I scored early entry tickets through Yelp and attended my first Bizerkley Fest. There were a number of food vendors and some local artisan type vendors as well. I bought some delicious cookies, kale chips, and an African combo platter. All were excellent. I do wish there were some more drink options as there were mainly lemonade stands. And more healthy foods would be a great touch. Overall, I think the cause (to help rescue pitties) is an important one, and I enjoyed seeing the diversity of the attendees supporting vegan eats. read more

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Thanks for the express tickets Yelp :) Gelato stand was the best, and All Pau's "tuna" (Japanese watermelon) poke bowl was refreshingly yummy. Really enjoyed some tofu jerk chicken. Hula dancing was awesome. Enjoyed getting lei'd. Incredibly disappointed that many of the vendors were not ready, took down our name and numbers, and never got back to us. The lines grew too long so we didn't return to those vendors as the wait would had been over an hour. Beer garden didn't have a lot of seats but you could just sit on the side walk/curb. read more

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I love the cause of the festival and how it's raising funds for the pitbull rescue group. It's also my first time attending an all vegan festival so it was very exciting. We drove an hour and arrived around 10:30am for the express ticket. A little hassle with the technical front checking in process, but it was resolved not long after. We tried the garlic noodle, loved the crunch on top of the noodles. We also wanted to try the taco, but line seems long and not budging at all after waiting for 30 minutes. So we decided to take another lap and walk for other options. I think we came too early , almost too right on the time(?) where some interesting booth are still setting up and told us to wait till 11:30-12pm when they open to public. So we left and ended up going to other places for lunch. Thank you for the yelp ticket!! Happy that we tried it out, but probably will hold off on express tickets. Maybe regular entry ticket might be more worth it in the future. We are glad that we got the Yelp tickets, but probably wouldn't want to pay extra for express ticket in the future when many vendors are not ready. read more

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On Sunday 9/7 we attended the 5th Annual Bizerkeley Food Festival. It was located in the North Berkeley BART Station. We won express entry tickets through Yelp (thanks Gina!!) so we were able to get in at 10:30am instead of 12pm. It was a very sunny day in Berkeley and there were tons of vendors to interact with! I absolutely adore that this event benefits the California Pitbull Rescue. Our beloved German Shepherd of 12 years passed away last Sunday, so we really needed a pick me up. There were 3-4 tents of adoptable dogs and puppies from the rescue and Berkeley animal services! What's better than meeting puppies & enjoying good food with friends? The entry began promptly at 10:30am, no sooner and no later, which I appreciated. Upon entry, we all received a complimentary N.A. beverage. We saw that the VIP Tickets got fun Yelp Tote bags, might have to buy VIP tickets next year! Most of the vendors were ready for the express entry ticket holders, but there were a few tents who didn't have power yet, or weren't there at all. There was one vendor, African Food Kitchen by Chef Kenya, that traveled from LA to be at this event! They were selling vegan sides. We got a sampler platter for $7 that had saffron rice, collard greens with cabbage, curried lentils, and plantains. Everything was seasoned well and I would have definitely gone for seconds if this was at a potluck or family dinner. There was no wait at this vendor. The longest wait we had was about 25 minutes at Fungi Foods. We got the BBQ Cajun Mac and Cheese for I think $17. Definitely worth the wait! It was creamy, saucy, but not too heavy with the mushrooms on top. The serving was perfect for 2 people. They gave us a beeper so we could venture to other vendors while we waited for our food and we grabbed some Blackberry Lavender Lime Gelato over at Flora, a plant-based Gelateria. Creamy & refreshing! We also found a bagel stand called Bageltopia! They had an item called Vegan Supernova, which they do usually top with smoked salmon, but instead they topped it with house-smoked carrots! We were so intrigued we had to try it. Of course you could tell it was a carrot, but the technique that was used to infuse the carrot with lox blew my mind. I'm not vegan, but I would happily visit their store front for some vegan house-smoked carrots and bagels, and it was only $5! Of course we grabbed some drinks since it was hot and sunny out. Over at Liquified Juicery, they had a lovely Soursop Drink with Sea Moss. We bought a bottle and loved the chunks of soursop that were in it as well! What pulled us to their table at first was their jars of flavored sea moss as well! We got to sample Passion Fruit and Mango flavored sea moss jelly which I've never had. They also told us they stock their sea moss at both Berkeley Bowl Locations so I'll definitely have to grab a bottle! All of the vendors were so hospitable and were very open to having full conversations with every person that approached them. They were troopers for being out there in the sun all day too! This was a great way for us to try vegan foods all in once place. Next year we're going to come better prepared with extra sunscreen, maybe a hat, and lots of water. read more

