We went on the Saturday at 3:30 pm, it opened at 3pm. By 4 pm Papaya King was out of papaya salad…read moreand Eggroll Queen was out of eggrolls. The aisles weren't big enough to allow lines and people passed through- there was also very little/no seating. We got bahn xeo, green mango & tanghulu. They were all good but we left after that because they were out of food that we wanted.

What a great event!! At the old sears building parking lot! Lots of awesome food options lumpia,…read moreBubble tea, Lao sausage, pork belly, juices, egg rolls, wonton, twisted potatoes. I stoped at minnesnowii also had delicious egg rolls and sweet beef skewers. I loved dancing with some of the ladies and watching the Hmong performances. They also had a human claw machine where the kid is strapped in to the claw and swung around to catch prizes!! And bouncy houses! looking forward to next years!!

Great idea! Fortunately I was gifted tickets to the 2025 GLOW Festival and it's the group you go…read morewith that will make this fun. Like all events, it's all about perspective. I'm local to Saint Paul and I love a quiet St. Paul activity. We went on a Friday evening which I believe was opening night and it was dead!! Contrary, I liked it. We took an Uber which relieved us of any parking stresses and because this was a quiet event the uber prices were on point. I don't think this experience is worth the normal ticket of $27 but if you're looking for something to do, go for it. This event would start to be spendy with kids as each activity inside costs money. For example, the marshmallow fire roasting station is $6, the slide with the tubes is $3.75, carousel is $5, hot chocolate is $6, the zip line is $15, etc. Contrary, Santa was onsite most of our evening and the visit has no cost. The entire CHS field is lit up with lights ranging from Christmas trees, polar bears, moose, and varying little stables for the kiddos to pop in and out of. There are basic concession stands, a warming house with a bar a couple of local vendors, a giant slide and zip line. There is holiday music playing and attendees roam the arena. Tons of photo opportunities! The night we went it was pretty warm with no snow so I do believe that snow would make this a very different experience. Fun fact: My group was able to witness a couple get engaged. Congratulations to those two!!

TLDR: Great for families with younger kids, lots of things for them to look at, run around and do;…read moreparking is limited and expensive. I had no idea this holiday festival was a thing! I wasn't sure what to expect and brought my adult daughter with me to see what it was all about. If you have young children or a person who loves looking at holiday lights, this is the place to stop by. Luckily, the night we went, it wasn't too cold, but there really wasn't much for us to do other than walk around and look at the light displays. Neither of us was drinking cocktails that night, so we didn't take advantage of the cocktail lounge, but did get our picture with Santa Claus. The little houses all around the field are super cute. They had great music playing and a "fireplace" image displayed on the Jumbotron. In the same area as the cocktail lounge, there was a makers market. I saw people who purchased concessions from the normal concession stand areas, but we didn't get anything from there either. We parked on the street using the app, and it was ridiculously expensive for being a Friday night and I booked a few hours, not knowing how long we would be in the festival. Turns out it only took us about 45 minutes to walk around. Not sure if I would pay to go back. I think it's a kind of thing that I'm not sure the experience changes much year to year.

Finally got to check out the MN Ren Faire and for the most part I enjoyed the festivities. Many…read morepeople as well as I was in full medieval, fantasy, or cosplay in this fun gathering of all sorts of people. While many people complain out the prices I personally did a few things to help with that. First is the entry fee. Normally you'd spend $31 for adults in addition to a $30 parking fee which would be $61 just to get in, but instead Costco sells 2 tickets + 2 turkey legs for $47 which is $23.50 per person. 2nd of all, MVTA offers $6 round trip rides from Eagle Creek, Burnsville Transit centers that take you on buses that get your right to the entrance. Those buses run every 15 to 30 minutes and basically cut the price of getting in to only $29 instead of $61. Inside there's tons of food and drink options. First thing to do was actually get the food before noon and the afternoon crowd swamps the place. I've had tb the mead, bacon waffles, turkey leg, Cheesecake on a stick, Pad Thai, Cheese curds, and they were not too expensive ranging from $5-$10. Personally they are all between 3 to 4 stars, none mindblowing but none that were bad. I think I like the Nefertari Mead the most near the stall of the West gate entrance, just slightly north of that. The events that happen at the faire are pretty fun to participate in. Events that involve prizes are free, joined a meatball eating completion and got 2nd. Carnival games typically cost $5 like throwing axes, archery, rock climbing, etc. My biggest complaint is that this faire still uses Elephant rides. Just seems so unethical making money off of tamed animals misery. The crowds also get significantly worse after 1pm. Best to arrive right at opening between 8-9am so you can get all your food and drinks ordered and done. Come to the ren faire on an empty stomach. Other than those two gripes, I did enjoy my time with the friends here.

