Taste of Charlotte

This festival was great! A tad expensive for the coins, but all the food was worth it. First time in Charlotte and this was a great start to the visit. Identifying more specifically which booths were Vegetarian friendly would’ve been helpful, but it did give me a chance to find new restaurants and see what they make.

As someone who works Uptown, I have attended Taste of Charlotte for years, but over time I began to avoid it due to the fact it became so focused on someone trying to sell me something, carpet cleaner, rather than letting me enjoy some good food and drinks on my lunch break or after work.
Luckily for me, I was selected to judge this year’s event and got back on the street to check out if it was the same, or if things changed. And, in my mind, they have.
I arrived at 12:00 on Friday, right after opening at 11:00, and the streets were already packed, vendors were ready to go, and I was ready to eat.
The streets are blocked off with vendor booths, kids activities, demonstrations, wine tastings and so much more.
There were over 20 restaurant booths from yes, the chains, like McCormick & Schmick’s, to the locals, like CC’s Pies. There was a good variety of tastings, some of my favorites included the Shrimp Kisses from McCormick & Schmick’s, the Ginger Chicken Strips from Mai Tai in Concord.
Overall I was happy with what I saw, yes there are still vendors trying to sell me carpet cleaning, but the food and drink options have improved, including more local options, and the amount of food you get is well worth checking it out.
Oh, note: There is a stage in the center of the entire event, at Trade and Tryon, with different musical performances throughout the weekend that I forgot to mention.

Very impressive, Charlotte. I think 2016 was a huge step up from 2015. There was a huge variety of stuff to check out, and though it’s all one big marketing ploy, it’s fun and you get funny swag. There was quite a lot of food, though I would have liked to see more vegetarian options. I was very pleased with the amount of beverages there were available. On a day when it’s over 90 degrees, drinks are definitely a must! Super duper YES to Smoothie King and all of the booze available!
My favorites were, besides the lovely smoothies, the big Geico setup and the Ford area. I got to test drive a Ford, and my companion won $ 5 in cash! That’s not what we expected from Taste of Charlotte, but it was very very cool and kept us lingering around. More fun things == more patience to wait in lines to check stuff out. Very well done, ToC. See you next year, for sure.

I attended Taste of Charlotte this year only because I happened to be uptown for Kidney Walk. It was nice to be at the festival at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday because it was not yet crowded.
The organizers listened and instead of this being «Taste of Chain Restaurants», there are a lot of local establishments. Restaurants included Viva Chicken, Queen City Q, Imani, Brazz, Fuel, Dilworth Grill, and Chicken Salad Chix. I bought 15 tokens for 20 bucks and it was enough to try four things and have 2 tokens left for TCBY sorbet (it was hot). The viva chicken with rice and a plantain was the dish of the day and was a generous size. The items I had from other restaurants were all good too.
Yes, there is a section where you will be harassed by salespeople. However, there is also a section where you will get worthwhile free samples, not just junk. These included Rolaids, Snyder’s pretzels, Mentos, Gold Bond Men Body Powder, and more.
Although this event is relatively small (30 restaurants) for a large city with a good restaurant scene, a Johnson & Wales campus, and the American headquarters of the world’s largest contract foodservice company, it was more quality over quantity this year. The tokens are a little pricey but you get more bang for your buck at certain places. I would like to see them move it to an open area. Tryon gets crowded but at least it is shaded.
I am glad to finally see that this festival features almost all local restaurants. If it stays like this, I will return.

Fun, fun, fun! I had a blast going from both to both. Everyone was super nice!
I got to try some new things, play some games, and win freebies! Awesome time!!!

