Came here with friends and had a lot of fun. The husky game and mariners playoff games were both…read moreon, so there was a good sized crowd watching the games. You purchase token coins which you use to redeem for food and drinks at the various vendor stands. If you don't use all your tokens, you can return them later and they will buy them back. The credit card token line tends to be much longer than the cash token line, so I recommend bringing cash if you have it to speed things up. I think their website suggests that you get about $40 worth of tokens per person to have a full experience. This seemed like a lot, and in actuality we ended up spending a lot more. So, it was more expensive than I thought it would be, but some of the food/drink deals are actually pretty good ($6 beer/wine - very healthy pours on the wine, no tax). Highly recommend trying their gyro. The hot entree options also sounded very good and seemed reasonably priced. The problem is you want to try so many things that you're going to need a lot of tokens :) There is live music, dancing, and also a separate section with a market where you can buy some pantry goods and cheese. They offer tours of the church as well. Overall, had a really fun time, ate lunch and dinner here, and left full (but with much lighter pockets :P)

We stopped by on a Friday afternoon and brought home a bunch of food for dinner. We also ate a…read morefalafel and enjoyed the music and people. Parking is difficult and the lines were long at the most popular food counters. The food was great.

One of the most interesting, fun and beautiful cultures in the world. The performers were awesome…read more It was good to hear the Island Style music. And to see the dancers. You don't have to be Polynesian to attend, the festival is open to everyone. Good shows, good peeps, good grub... good times. The event is free to attend! The line for the shaved hawaiian ice is always long! Although I do wish they had more vendors and the lines aren't so long for the food. I'm always hoping to one day see Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson there lol or like Troy Polamalu... sweet! If you've ever been to Hawaii you know there are some very great quality Hawaii brands (such as Island Heritage) that you can only get over in Hawaii, or ship with steep shipping charges. I bought beautiful towels, lunch totes and jewelry. Hearing the Hawaiian music as you stroll into the festival and seeing all the dances really makes you feel like you're at the best luau in Honolulu. All in all a good time to be had!

It's a pretty small festival right in front of uwajimaya in downtown Renton. Theres performances…read morethroughout the day as well as a couple of booths such as tshirts, arts and crafts. For food, they have a variety of entree such as kalua pig with rice, they also have shave ice and malasada. I wish they have spam musubi. They also have macadons which are serving macarons, macaron ice cream and pinks push pop. It's my first time attending this and for some reason, I thought it would be bigger.

One of a number of Japanese festivals held in the Seattle area is Japan Fair. This fair is held in…read moredowntown Bellevue at Meydenbauer Center in the summer. The feel of this Japanese festival is less festive than the one at Seattle Center in the spring. Instead it is more educational in nature and filled with booths from a number of Japanese businesses in the area. Food offerings at the festival were a bit limited and were set up in a snack bar area in the main venue with standard items like takoyaki, Japanese curry and Japanese style sandwiches. If you are looking to learn more about Japanese culture, this festival would be appealing to check out for next year's iteration.

The Dragon Fest was once a day time summer event, focused on the Chinatown portion. Because of…read moreCOVID this year, it's instead evolved into a day and night C-ID Night Market, representing all of Chinatown-International District - an 8-hour event from 1pm to 9pm. I must say I am impressed with the turnout. While it has always been well attended, we arrived at 8:50pm, expecting to see a mostly closed street fair. Instead, all the booths are still hopping. Shoppers are shopping, and eaters are ordering food and drinks. There may have been such a HUGE turnout that the food lines were very long. When we arrived so late, the vendors were still merrily cooking while some food trucks had "sold out" stickers on selected items. How exciting for them to make up for the losses during COVID closures. As this is a C-ID market, the crowds gravitating towards the booths that sold cute Asian themed items, east Asian to be exact. Food choices were also predominately Asian, including SE Asian. I am not complaining. Hehe. The food truck that caught my attention is YS Street Food Group selling their Sizzling Squid at $12. I also bought a Thai Iced Tea at $4. It's been at least 2 years since I had their well marinating tongue numbing mala squid. It's also very tender. I love it! Folks were buying 3 or more of them! Their Thai iced tea is quite good too, not too sweet and flavorful. Even though we just had a big dinner, we managed to consume more. LOL!

