Food Trucks And Fun

This is in reference to the food truck festival on 5÷20÷2011. I originally posted this on the boomer’s link but this is more appropriate.
The food truck crazed trend has hit San Diego the past few months and this was a pretty impressive effort to get ~20 trucks, including 10 from the LA area down into San Diego for people to enjoy without having to drive around town, following on twitter, etc. etc. Miho was a no show on this day. The Lobsta truck had the longest line when I got there around 5/5:30 and they didn’t open up until 5:45. Only reason I bothered was because the line was so long, and I’d never had a lobster roll before.
The positives of the event:
Lots of trucks with different foods
Lots of room and people, if you’re into socializing with strangers over food
Negatives:
$ 3 bottled drinks that Boomers was selling with little variety (water, coke, sprite, diet coke)
No sodas sold by trucks
Crowd size had to be much, much bigger than expected, since the trucks ran out of food earlier than 10pm.
More seating would be helpful
Neutral:
$ 5 cover charge (offering $ 5 credit for boomers)
Multiple trucks selling identical foodstuff.
About the crowd size. I didn’t expect the lines to get as long as they were, or to see a massive crowd, a packed parking lot. I didn’t think that many San Diegans would care. I don’t know if the Vista or El Cajon events were better in this regard, but that’s a shame for people who made it out there late.
The cover charge doesn’t bother me but is a sore spot for some other reviewers or people mentioning it in the events thread. I’d be more annoyed at Boomer’s choice with the drinks, plus massive markup. 16oz bottles shouldn’t have been more than $ 2, and for crying out loud, you can offer more than just 3 flavors. Throw in mexican cokes and pepsis for $ 3 and it’d be a hipster’s dream… except for all the people.
I hit trucks from LA mostly. Vesuvio, Lobsta truck, and the LA Philly’s truck. From San Diego I hit KalbiQ and the SD sweets truck. Didn’t get a chance to try the chocolate bacon, but I tried the fried raviolis from Vesuvio, tried some kogi style tacos and enjoyed them from Kalbiq and Philly’s. The lobster roll was not bad but not worth $ 12, and there’s nothing about it that makes me want to eat another one; it was practically like shredding lobster meat and putting it on a bun. Cold. Like a Lobster salad with little dressing to add flavor. (Maybe butter is better than mayo?).
That so many people showed up at this event demonstrates a pent up demand for this kind of event. By my count, they were short a couple of trucks from 20 but I didn’t pay that close attention. So many choices, big crowds, lots of food, and only so much money and room in my belly.
Recommendations:
— Come with people. Come early. Try different foods.

I got to the Food Trucks & Fun event early, probably around 5pm. Luckily, I was able to find parking near Walmart and avoid the long line to get in. There was a $ 5 cover charge, but in return they gave you a $ 5 voucher for Boomers… which quite honestly was useless for me.
They advertised 20 trucks but I’m almost certain that I didn’t see that many. Even though I got there early, I was really disappointed by the event. I had really low expectations for this event, but they even failed to meet those.
Sadly, I didn’t like any of the food I tried from the local San Diego food trucks. The only trucks I enjoyed were ones I frequent in LA. I ended up spending way more money than I expected to. I didn’t like how the only drink options available were $ 3 bottles. However, I heard about that, and stopped by Walmart for drinks before I got in.
We left around 7, but by then, lines were LONG and some of the trucks were running out of food. I feel bad for the people who had to park far away. and waited to get in, only to find out certain trucks weren’t serving food anymore.
An event like this is good in theory, but they have a LOT of kinks to work out to improve it. Flat rates with X amount of tastes might be better. I’ve enjoyed other food truck events and hope that SD can someday host an awesome one.

This event was a HUGE Disappointment and to be honest, I will probably NEVER come to an event like this again.
Let’s get real… shall we.
I came to the Friday Night Event after a good workout session at a nearby 24hr Fitness Gym. The «Food Truck and Fun» event was slated to start at 4pm and was suppose to end at 10pm.

I came to this event mostly to take pictures and to check out some of the different styles of foods that were suppose to be served throughout the night (or at least until 10pm) at the Food Trucks & Fun Event…
Here’s what I found…
1. I parked quite a distance away… parking was insane considering everyone was jockeying in position around the Walmart Shopping center just to find decent parking. I didn’t bother looking around that area and did the smart thing… parked a mile away (which I really didn’t mind cause I’m an athlete)
2. After a long walk, I then waited in a long line just to get inside of this Food Truck Event. There’s a $ 5 cover charge to get in which I didn’t mind, because that’s usually the price of a cup of coffee at your local favorite coffee shop…
Sure they give you a $ 5 dollar voucher in return, but the truth to the matter is, I don’t like Video Games, Miniature Golf or Hitting Balls in the Batting Cages… that kind of stuff is okay if you’re like 8 – 17 years old.
3. The time was around 7:30pm and more than HALF of the Food Trucks were OUT OF FOOD… how RIDICULOUS is THAT for an event that was suppose to go on until 10pm. And to make matters worse, the staff at Boomers did NOTHING to inform anyone waiting in line that these food trucks were either closed or out of food.
4. As I was leaving, I told some people waiting in the entry $ 5 cover fee line that more than half the trucks were out of food and the Staff at Boomers got mad at me for saying anything.
Don’t get me wrong, but I’m for the average consumer and what Boomers was doing JUST TO FILL THEIR FAT POCKETS was Wrong.
I can not and will not give props to any place that rips off their customers.
As I’ve stated before, I was just there as a spectator/​photographer. Paying $ 5 dollars to get in really didn’t bother me much. But after parking a mile away and then waiting in a long line just to pay an entrance fee, I found it pretty INSULTING to the average consumer that at an event that was suppose to go as late as 10:00 pm, would run out of food as early as 7:30 pm at night and still not let people know just so that they can fill their pockets with $ 5 dollar vouchers that people will probably never use.
That’s my perspective…

