Taste of St Louis

The good part about the festival is music, lights and you get to try from famous restaurants sample food. I liked the ambience but the food is sitting there for so long that almost dried out in all the restaurants. I will not go here next time.

My experience for my second time going in Chesterfield, I had a great time.
There was plenty of choices. I had PI meatballs, Strange Donuts three varieties of donuts, Edgewild for Cajun shrimp (amazing), bourbon cider crème brûlée from Bishops Post, and a Gorilla Mac & Cheese Dog from Steve’s Hot Dogs.
I liked that I was able to take a shuttle over to the park.
I had a really wonderful time.

Great food — great experience and great environment! It’s what the Taste was always meant to be — an upscale food event in an upscale environment. It keeps getting better year after year.

Love the location at Chesterfield Amphitheater! Nice variety of restaurants and vendors, easy access to parking and a lot of sponsors giving away free swag. Also bought lottery tickets on site and got a free t-​shirt. Very family friendly, upscale event. I plan on going again next year!

In regards to the taste of St Louis, I tell you what, I thought it was pretty nice.
My experience for my first time going, I had a really good time.
I like how it was set up and I love how you could park for free and get shuttled to the front door.
I enjoyed them having security on the premises, checking for weapons when people come in, that made me feel more comfortable.
The shuttle let you off right at the front door, you can’t get it no better than that.
The setup for Taste if St. Louis was awesome. It was almost horseshoe shaped, fairly close to an oval. You first hit all the misc. vendors and then ended up going to the food row and at the very end your get some dessert stands.
The only thing is, I wish, I could have gotten some selfies with local chef’s.

I very much enjoyed this event 2 yr. s ago in Downtown STL. They finally got it organized & spread it out enough that it worked well downtown. Yesterday was my 1^st time to go in Chesterfield. It was a carnival/​circus type environment & not in a positive way. We paid $ 10 to park in a bumpy dusty weed filled lot. Then trekked to the event. It was crowded & extremely disorganized (very cramped). The vendors accept cash. The food just seemed lackluster compared to the prior years. We really missed the Merb’s apples as well. All of our party agreed we will skip this event next year & just get together for a nice dinner.

Awesome event to explore some of STL’s greatest flavor in one location.
Recently relocated to Chesterfield Amphitheater from Downtown and there is amazing food and festivities covering every square inch of the park.
Culinary Stage
Art
Wine
Beer
Food
Desserts
Clothing
Live Music
Games
Priceless view. much much more!
Well organized but prepare for long lines and parking prices 3x the going rate. There is a trolley from Chesterfield Mall otherwise the «park & walk» option is always a winner.
Great event for the entire family, make a day of it; a weekend if you’ve got the patience.

Taste of St Louis moved to Chesterfield this year. I like there is a lot of nearby free parking and a free shuttle. There are a lot of activities for kids like face painting, many vendors for shopping, and of course the food. A great opportunity to try something from a diverse group of restaurants.
It seemed by going early, there’s closer parking and the lines are shorter. My favorite food items were the Basso grilled corn on the cob with spicy aioli, corn nuts, and pecorino for $ 5. Grilled corn is awesome in itself. The aioli and chopped corn nuts combo made it delicious. I had one that was black along a few rows so that was not cool, but I had another that was perfect. Not too dry at all. Annie Gunns had a grilled Italian sausage with sausage and onions on top loader bun for $ 6. The sausage was really delicious, the sandwich moist, I wish it had a few more onions but there were plenty of peppers. The bun was soft and went well with the Sausage.
The Annie Gunns beef tenderloin ($ 6) was ok. It was not very tender but the carmelized onions were good. It came with a handful of chips too.
Bogarts ribs were excellent. You can buy one for $ 2 just to try. Or a serving of 4 for $ 8. You add your own sauce. The ribs were extremely tender and not dry. The sweet sauce was a perfect complement. I also got a free squishy pig!
Steve’s hot dogs Chicago dog ($ 5) wasn’t to my liking. I’ve been so excited about trying this place. The Mac and cheese dog looked good. The Chicago dog did not have a lot of quantity in the toppings and overall it was just underwhelming. Even the bun was not very good.
There were other unique items like baby coconut water where they cut the top of the coconut off and provide a straw.
I thought there were going to be food trucks too but I didn’t see any. While I didn’t see Tyler Flo and Duff, it’s great the opportunity was there.
Overall, great weather, nice location, and lots of delicious food options.

The BF and I went again this year and we had a blast! We were in the VIP tent of Russo’s and the food, view of the main stage, and the drinks were FAB! Had a great time with some friends of ours. I even met Rampage of the St. Louis Rams — my fav team! It was really good food. I had a bit of everything and the vendors were great. The lines were long, but what do you expect. I was drinking the wines and buds (sorry, I’m not that big into beers, so I couldn’t tell you what’s what). I will say that if you plan on attending next year, go on a Friday night. We went both days and I guess because a lot of people are off on Saturday, the crowds were larger and the waits longer. Good thing for VIP — LOL.