Visited the Renaissance Festival on September 1, and as always, it was an absolute blast! Huge…read morethanks to Yelp for the free tickets -- what an awesome surprise! This was my 7th Renaissance Festival, and I still love everything about it -- the energy, the costumes, the music, the laughter, and of course, that legendary turkey leg! It's smoky, juicy, and hands-down my favorite tradition every year. Parking is definitely a hike -- you park and then walk about a mile to the entrance -- but honestly, that's part of the fun and charm. It's the perfect way to burn a few calories before adding them right back with all the food and drinks inside! The whole experience is just magical -- fun for all ages, full of character, and always worth the trip. Can't wait for next year already -- it never gets old!

What a grand idea! This place had it all. Plenty of food options and music to entertain. Not…read moresure if this is a regular event but certainly one that you should keep on your calendar. The variety was nice. The lines were long so plan to wait for your food. Mear park was full of people and parking was surprisingly plentiful despite being the weekend and a Saints game going on. Highly recommend.

This year marked my second consecutive year of attending this festival and I have to say...it gets…read morebetter every year! The variety of trucks is great (even for gluten free vegan!) And the park is beautiful. Everyone seemed to be having a blast! My only issue is that with such a popular event the lines can be quite long and the park can be very crowded. Can't be shy; push your way through and get a little rough!

Made it to the MN State Fair today. Beautiful day at the fair 70' couldn't ask for nicer weather…read more We ate a bunch walked a lot watched the parade got our flu shots and had a nice day.

Such a fun experience! Once you got past the struggle of securing a ticket, I was so so excited to…read moreget a taste of the fair, despite the current state of the world. The fair made it so easy to plan out your trip and decide which food to order. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect as far as how long the wait would be, but it was a super fun and fast paced way to experience the fair. The food was super easy to order and I felt safe throughout the event. The route was easy to follow and the signage was excellent. The only thing is that the food wasn't the freshest. A lot of it seemed less fresh than when I got it at the fair in past years. For example the pronto puffs were luke warm. All together an unforgettable experience! But I can't wait for the return of the fair in 2021.

I came to the Sunday Market with my uncle. We arrived relatively early (around noon), so there was…read morealmost no waiting. It was absolutely perfect for lunch. The portions are generous, the food comes out quickly, and both my uncle and I loved our meals. My uncle went for the Pad Thai, and I snagged the cream cheese won tons. They were huge! Crispy and warm on the outside and stuffed with smooth cream cheese. The dipping sauce was glorious (and had exactly the right amount). I was a very happy camper. In addition to the food, there were a handful of vendors selling clothing, crafts, and desserts. We might possibly have picked up some custard buns, which were out of this world. Imagine the best sweet Hawaiian roll you've had, then imagine it's full of a creamy custard. I opted for the regular and my uncle got the pandan. We were both utterly delighted. It's absolutely worth a trip at least once to support a great local community and enjoy some delicious food. Pro tip: if the parking is full around there, you can park across highway 100 near the synagogue. It's an easy walk, and there are almost always spots.