For what could have become a hectic food festive the people who organized the event did a great…read morejob. There were performances every 30 minutes and the groups that performed clearly practiced and put on a show. There were a lot of places to eat and the food walk that offered $3 menu options were awesome. I was so happy to be able to try places like Tai tung and kau kau bbq which were places on my list. There were a lot of vendors and stalls and I was super impressed by the dragon dances! One thing I will say is I think they would do a lot better if they put their informational booth more prominently as a lot of people asked me where to get the maps and food walk pamphlets I was looking at in passing. Overall will be back next year!

I didn't know what to expect, but I know I wanted to go to a chocolate festival as soon as I saw…read morethe poster. Parking: there's paid parking in the convention center but if you go on a Sunday, you can find street parking a little further out from the center. Event: there were a ton of free samples from all the vendors that were there. I don't think they advertise the samples enough. I feel like I didn't even go in expecting a ton of samples, but there were a lot so get ready to eat a ton of chocolate. Even though all the pieces were cut into small bites, after so many samples, you will definitely get your fill of chocolate. I like that they had variety from different countries and type types of chocolates and beverages as well. I appreciate it that there was a lot of different talks in different rooms on both days. You can almost spend the entire time listening to the talks. You get to learn a lot about chocolates, where it comes from, how to make truffles, and how to use chocolates. Lots of different topics for everyone. The price tag is pretty high, but I was able to find a Groupon so I'm very happy with that. As with any of these two day festivals, the first day is very crowded but you will be able to buy things that are not sold out. Sunday was super chill, but many things were already sold out . I will be back next time for sure!

First time attending this festival and there was definitely a lot that I enjoyed about it and some…read morethings I would do differently next time. The other reviews are from many years ago and mentioned issues with the location but it's in Bellevue now (not sure how long it's been there) but had no issues with the location. Obviously if you live in Seattle, that would be a different story but it was super convenient right next to the light rail station. SO much chocolate to taste. I appreciate the tables that have self service tastings where you can grab your own. The ones where you have to ask for them to hand you samples, is not efficient at all. Some of them were too crowded that you couldn't even see what was on the table because of others tasting and chit chatting with the employees. The presentations are interesting but they don't necessarily make enough samples for everyone so everyone on our side of the rows didn't get anything and had to watch the rest of the room taste their samples. So get a seat near the front, in the middle. They are an hour long so they do take up a good chunk of time if you do more than one if you are doing general admission (which is 11am-5pm). You can bring your own water bottles, there are refill stations, or your own snacks. Just know that your taste buds will be shot after all those samples and you will need a chocolate break for a while after the event. Bring a reusable bag for all the chocolate bars you'll end up buying!

Was it faith that work brought me to Seattle so that I could experience my heritage celebration? I…read morehad forgotten that June 12 is Philippine Independence (1898) from Spain. I caught the tail end of a tribal Philippines dance, and I was even able to practice my Tagalog and two other dialect to share the "Pinoy" Pride with local vendors and spectators. It was also nice to see local Seattle Pinoy having a great time with their friends and family, truly enjoying and immersing themselves both with the traditions from the Philippines while embracing the the American Filipino heritage. Until then, be kind to one another and Cheers! ~ :p

Wandering around Seattle Center this afternoon, looking for a good lunch spot, I stumbled across…read moreThe Pagdiriwang Philippine Festival! Lucky me! I made a loop through the food booths and trucks first then through the Armory before settling in on my lunch choice: the combo #3 from ESPI Foods! Very nice combination of soft and savory pancit, bbq chicken (aka meat on a stick as my family calls it) and pork lumpia! Don't forget to order a cup of mango lemonade to go with! You'll be glad you did! I found a nice spot to eat on the Fisher Green in the sunshine where I could watch the International Fountain and still hear the music. Lovely! A do not miss at this Festival is the Armory main stage! This is where traditional music and dance of the Philippines is really shining this weekend! Lively music, beautiful dancing and gorgeous dancers! It's a feast for the senses! It's nice and cool inside the Armory with the A/C cranked up too! The Pagdiriwang Philippine Festival is definitely on the smaller side compared to other weekend festivals here at Seattle Center in the Summer. But that is definitely a big part of its charm for me! Though there were several thousand people here on a Sunday afternoon, the Festival didn't feel crowded. It was just a nice gathering of happy people that enjoy sunshine, good food and music from one of our Pacific Rim neighbors! Great family friendly event! The pace is perfect- casual and comfortable. I had a good time walking around admiring the festival booths and also it was nice to just find a sunny spot to just sit in the grass and listen- enjoying the festival sights and sounds around me. We'll be back for sure!

