TASTE OF SANTA ANA - Santa Ana, CA

A friend of mine invited me to Taste of Santa Ana. We have been to Taste of Anaheim and Taste of Downtown Santa Ana before and were impressed with the events. The locations, the event staff, and most importantly, the vendors. It was mostly local vendors and we got to experience what local restaurants had to offer. Well, not this event.

chicken and pasta

sausage wrap

steak and mash

The parking at the MainPlace mall was horrible. We parked on the opposite side of the event because we knew it was going to be packed. Even though, we still had to circle around the lot at least twice before we finally found one by Nordstrom. Having an event like this at the mall parking lot was just strange and it gave a ghetto vibe. Just imagine eating finger food while having cars passing by next to you with dust in the air. Not something I would enjoy for sure.

chicken!

Strawberry pie

sliders

The most disappointment was the vendor selection. In the name of Taste of Santa Ana, the vendors that showed up were mostly from the mall or within 1 mile of the mall. Sure they were considered local business but yet they were mostly national chains and nothing surprising or exciting that would yells out "THIS IS SANTA ANA!!" However I did have the pleasure to speak to two local restaurants, Panini Cafe and The Robbins Nest. The owners were friendly and the food and drinks were great. I would definitely make time to visit them for sure.

Hotel food at its finest

Delicious pasta

Turkey patty (I think)

Granted it was the first year they had this event, it was very unorganized and lots of things could be improved. For example, one of the vendor told me they didn't even know about the raffle until they got there and had no idea they supposed to provide a prize. They were not even instructed on how the raffle worked and when it would end, so when they were asked any questions about the raffle, they had no idea whatsoever on what was going on.

Sandwich mountain

My friend knocked it off from my hand so I didn't get to try it. He said he saved my life.

Yes Lisa, I will come visit you one day.

Interesting flavor from Crabbie's

I could only hope they can secure a better venue in Santa Ana next year and be more selective on the vendors because at this point, this event was not worth the time to attend at all and it did not feature Santa Ana in anyways. Until next year...