Taste of Cuba Festival

¡Al combate corred Bayameses!,
Que la patria os contempla orgullosa;
No temáis una muerte gloriosa,
Que morir por la patria es vivir!
Get a bunch of Cubans into a festival and eventually a drag queen will get them all singing the Cuban National Anthem.
It was a great little festival. It had everything it needed. Music, food, entertainment, a booty call motel giving away a one night stay, and a conga line led by MariTini (the drag queen)! What’s not to like! It was fun to people watch, and while the food was a little on the expensive side, there were a few good options. The Paella (which is not traditional Cuban food) was very good, as was the Chicharrones and Cuban tamales being served by several vendors. There was plenty of roast pork to go around and one vendor had a whole pig on a spit!
The festival celebrates Cuban culture in South Florida and brings together many local institutions for all to enjoy! There were three art galleries as well as a museum of Cuban history, classic cars, motorcycles, a couple of beauty queens, and of course, cigars and dominos! The entertainment was excellent. The different artists kept the crowd happy, dancing, and singing all while the beer was flowing. Plenty of family fun!
The event was held at the historic Hialeah Racetrack and visitors were encouraged to visit the casino and watch the races. It was a great opportunity to experience this wonderful venue. Yes there are renovations going on, but all in all, it’s a beautiful place. Just don’t ask me for betting advice. My horse came in dead last…
I would like to thank the festival organizers for their hospitality and for allowing me backstage to take some pictures. Fermin P. was a gracious host and made me feel very welcome.
If you decide to go next year, here’s some advice.
1. Check the weather. Saturday was all wet, but Sunday was beautiful.
2. Eat before you come. Food was a little expensive, drinks were not. The casino has a nice brunch on Sundays for $ 13.95 until 4 p.m.
3. Park in the lot. The valet takes a while.
4. Make the best of it and have fun!
* Full Disclosure — Unilocal comped me a pair of VIP Passes

2015. I feel bad about giving this one star since I was kindly gifted VIP tix by Unilocal.But it truly did not even merit one star.
We arrived at around 5:30 PM on Sunday. The place was packed. And very disorganized! We walked around the entire area before we stumbled upon the «VIP» tent. I cannot believe that people actually paid for that. We had a couple (2) of drinks and left. We all know about top shelf, call & well. Well… then there’s what was served here. Maybe call it floor. It was just bad.
I remembered that we were supposed to get a gift bag. Heck, I wanted my $ 10 to gamble with. ;) I asked about the gift bag and was handed two bags. Each one containing a magazine and a single drink box of coconut water. No casino card. One bag had the added bonus of someone’s garbage. Seriously, dirty napkins & Pincho sticks.
The area just felt dirty. There were a few tables outside of the VIP tent. But even if you wanted to sit down to eat, you couldn’t because they were piled high with garbage. I guess folks couldn’t be bothered to throw out their trash when they were done. Let me clarify, just the event area was dirty. The casino and the grounds outside of the event area were impeccable.
We really did not see any food that appealed to us. And I love me some Cuban food. But nothing looked good to me. Plus there was really no variety. I settled on getting some Churros. Until I found out that they wanted $ 8 for Churros. Naaah! We’re in Hialeah. I’ll probably find someone selling them on a street corner for a buck! Those Piña Colada drinks in a pineapple looked cool though.
They were signing people up to win a one night stay at the Executive Fantasy Motel. Ya know, for your booty calls and such. I just found that hilarious. And seriously, what’s up with the drag queen? People watching here was crazy! Ladies, leggings are NOT pants. See through leggings with printed thongs and your belly hang out over your waistband is NOT sexy! :)
Soooo, I did not get the casino card from Taste of Cuba, but I was able to sign up and receive one at the casino itself. Walked out with $ 100! I’m by no means a gambler, but heck it was free money. Zero out of pocket. So there was a nice silver lining. I lasted about ½ hour at the event (20 mins of that looking for the VIP tent) and another ½ hour at the casino. The best part was the casino and money in my pocket!
I won’t be itching to attend this event again in the future. But I do want to thank Unilocal for the opportunity to check it out.

The event itself was put together nicely and was very well organized. Surprisingly to me, there were no issues as far as fights and things. If you’ve been to Calle Ocho then, you know what usually happens at these events. Nope, not here. Everyone was having a good time.
In my opinion, more focus needs to be placed on the food next year. Choices were lacking. This being my first time attending this event, I was expecting more local restaurants to participate. More music would have been nice too. I would have loved to dance while there. It wasn’t a large venue and after a while, one gets bored. Nice touch with the area for children which, brings me to…
Why I’m issuing this event one star. I wish I could give it a zero.
With ALL the local Cuban Talent that is out there you chose a drag queen? A drag queen talking about her tits? A drag queen making suggestive adult jokes? Seriously? That’s what you were able to find?
I’m sorry, but this was not the place. There were plenty of kids walking around here with their parents that didn’t need to see this or hear this. It was totally out of place. In June during Gay Pride Month on Fire Island? Yeah, that is the right time. At this event it was not.
Hey, I’m all about having a good time and, she is hilarious, but everything has its place. I wouldn’t be surprised if people left after that.
Things to note and blah, blah, blahs:
* Parking is not an issue if you come to this event and Hialeah Park offers a shuttle that brings you from your car to the main entrance.
* Valet Parking at Hialeah Park is a mess when there is an event going on. Be prepared to wait.
* Metrorail — the weekend schedules are slower but, the Hialeah Metrorail Station drops you off directly at the north end of the park. Keep that in mind for future events here.
#TasteOfCubaFestival

