I give it 5 stars but overall the event was way too crowded. Food fests are always mayhem but this was the high level form. You have to just bump your way in sometime eat up some place and try to grab that noodle or whatever dish you are eyeing. I like organized chaos so I didn't mind being bumped a little. This was the place to be last week, 50 hand picked restaurants serving all kinds of goodies and there were drinks and sweets to sample. I skipped most of the sweets and went down to just trying the real food. Some vendors ran out almost right away and since line was long outside I got in the spot after 730pm. I know Dough pretty much ran out first I guess each donut is expensive and all but once I got near the shelves on their carts were completely empty. Of course, so much food to still sample such as Luke's lobster (shrimp roll that I had more than twice). Line was not that bad actually, Boomwich was there, I think Fletcher's BBQ I looked for and didn't see but Ofrenda had one of my favorites. (See my pic of the taco, had that at least three times). STELLA ARTOIS was the official sponsor of the event and they made sure you were not thirsty. I had the beer and the cidre , awesome indeed. I was loving the vibe of the drink isle itself, so many beers like Southern tier and Sixpoint (multiple variations). Upstairs there were more vendors and VIP which I didn't get into but still experience was amazing. Veggie egg rolls and sliders were passed around. I was here with Monica and we both got our eats on. I was so stuffed for the rest of the night. Definitely a highlight of the year so far was to attend this event. I can't wait to come back next year. read more

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What an awesome Friday night date! We went to The Village Voice 10th Annual Choice Eats Tasting Event with friends and it was a feast! It was an evening of well dressed people engaging in staggered gluttony and too-many-bites-to-count with over 50 restaurants represented. We made sure to have a light lunch, arrive early and choose wisely which bites we wanted to use for our stomach-retail. The Metropolitan Pavilion is perfect for so many tables. The space was spacious and clean. The plaques above each table distinguished each table and types of food they were serving. There was DJ playing 90s and 2000s songs. VIP lounge upstairs, and free whisky glasses for drinks. This year, Guinness and Stok coffee sponsored and served the best drinks. Guinness introduced a pale ale that was cold and refreshing and great break from the massive amounts of food. And the Guinness table had a tangy light red ale that was so unique! Stok coffee offered 3 flavors. The not-too-sweet cold brew offered slightly sweet smooth coffee that was perfect digestif to the multiple meals. Food: Most of the food was ok. The stand outs were: 1) Kailash Parbat's crispy corn basket. This was crunchy basket of buttercorn and beans; it was so delightfully different and offered so much contrast of textures that it really stood out in my mind. 2) Seared scallop- it was perfectly seared and although it was sitting out, it still maintained its perfect firm texture and sweet oceanic flavor. 3) Chocolate from Confectionery. This dark piece of chocolate was sweet, tart with chewy tart raspberry gel was one of my favorite desserts of the night. 4) Raclette from El Raclette. This was gooey melted semi-hard cow's milk cheese is roasted and scraped onto a plate of roasted potatoes, pickled pearl onions and cornichons. This was one of my absolute favorites! If you are a fan of melted cheese, you must try this dish! The cheese was gooey, roasted and had bits of crunchy caramelized rind. It was heavenly. I liked it so much that I waited twice in line. 5) The passion fruit ice cream- ohhh! I loved this! This was my other fav dessert! I loved the tartness of the ice cream and buttery creaminess. It was a wonderful time! Thanks to our friends for the invite! read more

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All of the vendors there were super nice and happy. It's like they love to make food for people who love food. I'm into events like these as they breed a kind of chaotic hunger inside of me. Like in the movie Spaceballs but my alien which emerges from inside of me is much cuter. Just sayin. This is what I would imagine a zombie apocolypse to be like, a mass of people in a frenzied, chaotic and hungry state. I havnt worked out if we are already zombies or are virus free still and gathering nourishment to sustain ourselves from the zombies. No idea. Holy beer! Damn there's alotta beer companies here. They've got their own aisle, their own section for beer people, which sadly(but not really that sad) I am not one of and have never really been a fan of that frothy nectar. It woulda been cool if some micro breweries venued here like the one that makes the Heady Topper beer, but then again they're not local and so they wouldn't be here, but I'm just using them as an example. Food portions were mucho generous, so much so that I felt that Chinese 1st gen guilt as I discarded many a plate of food that I had only taken a bite of. Sorry mom, but yes, 99.9% of the time, I do finish my food. I know Jordan probly didn't waste any food as he seems like a good boy who cleans his plate and he was the guy I gave my extra ticket to. Even tho I appreciate events like these, in a way I'm sure you menfolk probly like it a lil more. In conclusion, thank you America for supplying food, restaurants for making food, Yelp and Village Voice for being a podium of info on food and NYC for being able to showcase 50 great restaurants in a singular building. I definitely gained a handful of new 'hunger eradicators' I'd love to eat at, which is basically the point of it all. It's like a win win or something. read more