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This is my third time going to the Bizerkeley vegan food festival, so thank you to Yelp for partnering with Bizerkeley again for the opportunity, and for Erika for all her work putting on this festival and for partnering with so many BIPOC-led businesses in order to bring largely vegan restaurants (but I also spotted a few that I know aren't just vegan / vegetarian businesses but were definitely just bringing out special restaurant items just for this event). Also, I did want to note that there were events going on throughout the week and not just this weekend so I was able to check out a screening earlier this week of They're Trying to Kill Us (not part of Yelp events, it was part of Bizerkeley itself though) and highly recommend, I only heard about it because seeing this giveaway via Yelp reminded me to check out the Bizerkeley website. Due to time conflicting plans I was only able to come for the tail end for the event, so this time I wasn't able to get any food samples unfortunately, as I remember in prior years I was able to get a lot of free samples of plant-based food products. But I decided to patronize a few food businesses, so I bought the following things this time: Veggietize Me: v western burger, which contained an impossible meat patty, cheese, yummy crispy onions, tempeh bacon and also more standard tempeh. It was a bit on the pricier side as burgers go but I thought it was delicious and would recommend. Flora Gelateria: scoop of flavor king pluot gelato. They allow samples, so I decided to try both the pluot and the peach crumble flavors before opting for the pluot. Both were good, and the peach does indeed come with the fun crumble texture on top. I think they were pretty good as vegan gelato goes even though I admittedly still prefer my dairy flavor over the distinct cashew taste in Flora's gelato. It was also a pretty small quantity and I noticed the customer ahead of me got a larger scoop than I did, for the same price, which I hope was just a coincidence of inconsistency. Plantishh: I was intrigued seeing them advertise plant-based paneer, which is keto, and made of pea protein. I ordered the loaded tachos, which is made using panela, which they said was a type of mild Mexican cheese. Although I thought the tater tots were good, I was underwhelmed by the 'paneer' which still doesn't taste anything like the traditional paneer and was rather plain, but I understand it is still a challenge to get plant-based dairy alternatives to taste like cow's milk so far. read more

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A fun festive event at Bizerkeley Food Festival (BFF) with beautiful weather. There were a lot of vendors to choose from, which made it more engaging, such as: -Perspire Sauna Studio -Azure Sky chiropractic -Hawaiian Dance & Culture -Nikki Farms freeze dried fruits -Crish Crunch Award winning Kale Chips -Hot chili oils -Açaí Bowls -Namaste Tea (Chai Tea) -Tofu bowls from Humbowl I've only listed a few vendors from this event, but I could go on. The event coordinator for this event was well organized & I really enjoyed being introduced to vegan food & all the friendly vendors. The vibe at Bizerkeley was so chill, it was the perfect way to end the weekend. read more

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Such a cool food fest featuring vegan, plant based foods! Received express tickets, cool concept to get a head start before the crowds came. The first thirty minutes were really fun getting to listen to the live music and walking through to see all the vendors. Even got cute Sanrio cups! Garlic noodles and the hand made gelato were really yummy. Coffee flavor was very strong and good. Down side to the festival was the disappointment coming from some of the vendors. Some were still setting up or were not ready when arriving. When wanting to try some places they said to come back in an hour because they forgot some items. The hubby and I were waiting in line for some tacos and cheesesteak fries for over 2+ hours. I'm sure the stands were getting a lot of love. But the combination of the heat and the wait times, I just felt like we missed out on more to try. read more

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Thank you Gina for the Yelp Express Entry Pass Giveaway! There was already quite a line when we arrived a couple minutes after 10:30am. The beginning of an event is always going to be a little rocky but it was mostly very well set up! Most of the vendors were ready. The volunteers were clear about they can help the next person. We got free granola bars. As we were walking around I saw that they had another entrance on the other side. That's efficient! I appreciate they had seating and canopies (courtesy of Sports Basement?) so you had a place to enjoy your food. Security checked IDs and gave 21+ wristbands adding to the efficient check in process. The best part was the pitbull rescue. They brought puppies! You could even hold little Bruce who hasn't had all his shots yet. Some dogs from the Berkeley animal shelter were also there. All the dogs were extremely well behaved! I hope they all found forever homes that day. For food we first walked around and scoped out all the vendors. From previous experience I know unless you go with a large group you'll likely only be able to try 2-3 food vendors so we had to choose wisely. Our first stop was beverages. It was a sunny day. The majority of the beverages were lemonade. We went with Dream Bowlz refreshers. We got one of the tropical (passion fruit and mango?) and one of the berry. The refreshers had real fruit at the bottom and lychee jelly. A small was $10 while a large was $12. I was very pleased with the refreshers. They were slightly sparkling and came out almost immediately. For food I went with All Pau's garlic noodles with shiitake mushrooms added on. This came out to about $24 after tip. But it was a takeout box stuffed full of noodles! Nice presentation. It came with some chili oil in a small container. Your choice of chopsticks or forks. The garlic flavor was heavy. I was feeling quite full after devouring them. For dessert we had Flora gelato. We got the coffee flavor and the butterscotch pecan. Looks can be a bit deceiving. It was just under $7 for a small cup. But the gelato was big on flavor. The coffee flavor was very strong. The butterscotch pecan was very sweet. Originally I wanted the tanghulu (candy covered fruit) but they wouldn't be ready until almost 12pm. We left at around 11:45am. No line to enter at that time. In hindsight we could have arrived later than 10:30am and still enjoyed the less crowded atmosphere and finished our day early. I would say about 1/3 of the vendors were wellness focused rather than food. Think skincare or chiropractors. A huge plus about this festival is it is held on a Sunday so parking in the neighborhood is free and not limited to 2 hours! Or if you live near a BART station that's even more convenient. The price for entry if you were to pay really isn't bad. I think it was $5 for general admission. It's a smaller festival. But you can tell it's been organized and planned with a lot of care and love. I had no idea it was a vegan food festival until I started looking into it after winning tickets. It was a fun experience! read more

