Taste of Calgary

The idea is neat, you get to sample all sorts of different foods, I really like that. Not keen on buying tickets up front and then pay with these for your food, but I can understand why they do it. What disappointed me was the price of the samples. I thought it was overpriced as the samples were pretty small most of the times but the price was usually $ 3-​$ 6 or more. Isn’t this whole event a great advertisement for the participating restaurants? I think they should see it more like this instead of an opportunity to make money. I would have sampled more if the prices would have been a bit more reasonable.

Probably the worst taste of/​bite of festival I have ever been to. The tickets are a stupid idea, the venue is cramped and the food is poor overall. Don’t waste your money.

This was my first Taste of Calgary and I did enjoy it, who doesn’t enjoy eating and drinking in a public park on a beautiful summer day?
I thought it was kinda expensive and it was a lot smaller than I thought it was going to be. There was only a handful for restaurants to sample from and they shared similar palates e.g., African restaurant that served curry-​like foods across from an Indian restaurant serving curry-​like foods.
If there were at least 30 restaurants participating each day from different parts of the world, then it would be a real taste of Calgary. I was expecting less known establishments to be there– not franchises such as Brewsters and Coco Brooks, who had tents there too.
So some of the positives:
–great location
–great human crowds (non-​human crowds like wasps was not so great.)
–great drinks!**
–decent parking
Some of the «oh nos»:
–not enough variety of food (but what I did taste was delicious)
–kinda expensive, I spent $ 25 and went home hungry
–the music wasn’t loud enough– and there was a great live band, so this was a major bummer.
–WASPS!!! I feel like every wasp in city was at Taste of Calgary.
Overall, I think I would go again but maybe just for the beverage garden! It’s the best place to get your monies worth. Many of the drinks were a good size for 2 – 3 tickets. For rum, whiskey, long island ice tea… so most likely, you’ll find me at the beverage garden next year :)

This was my first experience with Taste of Calgary and it wasn’t too bad. It wasn’t quite as big or as busy as I expected, and the dessert selection was sorely limited, but the food I did try was excellent. I wish there had been more restaurants in attendance, as I came ready to spend! At Taste of Edmonton I always went multiple days and spent about $ 60-​$ 100 on my favorite eats, but at at Taste of Calgary my boyfriend & I together only spent $ 30! Overall a great way to spend a few hours, but definitely needs a boost.

You came here to eat ergo spend lots of money on small samples, but if you are a foodie, you will be at home and skip the traps that a noob would fall for like paying 4 dollars for a slider thats all bun lol.
Lack of bevvys aside from water or beer, would have loved more choice there.
Overall was a very chill and fun walking festival.
Spent 55 dollars but was decently satisfied.
Props to:
banana cake
Hong kong shaved ice
Steak bites
Cabbage rolls /​perogy /​sausage combo: best value at $ 5

So I was struggling between three and four stars for this event. Part of me is frustrated by some of the ticket prices and portion sizes of some of the vendors yet the other part of me loves the variety and the excellence of the food presented. However, the latter part of me is much stronger than the former, so I ended up with a 4-​star review.
There are tons of options from Thai, to Indian, to Caribbean, to Greek, to Canadian, so there is something for everyone. The diversity is just amazing and it’s a great chance for you to try something that you might not otherwise eat or for you to try a new restaurant all together. I now have a couple of new places on my list of places to frequent (which is already getting quite long.)
A review from last year did mention that there needs to be a great spread of places. I don’t have any comparison, but there did seem to be decent geographical representation this go-​around. It was a little odd, though, that Jackie’s Thai (which is in the food court at the Market) was also one of the vendors, but that was the only oddity I could see.
The venue is in the entirety of the outdoor space of the Eau Claire market and it’s really well used. There are multiple places to buy tickets which are $ 1 each (so try not to get caught in the one long line at the entrance.) There were about 25 – 30 vendors this year and then another good group that were in the beer garden area. Like I said earlier, the variety was excellent and most places also had a good sampling of their menu with an appetizer-​style dish, a couple of entrees, and maybe a dessert. There were also a couple of dessert-​specific booths, such as ice-​cream melts.
Because of the way the space is laid out, it’s perfect for small/​large groups, families with kids, and people with dogs. It really is a great way to spend the day and eat some great food. There are also live bands and other vendors to keep yourself occupied while you are digesting your food.
The only thing that I would say was that there was a time during the afternoon that it got pretty crowded and the lines were pretty long. Also, towards the end of the afternoon, many of the vendors were selling out of their premium items. So, I would say that getting there earlier rather than later is a good idea. You also need to find a place to park downtown (or take the train) so an early arrival is good all-​around.
I will definitely be looking forward to this event next year, and I will arrive much earlier.

