near the exit. There was
trash on the ground because the cans were full. Apparently they
didn't feel the need to hire people to empty the trash cans and
clean up the tables. At least we didn't see anyone doing that.
**OVERPRICED --Paid just shy of $50 bucks for entry for 3 people and
spent almost $80 bucks to eat sample portions of food.
If you're selling samples of food then they should be sample priced!!
$10 per sample did not allow a whole lot of sampling to go down.
This was a poorly planned, poorly managed event that did not provide
an enjoyable experience to the poor suckers who paid to come and then paid to eat -- I mean sample the bbq.
It was a huge disappointment. The food was too expensive for the portions they gave. I think the entrance fee should have been applied towards food or drink. We got there early on Sunday and they were already out of chardonnay and said they were not going to get more. Then they ran out of red wine. Then food started to run out. There was not nearly enough seating. It was a rip-off!
Very disappointing. We expected many more BBQ tents than the 5-6 that were there, and it wasn't the best cross-section of BBQ. Many lines were slow...the KC one in particular we waited 90 minutes only to get up to the front and discover that they had run out of ribs, but they weren't really telling anyone or giving anyone any status updates. Not all tents even offered extra sauce. The one beverage tent was a zoo, and it was positioned over by the KC tent with the huge line. Limited seating. I wouldn't go back. We were so glad that we didn't buy the VIP tickets or the 2-day pass. Next time, just spend the time and money and fly out to Memphis or Kansas City where they probably have real festivals. (Only good thing was the music...kudos to the band!)
BBQ galore, great music. A bit expensive, but what you save on Goldstar makes up for the food prices
Awesome, food was great. Walked right up to the will call booth, no one in front of me and waved to the 200+ suckers waiting in line to pay!
Ha gotta love it!
This was not a festival. It was a bunch of BBQ vendors selling lunch.
There were only a few other vendors selling non BBQ related items.
There were no samples to taste or BBQ related booths to visit.
This was not an environment to wait around all day for the decent music to start. We left early and didn't come back on Sunday. Defintately will not attend next year.
With all food $10 a plate (except the only 2 desert choices) I was not able to sample the different varieties of BBQ as I'd hoped. There was nothing to do besdes stand in line for hours. Few booths besides the 10 or so BBQ dinner places. One beer truck was the only place for beverages and that line was 45 min long- there was no beer garden as advertised either. Only country western music for the 4 hours we were there - no blues - no Dixieand Jazz. No cornbread, coleslaw, no corn on the cob. What a rip off. Spent over $60 for a lousy day. I'm sure glad I didn't spend the $ for the VIP pass because they waited in line too and no way I'd come back for a second day of torture, medeocre BBQ and boredom. I should have gone to Lucille's BBQ in Long Beach instead.
The food that I tasted was excellent, and I would definitely come back next time.
This event was terrible. It was a series of long, long lines. First you stood in the line to get in, then the drink line (for over 45 minutes) and then we tried the food lines. They were all atleast 30-45 plus minutes and many were running out of food. A waste of time and money. (this is the first event that I felt was this bad)
We walked inside the gate and immediately got in line for some food. All the lines were extremely long. We ended up in the same line for 3 1/2 hours for some undercooked ribs. We spent the entire event in line. We would have gotten out of line, but ALL of the lines were that long. I would not recommend this event.
Biggest disappointment in a looong time. I don't understand why there was a 10$ cover charge on top of additional 10$ per plate fee. I have been to other bbq festivals where there was no cover charge. Also spent an hour and a half in line for LC's which was not worth it. My whole day was spent and I was extremely disappointed. I will not go again nor will I ever even consider it.
What a waste of money and time. I paid $10 to get into the L.A. BBQ Fest and realized once I was inside that the only thing you are there to do is eat, which isn't a problem. The problem was that most of the food vendors were from L.A., even though they claimed it was an event featuring the top BBQ spots from across America. Most of the vendors ran out of food and then when I finally decided on a line to stand in (ribs and mac&cheese) they ran out of mac & cheese when it was finally my turn after 30 minutes of standing in line to pay another $10 to eat. I ended up just eating three ribs. :( Oh, and the only form of entertainment was a stage featuring some cover bands. I didn't see what the big deal was and I'll surely never go again. It would have been ok had they not charged an admission fee.