Me and guy eat fairly healthy. He is closer to vegan than me. While I didn't get on the guest list for event I took advantage of the early offer elite had and bought two for 1. My guy couldn't go but hey the funds went to a good organization. I love that this was at a Bart station, easy access. There were many food vendors and if you thought vegan was what it was 20 years ago, this will definitely change your mind. Like most attendees do, I did a once over pass to see what was what. There were some very popular food vendors as by the early lines that were starting to form. I'll admit I was there for the fungi burgers. Unfortnately I could get one for my guy cuz the sauce on them had garlic. He is deathly allergic (insert hiss, boo here). Music was good with a mix of live acts and dj music. Some of the vendors needed to get it together. I did manage to eat at Cocobreeze carribean, which ironically is 2 miles from my house and I've never been able to get there. I got their Moxtails, and jerk jackfruit for my guy. If you are a fan of the real oxtails, their moxtails will blow you away. The jerk jackfruit was spicy, but good. I also tried the African food booth. Nothing to spectacular. I make that food on the regular, cabbage, lentils and rice. If you are thinking of trying vegan or going vegan, this little festival would be a great start. read more

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As a Yelp Elite, I always seek out events that go above and beyond--and the 5th Annual Bizerkeley Food Fest was everything a plant-based foodie (or just a curious eater) could want! Hosted at the North Berkeley BART Station, this year's fest raised the bar with 90+ vendors from all over the country. From the moment I arrived, the energy was infectious: banging beats from hip hop and indie acts, fun games in the sun, and delicious free samples from all corners of the vegan universe. What blew me away was the diversity, both of the crowd and the vendors: standouts included Cocobreeze Caribbean Restaurant for their flavor-packed plates, Donnas Tamales for classic comfort, Fungi Foods for culinary creativity, and Mayas Cookies Inc for those epic sweet endings. The Wellness Zone, led by @centella_wellness, offered a restorative break between bites, while the Beer Garden and Wine Down Lounge (with Faction Brewing and Tessier Winery) kept things festive. There were cultural performances, unique artisan products (from Xodi Jewelry to Green Flour Bakery), and so much generosity, all in support of @californiapitbullrescue. I loved seeing organizer Erika Hazel orchestrate such a joyful, delicious, and welcoming community event. The event team handled logistics like ticketing, pre-orders, and VIP perks with care, creating a seamless experience even for first-timers. Shoutout to all the sponsors--@sportsbasement, @sfbartable, @rivianofficial, @blupeakcreditunion, @oaklandroots, @eclipsefoods, and @carbonhealth--for believing in the plant-based future. From the foodie games and the silent auction, to dancing along with Ko Makou Ohana Aloha and meeting passionate makers like Hot Boi Chili Oil and Hippie Chai--it was a true celebration of food, fun, and impact. Will absolutely be back next year--and bringing more friends! Tagging you @ginagbyyelp for your generosity. read more

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I'm gonna have to post so many videos and pics to share with y'all bc I really think that today's @bizerkeleyfoodfest was probably the best food festival I've been to ever!! There were more #vegan vendors than we could even get to and the lines were not too long! I haven't seen this much good vegan food anywhere else! Honestly, @itserikahazel did an unreal amount of work to create today's experience, im in awe! I lost count of how many rows of vendors there were each with amazing food options. I wish it was a week long so that I could get to all of them Also the food demos were so informative and delicious !!! we learned so much. Thank you @voodooveganfood and @vidacantinasf we loved everything you served! It was really the best festival I've been to and such a great feeling to be around other VEGANS and those in solidarity #veganfoodlovers #berkeley #bizerkeleyfoodfest #bayarea #foodfestivals @thefungifoods @veganpowerco @srivegan @voodoovegans read more

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A bit underwhelming in my opinion. Got the Yelp elite tickets to get in early at 10:30 which was nice because there wasn't any line for samples and such. Thought there would be a cooking demo but there wasn't. Walked around and tried some samples, they were alright. Got a bagel from the bagel stand and it was not bad but nothing spectacular. read more

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Overall Nice event! The weather was great! I luckily found a great parking spot right across from one of the entrances. Met some cool people learned about some businesses I'd like to visit outside of the festival and also some that I'll definitely stay away from! read more

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We had an opportunity to visit the Bizerkely Food Festival - all things VEGAN! Parking was off street, but it was a Sunday so parking was easy to find. Close to Downtown and UC Berkeley. Lots of food vendors with vegan options. I noticed that most of the items were fried. I tend to gravitate towards "shellfish" items because I have a food allergy. I would have preferred to see more creative fresh items on the menu. The one bright spot was we ran into an old friend who was helping out one of the vendors! read more

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Amazing. I am there every year and it just gets better and better. You can't miss this event you must attend!