This is only getting 3 stars because I think I went at a bad time in the day. The food was great, and there was a lot of it to choose from. However, the bands that were playing were horrible. I think during the day on Satuday, the lineup was just horrible, but food was still good!

2013
InBevWeiser was the only «local» brewery evidently «allowed» here (per exclusivity clause, I’m sure).
So, beer selection was limited (no IPAs). Food was ok. It’s hard to determine what a place actually tastes like when the food’s been sitting out for a while.
Probably won’t come back next year.

This was so lame this year. First of all, if you are going to sneak in vodka, which I didn’t actually attempt this year, they go through your purse, so get the bra flasks or have your partner just put a flask in their pockets, or put it in your pockets. The checking of the purse thing is so stupid when there are 101 ways to sneak in something. You will want to sneak in booze rather than pay a ton of money for nasty drink choices, I think I could get red or white wine or Southern Comfort mixed drinks, I would rather die, I actually opted not to drink.
Now this leads me to the dumbest thing ever, the placement of the portapottys– I hate these things so much and its a chore to even piss in one for me, and of course they were 3 blocks away and this is after I found one close by and some snobby artist woman told me these were for artists only and was guarding it with her life. I have never been so pissed off in my life. Who was the genius who thought this awesome new layout for the bathrooms was a good one? Probably the same person who thought Southern Comfort based drinks only was a good one to offer the public. Ridiculous.
Food was fine, nothing stood out but the ceviche from Milagro. Will skip next year!

This was my first year at Taste of STL and I have mixed reviews about it.
The options were on overload, tons of vendors to choose from and all the food was a very reasonable prices. However some of the food wasn’t being prepared right. A friend of mine ordered a hot dog from a vendor and it appeared hot when she got it, went to sit down and it was cold on the inside. The nachos I got were with fake cheese and you could tell the chips were stale. My hubby got crab rangoon and there was no crab inside, just the fried part. However any of the bbq places we tasted get many thumbs ups (Bogarts).
The entertainment was fun, there were lots to do and experience.
Such a great people watching and meeting place.
I’m hoping to return in the future and have better luck with the food.

I have been going to Taste of STL every year since 2006. I am always amazed how it keeps getting larger and better. I always recommend this event to people. Because this page is not made for one particular year I will just keep this very simple and generic. I ALWAYS recommend this event to people. It has yet to disappoint.

Smoked Wings and Ethiopian Things!
Bogart’s threw down with some serious char-​smoked wings — plump and zesty. A few too many sliders than I care to taste, and Macy Gray would have been cooler 5 years ago, but it’s all free, which is why the Taste of STL is pretty sweet.
Tipper: Go early, for the freshest of food (brunch) and come later for the performances.

Another year, another lackluster Taste of St Louis.
Last year my friend and I went on Saturday night and dealt with the crushing crowds. This year we went right after it opened, in the late morning, because apparently we are old women who like to beat crowds. And yes, it was decidedly less crowded at 11:30 a.m. than at 7 p.m. There were more art tents this year and it seemed like a bigger variety of alcohol. Some sort of horrible, out of tune 80s cover band was wailing from one of the stages, and that did not improve the ambiance. Tums is rolling out some sort of new minty antacid, and every 10 feet a smiling young person would shove a sample in our hands. I now have about 16 sample packets of Tums Refreshers! to stuff at the back of my desk at the office.
The food this year just didn’t wow me. At all. In fact, it was mediocre. Every year it seems like more and more of the booths are sponsored by chain restaurants. Also, there are a lot of repeats. I get it, St Louis, you like parmesan cheese fries. Does every third booth need to serve them? The only highlights were Pappy’s and Bogart’s, because these two are some of the only restaurants who get the concept. They offer $ 2 «tastes». Small, affordable quick bites. At Pappy’s it’s one rib, and at Bogart’s it’s two chicken wings (also, kudos for Bogart’s for not doing ribs like Pappy’s, it was great to taste both!). A lot of the booths offer food that is many times that price and also much, much bigger. I can’t taste much if I fill up at one booth.
Also, L’Ecole Culinaire wasn’t here again this year. They still stand as my favorite booth. If anyone from the culinary school is reading, PLEASE COME BACK. Taste of St Louis NEEDS YOU.

