As most festival events are, you go for the experience but expect some lines. I liked the variety of taco options! By the time we got to the drinks they were out of a lot of the options. The Indian food tacos were somewhat small but affordable. I liked the chicken tikka taco better than the Chana masala; it had more flavor and stayed together better. The Chana masala taco really fell apart. They had good flavor though and a fun twist on a traditional taco! I like to go to events like this to explore different neighborhoods and it's a fun event to go to with a group of people! I tend to think the food is always better at the actual restaurant though. read more

Lakeview Taco Fest - Tandoor Char House tacos - chicken tikka masala and Chana masala - Festivals Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Our first Taco Fest in Chicago! It was a blast. Loved the vibe and the live bands. Lot of options to get your taco fix on! There are 2-3 bar stations. Saturday night was great. I'll take a stroll and see what else I can enjoy on Sunday. read more

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Nice people in the crowd. Beautiful summer day and the music was fine. My wife and I had two kids with us and they were hungry. So we stopped to get tacos. I thought they would be maybe five or six bucks since it was a festival and prices are usually higher than they would be at a typical Chicago Mexican restaurant. But after ordering four tacos I was presented a bill for $52! Tried explaining to the young lady she must be making a mistake. She said no they are $13 each! I couldn't believe my ears but I couldn't refuse because the children were already looking forward to eating their tacos. Reluctantly I tapped my debit card and the bill was paid. Then she turned the computer screen towards me asking for a tip. Knowing it's not her that sets the price she was just a worker so I gave her a 15% tip. But I was very disappointed that $13 was expected for each taco. To make matters worse, they were not even that warm! I will never return to that event because I feel it's a money grab taking advantage of people. Our family of four could have gone to a nice family-owned Mexican restaurant in the city and for less than what I paid at the festival we would have had plates full of hot delicious authentic Mexican food. I'll remember next time I'm at a festival to not over pay for anything again. And $8 for a can of beer is also ridiculous! Unbelievable. read more

First the really good (for me at least) - this fest is only a few blocks away! Ok, a little unfair to review based on that, but just wanted to get that out of the way. The good stuff that applies beyond geography (though it is right off the brown line) - pretty solid music lineup! Obviously this changes year to year, but we came back Saturday and Sunday to rock out to the pop cover bands that make Chicago fests worth the donations you're pressured to pay. Also, lucha libre (aka Mexican wrestling)! I'm a big wrestling fan so it was fun to see the curious crowd get into the fighting, and I was even able to take my baby boy to his first ever live wrestling show thanks to this fest. Now on to the bleh - the food is hit or miss. And when it hits, it hits both the taste buds and the wallet. Finally found a good stand at the fest that weirdly had its name duct taped over, probably to hide the fact they were charging pretty exorbitantly. They served amazing huaraches with a surprisingly spicy salsa, but I couldn't understand why the guy taking money wouldn't take my $20...turns out I had to pay $30 for our two huaraches! I know fest food always has an upcharge, but this on top of the $10 entry was really crossing the line. Also, the fest just got way too crowded at spots, especially with where the wrestling ring is placed - they could probably shove it down a side street and still pull a good sized audience without making it impossible to navigate. I'll probably come back next year depending on the lineup, but I'll definitely by hiding some Taco Bell in our diaper bag if we do. read more

Last Gasp of summer - Go!! This perfect weather isn't going to stay forever and neither will this Fest- you have until Sunday 091618. Both bands were good tonight 091518 especially the Two White Crew. They had everybody moving. Nothing special on the Tacos I had. The Chilean Arepas and Empanadas, the Bison and wild boar, the tanduri empanada and steak tica not bad but not great. I did have Jeni's Ice Cream and it was the usual- Amazing!! Which I'm not going to review here but trust me - they're good!! Last, we saw 2 celebrities. See if you can spot them. Enjoy. read more

Lakeview Taco Fest - Lake View Taco Fest - Festivals Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

$8 suggested donation which goes to some charity so...that makes me feel better about the high price tag for a so-so festival. They had a good number of taco vendors but all were quite expensive and the highly anticipated stands had really long lines. There wasn't any seating when you finally did get some grub except for about 3 tables through the whole street fest. They need more tables to encourage fest-goers to eat more. Tacos ranged in price but we found most to be on the high end of the spectrum. Totally random & cool thing is there was a Judge Mathis booth giving out hot sauce and signing people up for the audience. My friend and I were all over that! Thankfully, it was an absolutely beautiful day this year for Taco Fest so we didn't mind walking around the fest. However, not enough music or other things going on here, plus silly admission, inflated food prices for not much food - I will be skipping Taco Fest in the future! read more