VERY DISAPPOINTED. Only 10 BBQ vendors ($10.00 each to sample a single rib and a single sausage). The Kansas City "headliner" was not prepared -- waited in a non moving line more than 300 people long for 30 minutes then left to get a beer -- another very slow moving line (30+ minutes). Aside from a band to listen to there was NOTHING TO DO. I couldn't figure out why I paid admission to pay high prices for food that I had to eat while standing up. We left after about a hour. We will not go to any more of these "taste of" events. VERY DISAPPOINTED.
Getting the VIP Pass was the right thing to do. Otherwise, we would have spent hours in line.
Bob Craft
The food was great, when we finally got it. The organizers vastly underestimated the number of people who would attend. Some waited up to 3 hours for food from some vendors. The need to expand the numbers of vendors and raise the price for attendance. Otherwise, it was great. (Oh yeah, also need to have signs to places to park.)
YUMMMMMY!!!!!!!!!!
The lines were AWFUL. The booths ran out of food and they only had 6 BBQ vendors and way too many people to feed. The lines were a minimum of 45 minutes long. This has to be one of the worst planned events I have ever been too. Terrible, we left after 30 minutes of standing in one of the shorter lines.
not enough seating.
lines too long.
Most booths seemed to be from California. They had NO NAPKINS and empty trash cans were hard to find. Booths ran out of food early.
THe ffod was good, but the lines were too long at the food booths and the beverage area. I expected more food vendors.
I would go again in a few years when they work out the bugs. The promised pulled pork vendor did not show, this was the one I mostly wanted to try. Mostly had LA area rib places so more nationwide places would be better. They ran out of wine when I was there on Sun afternoon. Who runs out of wine? There were not enough tables & chairs and it is hard to eat this kind of food without a table. Food available was good but too many rib places and not enough options for sidedishes. Please work on this event and it will be much better in a few more years.
Crowded. Food was a bit expensive. Parking was terrible.
long lines for food.
reeeally long line for drinks (beer). only ONE concession stand from which to purchase drinks.
had to eat while sitting on the ground (ie: dirty parking lot) because there were not enough tables for all the people.
would not go again...at least until it's the FIFTH annual and they've worked out all the kinks.
not worth the money we spent for the tickets, and the food was $10 a dish!!
Food was great...however...there was only ONE line for Beverages, seperate from all the food lines...and waiting 1/2 hour for a bottle of water was CRAZY. Then to wait another 1/2 hour for your food means not being able to enjoy your meal. Who laid this out?? Poorly organized.
Music was good.
Many of the food places were out of food.
Food lines were up to 1.5 hours.
They must have gotten many times the expected attendees.
There weren't a lot of other interesting booths.
It wasn't very well organized.
=-d=
There were several restaurants that did a no-show, apparently they were hesitant about the competition from the Taste of Santa Monica going on at the same time at the pier as well. I think it would've been much better and the lines a bit shorter if all the restaurants showed up.
Overall though, it was a great event with great BBQ.
Well, there were definitely NOT ENOUGH food vendors. There should have been more beer vendors as well-- or at least 10 more lines for beer.
Additionally, It was hard to find a space to sit in order to eat as well.
You know, I do not know anyone in their right mind who would have stood in the regular lines. I talked to a couple who got a refund because, food ran out, and the lines were so long... it was ridiculous.
There should also have been a KID section.. if you are inviting kids, which they were, there should have been a bouncy, some face painting....
This was a total disaster--- it SUCKED.
- G
This event was great. There were different types of BBQ booths. Brisket, hot link, ribs, chicken. The macaroni and brie cheese was very tasty. It would have been better if there were more BBQ from different States besides California. The only ones represented were Texas and Missouri. Get there early to avoid long lines.