I went to the Taste of St. Louis for the first time this year. Prior to this I’ve attended «taste» events in Chicago and Charlotte. The food merchants here accept cash and some credit cards. In Chicago tickets are purchased for food items and in Charlotte coins are purchased. That was the primary difference between the three events.
I went on the Saturday of the Taste. It was crowded and the lines were long. I walked around for a while before I decided to wait in line. I left with a brisket sandwich and a beer. That was it!
The weather was great the day I attended.
(After more walking around the Taste, I walked to the Landing to go to a restaurant there).
This was my second time in St. Louis/​Metro East area.
I parked my car at a Metro station in IL and took the train to St. Louis
Taste of St. Louis 2012: September 28 – 30.

I remember when I moved to STL last year this was the first BIG event I was able to attend! This year I made plans to visit and spend an afternoon walking around! The Taste is one of the best ways to sample and try out all different foods from all over the city. I did not get a chance to try everything I wanted to try, but the few dishes I samples were great. I was a little disappointed this year though because the Italian place (s) did not have the pasta I wanted. Oh well, the other foods I tried were good. I am so glad the Cup was there because the Pumpkin Spice was to die for! I lOVE the fall and I love all the «harvesty» dishes that go along with it.
I stayed for a musical act on Sunday and enjoyed the music as well. It was not as crowded as I thought it would be, so it was easy to find a place to sit/​stand.

I had never been to Taste of Stl before, and I had pretty high hopes because it sounds pretty awesome on paper. Not to say it wasn’t an enjoyable experience, but I’ll be less excited about it next year.
Maybe I just went to the wrong booths, but here’s how it broke down:
Vito’s Pizza: Out of pepperoni and went with cheese. Distinct lack of sauce. Only reason all of it got eaten was to help quell the heat from the Indian food we got next.
Mayuri India: Chicken tikka masala. Out of nan (naan?). Predictably spicy and further piqued my interest in actually getting Indian food for real someday.
French Quarter: Roast beef po’ boy and parmesan fries. Roast beef was good but not $ 6 good (came on cheap ass bun w/​lettuce, whoopdedoo), and was excited about the fries until I ate them… soggy and bland.
Pappy’s: Shared a single rib for $ 2, but that single rib was enough to sell me on a trip for the real thing.
Ben & Jerry’s: Of course I liked what I got (Cherry Garcia), but after a few bites I felt like I missed an opportunity to get something better.
Lastly, who do these jokers think they are charging $ 7 for 12 oz of beer at the Schlafly tent? At those prices, you’re pretty much guaranteed that all any one person will buy is a «taste.»
Oh, and there was a band playing. I stuck around for a couple songs and watched some shoeless hippies dance. Heeeyy maaaan, free live music this weekend maaaan. Far out.

This year’s taste was a 3.5 star experience for me.
We went on Saturday. After walking almost a mile from Union Station parking lot, I was told by the entrance way «guard» that I couldn’t go in because I have a professional camera. I asked why he thinks so, he said because my lens looked big and looks like it’s detachable… Yes. I did bring a DSLR with the kit lens attached, but doesn’t one third of the population have a DSLR these days? Just having a DSLR doesn’t make someone a «professional», especially considering all I brought was a camera with one lens and that lens is clearly not telescopic. I’ve seen this type of restrictions at private events before, but I consider Taste a public event (they blocked off public streets so it better be a public event) and I question the legality of such a requirement. It’s a chilling thought, that you can be banned from a public festival/​gathering because your camera looks too «fancy».
Enough ranting on that for now. After going through the hassles of taking care of the camera, we finally got in and walked around. As I’ve already eaten at more than 80% of the places featured on restaurant row, we only grabbed samples from the few places that I haven’t gotten around to visit yet. Most were simply ho-​hum.
— French Quarter Café: Our jambalaya and crawfish etoufee were terrible! The Crawfish étouffée usually has a dark brown/​redish color from its roux. The etoufee I got here was runny and in a creamy white color (Wtf? I’ve never had creamy white colored anything from a cajun place before) and tasted like they had just dumped a can of cream of the mushrooms sauce on top of rice and threw a small piece of crab meat in the mess. The jambalaya was painfully bland. I’m guessing they may have rushed the preparation of the dish in order to be ready for the festival crowd. Both portions were tiny for $ 6 each.
— Tortillaria Mexican Kitchen: the fish taco was excellent, well-​spiced and tasty. The carne asada taco… not so much. The meat was well cooked but under-​seasoned. They could have put more salt on it and the cold wraps could have used a little warming.
— Meskerem Ethiopian: We had mixed feelings about the food here. I thought they were under-​seasoned and overly sweet. I had Ethiopian food before and these were pretty mediocre.
— Gooey Butter Cake: no complaints there. These sweets definitely saved the day.
I would have liked to grab something from the Italian places. Unfortunately, most of them copped out to serving meatballs and pizza. Whatever happened to creativity? Lame. Overall, I appreciate this kind of events and how they bring together the communities in our diverse city. But the camera restriction did put a sour taste in my mouth from the get-​go and the mediocre food didn’t wash it out of my system either.