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What a joke. So disappointing from previous Lakeview Taco Fests. $10 suggested donation? To walk on a city street & buy over-priced, nothing special tacos? No thanks. There were only a handful of taco stands. Lines of 20 people deep and to get a drink you better bring cash. 3.5% Convenience Fee to use a Credit/Debit card. And if you don't have cash, plenty of ATMs that will charge you 3-6%. You're better off just going to a mexican restaurant. read more

Tacos Music Entertainment Drinks community vibrant athmosphere fun I had a lot of fun here and would love to go back! If you are in town go check out the fun time, love stuff like this! read more

Meh. Lakeview has a suggested donation of $8 which is way too much for a handful of taco vendors. The vendors did serve their best tacos however the portions were extremely small and the price was double. $8 for a tiny lobster taco is ridiculous. Let's just say I spent $20 and left hungry. Best part of taco fest was the street wrestling. They have a ring set up on Cornelia and it was entertaining. Just save your money and go to your favorite taco joint. Order multiple tacos for a fraction of the price. read more

Lakeview Taco Fest - Chicken taco from cafe tola - Festivals Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

If you enjoy paying a lot of money for terrible tacos while navigating around a thousand strollers, then I have the fest for you! I think we were were expecting a Pilsen type of taco fest, but that was a very naive expectation on our part. This was definitely not the Pilsen scene. The best tacos we had here were from Cafe Tola. We felt out of place here, so we didn't stay long. Won't be back. read more

Came here with my sister. We only had enough time to drink a couple beers and try four taco stands, but boy was it worth it!!! Here they are. Beer choices were slip, so we stuck with apple cider and Sam Adams, Food wise we tried: 1. Cafe El Tapatio: Camaron Monte Alban - cilantro chimchumi, smokey mezcal marinated charboiled shrimp, jicama-cucumber chutney and pickled red onion. 2. Facostacos: Adobo Spiced Chicken Taco 3. Cafe Tola: Crispy taco - potato, chorizo, and cheese 4. The Pony: Smoked Beef taco - smoked chuck, pico de gallo, and chili de arbol salsa, queso fresco, and blue corn tortilla. I would recommend all of them EXCEPT the crispy taco! The line was the longest, but the taco was the least fresh and taste-wise was not worth the wait! Not even if they paid me to eat it!!! Cafe Tola disappointed terribly. Otherwise DO try the others! Should find these around Lakeview! Good luck! read more

Sure, you have your Sausage Fest and your always ubiquitous sausage fests. Sure, you have your Burger Fest. Sure, you have your Ribfest. Now, you have your Taco Fest. I know which one I prefer - at least in name. And now they have a whole street fest to fete this delicious import. What took you so long? Anyway, actually, with street fests, they're all basically the same deal with different names. And they're usually the same people, portable toilets, bands and beer. Taco Fest was only slightly nuanced from the usual fest template. This year was the inaugural year for Taco Fest. The fest was three blocks long - from Addison to the El - and only had one stage. What ended up happening was everyone congregated to the south end by the stage such that half of the fest (the half with the food tents to the north) wasn't a fest at all and was almost entirely shut down by 9 p.m. Fests which have only one stage usually suffer from half-fest syndrome in that all the play usually ends up at one half of the ice, with no flow to it at all. Taco Fest suffered from this syndrome. A fest with only one stage isn't really a fest at all - it's a de facto concert. I didn't get to sample any tacos since I ate just prior to coming to the fest. Pony Inn seemed to be the one food vendor still serving at 9 p.m., with quite the long line. I wish I could have tried Taco Joint's tacos, as I'm partial to their al pastor iteration. Beer wise, I have to hand it to this fest for having Sam Adams brews and a couple of craft beers. None of the usual Butt Lite for six bucks was seen. Well done, Taco Fest. People wise, the fest drew a good ratio, with some of the usual suspects. It took the entire summer and all the way to the penultimate fest of the season for the first ex sighting of the summer to occur 10 seconds after stepping foot into the fest - within mere yards of The Cupcake Incident of yore. The needle was immediately removed from the vinyl and a hard right taken. Big City, Small World. How's yer ma? Music wise, they had Freddy Jones on Saturday night. What do you even call Freddy Jones? Dave Matthews-ish? Rusted Root-ish? Rubbish? Yes, I'm going with the latter. Not my cup of tea at all. We'll have to give this fest another year or two to see how it pans out - if it survives that long. Fests come and fests go, but they almost always stay the same no matter what the location. This one will definitely need to add more beef to the taco if it's going to be around in a few years. Three tacos. read more

Came over on Sunday, had an awesome time! Soooo many great craft beers to choose from, and the selection of tacos rocks! ! ! Great neighborhood crowd! Fun times! read more