The event itself left a lot to be desired. We got there at 12pm on Sunday (the final day) and there wasn't much happening in terms of entertainment or BBQ. The food was expensive ($10/plate) and you really didn't get too much. If you wanted to compare vendors, you'd better be prepared to spend $$$. Many of the booths ran out of the sides and there seemed to be a lot of "no shows". We went specifically to try the food of the Saltlick, who was one of the vendors listed and they were not even there. Our group agreed that we would not go again.
The food was good but there wasn't much to it otherwise. Also I would like to have sampled more of the restaurants. Perhaps a way could be found for people who want to have just a bite or two of each place to do so. At 10$ a pop and semi-meal-sized portions one could only patronize one or two booths unless posessed of a large appetite.
Beer lines were way too long. Would like to see booths that sold bbq supplies/sauces.
Unfortunately i cannot give this event any good reviews. i arrived at the event at around 1:10pm and decided to make line for one of the 8 vendors that attended this event and ended up staying in line for the duration of the event which was until 6:pm. while my significant other stayed in line i decided to stake out the other lines only to find out that most of the other vendors had run out of food or hald of their supplies. it was a very poorly planned out event. one beverage stand for the whole event! Finally when we were able to get our food I am sad to say it was not the greatest BBQ I was hoping ift would have been. hopefully this will be a learning experience for the organizers and make it better for the coming years. there is a great BBQ following in the area and i know i was not the only one dissapointed.
It was a pain to spend all the extra money for food (tickets just cover entrance). But it was enjoyable to eat meat and hang out.
Very poorly organized with long lines for the beverages and food. For example, they had the same people drafting the beer and then serving it to you. Should have had beer "ready to go" to be given to the customer. Should have had more booths for beverages. Stood in line 30 minutes for 1 beer! Need more stalls and more space. Very crowded, ran out of food. Please PASS THIS ON!!!
Plenty of seating, met lots of nice people, great setting for the event. Some of the lines were 2 hrs + and then the end product was terrible which was disappointing. Also it might be a good idea to have the vendors offer smaller plates so you could sample more vendors items (fill up too fast). Drinks were priced reasonably.
It was a fun event. However, since it was only the first one, the participation from vendors was not that great - meaning there were not that many there (about 8-9 BBQ vendors - and one of them was Bristol Farms!!) plus a couple of dessert vendors (who only had 1 option each). Most of them were from the LA area where you could just drive yourself and order what you actually wanted vs. what they were offering for $10/plate (eg 4 ribs & small cup of beans). I stuck with the ones that were not from California and there were 3. All of them were very good. I think that the word will get out that it was a great success (the place was PACKED with more people streaming in the whole time) so they will get more vendor participation in the future.
Everything was great. The only downsides were very long lines at food booths and slightly overpriced stuff. Otherwise great time.
Too crowded, parking was a mess (too many events happening at the same time & place), not enough seating, and too costly for food that did not meet expectations. I would not go again.
Lines were long but doable. Seating was plenty and people were friendly!
Food was delicious of course!
The people at the will call booth were either clueless or rude, and it took three people to find our names on the list. When we get there around 2:30 pm some booths are already sold out, and the ones still open had SUPER LONG lines. If we didn't have VIP passes we would have waited forever. Water was free, but the line for it was so long that you would be extremely dehydrated before you even got your water. And to top it off, most of the booths were from restaurants in L.A. Not many from out of the state. Which makes this event pretty worthless and super expensive.
Great event and great food!!! I will go everytime it is in LA.
This event was was not planned well at all. They only had one line setup for drinks, so if you wanted anything to drink at all the wait was at least 45 minutes. The description of the even claimed that they would have many types of prepared food that were not at the event. When I finally got my food, the place I had bought it from ran out of sides. When we looked for somewhere to sit there were not nearly enough tables and chairs for people to use. I would say maybe 15 - 20 percent of the people there could sit and enjoy their meal.
