Taste Of River North

We came here on Sunday. There was plenty of meter parking on Ontario which was nice. However, I wasn’t very impressed with the assortment of restaurants. We arrived around 6PM and some restaurants had already closed. Plus the tickets and cost of food was a bit steep.
The best thing we ate was probably the funnel cake from Melting Pot and Lobster roll from Da Lobsta (we’ve had it before and overall, it’s an okay roll). The worst was the prime rib sandwich from Kinzie Chophouse. It was dry, flavorless and the bun was a joke. I don’t know why we thought it was a good idea to get two when we should have just shared one.
Would I come back? Probably not. For a festival that is supposed to highlight the River North area, it’s pretty darn disappointing.

The showing of local restaurants was pathetic and the live music was worse. The best part was when a storm swept through and wrecked everything, then about half the vendors didn’t bother setting back up. Thanks nature!

I don’t know why people complain about this fest– it’s just a fest! And if you want all the other restaurants river north has to offer than just go to them. Anyways, as a resident of river north my husband and I have gone to the fest every year for the last 3 years. It’s small, and I love that about it. It only gets crowded around the stage, esp when a good band like sixteen candles band is playing. It’s located next to Montgomery ward park– see my review on it. It’s a GORGEOUS park. There’s a few good food vendors there– taco joint is always good for tacos, el hefe has the best sliders, da lobsta has a Chicago style lobster roll with hot giardiana, and Fannie May has different kinds of chocolate covered frozen bananas. Yum!
Don’t miss out on the sangria too– best thing you can drink there. There’s also beer and win available.
East bank club gives free classes– I attended their morning yoga on the river walk and received a free guest pass! Score.
Bring the kiddies too. There’s a kids area, with some activities like balloon animals. There’s also a new, big play area for the little ones.
Only downfall is there is little to no parking nearby– doesn’t matter to us but makes it hard for friends to come from the burbs. You can pay to park in a lot not too far from the fest but I’m sure it’s $$$.

Great venue coupled with a run of the mill fest that is only after your dollar. With good reason there is a huge faction of Chicago who will only venture into River North (RiNo as I like to call it) when it’s forced on them. Unfortunately, the Taste of River North is a mid summer mecca reminding people of why this neighborhood get’s judged so hard. You walk in, and immediately you realize you need tickets to purchase food/​drinks. Why?! Every other fest manages to function without this stupid premise. So you wait in line to trade money for tickets, and then you venture to find some good eats… it’s the RiNo fest right? You assume you’re going to be in for some gourmet treats but no… no, you’re not. The first place I ran into was my beloved 4am spot — TBK — whoo hooo that’s exactly what I want at 5pm! Then you find terrible pizza, a guacamole «trio,» and El Jefe hosting drinking games?! I think I’ll stop now.
At least its in Montgomery Park, which is awesome and they have Goose Island Beer. But honestly, it’s The Taste of RiNo, let’s try to do better than TBK and Citizen Bar next time.

The Taste Of River North is alright. But, it’s pretty small and more restaurants should be there.

I’ve been to this fest a couple times, and I can definitively say that the best reason to come here is the music. They bring in a good mix of local bands, tribute bands, and cover bands, including my reigning favorite Hot Sauce Committee. Who doesn’t love late 90’s pop and hip-​hop? Sixteen Candles also drew a gigantic crowd to end Saturday night.
The food selection is kind of meh. You’d expect more variety but I guess the restaurants in the River North area aren’t keen on supporting their own neighborhood. Nothing really stood out, and the girlfriend and I ended up walking to Portillo’s to grab a full meal. Unfortunately they go with the ticketing system here, which makes things a pain when you only want to buy 2 tickets or so for something.
It’s not a great foodie destination, but pretty fun nonetheless if you like whoever’s on stage. Protip: there’s a 7 – 11 right by one of the entrances to grab cash/​snacks/​drinks, and a billion restaurants not too far away if you don’t feel like spending cash on tickets.

My review may not fully represent the entire festival because I was only able to spend a couple of hours there late Sunday. I mainly went to see the band Led Zepplin 2 who did not dissapoint. However, standing on Kingsbury Street and the combination of food smells along with sewer gas smell does not do it for me! Kinda makes you not want to sample the taste. We did come around 6:30 pm and was surprised to learn that the taste would close by 8:00 pm. Well, I guess it was Sunday evening. The crowd was mainly upper 20’s mid 30’s with very few of us «Virgin Led Zepplin Generation» whom had come to know the music first hand on the airwaves in the 70’s. Most of the tasting booths were out of food but my friend did enjoy a sausage (last one). The location by the River was nice. We ended up taking the river walk and of course star gazing at Chicago’s magnificent buildings twinkling in the night sky. We enjoyed our evening but I will not be going back to the Taste of River North next year.

I was really looking forward to the Taste of River North. The River North area has plenty of food options, so one would think that this would be really good. I could not have been more wrong.
This has to be one of the smallest street food festivals I have ever seen. How do you only have about 10 — 15 vendors when the River North area is rich with some of the best restaurants in the city? How do you NOT have Erie Café, which was located right in the heart of the Taste of River North, as one of your vendors?
The Taste of Randolph is way better. Please, do NOT even bother with the Taste of River North, unless you are only going there for the bands.

Great little fest.
Keep in mind:
–You need to purchase tickets (a la Taste of Chicago)
–There’s a pretty big park you (and your doggy) can chill at inside the fest
–Lots of overpriced jewelry (don’t do it)
–3 different exits make leaving easy peasy
–Goose Island beer!
We went on 90’s tribute night and we were jammin’. I hope you like jammin’ too.