Thank you Hailey P, the Yelp team, and Bizerkeley Food Festival Team for such a great and interesting event. Quality/Quantity - Like many of the reviews, I did NOT know that this was a Vegan event. I was thinking of a "night market" type event. The good news is that I should be eating healthier. And even better news, the food actually tasted good. :) They even had a decent amount of food for $5 each. Well, we only looked at booths with that price point. Atmosphere - Good size location. Could have done a much better job with security, but overall good. Clean outhouses (I did not use) and better yet, functioning hand washing stations that I did use. Thank you. Plenty of booths/tents. I only checked out the ones with extremely long lines. The music and entertainment was also better than expected. Loved the original vegan, plant base songs, raps, etc. So creative. Service - Good. Price - Depends on what you buy, eat, and drink. Entrance tickets range from $5 to $14 (cashless). Owner Comments - Congrats to Erika Hazel and the Bizerkeley Food Festival Team. read more

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This has the potential to be something great however the lines made it more difficult to enjoy. I saw lots of lines spanning the blocks waiting to get in both entrances. There was a lot of congestion in certain parts of the festival because of the lines waiting for food and I feel like the space was not utilized well. It was also hard to see what food each vendor was selling since the menus weren't super visible unless you were at the front As for samples there were a handful of vendors handing out samples and I enjoyed them all, especially the bon bon from eclipse. I ate some yogurt, popcorn, bread with chili oil, plant based milks, and kombucha. Some further planning by the event planners could make this a great event - including spacing out the vendors a bit, allowing vendors to have more staff so the lines can move faster (apparently only allows 3 per booth). I ended up not purchasing any food because the food lines were so long. I did buy stuff from the merch vendors and that was sprinkled throughout. read more

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Beautiful day for the festival. They had a good variety of tents offering food, drinks, and local made goods. Good turnout of people but not so crowded that you couldn't walk freely. My favorite item was the Sparkling Tropical from @coffeecompanion. It was like a lemonade with a half shot of espresso. Very refreshing. The sparking water added was a nice touch and the espresso was like when you are eating espresso beans. Not over powering to the drink but the taste was definitely there. I did lunch at @veganchulaeats. I would say they had the longest line. Everyone wanted to try them. They ran out of Mac & Cheese and the hot honey chicken before we made it to the tent. I ovreheard one woman saying she had it and thought it was amazing so we were disappointed I had the plain chicken tenders with chula sauce. The texture was good for "not chicken" and the batter was very crispy and tasty so if you like a very crispy tenders, this is for you. The chula sauce tasted a lot like Zaxbey's sauce. Ok & not spicy. We had many good samples while wandering around and enjoyed the music. There was a dance group performing right before we left and I like how at the end they invited people up to dance with them. The kids in the crowd loved that as did many of the adults. We spent about 4 hours there and the weather was beautiful so that made for a very pleasant day. read more

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Im not a big vegan guy. But the Food Festival was nice. Beautiful day for it. A lot of great vendors with different options. From Indian Simmer Sauces to Tamales. I ended up with a pineapple whip, indian simmer sauces, spices, chili oil and butter mochi. Thank you Yelp for the tickets. read more

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This year's Berkeley was a lot or fun. Delicious food and the festival was so spacious with tons of samples like last year! Eclipse ice cream is a must-try! everything is vegan, which was a word didn't like 7 years ago bc the food wasn't great back then, but now it's amazing!! Entertainment the as great! Awesome music and very entertaining dancing performance from the kids! Can't wait till next year! read more

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I'm bummed that I have to rank my first (and possibly last) Bizerkeley Food Festival fairly low. As a vegan myself and someone that works in project management, I was fairly critical of the entire setup and did not feel we really got our money or times worth. Let's talk pricing. Tickets were $5 online or at the door apparently. I bought a set online thinking there would be a discount. When we get to lining up, they didn't scan the QR code nor really checked... so I could've easily just walked in without paying. I also read here that some people got in for free - either through Yelp or just snuck in, so that leaves a sour taste for someone that actually had to pay. The festival is not clearly marketed as vegan and whether it should or not is not necessarily the issue. However, calling it a 'food festival' when the majority of vendors were NOT food stalls was quite a shock if I'm being completely honest. Due to the lack of food vendors, everyone had a long line while other vegan-friendly independent artists and business owners didn't get the same love and attention, and I think a product of that IS from the unclear marketing. Even for the samples that we got - many were awesome and I'm glad I got to try a few new items, but they were far and few between. The event encouraged you to "bring tupperware" insinuating that there'd be plenty of samples you can barely eat them all, and that was far from the case. My friends and I walked through within 45 minutes and left to go find food elsewhere in Berkeley. That's probably the best part which is the location - close to many restaurants including other vegan businesses which we frequented (and there were a TON of people with wristbands dining there. I wonder why...) For an alternative, the VegFest in Santa Cruz was MUCH better. Same price but you get more vendors, more samples, all indoors, more swag, and still opportunities to purchase additional meals. read more

