Taste of Aliso Niguel

It’s a great fund raising event for the kids at Aliso Niguel HS and you have to keep that in mind every time something seems expensive, from the admission tickets to sodas. But there are enough great food and drink choices so you can enjoy the event and don’t mind the donation markup. This year was my first here and it seemed a little odd that the whole event was outside, it almost rained on us. On the other hand ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ Slater were grilling and smoking the whole neighborhood so I was glad it was outside! Man, those ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ burgers were great and they were handing out quarters (that’s why I had to stay in line again!). It was more than enough food, Pizza Lounge was good, Stadium Brewery, Veggie Grill, Thrive Juice Lab, Nekter, Cosmo’s, Lucille’s, Good Choice Sushi, Skosh Monahan’s, Ruby’s, Bowl Of Heaven, Pita Pita, Corner’s Bakery, Citrus Grill, Cinderella Cakes, Powell’s, Peets, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Hangar 24, Ballast Point, some wineries and other sponsors. Live music and auctions, all in all you couldn’t eat this much food for this money anywhere else, and it’s a social event, you get to meet people and make new friends, I’ll try it next year too.

The food was cold and terrible, parking was really crappie, and they were charging for water and sodas after paying $ 70 for my girlfriend and I to get in, I can see charging for beer and wine but $ 2 for a bottle of water or a soda, give me a break. So not worth the money

What a huge disappointment from two years ago on the parking garage location. The food for 2013 was sooo much better too. I felt as if I was at an outdoor costco with people wearing designer jeans and paying a $ 35 dollar day pass for samples. The layout of laguna design Center is not meant for anything outdoors. To get to the entrance one must walk a mile depending on where you parked. They had an awful band towards the south end of the layout and a decent female singer band in the entrance part. I am so mad I wasted $ 70 on this event, that I wrote them an email for my money back. I don’t even have kids that attend that HS, so I am hoping to get it back. Just don’t go there next year, it’s not worth it. The food was cold and terrible. The only thing good was chefs tacos from Renaissance. I’m going to go vomit now.

My boyfriend and I wen to The Taste of Aliso Niguel Fundraiser over this weekend and I must say, it is pretty fun! I honestly had never heard of this event, but I guess it is pretty prevalent across most cities and most of the money raised will usually go towards the local High School (this was year number five this has been going on in Aliso I believe).
Admission to get in was $ 35 and from what I understand, $ 10 goes toward food and the venue, the other $ 25 goes towards the local High School. It can be pricey for most people, but it does go towards a good cause and the food is pretty good!
The event is once a year, usually the end of April on a Saturday from 6−9pm. There are vendors from about 15 local eateries and you can sample food from all of them and as much as you want with the price of admission. I had a little bit of everything — from cotton candy, to a hamburger, to a taco, to a chocolate covered strawberry. I left stuffed! Beverages aren’t included in admission, so it’s an extra $ 2 for soda or water and $ 5 for beer or wine. I ended up buying a ticket for two beers and it hit the spot.
There was also a silent auction going on during the event as well. You can bid as little or as much as you want. Between my boyfriend and I, we bid on four items and actually won a 60-​minute massage for only $ 30 and the proceeds will go towards the ANHS Marching Band. I was called about 9:30pm the night of the event saying that I had won, but didn’t have time to go back to the event to pick up my gift certificate and pay that night, so I was given the name and number of another lady to call, whom I called this afternoon to schedule a pick up time, but haven’t gotten a call back yet. Hopefully I get a call back so I can go get my massage on!
Overall, great event! I will for sure go back again next year!
Cheers!