I’m rounding down this morning since I think Taste should be right at a solid 3.5. It’s pretty cool to shut down Tryon and have vendors present food items as well as fun for the family. Just be ready for street fair pricing and the crowds. I don’t mind paying for unique food experiences, especially since its a tall order to organize and provide man-​power to shut down the main thoroughfare in Uptown… The crowds — not so much a fan of. Makes for good people watching, but if you gave me the choice of being overheated and stuck in a maze of people, I would probably not choose to do so.
I went on Friday for lunch (when the festivities just started). Luckily most of the food was super fresh. and still hot from being just cooked. I was pleasantly surprised by the offerings of RiRa’s. and then it was just «stuff your face heaven» for about an hour before I had to go back to work. Even with the Friday work crowd, it still got fairly crowded and you could tell were all the good food was at with the lines that were forming. The Thai place made a killing, but I couldn’t wait in their line — their food looked awesome.
Most of the food I ate was either yellow or brown… mainly fried. I’d kinda like to see more of a different take… more fresh items maybe? But I know how difficult that would be in a outdoor street fair. I’d also like to see more of an international flair instead of the normal Chinese, Thai, and Indian places. I know Charlotte is attracting more folks from diverse cities so we are getting there.
For what it is, it’s a good thing to have this event every year.

The Taste of Charlotte felt more like a Taste of Commercialism and Corporate America. Yes, I do realize that events like these (and of this large size) are not possible without corporate sponsors, but there were reminders everywhere.
There looked to be a lot of activities for kids like face painting, bouncy houses and a large slide; from a kid’s perspective, any big street fair is five stars, from a grown up perspective, not so much.
There was a beach party area with a live band that was great. The downside? 5 coins for a can of Corona. You do the math $ 1.33 per coin times 5 = $ 6.65 Corona. Ugh!
I was surprised to see so few restaurants participating. Many of the names were from Big Chains and not local places… maybe the booths cost more than the exposure is worth? If that’s the case it would be nice if the «little guy» could get some exposure too. The Ahi Slider from the Ale House was undoubtedly the best thing I tried (great flavors and a little kick in the spice rub) and the worst were the fish tacos from McCormick and Schmick (no flavor and they smelled like «turned» seafood — one bite and done — I can’t eat something that doesn’t smell good).
Kudos to the Chobani truck for offering full size samples of something healthy! Kudos to Salsarita’s for big portions and tasty food! The Sweet Tea with sucralose, I could do without! I want sugar in my sweet tea!
All that being said, and sounding like a grouchy old man who remembers when Cokes were 10 cents, I’m glad the city holds street fairs and cultural events like this. It gets people and their kids out of their house and into a community driven social situation/​celebration! Go for yourself and decide, just because it wasn’t my cup of tea, doesn’t mean it might not be yours!

I expected more from Taste Of Charlotte. Instead there were plenty chain restaurants here.

We’ve been to this a couple of times and though it’s lots of fun, I feel like the food options are decreasing. We loved the dippin dots, jjredhots, and the Jamaican food. This year there were also tons of free samples!
Only 3 stars because I think we need more food options and less sales booths.

I have been to this event the past three years and previously have enjoyed it each time I went. This year I was disappointed. There weren’t as many choices when it came to food. I went on Friday this year, so I’m not sure if that made the difference because I usually go on saturday. There were also some restaurants that were listed that were not there.

You’re going to a food festival uptown in the summer. It will be hot. It will be crowded. Be prepared. Attended this event on a Saturday this year. There are several food vendors as well as vendors who are selling random items… patio furniture, bath tub refurbishing, etc. The way that this event works is that you pay money for coins $ ¹⁰⁄₇ coins, $ ²⁰⁄₁₅ coins. Each dish takes a certain amount of coins ranging from 1 – 3 coins and you get to sample foods from various Charlotte restaurants. You cannot pay money to vendors. You must use coins. I had the spicy crab cakes from McCormick’s. They were spicier than I anticipated and has small bits of something in them. This was 3 coins. Fortunately, I also had a bottle of Mountain Dew, which was also 3 coins. That amounts to $ 4 for a 20 oz bottle of Mountain Dew. BYOB next time. Then I had the bacon wrapped filet mignon from Brazz. This was the best dish I tasted. Overall, a decent experience. I recommend coming on Friday or Sunday earlier in the day to avoid the crowd.