Can I spend every Sunday celebrating this festival? I loved all of the vendors! @cocobreeze had Aunty grooving with Trinidadian food. Roti and doubles made my tummy happy. The spices were good but ask for pepper sauce on the side of you can handle it. There were lots of other vendors, including vegan leather, plants, jewelry, and more! I can't wait until the next event. Coco Breeze Roti: Dahl puri (ground split peas) sprinkled inside the roti. You thought I wouldn't notice, but I caught onto the special touch. The roti was stuffed with pumpkin, curry soy, and Channa (curry chick peas). It was hearty! Doubles: Two fried bara (bread) with kuchela (shredded spiced pickled fruit), shedded cucumber, and of course Channa. read more

The Bizerkeley Food Festival - Vegetable roti - Food Tours Near Me

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This is the first event I've ever gotten into through a Yelp invite that I've ever rated anything less than 5 stars. Sadly, The Bizerkeley Food Festival was disappointing and failed in all metrics of what was advertised and envisioned. When we first arrived at the festival grounds, we noticed the of the block where we were was simply blocked off by a few chairs and caution tape. And there was a steady stream of people in front of us simply moving the chairs to the side and walking in, or hopping over the barriers unimpeded. While there were several staff on the other side, they all looked like young, high school volunteers. And none of them made any effort to stop the flow of party crashers who continuously entered in without paying. Since there was no signage directing us to where the actual entrance was, I flagged down one of the bored volunteers who was simply playing with her phone the whole time and inquired where I could enter the grounds. And was told I needed to walk all the way around to the OTHER side of the park to get to the entrance. Why they didn't simply make two entrances for a festival that spanned the entire perimeter of a park is beyond me. When we finally arrived at the actual entrance, we noticed there was no ropes, lines, barriers or staff maintaining any sense of crowd control. Instead, people were freely walking into the festival without anyone checking on their tickets. If I did not get free tickets to this event, I would have been extremely disappointed that I had paid only to have a large number of participants choose not to do so. Additionally, the proper tent to check-in at was completely unclear. I approached one of the closest tents to the entrance, only to be told that Yelp people have to go do a different tent. Once again, proper signage and staff directing traffic would have gone a long way here. The event promised 99+ vendors, but I was hard pressed to count more than 30 at best at the entire festival. With only less than a handful actually offering samples, and very few food vendors, most with EXTREMELY long and slow-moving lines. Additionally, the adoptable petting zone that was advertised must have been extremely well hidden, because it never materialized for us when we visited. Overall, the event was poorly organized and coordinated. Felt extremely underwhelming, and failed to live up to the hype and potential. This was our first year experiencing this festival. And based upon our experience, will most likely be our last. read more

Sadly, I wasted my day here and was so excited. Traveled to get here.. The vendors were under so much stress so I don't blame them. However, tickets were purchased digitally and should have been accounted for when choosing vendors. If vendors drop out that's fine, maybe consider contracts or additional headcount for this. In addition to that, I was very sad to see the lack of food tents. It's a food festival and while I did make purchases to support the others, it was disappointing to wait over two hours for our food. I would highly recommend a team if you don't have one already for planning such an event. Vegan Street Fair in LA will remain at the top for me and I recommend anyone reading this to just make plans for that one! read more

This is one of the worse food festivals I've been to. Completely not as advertised! Didn't see a petting zoo and it did not have 99+ vendors. Only one "alcohol" vendor sampling seltzer and kombucha, which they were also available for purchase ($5 for a can of seltzer and $10 for can of kombucha) Finished walking the block in 1 hour walking in extremely slow paced. Majority of the food options were Vegan but still felt like it lacked variety and number of vendors. Lots of vegan desserts. Homeless people were roaming around in lines for samples while normal people have to pay for entrance. Overheard one of them say "move the metal barricade and just go in since we live here anyway." read more