My husband and I checked out the Taste of Cuba Festival after winning VIP tickets through Unilocal (Thanks Johnny!). We decided to head over on Saturday, and luckily found some street parking near Mary Brickell Village, since we didn’t mind walking. The people at the front had no idea what Unilocal was, let alone where our tickets were. However, this isn’t the first event I’ve attended where I’ve had this issue. We were able to meet with Brian, who knew Unilocal and was really great at getting us excited to enter. He was also quite sexy (I may have promised him that I would state that in my review…), hehe.
I have similar thoughts to the previous reviewers: organization was lacking, and the festivities started late. However, I could definitely see this event going well in the future once organizers get the kinks out. When we arrived, there were no lights (!) and no music going yet. However, in a short time, things got worked out and we had a good time. There were tamales, and delicious pork and rice, and other selections we didn’t get to try but eyed on other people’s plates.
The drinks were probably what made this night a good one! :) For VIP, the drinks were bottomless. They ran out of cups at one bar at some point, but my environmentally friendly husband and I had held onto ours, so we were like JUST POUR OURS IN HERE! The mojitos were so refreshing, and one bartender made us a cucumber mojito creation that changed my mojito-​life.
Other really cool detail: The festival was right at the Miami Circle, which is such a crazy part of Miami history that I never knew about before! There is this circular foundation-​like structure that is believed to be an ancient Native American building’s remnants. I was really glad to learn about this! There are little signposts that you can read… next time you’re near the Viceroy, take a look!
I think this festival is definitely worth checking out if you can get Groupon or similar pricing. However, it was only drinks included in the VIP tickets, and I would die for sure before I could consume $ 100 of alcohol!

Cuban food is something I knew nothing about a mere six years ago; however, after living in Miami, I am now a regular Cuban coffee drinker and versed in the ways of rice and beans, plantains, medianoches and ropa vieja. I thought that this event sounded like it could be fun and was thrilled to learn I won VIP tickets through ever-​gracious Unilocal.I decided to check it out on Friday night just in case it was so great I wanted to go back on Saturday and Sunday. Unfortunately, after leaving that night I had no desire to return.
We came two hours after it had opened and it looked like they were still setting up. The people working at the front were clearly confused and didn’t bother to hear my explanation about winning the tickets. Instead, I got a vendor wristband and then another yellow VIP one about five minutes later. I did not really know what the VIP tickets entailed and so asked about four people before someone could give me an answer.
I am so happy I won these tickets because if I had shelled out $ 100 for an actual VIP pass that included no food, just drinks, I would not have been too pleased. I also feel like their money system of exchanging cash for Monopoly money was not well thought out. All of the food that we tried was delicious but they were lacking tables to sit down to enjoy it.
The music was good but all in all, it was a completely disorganized event and I left with a sour taste in my mouth. Thanks Johnny for the free tickets, it is always much appreciated! In the future, pretty sure I wouldn’t shell out the money for this event myself.

I enjoyed the festival. It was a great opportunity to try different foods. The festival took place near the Viceroy Hotel. Parking was best at the lot across the street for $ 10.
It appeared most people bought tickets online. Admission was $ 20 but promotions offered allow two people to attend for the price of one.
You must use tickets to purchase food or drinks. This involves looking at the options and then buying the amount you need. There was a credit card machine which we found convenient. But there were no refunds on unused tickets so plan accordingly.
There was music, crafts, dominoes and clothing there too. Had a blast. If this is an annual event, I’d highly recommend it.

Dear Taste of Cuba Festival organizers,
Conceptually your idea was great. Miami, Cubans, Mojitos & grub. what’s not to love!!! Unfortunately the execution of this event was a massive fail. I attended Saturdays day event and when I arrived at around 2pm, it felt like they hadn’t finish setting up. Tents were scattered, the people working the festival were clueless, the food wasn’t quite cooked yet. WTF?
A few mojitos later, it seems like things got better and the festival picked up life but this event left a lot to desire and certainly didn’t live up to the hype.

First Cuban Festival in such a beautiful setting. When we arrived we were greeted by Bryan who was such a sweetie. He welcomed us with open arms, put on our wrist bands made sure to tell my hubby he was just a plus one and I was the important one. ha ha He was so much fun, he then explained the VIP tents to us and said to have a great time.
The weather was perfect, the live band was awesome playing great music and quite a few people were dancing. The food tables were all lined up in one row which made it easy. My favorite was the tostones with ground meat and I added some hot sauce as George M. suggested. They were excellent. We tried some pork and rice, and tamales. The one thing that I noticed was none of the food tables had the name of the restaurant on them. A shame because I had no idea where this food came from.
The VIP tent had plenty of great rums to sample along with tequila and mixed cocktails, and even Cuban beer along with cigars. The suppliers were all super friendly and made some excellent cocktails. Even Margaritas, Long Island Iced Tea and Pina Colada mixes made from wine. Ha ha no problem I ordered a margarita it was a bit flat so the very nice guy topped my drink off with about three shots of tequila. Yes, he was trying to get us tipsy.
There were very few vendors there, some artwork, Cuban trinkets, and blanket/​towels. We found the Unilocal table with the lovely Yibbies recruiting people for Unilocal.We hung out with them for quite a while and had a fantastic time. Then Julio and his wife came and more drinking was had. It was so much fun chilling with our family from Unilocal.
Very fun event, first year so they need to work on a few things but I can see this growing each and every year. Come on this is Miami let’s support this festival as I thoroughly enjoyed going. A few more vendors, signs from restaurants for the food, and that would be a good start for next year. Keep the location as it was perfect.
On my way out I noticed a small table set up with jewelry, oh yes awesome ending to a day I purchased some beautiful pendants and bracelets that I am so happy with.
Thank you Unilocal and Johnny T. for the VIP tickets, so glad we were able to go and enjoy such a lovely Sunday.