Year over year, this is something everyone should experience. The food, the ambiance, the fun and sun or rain, the good times.
Multiple restaurants and bars, all with taster sized samples. Makes trying out a new restaurant less expensive, trying new dishes less of a commitment.
I find bringing take home containers a good idea, unless you have an endless stomach. This way, if you are only able to drop by on one of the four days, you can still get all the samples you want to try.
Tickets are only $ 1 each, samples range in price from usually two to five tickets. I always plan to spend about $ 30 per adult. That is unless you plan to drink. For those who like their alcohol, I suggest a designated driver or taxi and a few more dollars.
Always a good time! Even in the rain!!! Good food, good friends and great memories to be made.

Taste of Calgary is an awesome summer event that I look forward to each year! Food, sun, live music… what’s not to love? My friends and I usually go down for sweets and deserts, but you can easily enjoy lunch or dinner too. What’s great is that you can get a variety of different cultural foods, and it encourages you to try foods you normal wouldn’t… like ox tail!

As my it was my first visit to Taste of Calgary, I was happily surprised with the festival.
I have to say that I don’t agree with the majority of reviews currently posted. First of all, being a festival you have to recognize that you probably won’t be saving money by attending one of these events. There were also a lot of people there and you could easily find the most popular items based on lines alone. I sampled and enjoyed many of the food dishes as well as a lot of the samples available in the liquor area. Being that it was a few weeks ago now, I can remember the one thing that stood out for me and that was the watermelon juice with mango pearls from Bubblicious. I would never have known about this place as it is located so far in the North East but now I will go out of my way to travel there again some time.
I had a lot of fun at the Taste of Calgary and got to enjoy many dishes that I would have otherwise avoided. I’ll be back next year.

Actually I would give it 2.5 stars. It’s a good way to get out and taste some restaurants around Calgary. But it really seemd like a repeat of last year. I felt that the booths were cramped together and they could have used a little more space giving room for people to move more freely.
Tickets were $ 1 each, however most items were 2 or 4 tickets with the odd 3 ticket sample in there.
Overall it was a nice sunny day but really I think I will hit up a different festival next year and skip this one.

Weak
Overpriced and underwhelming. This is basically an opportunity for restaurants to cash in on mass prepped food. If taste of Calgary is supposed to be a culturally diverse eating experience they failed miserably. When you have a food truck cooking frozen pizzas and selling them by the slice you know you have missed the mark. Lets try and make this about the small guys with the authentic food next time… not places like the Canadian Brewhouse chain.

Fun in the sun! It always seems to be a super hot day for this festival!
It is in Eau-​Claire and we never have an issue finding free parking on the street.
The set-​up appears to be the same every year — I always know where the free pizza sample truck is!
You buy tickets and then you roam around to the local food stands and pay as many tickets for whatever items that they are serving up.
There is a beer garden area that also has wine and whiskey — same tickets apply bought from the same place and all tickets are $ 1 each. The average drinks sample is $ 3 and food is about $ 4 for a small plate to try.
I had some saffron ice cream today, that was the best!
There are a few clothing vendors too, an Ipad repair stand, Car To Go stand, Shaw, etc.
It is crowded, I find it a tight space to go through the throngs of people, strollers and doggies but it makes for a fun time and we like to see what the local offerings are and support these businesses!
After you are done roaming around, you can head over to the beautiful Prince’s Island Park by the river to walk off any calories you have consumed!
For 2 people with drink and some food, we paid $ 25 for tickets. Not bad. Free to get into the festival.

If this is supposed to be a taste of Calgary then where is the diversity from around the city?
For the most part, they take the Eau Claire food court and move it outside into tents. Sure there are a few other businesses like Pegasus, but when one of the «tastes» is Mini Melts, a large corporation, that doesn’t really represent what Calgary has to offer.
Now don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy myself, but I just expected more from this festival. They advertise that you can get a taste for only $ 1, but you’re going to be hard pressed to find anything for a buck. I saw one place that had a piece of bread. Everything else was at least $ 2 but averaged between $ 3 – 4.
The best area was the beer gardens. This is truly where the festival lives up to its name. There were about a dozen different breweries and liquor vendors to sample. You could get beer, cider, mixed drinks, tequila, rum, whiskey, and more. This area is probably the only reason I would come to check out this festival again.