Lakeview Taco Fest - Tacos + Craft Beer = Heaven! - Festivals Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Womp-womp. Went to Taco Fest to, you know, eat tacos. But, no tacos were eaten becase the lines were SO LONG. Like, ridiculously long. Like, I could've gone and had a sit down meal somewhere else in the same time it took to get street fest tacos long. Not enough vendor booths, at all. 1 star for how much crap there was to do for the kiddo's we had with my group (grimy bounce house, sad pony rides, sadder camel rides & mini-golf), even if I did see adults riding said camel on Southport, which I'm still confused by. And 1 star for decent beer selection. read more

I had such high hopes but by the time I got there at 7 on Saturday night, only 2 vendors still had tacos and they ran out soon after! I was told that the crowd was double what they had expected. Seems that was poor planning, since that area is usually pretty busy even when there is nothing going on! I hope the kinks get worked out and this fest will be back next year with TACOS! 1 star for the great beer selection and 1 star for the Freddy Jones Band! read more

Good food, good people, good music! Good time!! Heard last year was a bust...figured they got it together THIS year, and they did. Well worth the trip and all the tastings! Tried alot of different tacos, cant say any where bad. Go with authentic, you can NEVER go wrong! Will do it again next year! read more

Taco Fest was an absolute bust. We went at 8 pm on a Saturday evening, and all taco booths were closed except for 2 of them. We stood in the shorter of the 2 lines and probably waited at least 30 minutes. We got whatever was available, and I believe only a few more tacos were served after our group. Other than food, there were a few vendors. Only a few. It was a sad, sad fest. read more

I thought this was the best outdoor festival we attended this summer with the family. We went on Sunday when the weather was gorgeous. Tacos are pretty street festival friendly food given their size and portability, but I really appreciated how many large tables and chairs were set out for people to dine on. We especially appreciated it since we brought my mom, brother, and daughter, so it was nice to take turns holding down a table and grabbing food and drinks. The lines at most of the taco stands were pretty long, and some moved faster than others. We also enjoyed the music line-up at both ends of the venue, especially Stache, who put on a killer mix of pop songs from the 80s-today. Baby girl enjoyed dancing to the Boy Band Review set. We may have to add this fest to our recurring line-up next year! read more

I recently moved to Chicago and I have to tell you one of the things that I was looking forward to most were the many different taco festivals that there are! I happen to have friends that live in the Lakeview area and told me about this amazing festival. I have to say, the Taco Fest was everything I had hoped for and even more! Everyone in attendance seemed so happy, and I mean, how can you not be when you're surrounded by so many amazing restaurants, happy families with their dogs, tacos and beer! I sampled from a variety of different restaurants, probably more than I want to admit publicly and can't wait to return next year! The lines were not terribly long when I went! Would definitely recommend trying this fest out! read more

OMFG! This is my 300 review. Unbelievable! Taco junkies came to the second annual Lakeview Taco Festival in droves. Yay! I'm a fan of this Chicago street neighborhood festival. This was our first time attending. There were a myriad of taco vendors. Despite some long lines we did not have to wait more than 5-minutes. All I wanted and longed for was a good grilled carne asada and carne arrachera (usually marinated with Mexican beer giving it a smoky flavor and helps tenderize the meat). I recommend going here for lunch (as opposed to dinner). We came to stuff our faces, like chipmunks, con mucho, mucho tacos. We tried the skirt steak taco, tacos con carne arrachera, tacos de cerdo, cactus tacos, tacos de pescado, taco al pastor and jerk chicken tacos! The tacos were freshly prepared, hot and flavorful. Definitely worthy of 4-stars. However, there was one taco that was award worthy and blew us away. It was the jerk chicken taco! It was from a caribbean restaurant, "Garifuna Flava: A Taste of Belize" located at 2516-18 W 63rd Street. I was really surprised that they did not have a huge banner boasting the following shows: "Check Please!; The Hungry Hound; Food Network; or Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives!" The line for Garifuna Flava was non-existent, which was fantastic for us, because we ordered our jerk chicken tacos, rice and black beans and sweet plantains. Service was obviously fast. We returned to Garifuna Flava to compliment them for how outstanding the food is (was) that we devoured. We gave it four thumbs way, way up! We strategically walked the entire area and were surprised how many food vendors there were to choose from. It was well organized. The tacos were not huge, which I appreciated. It gave us more options to try a myriad of tacos, which we did! EVERYTHING that we had from "Garifuna Flava -- A Taste of Belize" is 5-star worthy. We hit the jackpot by going to Garifuna Flava! This place was the highlight of our afternoon. Now, we are planning to go to Garifuna for dinner. It will be worth the drive. We left satisfied, gratified and happy! The torture of it all -- all those sweet goodies -- dang! Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream pink truck was there with an interesting combination of flavors. My husband tried the salty caramel with a second scoop of the sweet corn raspberry. He said it was the "best" ice cream he has ever tasted. We found out that Jeni's originated in Ohio and have been selling organic sweet treats for several years. They have not been in Chicago very long. They opened their first store last year at 3404 N Southport and opened another Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream shop in the Wicker Park neighborhood. They also offer frozen yogurt that was sugar free. I was excited! I tried the no-sugar flavor, which was 5-star worthy. Creamy, smooth as silk, and excellent quality. I liked that it was not super rich frozen yogurt. We had a super large pina colada made with real pineapples (non-alcoholic), which was refreshingly excellent. The texture was like a smoothie. The music was surprisingly very, very good. Excellent musicians. Great talent for sure. Upon entering the festival we noticed a sign "Suggested Donation $5" but it was not a mandatory donation. All proceeds go to the Lakeview Chamber of Commerce. We did not make a "suggested donation." The crowd was a mixture of people in their 20's, 30's and 40's and young families. We appreciated that it was a diverse crowd of people. Some of the lines were long, but they were moving quickly and there were plenty of people cooking, preparing and serving food. We only saw one ride for the little crumb snatchers (a large plastic slide filled with air). This festival is dog friendly (we even saw two girls, about age 10, with an English Bulldog puppy inside a baby carriage). We saw all kinds of dogs here. If we would have known we would have brought our dog Annie to this festival. Maybe next year. Don't let the other reviews, from 2013, deter you from checking it out next year. I would imagine that a few of these taco vendors may be mom and pop hole in the wall taco joints where people go at 3 am after taking several shots of Jose Cuervo, gagging, and then punching someone in the face, because the line is not moving fast enough as they fist-pump and shout "Move it!" read more

