This was my first Taste of Calgary and I did enjoy it, who doesn't enjoy eating and drinking in a public park on a beautiful summer day?
I thought it was kinda expensive and it was a lot smaller than I thought it was going to be. There was only a handful for restaurants to sample from and they shared similar palates e.g., African restaurant that served curry-like foods across from an Indian restaurant serving curry-like foods.
If there were at least 30 restaurants participating each day from different parts of the world, then it would be a real taste of Calgary. I was expecting less known establishments to be there-- not franchises such as Brewsters and Coco Brooks, who had tents there too.
So some of the positives:
-great location
-great human crowds (non-human crowds like wasps was not so great.)
-great drinks!**
-decent parking
Some of the "oh nos":
-not enough variety of food (but what I did taste was delicious)
-kinda expensive, I spent $25 and went home hungry
-the music wasn't loud enough-- and there was a great live band, so this was a major bummer.
-WASPS!!! I feel like every wasp in city was at Taste of Calgary.
Overall, I think I would go again but maybe just for the beverage garden! It's the best place to get your monies worth. Many of the drinks were a good size for 2-3 tickets. For rum, whiskey, long island ice tea... so most likely, you'll find me at the beverage garden next year :)