I really was looking forward to this event but for me it was a total failure.
Due to other obligations I was forced to not get there till about 830ish. As I was exiting the freeway I saw the lines and at that point knew my wife and I were in for trouble. By 9pm there were about 10 trucks left and most were not taking any other orders. Really??? it goes till 10PM!!! and I just waited in the line for 15 mins to be told «Sorry no more orders».
The food was the biggest disappointment. I think people love this food so much because their stomach is eating their spine as they starve to death in lines that move at the pace of growing grass. Of the trucks that were left, there was nothing special about the food really. I could get the same food at many other locations and deal with less crap. It was not like it was that cheap either. Overall, what we spent for food and the dumb entrance fee we could have went to a restaurant and ate without the wait, and most likely for less money,
The only good thing about food trucks I have found is when it is late at night and you get hungry, or when there is a bunch of them at an event other than people just standing around eating and moving from line to line. LA does a great job of this at the Art Walk and other events.

Whoever thought of this is freakin amazing!
I’m so glad I got to check out the festival because I haven’t been able to try any food trucks and because of this I was able to hit up so many trucks at one time. We went to the Saturday festival in El Cajon. We went early because we had friends who went to the Friday one and said the lines are crazy long and some ran out of food. We got to Boomers right at 4PM and there was already a long line forming. Apparently they weren’t letting anyone in yet. They actually didn’t start letting people in until 430.
After paying our $ 5 entrance fee, we all immediately went to different trucks. We figured if we all bought something and shared it we were able to try a lot more trucks. Which we did. I stood in line for Grill Em All which was ridiculously LONG! and my bf waited in line for the Lobsta Truck which wasn’t even open yet! after what seemed an hour i ordered two burgers from my truck and my bf ordered 3 lobster rolls from his truck. his bro came back with cheesesteaks from Lee’s and his cousins went to Super Q, Kalbi Q, Tapa Boy and I don’t even remember all the food they ordered. I should have wrote it down. But I’m pretty sure we hit up more trucks I just can’t remember because I wasn’t the one doing it. HA
I can’t wait for this to happen again!

This review is for the Friday event in Kearny Mesa.
Cover was $ 5, but you got a $ 5 gaming certificate for Boomer’s in return. We were there from 5:30 to about 7:15pm.
Likes:
1. Concept — Meals on wheels? Yes, please!
2. Tropical Shave Ice — There was a tiger blood flavor. It gave me Sheenian energy after!
3. Vesuvio Italian Food — Totally exceeded my expectations. The rice balls, which are like round cheese sticks infused with risotto, were so tasty. You won’t object to putting these balls in your mouth!
Gripes:
1. Drink options were super limited.
2. For the one truck that was selling bottled drinks, it was $ 3 a pop. Pun intended. But yeah… total ripoff.
3. Lines — They started getting pretty bad around 6. The lobster truck line was always super long.
4. Peruvian truck — Sell smaller portions for the festival! You could only buy $ 11 meals.
5. Cupcake/​dessert truck — Out of cupcakes early on. The festival’s supposed to go on till 10pm, but the selection was already looking very slim at 7pm.
6. The Indian food truck never showed up! I was really looking forward to that one!
7. Parking around the area = FAIL. I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again: some things are good narrow and tight. Parking lots and parking spots are not some of those things.
Tips:
1. Be prepared for crappy parking.
2. Be prepared to spend $ 15 – 30 on food, in addition to the cover.
3. We had 4 of us, and did 2 – 2 splitsies on each of the dishes that we got. This was the way to go, and we optimized the variety of food we got.
4. They don’t sell «big kid apple juice», if you know what I mean.
Overall, this was a fun and novel experience, despite the gripes. It was my first food truck rodeo… but certainly not the last. Glad I wore my fat jeans!

Lines lines and more Lines. Stand here. Shuffle shuffle shuffle. Wait. Rinse and repeat.
How many trucks did you see? I didn’t count if there were actually 20 trucks in full force from SD & LA, but there were a bunch of ‘em among a sea of people. Parking for Boomers! was abysmal because the remaining parking lot space, already cut in half by the food trucks, was filled to capacity and overflow was redirected towards the nearby strip mall and WalMart lot. I’m sure the surrounding businesses were über pissed that this event stole their parking spots.
I didn’t have the patience to wait up to nearly forty-​five minutes for places like Super Q, Tropical Shave Ice, Lobsta Truck, or Grill ‘em All, but it was crazy busy up in there. I think the line streams between some trucks were crossed. I’ve been to other gatherings elsewhere, and I thought this has been one of the overall better experiences for me. Great family friendly atmosphere and the $ 5 entrance fee was good towards a $ 5 gift certificate that could be redeemed at a later date (but expires on 06/​20/​2011) at any of the participating locations.
$ 3 soft drinks were monopolized by Boomers! None of the trucks were selling beverages that I was aware of. And no adult pops here, which is understandable, but the 300% markup for vending machine bottles is lame, especially since they already made a killing on selling their $ 5 gift certs.
Would I go again? Sure. It was fun to hang out with family and friends in the name of food trucks despite my petty pricing gripes and disdain for waiting in lines. Besides, I haven’t hit the putt putt links or raced around the go cart track in a while. I assume that they’ll be anxious to milk this cash cow again soon with another event.
FYI (for this and similar gatherings): Bring cash. They didn’t have credit/​debit card readers available for entry to the Clairemont Boomers! event and this might be the same for the El Cajon and Vista locations as well. Remember to wear sensible shoes… well, at least your better, comfortable 3-​hour footwear. Have a wonderful weekend :)