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I have to admit, I thought Choice Eats this year was really disappointing.  I've attended the Village Voice Choice Eats event for the past 4 out of 5 years. The first two years I was very impressed. I missed the third year. The fourth year was decent, and this year was very disappointing. I feel like I have been a loyal attendee of Choice Eats, and these are my feelings about the event this year. The first, and probably biggest disappointment about tonight's event was how many people were taking food home with them. It was crazy. Now, I have been to a lot of food events, and even at the Village Voice ones there are always a few older women who are packing up their rolling bags with food, but tonight was beyond frustrating. We saw couple after couple and person after person shoving their samples into zip lock bags and tupperwears.  We saw bags and backpacks filled, no stuffed, no buldging. It was crazy. I felt like you either need to take food home with you or miss out on all the samples the restaurants have to offer.  By the way, we missed out on some restaurants that ran out, and I'm thinking it was because of this. Suggestion. Maybe don't allow backpacks or require them to be checked. I feel like that would make a big difference. And put a disclaimer that if you're caught smuggling food you'll be kicked out of the event. It's one thint to take a cupcake or cookie home for later, but to take enough to feed a family of 4 is ridiculous. It is a tasting event not a take away event. Another fun story (sarcasim). This women literally walked up to the table I was standing at and opened a cupcake tray she brought from home and filled it with mini cupcakes she had just collected. The thing held at least 12-15.  She shoved it in her (very full) bag and went on her way.  She probably had cupcakes for the next week.  I didn't get to try those cupcakes btw. The second major complaint I have has to do with your advertising. As a loyal customer, I was very put off that you offered 50% off tickets a few days before the event. I bought my tickets right away.  After overhearing some girls chatting behind me on the melted cheese line, I know I was not the only one upset by this.  If you need to reduce the price to sell tickets because people haven't come back from previous years, then you need to fix the event. When you have to reduce the price of your tickets because not enough people are returning, it's a sign that you need to fix the problem with the event not the price.  Loyal attendees should not have to pay twice as much as first time customers because you were having difficulty selling the event. There were less vendors this year, less drink options, the sponsor events were misleading (many were only involved with VIP), and the event itself was basically over by 9. Disappointing. Just so you know, there were literally 8 different food events this weekend, and that's the case when it comes summertime in the tri-state area.  Maybe next year I'll try a different event. read more

This was so much fun! Lines and lots of people but they all moved very fast. No need for cash or card - everything is free here. Photo booth, beer glass-everything! Get VIP- by the time we made it in some of the booths were closing down. Drink and eat (stick and move) Tons of food w DJ and lighting and an overall great experience. Can't give 5 stars because the tickets aren't cheap. for the price people pay - they should be guaranteed a tasting from all vendors. Was looking forward to Kati Roll Company - but they were out of food and packed and GONE By 7?!?! read more

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I've been to this event four of the five past years and last nights Village Voice Choice Eats was disappointing. Each year the festival get smaller. It seems like there are less restaurants and sponsorships that want to be a part of this event every year. This year and last year I noticed that there are a lot of people packing food to go in Tupperware's or in plastic bags inside their purse or a tote bag. I must've seen at least 40 to 50 people throwing stuff in their bag and I really feel like there was a lot more. There are a lot of things that I do not get to try because they were all gone by the time I got there and I think a large part of this is people grabbing takeaways that were NOT meant to be takeaways. This year Village voice also decided to cut the prices and a half a few days before the event. I imagine they were having a hard time selling it out. This really sucks for people like me who have loyalty to the event and bought tickets earlier only to spend twice the money compared to someone who bought it last minute. This week there is a bunch of food festivals and I chose the Village Voice Choice Eats one. I do not think I would do so in the future. I'll give it three stars based on all the ones I've been to as the first couple were amazing. This last one was pretty sad. The amount of greed seen by people packing to go as containers was an extreme turn off. read more

Village Voice Choice Eats - This was 9:12. General admission for the event was 7 o'clock to 10 o'clock. No food and no people. Village Voice has to step it up. - Festivals Near Me - New York, New York

Great foodie event in NYC at the metropolitan pavillon. Get there early because line goes down the block to get in, even with the VIP tickets. Event was well organized and the tastings were really good. The VIP upstairs lounge was nice but not enough chairs or sofas for anyone to even sit on. Your basically standing the entire night, unless you feel like sitting on the floor. Restaurants served really large tastings of their foods but we did find quite a few ran out pretty early so you have to get in fast and start making your rounds. Overall fun event to try, much smaller scale than the food network events. read more

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So happy I finally made it to the Village Voice Choice Eats Tasting Event, this year's event had over 50 hand picked restaurants from all over NYC. On the way there we were wondering how they would possibly fit all these restaurants in the space and while it was packed pretty tight, between 2 floors they made it work. I'm gluten-free so tastings sometimes can be tough but they had a great mix of vendors serving up a variety of different offerings so I found just the right amount of GF goodies to nosh on. Everything was delicious, I don't remember trying anything that wasn't super yum and the Chefs and business reps were all friendly. There were a couple businesses who ran out of food and had to leave around 8pm which is always a bummer. For future I definitely would recommend buying the VIP pass, we had GA tickets and it would have been nice to be able to sample before the crowds came but it still wasn't too bad just a little tight at times walking through the aisles. read more