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| - I attended Taste of Charlotte this year only because I happened to be uptown for Kidney Walk. It was nice to be at the festival at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday because it was not yet crowded.
The organizers listened and instead of this being "Taste of Chain Restaurants", there are a lot of local establishments. Restaurants included Viva Chicken, Queen City Q, Imani, Brazz, Fuel, Dilworth Grill, and Chicken Salad Chix. I bought 15 tokens for 20 bucks and it was enough to try four things and have 2 tokens left for TCBY sorbet (it was hot). The viva chicken with rice and a plantain was the dish of the day and was a generous size. The items I had from other restaurants were all good too.
Yes, there is a section where you will be harassed by salespeople. However, there is also a section where you will get worthwhile free samples, not just junk. These included Rolaids, Snyder's pretzels, Mentos, Gold Bond Men Body Powder, and more.
Although this event is relatively small (30 restaurants) for a large city with a good restaurant scene, a Johnson & Wales campus, and the American headquarters of the world's largest contract foodservice company, it was more quality over quantity this year. The tokens are a little pricey but you get more bang for your buck at certain places. I would like to see them move it to an open area. Tryon gets crowded but at least it is shaded.
I am glad to finally see that this festival features almost all local restaurants. If it stays like this, I will return.
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