LA Paella Fest

I would not attend again. The lines for the Paella were extremely long and the wine samples were served on a 2 inch paper cup. I definitely did not get my money’s worth. I could have simply gone to my favorite tapas bar and enjoyed a few glasses of wine and a healthy portion of Paella. Also, there was not enough water served and it was a super hot day.
The event was poorly organized and not worth the $$. It wasn’t even worth the drive down town. The only reason I’m giving this 3 stars is because of the company I was with. Wish I could get my money back.

Food was good. I didn’t have anyone tell me that the more expensive pass was needed to get extra seafood, but maybe that is why I saw people walking around with giant shrimp and lobster when I didn’t get any? I do think it would be hard to make it completely fair and give everyone the same amount of seafood.
Long lines but that is to be expected in these types of events. It was nice to have some other offerings, like the pastries from Tropicana with café con leche. It would have been nice to have a schedule of which booths were opening at what time (unless I missed it?)
Like Priscilla J, I was also disappointed with the non-​alcoholic beverages, when it was just mini water bottles. They should have just advertised water. Non-​alcoholic beverages implies at least some other choices, perhaps juice, soda, etc.
There was some confusion with the ticket line. I had purchased tickets prior to the event, and they kept changing their mind regarding whether we had to also wait in the normal line for buying tickets. Check-​in process needs to be streamlined with more space.
Parking next door was $ 9, and one street behind near the courthouse it was $ 7. Right across from Olvera street and could take the Metro to Union station.

The first ever LA Paella Fest was fun but the paella was not that great.
$ 60 got you all the paella and drinks you could wait in line for. The lines were long. The paella was served in small dishes. In essence you would have to spend all day in line to get your money’s worth. This of course would mean that you would not get the chance to check out the flamenco dancers or the mariachi which featured a really, really good singer from Michoacan state in Mexico known as «El Tariacuri».
Supposedly there were going to be water stations but there weren’t any! They did however hand out tiny water bottles.
There were many vendors. Of note were the products from Extremadura in Spain and Mexican wines from Valle de Guadalupe. There were also samples of tequila.
According to the organizers just over 1,000 people attended, which they considered a good sign.
Al Borde won first place and the Hermanos Esker (representing the Basque region in Spain) got second place. The Hermanos Esker also won the people’s choice award. Sadly, I didn’t get to try the Hermanos Esker paella. Part of my Spanish heritage is Basque! Third place was won by the self named «Paella King». The «Paella King» was bragging about being the best paellero early on. He said other paelleros were using low quality rice, Lol!
We were there from beginning to end and regardless of the mediocre paella we had tons of fun! We got to taste the first place paella and even though it had a beautiful hue to it it was mediocre. To their credit it seemed that they did use an adequate amount of saffron. Other paellas were discolored and one was squishy –pretty bad.
I just hope that they have another LA Paella Fest and that the quality goes up!
What could I do without here?
The long lines and people that were cutting!
What made the LA Paella Fest stand out?
The flamenco dancers and «El Tariacuri»
Three stars. This event was OK.

Much to say *smh*
Event advertised non-​alcoholic beverages for designated drivers. We waited for 30+ minutes only to receive two mini water bottles and the bartender said none of the booths served non-​alc. drinks besides water. If the bartender misinformed us, this would be worthy of removing another star. Certain paella vendors specified that the addition of seafood was only for higher paid tickets. Very cheap business philosophy. We waited 1.5 hours for certain paella dishes to be cooked only to finally reach the front of the line and see the food run out. Some of the dishes had undercooked rice or over-​cooked seafood. Table tops were filthy. Most of the announcements were made in Spanish. For the non-​Spanish-​speaking attendees, we want to be immersed in the culture yes, but we also need to know what is being said so we can enjoy and learn. Ah, so much more to say but the point is it didn’t meet our expectations and we spent hard-​earned money and received very little in return. Not to mention the cost of parking. I’m sure others had a great time and I’m happy for them! But I know I won’t be attending the next one, if there will be one.

Go to the Unilocal table! Gooooood foood. Come on over! Music, food, wine and tequila tasting. You can’t go wrong!