Posting this review for a friend and relative. "I was greeted nicely upon entering. However, a woman who resembled an addict, carrying a walkie talkie, quickly approached a table I chose to sit at. Abruptly, she approached to harass an elderly 81 yr. old, African American woman. She told her she had to "'leave immediately because dogs weren't allowed.'" The elderly woman told her the dogs weren't hers and pointed to a young woman who claimed the dogs. "I told her the dogs were mine and they're in fact, legally trained medical alert/service animals. She gave me a look of disgust, then said, "'You're lying because dogs need to be trained for that.'" I told her, I was not leaving. I know my rights as a person with a a documented disability. She gave me a hard and stunned while as she frowned stating, "'I'm going to call police on you.'" The dogs are barely 3lbs each and didn't pose a threat. They're well trained and docile. However, I seen quite a few people there with much larger dogs and even pitbulls that clearly weren't service dogs. I was watched and followed the entire 2hrs I was there. Later, I approached their Facilitator and creator of the event, an African American woman with burgundy-red hair. She was initially cordial, and I noticed the same woman who initially harassed me about my disability and dogs had come over to eavesdrop. The creator apologized but then changed her support saying, "'people had lied earlier about having service dogs and had caused problems for the pit bulls and they just didn't want anymore dogs at the event.'" Well, that's not my fault. People with legitimate disabilities and/or service animals can and should not be responsible for any false impersonators. To ensure my safety Bystanders had recorded the ordeal and airdropped the video to me. The owner quickly changed tune when She saw that I was recording and learning others had been also. Terribly planned and unprofessional staffers. I shouldn't have to expect this of Berkeley. read more

Vegan festival? Well, I try to occasionally try to eat vegan, but I like some meat with lots of veggies. This was sure to be an experience. An experience is what it was. Lots of food vendors (some with samples). Very cool, and yes -- I tried everything I could (some great, and some not so good). It's a community event, and it's great for it. Billed as "good vibes, good food, and bringing awareness" -- I wholeheartedly agree. All in all, it's a Vegan festival...and must be GREAT for those who love it. For me, a great experience but all I could think about was my next meal with meat included! read more

Given I won free tickets via Yelp, I really should have nothing to complain about. So I feel terrible leaving a 4 star review. In my defense, while most things blew my mind, but just wanted to make one point (at the very end). And fyi, this is a belated review for 2021. All the positives first: there were many vendors, many of whom I've never heard of. And all the vegan things they can make! So yum - my friend & I had the "works" grilled cheese and "carne asada" fries. All free of tree nuts. And they both had alt. cheese in them! Brilliant. I also enjoyed the mix of non-food vendors (candles, shea butter, etc) and drink stands (thanks Chameleon for free oat coffee!). The Whack Donuts had fun flavors, but caution: they are more bread-y than pebbles or other vegan donuts Bay Area folks might be familiar with. One minor point - only hoping this becomes an annual event (though seems ike it!) - I wonder if the volunteer "crowds" could have been managed a bit better by the organizers. I wasn't sure when there were a group of volunteers (that I later found out) surrounding certain areas. It was a bit confusing and somewhat felt repelled from spaces they were congregating. Not that I don't understand - been there myself on both ends. read more

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First time attending Bizerkeley Food Festival and had a blast! I won a pair of VIP tickets through the Yelp Elite Squad Giveaway so thank you Yelp and Bizerkeley Food Festival for the tickets! There was a decent amount of food vendors offering different cuisines, desserts and drinks! My fiancé and I was amazed with the offerings and we each had something in mind that we wanted to try! Gotta love all the free samples and tastings! Huge shoutout to the guys at Dr Hops! The hard kombucha was so good! I never knew there was such a thing and so happy they were there! They took the time to explain how they came up with this, the different flavors they offered, where they sell them, etc. Onto the food, we got a few items: Grilled cheese: Got this with everything! Avocado, pickled red onions, tomato, basil, arugula, and candied jalapeño! Bomb! It also came with a side of sweet chili sauce, such a nice balance of sweet and savory! Whacky donuts: I ordered the Thai iced tea donuts and it was surprisingly really moist for a vegan donut! It tasted more like cinnamon and nutmeg than Thai iced tea. Not too sweet, but a nice accompaniment with your coffee! Hella Juiced: I got the Hella Purp smoothie and I highly recommend adding the date syrup to sweeten it more. It was nicely blended with blueberries, mangoes, pineapples, açaí and a few other ingredients. Only wish they filled the cups all the way for the price I paid. Ube Mami: I ordered Filipino sweets here, specifically the crumb cookies. They're completely vegan and surprisingly chewy! It came with three Ube cookies and three pandan cookies! Both were good, but I like pandan the most! Highly recommend! Kube Ice Cream: I got the key lime flavor. Their ice cream are all coconut based so completely dairy free! Huge plus is it does not melt as fast as regular cow milk based ice cream! The key lime tasted natural and very refreshing! Please host this event next year! Hopefully a lot bigger as well with more vendors! This was an awesome event for a good cause! I highly recommend! :) read more

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I was a little disappointed in the festival overall. Don't get me wrong, the food was great! And there was a decent variety of vendors, there just were not many vendors and the prices were pretty high. There were vegan donuts, a delicious vegan cream cheese, vegan grilled cheese, vegan ribs and Mac and cheese, vegan ice cream, kombucha, vegan po boys, vegan hot dogs, and vegan tacos. All the food was delicious! I'd like to see more giveaways in the future, tents with tables and seating to eat and get out of the sun, more vendors and more trash cans. For some reason it was really difficult to find trash cans. For the first year of this event they did great! Lots of room to do more next year. I really appreciated how everyone was practicing safety with wearing masks and there were people walking around with hand sanitizer. So good! read more

