All in all, taste of charlotte was OK. I certainly enjoyed the people watching and good food. I liked being able to sample many of the great restaurants that charlotte has to offer. To me a few of the portions were extremely small. For example, the shrimp po boy slider from emerils e2 was literally 2 bites and it cost about $4. The food quality and taste were excellent but maybe offer 2 sliders for that price.
For those of you that don't like huge crowds I would recommend getting there fairly early on Sunday. We went around 11:30 Sunday and were able to find free parking on the street about a block away and minimal lines for food.
I would recommend buying your coins when you get there versus trying to get them online unless you don't like carrying cash on you. Online the large bucket of coins is around $22 versus $20 if you pay with cash at the event.
Lots of free give always for those of you that like to collect swag.