I haven’t been to this event in years so I was excited to check it out when my hubby suggested a visit. However, I was terribly disappointed in the food offerings, but even more so in the bands of gypsies that were hocking their wares! From insurance to banking to gutter guard people, it was impossible to walk without being accosted by them all! Ugh!
Since when did Taste of Charlotte become less about the food and more about just filling spots on the street so the organizers can brag about how many city blocks it covers?!

Always a fun time!
Best tip: go during the day or early as possible. The later you attend the more amount of people and the more crowded and crammed it gets.

All in all, taste of charlotte was OK. I certainly enjoyed the people watching and good food. I liked being able to sample many of the great restaurants that charlotte has to offer. To me a few of the portions were extremely small. For example, the shrimp po boy slider from emerils e2 was literally 2 bites and it cost about $ 4. The food quality and taste were excellent but maybe offer 2 sliders for that price.
For those of you that don’t like huge crowds I would recommend getting there fairly early on Sunday. We went around 11:30 Sunday and were able to find free parking on the street about a block away and minimal lines for food.
I would recommend buying your coins when you get there versus trying to get them online unless you don’t like carrying cash on you. Online the large bucket of coins is around $ 22 versus $ 20 if you pay with cash at the event.
Lots of free give always for those of you that like to collect swag.

It is a good idea! Good for the local merchandise, and visitors are happy. But the food is just average.

Just finished Bellydancing at Taste of Charlotte — the people running it are great !!
Tons of great food and drinks.
Fun

What a neat thing to do in Charlotte!
We came here to see what Taste of Charlotte is all about. Basically you get pop-​up store fronts of different stores and restaurants that Charlotte has to offer. Some of which,
Place — in the Uptown of Charlotte. Parking was a beast. Had to walk quite a bit for a $ 10 parking. But thankful enough we were able to come back the same day with my parking pass. The chains of stores/​restaurants was long, along the streets. So it makes it worthwhile to attend.
Music — good music entertainment, shows, saw a Zumba thing that was fun.
Food — eclectic mix of food of american and other nationalities.
Freebies — cannot go wrong with free Chobani yogurt! What a good way to introduce a new flavor by offeing to the mass like us.
Price — Saw some that were reasonable, others that are expensive that made me think if it was worth it.
Loved — Got to have my Dippin’ Dots!
Was able to obtain some tokens (thanks Ben & JJ) so my husband and I got to try different things along the strip.

My sis and I had a fun time at the 2013 taste of Charlotte event. Lots of great free samples and several high quality restaurants showcasing their products. I loved the fried pickles from the ale house and they gave a $ 5 off card.
The culture and atmosphere on Friday night was nice because it wasn’t busy and cheerful people with good music.
Some of the restaurants were a just dumb with their portion size. If I’m giving you 3 tokens that’s $ 4. Why would I pay $ 4 for a tiny piece of chicken or one cupcake? Add some rice or veg to the chicken and make the cupcake 2 tokens.

I’ve always heard about Taste of Charlotte, but I never had the opportunity to go until now. I say that for me, it was a little too much hyped up. I thought it was great that restaurants get to have people try samples of their food for tokens. I just felt that the tokens/​money was not worth the food samples as they were really small. The set up of the booths were good though. It was not too crowded for the booths, it was just crowded with foot traffic at times. They did have music playing and keeping the energy up, and also different activities for children. I did find myself stopping by booths to enter sweepstakes. Oh… I just want to win things.
All in all, for me, it was an event that is great to experience once, but I don’t see myself going back for future years to come.

I had a really good time at Taste of Charlotte — overlooking the overpriced food and drinks — I looked at it as a cost of the entertainment of the people watching. This event always brings out the interesting «foodies» of Charlotte — adults and children of all different colors, sizes and ideas of what good food is…
The «one coin» curry rolls were good, the «three coin» bacon wrapped scallops were outstanding, As where the «three coin» pad Thai with ginger chicken wings.
This is a well organized event that has the feel of a carnival — and whats not to like with all the tall buildings surrounding you. How many times can you just loiter around the middle of Trade and Tryon without getting hit by a car… maybe once or twice a year.
I Tasted Charlotte and liked it!