My group was there for about 15 minutes and we left to go the local bar. When at the bar we meet some other people who went to the event and got a refund from the people at the front door. This event has potential, but the horrible planning made it so I won't go back if they do it again next year.
I stood in line for 90 minutes and the 100+ person deep line I was on to BUY food barely moved. Several of the stations were like this.
This event was very poorly staffed or had admitted way too many people.
I gave up and went home.
the logistics of this event was poorly thought out. The food was prepared well in advance and was not hot off the grill as one would hope for at a bbq festival and the lines were extremely long. There were not enough chairs and almost no shaded area. There was only one stand selling drinks and the line for that was the longest of them all. I didn't even attempt to bear through that and instead took my food to the pier and got a fountain soda. One of the vendors ran out of meat and sold mac n cheese only for 30 minutes for $5 (why the side costs half of what the whole platter would be is beyond me)
need to work on cutting down lines. they were out of control, but the food was really good and the 80's band was fun. if the lines were better the experience could have been a little better as well. Also, there was no where to sit. Need to be able to sit somewhere other than on the ground of the parking lot.
I was highly disappointed by the BBQ festival. While the food I ate was rather delicious (from a south pasadena eatery), it just seemed like a way for the organizers to make a quick buck without thinking about the attendees' experience. The variety was lacking, what's the point if most of the options are from LA, and the lines were long. Even more ridiculous was the beverage line. Only one was available and the line wrapped so far that I gave up. It was not worth it for the money or time. I would rather go directly to the restaurant itself. I will NOT be attending next year. Saving grace was the Johnny Cash band 'Cashed Out'. They were very entertaining.
It was fun for an afternoon. Although, I'm not sure there should have been a charge to get in....
LONG lines, but soo good. Next time I have to remember to bring sunscreen!
it was really good except they ran out of food before the event was over
It was ok...food was alright..some vendors were BBQ restaurants that were located just down the street from the festival....
Considering the cost of $10 a plate, portions of food were ok.
Hated the beverage line...thought it was dumb to have to line up to get drink tickets then line up again to actually get the drink...was not efficient AT ALL.
Overall pretty small. Not too many vendors. Did not have enough tables/seats for the amount of people who went.
Would only go again if a lot of my friends wanted to go. Other than that I would pass....
Good times! Good food! Gonna get a VIP ticket next time - really worth it!
The food was delicious and I was so glad we'd gotten the VIP pass which saved standing in rather long lines in the sun. We tried both local BBQ and some from out of state, and we've been back since to enjoy more form Baby Blues. We also enjoyed the music. We'll do this again next year.
If you get the VIP wrist bands you don't have to wait in the long lines!
I attended the Second day of this event in 2008. The VIP Pass was well worth it, as it got me past all the long lines for food and drinks.
The Food Booths were fantastic (Our favorite was LC's BBQ from Kansas City). My only complaint was that there were not enough vendors ( i think there were between 6-8. That simply is NOT enough variety of BBQ to satisfy the "Cue-Loving Connoisseur.
The addition of Desserts and vendors selling sauces was genius -- definitely the right take-home items.
I had friends who went to Saturday's event complain to me about food running out. I took their complaint with a grain of salt since they were foolish to show up within the LAST HOUR of the event. Get there early people! Shorter lines, more table space and more time for seconds!
This event was terrible. Too many people let in, no where to sit and eat, no water to wash hands, beer lines were 25 minutes, we were refunded our admittance.
The lines were way too long. There was not enough seating so everyone had to sit on the hot concrete. I think they admitted way more people than they can accomodate. A couple of the BBQ places were very popular; the other ones were okay. We stood in line for one only to have them tell us we had to come back in 1/2 hour because they weren't cooking them fast enough, and people were not happy.
Lame. Food was too expensive and too long of lines. No place to sit either.
It was ok, lines quite long - the VIP pass was well worth it! I would appreciate some more vegetarian selections...
The Johnny Cash cover band was cool though!
