Taste of the Heights

I love this event but the checkin process needs work. Unnecessarily long and stressful. Also, the tickets were a bit confusing with a page for each vendor but more than one with the same number. And several vendors closed shop early Otherwise it’s a super fun stroll through Seminole Heights and backyards with friendly peeps, bites from local eateries and beverages to get you in trouble. Seminole Heights is a great scene.

I love love love that you walk through the neighborhood to 13 different spots. No other festival would have you marching around looking for food and alcohol, and have bands at every spot, and cool local vendors! I love this concept. Whodathunk it is cool in my book. Even though you made your check in process confusing more for you.
The offerings were interesting. Some people had lots of options. Some barely had any. Some only had alcohol, only beer, wine, mixed drinks, some had food.
I loved the ales and the moonshine. I loved the area with the arepa, salad, empanadas. I wish I got a slice of pizza. I loved the sushi. Cappy’s, I heard you were there, but just had salad. That’s not what Cappy’s is all about.
This was a fun day to walk around, run into buds, & meet some oh very interesting people. Can’t forget powdered Sriracha guy, right Stacy?!

I am surprised by the reviews of this event. It was not as awesome as everyone makes it out, at least not for me, and I don’t know if I would do it again. A couple reviewers mention its the best or their favorite event in Tampa, but I don’t see how this is better than Tampa’s food and wine festival at the Straz or Unilocal’s Unilocal Around the World. Guess I just disagree with what makes a good event.
First problem, we showed up about 10 minutes before the start only to receive a text that the gate was not taking e-​receipts — they were requiring everyone print out their receipt. Problems with this are (a) wake up and smell the freaking century; (b) they emailed out — twice — tips, advice and reminders for the event and no where was there a reminder or a requirement to print your receipt (you think it would be the first one so you saw it before leaving the house); and © they had a freaking book with all of our names in it, so why was the receipt necessary? I get the photo ID to prove who we were, but the receipt was pointless. Turns out that they ended up accepting the e-​receipt, but by that point, we were 20 minutes away at a Kinko’s to print our receipts.
Second problem was the offerings. It’s called Taste of the Heights, and while you can have beer tastings, of course, the name kind of implies food, yet most of the vendors were beer. One liquor vendor, no wine, lots and lots of beer, and a handful of food stations. And as for those food stations, at least a couple of them didn’t even bother to show up and others had shut down more than 30 minutes prior to the end. This is unacceptable. If it was a regular food and wine festival where you can get unlimited samples, then I can understand underestimating what you need. But they sold a set number of tickets, which they knew beforehand because they sold out, and each ticket allowed you only 1 sample from each restaurant. So how do you run out? Someone pointed out to me that it might be difficult to judge how much you need for that many people, and while its a valid point, I still disagree. You’re a restaurant. You have to do prep work each morning for the entire day, so you know how to create hundreds of servings of something at a time.
Other food stations had multiple options, but all very similar. For example, Café Hey had 2 quinoa samples, yone of which was a kale quinoa, and also a kale salad. 2 quinoa samples, and 2 samples with Kale as the main ingredient. I know its vegetarian, but I’ve seen good variety on a vegetarian menu. This was not good variety.
The more I talk, the more I am tempted to remove another star. However, I’ll leave it at 3. I did have fun, though most of that was due to my girlfriend and our friends. Also, I did like the format — each vendor was set up in the yard or on the patio of someone’s house and you got to walk around the neighborhood. I also liked that they kept the ticket sales limited, so you were never waiting long.
Still, if I do this again next year, then it’ll be because there were more local food options, a bit less heavily reliant on the beer, and a lot clearer entry instructions.

This is my favorite food festival in the Tampa Bay area. Those who know me know how much I love Seminole Heights: the homes, the people, the food. Taste of the Heights is the perfect «taste» of our neighborhood.
It always starts out a little rocky at check in, but it has gotten better year over year. Once the ticket booklets are dispersed, I usually take off to the farthest stop and start there. This year there were 14 stops with food, drink, and bands at most of them. The stops keep growing year after year, but it is so fun to get to experience the food and architecture of our neighborhood by walking between all of the different stops.
This event is a very good deal for the price. I counted up the number of restaurants and breweries that participated this year — it was over 30. This also included live music and fun at each stop! I leave every year full and tipsy all for $ 25.
I will continue to be among the first ticket purchasers for this year after year. It sells out quickly with a limited number of tickets. Taste of the Heights is an excellent way to sample the flavors of this neighborhood that I love so much!