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We had such a good time at the Bizerkeley Food Festival. The setup was excellent, the vendors were friendly and the food was fantastic. My cousin and I enjoyed the Chameleon Coffee. The samples from Fy were amazing! I ordered the Grilled Cheez sandwich from Grilled Cheez Guy and it was incredibly delicious. The Cheez was melty and the veggies were the perfect addition. The bread was fantastic too. I especially loved the jalapeño jelly served on the side. Yum! My cousin ordered the Shrimp Po Boy from Plant n Soul and she loved it. I was very happy to see Kai from Kube Nice Cream. I've watched as she's grown her family business and her coconut ice cream is truly the best. This was such a great festival and I hope it happens again. read more

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Got free VIP tickets through a Yelp Elite giveaway and had a great time checking out all the booths, talking to vendors, and listening to local artists! I was a bit nervous about going to an all-vegan food festival since I'm not a vegan, but I was blown away by the quality. I don't remember the name of the booth I got my sandwich from, but I couldn't even tell it was vegan cheese. I also had a chance to sample Dr. Hops Hard Kombucha for the first time - it was so smooth. Also happened to win a few cans (pictured) in their end-of-day lottery! Can't wait to try them with a friends later this week. Overall, had a great time at the festival. read more

The Bizerkeley Food Festival - Food Tours Near Me

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I scored free VIP tickets. It started at 11 am I think. I came a little later because I went to church! I missed out on a vendor that was inside she only had Mac and cheese and bbq left which was hella good! She left us sample whatever was left of her potato salad. We got her Mac and cheese with the bbq to take home. The vegan ice cream we tried was bomb! The grilled cheese sandwich was delicious as well. I couldn't tell it was vegan cheese. We got juice from there too. Pupusasa and pink pickles with the turmeric curtido HELLA BOMB! I can't remember everything we tried we got a couple of things. I liked the pandan we got as well. They had music and someone performed but it was so hot we didn't stay long. I had asked the girl from ube mami how to set up a vendor booth for myself as well. She apologized she couldn't give me much information which was fine. I have to do some research on my own but all in all the festival was nice Thank you for the free VIP tickets read more

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I'm sure a lot of work went into putting on this festival, and I appreciate the organizer's efforts. But I have to be honest and say I was underwhelmed. After driving an hour each way (from the South Bay), finding and paying for parking, and paying a festival entrance fee, our reward was having access to a modest set of booths selling vegan food of varying quality with long lines and high prices. I waited at a Cambodian place, but after 10 mins, the owner came out and said to expect a 40-60 min wait, at which point I switched to a booth with a shorter line. The price for a lunch entree was $20-30 at most places. The only perk was about half a dozen places offered small free samples. I did enjoy those, and in fact was hoping to discover more new foods this way -- but there were minimal opportunities since so few places offered them. After waiting awhile for one small and mediocre food item, we decided we were better off leaving the festival. We went to a regular restaurant in Berkeley, where we could get a wider selection, faster service, and lower prices than at the festival. If the festival improves significantly in future years, it may be worth attending, but otherwise I feel it's better to just find a good restaurant and go there directly. Note: the festival also had some non-food booths (e.g., vegan arts and crafts) and live music. read more

It was in the bart parking lot. It was very hot. The food lines were too long. It took one and a half hours to get a veggie burger after ordering. It is not worth the money. read more

Well despite me giving the organizer credit for sending apologies via email after the event, she apparently waited 3+ months to come back here to call authors of poor reviews liars and to tell us all "please don't come back. You will not be missed." That should tell you all you need to know about this event and the organizer. Well, that plus 9 of the 13 reviews for the 2024 event were 1 or 2 stars (70%). As for her "it was a hot day" response, I honestly don't have a clue what relevance that has -- if it were true. Look up the weather history for zip 94704 on 1 Sept 2024. It was a high of 75 degrees. My comment wasn't about drink availability or the temperature. It was that there seemed to be an overly-high proportion of "vegan lemonade" stands compared to overall number of food vendors. (Nevermind that lemonade is usually vegan. If we're counting that, might as well setup a few stands that sell "vegan water" too...) So my review here for the event remains unchanged, but I would like to revise it slightly to take back any credit I originally gave the organizer for being apologetic about how things turned out. Clearly I was mistaken there. read more

I was pretty skeptical when this place was labeled as a "vegan" festival as a massive meat lover, but it was better than I expected. There was live music, food tasting (vegan butter, cheese, bacon, seltzer, and ice cream), and food trucks with unique grub!! There was about 20 booths in total, but it was an experience!! My pallet has been enlightened to vegan dairy options!! (But the vegan meat selections still needs some improvement..) I was hoping to see some Guinea pigs as advertised on the ticket, but it made sense that they weren't brought out. It was HOT and the Guinea pigs would've become fried! (This event wouldn't like that for what they stand for... ) Thank you yelp for the invite! I bought a ticket for a friend, and she enjoyed it too!! read more