This pop up buffet is so good! It's very simple and small but has everything I crave. They have it…read moreat the temple and it gets really busy so they have an online check in. It's really easy to let them know we are on the waitlist and it tells you how many people are in line. Very easy to let them know when we are there and they let us know when to go in. The entrance is a little sketch since there's a few doors to go through but once we are in we were greeted with big smiles. Everyone was really nice and I was surprised they were high tech with their seating. When we went it wasn't that busy and we got in pretty quick. The waitlist said only 2 people ahead of us. It's not safe in Minneapolis with ICE here right now so makes sense it was not as busy. Unfortunately they are closed for now but I'm glad we got a chance to try. My siblings and I have been looking forward to it for a year. The food itself was really good!!! Most of the time buffet foods that sit for a while are not good but this all tasted really fresh and the hot food was still steaming hot which I enjoyed. The papaya salad had a good spice but was mild enough to where you could add more if you wanted. The curry had spice too but it was so flavorful. The boat noodle was full of flavor, I added more spice to that. I'm glad they add the broth in when you are ready instead of giving us soggy noodles. I appreciated all the bamboo that was in the stir fry dishes. The wontons were very tasty! The chicken wings were cooked perfectly. Crispy and flavorful. You get a lot for $22! I don't think we would even get this at a restaurant anymore with dishes being $20+ kids are only $11. They had a variety of drinks available too for purchase. Thai tea and Thai coffee are always our go-tos. We were planning on coming back soon but since ICE is here we cannot enjoy it until they open up again! Hoping everyone stays safe!

This is a tough one, as I love me some Meritage and some oysters, but alas, this event was pretty…read moredisappointing. This was the second year of Oysterfest. While they were certainly more ambitious this year, it appears it has tried to grow too quickly for its own good. The event was very packed for the two hours or so I was in attendance which resulted in very long waits for, well, everything really. Attendees either had passes for a dozen oysters or unlimited oysters if you bought the VIP pass (I assume those that chose the latter have some buyer's remorse). After waiting for about 30 minutes to try to the first variety, then about 50 minutes to try another I threw in the towel. I feel bad for the shuckers, who for the most part were working as quickly as possible. However, when shucking that many oysters it's impossible for things to go smoothly and I had very few oysters that didn't have shells, etc. in the final product (it didn't help they were stacking shucked ones on top of each other either). I applaud the initiative and hopefully with another year of experience under their belts the Klein's will have a successful event next year, though I'll probably just stick with bellying up to the raw bar at Meritage every once in awhile.

The only review I saw of this yesterday was from 2012 so I thought it was about time to do a new…read moreone. This event that I attended was wonderful! There oyster shuckers were able to keep up. They were all volunteers and did great! The music was excellent with different bands changing out throughout the day. The only long wait was for the hot food because it had to be cooked it makes sense there would be a line. Some of the hot foods were Oysters Meritage which everyone loved in our group, crepes was another big hit, grilled lobster tail was good but small, our friends had pork bbq sandwich which they loved. Fries with bernaise sauce was a favorite. We will definitely do this event again! You can either buy tickets in advanced which there are different levels like all you can eat oysters (doesn't include hot food) or a dozen or pay as you eat. If you really love oysters it makes sense to get all you can eat VIP pass as my friend had 5 dozen on her pass!

Came out to Twin Cities Oktoberfest to celebrate a friend's birthday and wasn't totally sure what…read moreto expect, but figured it would be a bit more of a party since it's at the State Fairgrounds. It ended up being smaller than I thought, but still a good time! They had some fun activities going on, such as stein-holding, hammerschlagen, and axe throwing. The only downside was that most of the activities cost extra, and the Stein-holding contest was super early in the day. Honestly, wish they had saved that for later, for when the crowd was a bit more warmed up. Still, it made for a fun afternoon hangout, just maybe not an all-day activity. Worth checking out once, but there are certainly other Oktoberfests around the Twin Cities that offer more and require less pay to play.

The event was fun! Only down side is you have to pay for everything even the activities like…read morehammerslaugin. Drinks are $11 each ticket to get in was $11 games range from $5-$15. I probably won't come back