This was the worse taco fest of the summer. We went to about 4 vendors and didn't enjoy a single one. We finally gave up, should have known better than to trust tacos in lakeview. read more

Wasn't a fan of getting dirty looks for not paying the donation so I could get to my apartment

I was very excited to attend taco fest. Even with the poor reviews they received last year I decided to give it a try. I agree with another yelper most of the tacos were flavorless. The walking taco in the Dorito bag was disgusting! You have to be a dog lover to attend because thay are EVERYWHERE!!!!!! I didn't mind the $5 "donation" but if you entered at the other end of the fest you paid nothing.. The final straw was at 2am my entire family had DIARRHEA that lasted for about 24 hours. Two of them stayed home because there is no way they could go to work. I don't remember eating anything that looked undercooked so what that says to me is someone did not wash their hands after a trip to the bathroom!!! Needless to say we won't ever be attending again! read more

The end of the festival season brings us Taco Fest. And unlike changing the bed sheets or giving Grandma her bath, this is a once-a-year event that I actually look forward to. Some have noted that even though this festival is dedicated to something invented in Mexico, it takes place in a neighborhood (Southport Corridor) that's so white, the residents get sun-burnt at night. But Taco Fest proves that white folks can take something they didn't invent, come up with creative ways of preparing it, and make it a fun for the whole family! Or am I thinking of heroin? Either way, attend Taco Fest and you'll be jonesin' for just one last hit! People tend to line up for vendors that already have long (more than 30 minute) lines. We didn't want to do what everyone else was doing so we decided to left-shark it and hit up the booths without waits. For $5, I had a steak taco from the aptly-named Dive Bar. Yes, from the brain titans who came up with other original establishment names such as "Shady Pharmacy" and "Douche Grocery Store" (later renamed "Whole Foods"). Flaco's Tacos was selling bourbon-infused chicken tacos for $5. In my mind, Kentucky liquor and Mexican food go together like Gary Busey and Ted Talks, but the result was most tasty. Also at $5 a piece, I got a pork cochinitas taco, with its thinly shredded pork, from the Taco Joint. I haven't seen something so finely shredded since The Revenant. There is beer as well, but it goes fast (they ran out of Sam Adams at one booth). When we asked the volunteer where we could find more she just stared at us with a blank, clueless expression, reminding me of the time I asked my acupuncturist where she went to medical school. Stages with cover bands at both ends of the fest. Watching "97 Nine" sing "Sweet Child of Mine" made me reminisce about my failed singing career, which ended after my American Idol audition. Why did Simon Cowell have to be so mean? He interrupted me before I could finish singing the Meow Mix theme song. Anyway, 5 stars for this Mexican-themed master piece. I felt like I died and got deported to heaven. read more

Tacos are nasty. Not flavored enough. Pay a $5 fee to get in but if its a "donation" why do I need to pay. Cheap but you get what you pay for. Wasn't a big fan of the stares I got, maybe because I'm black but I actually live in the area, either way it was a waste of time and money. NEVER AGAIN. read more

Yesterday was my first time attending the fest and I was definitely satisfied with my experience. The tacos and live music were great! It was very easy to get beer without having to buy tickets beforehand. The Mexican wrestlers were a nice addition as well. The only reason I am not giving 5 stars is because some of the vendors had long lines (Although this was expected going at 7:00 on Saturday). read more