Always the scent of crispy, warm, doughy goodness, in the dark depths of the cold, damp, bleak…read morewinter- often denoting my birthday- the Waffle Ride is the gift of marvelous mayhem! The people powered, two wheeled delivery of waffle irons, waffle mix, toppings and libations just makes everything taste better- Plus the added appetite increase after peddling/assisting the transport of these heavy loads! This event takes away the doldrums which occur after the New Year, however I do take away one star for the gut bomb/hangover feeling I always come away with...

I didn't eat any waffles but there were a few times that a couple girls were making out pretty…read morehard. So that was pretty cool.

Whoever thought that the already popular Fremont Sunday Street Market could get any better...? How…read moreabout throwing in a little beer tasting and 15+ food trucks!?! Yeah, that'll do it! I've been following the "Mobile Food Truck Rodeo" since 2011 and have been more than happy with their recent developments!! No longer charging for admission, additional food trucks and a better choice of venue(s). Food trucks started rolling in about 10:00am which was about the same time my anticipation started to rise! My friend and I visit the market on a regular but hearing that there were going to add 15+ food trucks to the mix made us that much more excited! The line up consisted of a few regulars, such as Snout & Co, Street Donuts, Veraci Pizza and Tandoozy with addition to Crisp Creperie, Xplosive, Jemil's Big Easy, Grilled Cheese Experience, Wiseguy Food Truck, I Love My GFF, Jerk Station, Buns, Curry Now, Raney Bros. BBQ, Bistro Box, Street Treats, Falafel Salam, Chicarepa and Los Agaves. The food trucks provided a delicious aroma which flowed throughout the market and almost made you forget that it was raining! The indoor market, including a few food trucks provided a little shelter but Tandoozy was sweet enough to provide two covered tables for our convenience! Having tried a little something from most of the food trucks, we found ourselves returning to the wonderful Tandoozy for their "Everything Naan"! My friend lloves it with "everything" which includes rice, chicken and chutney but I'd be satisfied with just a simple serving of their Naan drenched in their olive oil, garlic and cilantro sauce! YUM! A few trucks provided "specials" just for the event and we just had to try "The Bomb" from the Grilled Cheese Experience. "The Bomb" was a buttery grilled cheese sandwich stuffed with oxtail and mac n cheese. A little rich and heavy for our pallets but knew we were going to walk it off with a stroll through the market!

Traditionally, gatherings of food trucks are not held in December. That's why I was excited to hear…read moreabout The Winter Feast & Beer Festival. I am often at Fremont Sunday Market anywhere from one to three times a month. Having food trucks there is just an additional incentive for me. The weather today was much better than I expected. I was there for 3 hours or so and it didn't rain very hard. It was a little cold and the heaters that were added a few weeks ago were absolutely perfect for today. You could order your food from trucks, then wait under the heaters to keep warm. It was pretty sweet. The Red Door Ale House had tasters of beers. It was nice that we were able to take our food truck food inside to sit down, keep warm, watch the ballgame, and chill out. Unfortunately, the jacket I had my eye on was not there today but I did talk to the vendor and hope I can buy it next week. For those of you who know me, you know I'm into food trucks. Today, I visited Street Donuts for their first return to Seattle since September. They had a seasonal peppermint and chocolate flavor but my heart belongs to cinnamon and caramel. Fantastic as usual! The Bistro Box was in the house with Arancini (fried risotto balls). They were fried crisp and full of creamy mushroom risotto. At $6.00 for 2 balls - I was totally full! Jemil's Big Easy brought peach cobbler to the party and I was all in! I wasn't sure how an outdoor event in December would go but I think the event had a little something for everyone - food trucks, shopping, and beer. What more could you ask for?