decided to go with some friends to check out restaurants in the area and have a good time. while i really, really like the concept of this event, i felt that the administrative execution was lacking a bit. ticketing was exceptionally clunky. the poor girl attempting to scan the barcodes on phones was having a hell of a time. when she couldn't scan them, she'd have to enter them in manually and that would hold up the line for eternity. i really felt for her as she was trying to manage a less than pleased crowd while furiously punching in numbers with her stylus. props to her for keeping her cool. also, their concept of having drink limitations (12 drinks per person, bar was supposed to stamp the card when you got a drink) was a nice idea, it definitely wasn't followed by the staff. sure, its great to get a couple of drinks but what about some of those people that tend to abuse that privilege? saw some of those people falling around and acting like idiots.
i do give them credit for having a lot of vendors in attendance. it was great to see a smattering of different types of cuisines as well as some really great desserts. some of the highlights of my evening:
- 5&Diner: milkshake. freaking awesome
- Wedge and Bottle: delicious sheep's milk cheese!
- this amazing thai chili truffle but i can't find the name of the vendor :(.
- Tamale Store : pretty damn tasty tamales
i'm glad we got there early so that we were able to fill ourselves with delicious food and minimal wait line times. as soon as the place started getting packed, it became very apparent that we needed to get out of there. too many elbows in the face and people stealing chairs right out from under you.
all in all a decent event but not sure if i would do a repeat.