Fun event, but more expensive than you would think due to the small portions at each stand. Also, VERY long lines for food and beer. And, very difficult to get a table due to crowds. Fun idea though.
The lines were long, and it was really really annoying to have to pay extra for the food. It's hard to really taste all the food at the festival if you have to dish out $10 at each booth!! It was fun overall, but I'd skip next year and go to Taste of Santa Monica instead.
The food was great but it was not organized very well. This was there first year thought so I'm sure next year will be so much better.
Loved it... food was amazing!! A little pricey, do not forget cash cause that is all they take and most of the ATM's were either broken or really far away from the festival!
Not all the announced vendors showed up. It was really crowded, especially for the KC barbeque. We waiting for over FOUR hours in that line (but we would rotate and send some of us out to the other lines to get other BBQ and eat in line). They need to either limit the number of people they let in or get more vendors, especially if they are going to charge $$ to just get in.
Great food = long lines. Head over to Baby Blues in Venice Beach and save the hassle - they had the best ribs at the festival anyways.
444 Lincoln in Venice.
A great idea in concept... apparently the organizers weren't expecting as many people to attend. Very long lines and not enough bathroom facilities and only one central beverage tent, but still we had a good time and met some nice people. Looking forward to next year - hopefully they will have worked out all of the bugs for an even more enjoyable time.
The event was a lot smaller than we thought it would be. There weren't enough seating. The food was not great, but I am a very picky barbeque connoisseur. Regardless, it was still nice to hang out by the pier and eat barbeque.
I was disapointed the Salt Lick ended up a no show which was the primary reason I wanted to go.
It was just all right. I wish there were more vendors. Would not go again.
This event was somewhat lack luster and didn't really meet many of my expectations. The price of admission was fair, but the prices for food once you entered was extremely excessive. A single person would have to spend between $80.00 and $100.00 inorder to sample what the festival had to offer. On the first day, several of the participants ran out of food and trash removal was not adequate. Every can was overflowing. I was general not impressed!!
On the good side, the food that I tried was really good. It would have been nice if there had been more food vendors. The location for the festival was not the best, in the sense that it limited the room for the event. There were long, overlapping lines that moved very slowly. These are all just observations because of the quality of the food I did enjoy myself.
This event was fun, but it ended up costing quite a bit. Some of the booths ran out of their side items right away, but they ended up not charging the full price. Some portions were not worth the $10. Once you had the food, it was tough to find a place to sit. I heard several people joking about selling their seat when they left. I think since each vendor charged a fee for their goods, the entrance should have been free, especially since you are most likely paying for parking as well.
the lines were ludicrous. Without a VIP pass, waits of over 1 hour just to get 1 plate of food... I'm not sure if this problem is solvable but it definitely took away from the experience.
Huge lines. Mediocre food.
Good barbecue, but long lines and a lot of money for what you get. It was cool that there was a barbecue event, so it was something different, but you don't neccessarily get value for your money.
I attended this event with my son and two of his friends. The parking was easy; however, the attendant did not know initially if we were to pay the $10.00 parking fee before we went in (not his fault, this was part of the disorganization we ran into). Once we straightened that out and went to will call to pick up our tickets, everything was O.K. The food (every kind of rib imaginable, chicken, hot links, brisket, etc.) was delicious! The desserts (there were only two of which I had one, the brownie) were amazing. I would attend this event again.
Tips are provided by Goldstar members and Drink: Eat: Play. Goldstar is not responsible for their content or accuracy.
Website: http://www.labbqfest.com
The first annual Los Angeles BBQ Festival brings together the country's top pitmasters to cook up their award-winning food for thousands of BBQ enthusiasts throughout Southern California. Set against the beautiful backdrop of the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Monica Pier, the festival will also feature a beer garden and live entertainment.
Drink:Eat:Play produces LA's best and most highly attended food and wine events each year. Taking an entertaining and whimsical spin on traditional food events, past events have included Vegas in LA, Dessert Decadence, and Gourmet 5 year old birthday.