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I scored free tickets from Yelp and if I'm being honest, I might not have gone otherwise. Even though the actual ticket prices were quite reasonable. $5 per person or less if you buy more with half that going to charity. I've been to multiple events where you pay for entry and still need to pay most all vendors. Here they actually had generous samples and great schwag to bring home. We got there right around opening time @11am so there was very little wait time. Chameleon Coffee hooked it up with free cans of delicious iced cold brew along with socks and tees. Felt like we won the lottery right there. In this case the early bird done got the worm because they ran outta those socks fast! We ended up buying some Pandesal from Ube Mami. We ate that later in the night and it was phenomenal. Pricey with the Vegan tax but where else are you gonna get it? This was one of many highlights from the event and to think I've never heard of this business before and now I'm 100% a fan. I've heard great things about Vegan Heat and was excited that she was there. I haven't tried them yet even though it's just a short 20 mins drive and bridge toll away in Vallejo. The prices seemed high for what she offers but figured this was as good a time to try as ever. She had a mac & cheese plate with ribs and Cajun potato salad. Everything was actually pretty tasty, just overpriced by about $10. Vegan Hood Chefs and De La Tierra food trucks where there and you didn't even need tix to the event since they were on the street. Of course this contributed to long lines and wait times. I'm glad we braved the line for that Breakfast Po Boy from VHC. It was truly epic. My amazing wife and I both agreed it was one of the best things we've eaten anywhere in awhile. The Bay Area Vegan scene is often overpriced and mediocre compared to other places we've been and this was actually mind blowing. In fact we were so stuffed with that and their lobsta mac that I didn't get to try the Mexican truck. With Mexican food being one of my faves, I would normally be disappointed but was immensely satiated with that sando I couldn't care less. Hopefully one day I will find De La Tierra on an empty stomach. We also took much advantage of Sports Basement's 20% off discount. Would have bought more but they didn't have much in stock in the Yeti department. Can't wait to see what Erika has in store for us next year. I'm sure this will only continue to grow. The only thing that could make this better is if they could close down multiple blocks and expand with more vendors. Also one QT is if folks are selling food, it would make it easier for people to try stuff from multiple vendors if they sold smaller portions for less. Kinda how most other food festivals operate such as Eat Real and SF Street Food Festival. Of course this one is better because it's all 110% Vegan! read more

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I won tickets to the Bizerkeley Food Festival through a Yelp Elite giveaway and it was my first time going to an event as a Yelp Elite! It was so much fun! I brought a foodie friend with me and we enjoyed it so much! It was set up well! All of the vendors were on one side and there was spaced seating across. There were water bottles in ice buckets and an indoor area with couches to sit. We stopped by Hidden Society wine first for a sample of their wine. It was a bit sour, but still very good! Next we went to Nixta Plant Based Food and had their sample and it was SOOO GOOD! I should have taken a photo of the menu so I could tell you exactly what I tried. But I would absolutely go back for more! Next to them was the Unicorn Meat and we tried a sample of that. The texture was that of like a firm fried tofu, but it was very tasty! The woman working the stand was very kind and personable and told us a lot about the product! We went over to the Dr. Hope Hard Kombucha table and tried strawberry lemon, kombucha ipa, and ginger lime. They were all very good! I was really surprised with the IPA. I don't personally like the taste of hops but the combination with the kombucha tones it down a lot and makes for a really nice drink! Crunch Mama Candle Company!!! Probably my favorite tent! Her candles are GORGEOUS! They are each decorated so well. I loved the flowers and crystals on top of the candles. I also love that she names so many of her crystals after artists and their songs. I had to get the candles once I saw they were name Jhene, Kehlani, and Sade! I loved her story as to why she started making candles as well. She had a kid and noticed all of the toxins in candles so she wanted to make something that wasn't harmful. And she came up with these amazing candles! We actually ended up buying 6 of them we liked them so much lol. The last thing we did was get some Crazy Rabbit Kitchen's carne asada fries. They were so good! They also have a great start story and it's 2 friends some high school making vegan "junk" food. They're very kind young men and they make delicious food! We loved the fries! It was such a fun event! read more

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I won a pair of tickets through Yelp Elite and loved it! It was my first time at a vegan food festival, at first I was a little intimidated because I'm not actually vegan but I've always been a little vegetarian curious. I went with my husband And even he liked the variety of foods that were there. Our favorite was definitely the kombucha beer, my husband loved it so much we went to our local BevMo and purchased some! The festival was well put together in the parking lot of sports basement. They had indoor lounging and outdoor seats. I do wish that there were more vendors with even more variety. Hopefully next year! I would definitely go back again. read more

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