Bad start, strong finish. We got there early to park, and to be near the front of the line when they started check-​in. Unfortunately, those ‘in the know’ at check-​in told us we had to have a printed out receipt; it wasn’t okay to just show the receipt on our smartphones. So, we went inside and begged the So. Brew. guy to let us print our receipts, which he did, and we went back outside and went to the ends of the incredibly long lines, only to find out they did indeed end up having to take receipts shown on the phone. On behalf of the rest of the world, I’d like to welcome the organizers to the 21^st Century!
However, after that rocky start, the rest of the festival was great. I was a first-​timer, and I would definitely do it again. I loved that the stops were all within easy walking distance, and that there were enough stops that people could spread out and not have to move en masse. Many of the stops had fun and interesting bands. I didn’t take pictures of any food or any bands though, because my hands were usually double-​booked with beverages. There were a LOT of different beers at various stations, which was great, but I would have loved a few more food items and/​or cocktails instead. Favorites were Fodder & Shine’s moonshine cocktail AND their pork offering. I was also excited to find out and try sushi from the sushi place that will be opening in Spring in Seminole Heights — yay!
The biggest disappointments were that vendors ran out of food before we could get there (Cappy’s), the no-​shows (San Carlos), and that nobody seemed to have any idea what the red raffle ticket was for. Anybody? But other than that, and the huge snafu at the start, it was a really good time.

Great event, all-​in-​all. I have a lot to say in regards to pros and cons.
:Pros:
Walks you through a historic residential section of Seminole Heights, not business to business.
1. Tons of vendors
2. 14 stopping points, all spread out, which greatly reduced congestion.
3. Great live music at most stops
:Cons:
1. Too few «potty places»
2. Not enough time for the event.
3. Some vendors were not offering up their staple items.
Cash for tipping musicians should have been mentioned somewhere. The poor guys had tip buckets, and hardly anyone had cashed.
As you can see, the pros outweigh the cons. The most disappointing was that our time ran out. By the time we got to the final 3 stops, most of the vendors were packing up, and the few who remained, had only scraps.
Also, why was Hampton Station giving out beer with all the breweries involved? The should’ve been handing out pizza or wings. And Cappy’s was handing out salads?
Other than those things, the event was really great, and the historic stroll took people off the main thoroughfares and brought then into the actual neighborhood. Absolutely fantastic.
My favorite band was Bee and the Bard. Favorite food was the chicken parm pasta from the front porch. It’s a special they sometimes run. Favorite brew was Coppertail.
Honorable food mention was Ella’s with that freaking veggie curry. Honorable brew mention was J Dub’s.
We also picked up some arts and crafts out there, specifically Fandamonium. There were a lot of them out there, but only bought what we could shove in our pockets.
This was the 6^th annual, and I will definitely be at the 7^th.

I trust my Unilocal friends Katy S and Sarah B, so when they said to purchase tickets for this event as soon as it was announced, I followed their instructions. I bought tickets so early (August), that I almost forgot about the event itself. Tickets sold out quickly and now I understand why.
It was a rough start at the beginning of the event. We got there early and were in the front of the line until one of the volunteers stated we needed to have our receipts printed out. Ummmm what? I have been to most festivals in the Tampa Bay Area and this is the ONLY festival that requires any paper. Luckily, the kind people at Southern Brewing let us use their printer. By the time we made it back outside, all the lines were backed up. In addition, they were checking people in by their first names. Whaaaat? Yes, something else to ponder about…
The people working at check-​in finally had no choice but to accept participants’ digital receipts due to the tremendous amount of people who didn’t print them out. The people at check-​in were rude, slow, and poorly organized. The lines were so backed up that all the lines had begun weaving into each other and was just a massive unorganized cluster.
I was impressed by the ticket books that were created. The book consisted of pages of advertisements from various Seminole Heights businesses and little tickets you ripped out to present at each of the thirteen stops. Well done.
Other than the check-​in debacle and a few no show vendors, we enjoyed the event. We were able to hit all the stops and crowds were minimal due to a limited number of tickets sold. All the stops were within close walking distance of each other and there was live music at 9 of the 13 of these stations.
Just a few of my favorites include:
Fodder & Shine’s Pork Rillette with Pickles served with Cuban Crostini
Fodder & Shine’s Florida Toddy Cinnamon infused moonshine
Twisted Sun Rum’s Punch
Sushi Shack
I was happy to experience several places that I have bookmarked and will make plans to visit their actual business sites. Taste of the Heights has won me over and I will definitely make plans to go again next year, provided that they have joined the digital age and will accept electronic receipts!

This was a seriously amazing event.
My favorite so far this year!
If it wasn’t for the free tix from Unilocal,
I wouldn’t have been able to be here!
This was my first Taste of the Heights
And I was truly blown away.
The neighborhood and community
Really make you wanna stay!
The event started off a lil rocky.
The check in was a lil confusing.
But it wasn’t too much time before
I got a book of tix used for boozing!
I loved the set up of the event
It was like a cool, local block party!
Just wandering up each street
And looking at things that are arty!
The bites and sips that I tried
Were all from great local places.
So many new flavors for my friends and I
To happily stuff in our faces!