If you like food, you will like the Taste of Atlanta Festival. This yearly event was held this year at Tech Square in Midtown Atlanta for two days, Oct 23-24 2010. At first, I doubt if I would spend $25 to go to this festival. I am glad now that I spent that $25. The place was packed with people and famous restaurant vendors from all over Atlanta area. Some of the restaurants were actually upscale retaurants, so I might not have the chance to taste their food if it were not for Taste of Atlanta Festival. There are a slew of 70 restaurants and food varieties from Italian, Mediterranean, BBQ, Pizza, and Chinese food. Just name it, and you would find it there.
This is actually its 9th annual festival since 2002. After receiving more and more interest and publicity from public, they were now blocking the whole four blocks between Spring Street and 5th Street in Midtown Atlanta, GA for the event. Make sure to visit http://tasteofatlanta.com if you are planning to visit Atlanta next year to know the time and place of this event in 2011.
They have two kinds of ticket, general admission and VIP admission. Prices at the event are
- General Admission: 15 taste coupons – $30
- VIP Admission: 20 taste coupons + beer & wine tasting + educational seminar – $80
Different vendors will offer you food with different coupon prices. Generally speaking, main courses are 3 coupons; side dishes are 2 coupons; and deserts are 1 coupon.
Couple things to remember before you go to next year’s Taste of Atlanta 2011.
- Since this is a special event, you will find a hard time finding a parking spot. So, make sure you go online and find your parking lot area before you get there. People usually post it in Google Map, like the one made by Lanier Parking.
- Buy your ticket online (ex: Ticket Alternative) or at the local grocery stores (ex: Whole Foods). The tickets are usually cheaper there, instead of buying them on the spot. I bought mine online for $25, whereas the ticket on the counter was $30. Couple of my friends bought their tickets at Whole Foods, of which they can get it for $20. I felt being ripped off here. 🙁
- Bring your own water (or soda). Don’t buy water there. It’s really expensive, e.g. , a cup of water was $2 and a can of coke was around $3.
- Check the weather before you go. I was wearing long sleeves at the event because I thought it will be chilly. It turned out that it was pretty hot that day, so you might want to check the weather first before you go there.
- If you can, check out the restaurant vendors ahead, so you know which one to get once you get there. With over 70 restaurants, it could be overwhelming to choose from. Tasteofatlanta.com did a great job this year by listing out all the vendors and display their menu when you hover your mouse over.
- Don’t eat too much. You might need some Fat Loss Diet afterwards. LOL…j/k
There you go. You are now ready to head off to one of Atlanta’s biggest food festival. If you missed this year’s Taste of Atlanta, don’t worry. You’ll have your chance next year. Meanwhile, you can take a look this photo gallery to have an idea what Taste of Atlanta looks like. Enjoy!
