Asian Food Fest

The Asian Food Fest was A-​OK. I like that they have it at Washington Park but I do feel like there should be more vendors. I liked how they had all different types of food, nationality wise. But I feel like had a lot of repeat foods and not enough unique choices to pick from. I’m pretty sure I saw spring rolls and Crab Rangoon a handful of times at different booths.
I also felt like it was overly crowded and that every booth had a really long line. Which is good for the festival and the businesses but not great for the people who are hungry and want to try everything. Standing in line for twenty minutes for a spring roll isn’t my idea of fun, especially when I’m hangry.
The few things we did get while we were there were great, though. I’ll go back next year but maybe at a different time and hope for different lines and even more food.

After arriving to last year’s Asian Food Fest too late to enjoy any of the food, I made it a priority to get to this year’s Fest– and I wasn’t disappointed!
I loved the variety of vendors this year– it was great to see multiple Thai and Filipino vendors filling out the space among the standard Chinese, Vietnamese, and Indian vendors. Since I’ve never seen Filipino food in Cincinnati, I took advantage of the Filipino food truck and their chicken adobo. It was amazing, and I can’t wait to see them around town!
Bottom line: Great food, great variety, and great entertainment. I’m already looking forward to next year!

Definitely a fun event. This year Asian Food Fest was hosted in Washington Park, and it was a great time! Had some delicious crab rangoon ($ 3), noodles from Thai express ($ 6), and several Filipino dishes from Dai Trang (loved the ube waffle with fried chicken wing… Put that on the menu!). Prices are a little high, but I think it’s fair for a special event. My friends and I especially enjoyed the entertainment from the dancers. Yay for Pinoy pride!

After missing last year’s event, I’m happy to report that I got to check out 2016’s version.
There were a number of vendors throughout Washington Park, including a few tents near the gazebo that had «secret menu» items, from where I got to try the Sichuan-​style Hong You Chao Shou (spicy wontons with chili oil), which were good and just the right amount of spice.
I also had «cheese rangoon» (Cream Cheese Puffs) and Sesame Chicken from Yat Ka Mein; Hapa Okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake made with Japanese mayo, tonkatsu, bacon, green onion, and fried egg) from Quan Hapa; Kimchi Poutine from Revolution Rotisserie; and my favorite two dishes of the festival, Loco Moco (white rice, topped with a hamburger patty, brown gravy, and a fried egg) and Spam Musubi (slice of cooked Spam marinated in Hawaiian BBQ sauce, on top of a block of rice, wrapped together with nori dried seaweed), popular Hawaiian dishes from Ono Grindz. I am still thinking about the Loco Moco an Spam Musubi, and I am so glad I got to try them. The unfortunate part is that Ono Grindz does not have any specific location and is more of a pop-​up restaurant. I need this food in my life regularly.
I’m glad I got to try some unique Asian dishes and there were pretty many restaurants in attendance. The beer selection was okay, too. If you like Asian food and food festivals, save the date for next year.

I got a Thai boat noodle soup from Budina. As a Thai, I think this place is a joke! I have had Thai boat noodles before but whatever noodle I got from them is not a boat noodle at all! It looks like crushed noodle in pork stew broth with pork fat stew and some mung bean sprouts. If I can give this place a zero star, I will do it!

I appsolutely loved this festival. The food was fantastic and the entertainment was amazing. I would love to see more Asian Arts and Crafts at the next one. Maybe more about the different Asian cultures. Food brings us together but objects help us learn about each other culturally.

I’ve been waiting for this for a month! Ever since I’ve heard about Asian Food Fest I’ve just became a stalker on their website counting down the days until I can finally feast like a king with Asian food goodness!
Plenty of different booths to choose from, Asian to Indian, shaved ice to bubble tea. It’s a good way to try out new restaurants that have been under the radar due to the big corporations.
You can also enjoy live entertainment with a brief introduction to different Asian culture while picnicking your abundance of food.
If you have time this weekend, differently go check it out!

Not enough vendors to make a ‘day’ of it. The vendors who were there ran out of food. Lines were too long for the average meals. No thanks.

I really enjoyed the fest being at Washington Park. I sampled the Udon noodle dish from Yat Ka Mein and relaxed with Dawn and people watched. I share similar sentiments as Monika and Nate that it was «small» and that the lines were a bit long (but often worth it). There were few non-​meat dishes which made finding something difficult for me. The performances were entertaining and the children dance groups are too cute. Like Nate said, you’ll be there about an hour or so and then you can go do something else. Perhaps hop on the street car which has a stop right at Washington Park and explore other parts of the city.

I had a great first time at the AFF this year. Several food options to choose from, some fun live entertainment — everything you’d expect from a festival.
But the highlight for me would have to be the inflatable human fooseball game in the center of the park, which surprisingly went overlooked by the large majority of attendees there. The volunteers were on megaphones trying to attract people for a game. Sure, some may laugh if off as «It’s only for kids,» or «No thanks, I’m too old for those kinds of games,» or even, «Are you a grown adult, Anthony?»
To that I say, HA! Little do they know, little children make weaker opponents to which ultimate fooseball glory can be won.

Had a good time. Had Sisig from Mapi Barbequehan and a Kona Ice for dessert/​drink. Nice crowd. Washington Park was a great place for it. My kids even had a place to play between acts. Enjoyed watching FSAO dancers. Pic of girls in blue dress was from Asian fest 2013.

Looked forward to coming to this event to support local businesses and taste authentic asian foods. The fall weather was perfect for the occassion (held at Washington Park downtown Cincinnati).
I really liked the list of vendors. Bobo Cha (specializes in bubble tea). Budina I got the Som Tum which is a papaya salad (very delicious and spicy) and the Pork Potstickers (garnished with cabbage and tempura sauce drizzled on top) both for $ 8.00.
All lines were extremely long (some went quickly and was a 10 – 15 minute wait The popular ones were more than 25 minutes long. What I really wanted to try was Red Sesame Korean BBQ (BBQ Taco with tofu and their mini Quesadilla). It was at least a 30 minute wait.
Other than food vendors, they also had performances from live music to martial arts.
I’m so glad I got to experience this event and loved the location. Washington Park is huge and open (plenty of room to sit).

The Asian Food Fest was an enjoyable weekend event in Washington Park. There were plenty of great restaurant vendors to choose from, the most popular of which drew some pretty sizable lines. As someone who is new to the area, I thought it was a great way to learn about lots of local restaurants in one lovely location.

The lines were kind of long but there were a lot of options from friendly vendors! I wish Deep India would have been there like the website said. Still had fun!

This was a fun little fest despite the rain. There were some interesting dishes to try and of course bubble tea. The Kroger booth was giving away some awesome things and of course the Unilocal booth rocks. Wasn’t planning on going but glad we stopped by. Many of the booths had sold out by the time we got there (Around 5) so hopefully they will have more next year.

Nice event, perfect location and lots of people and pets. Sadly, when I got there after 4 there were only few stands left and did not manage to try the food I had planned for. Next year will come early :)

Asian food fest. Holy cow it is great to see the yearly progression every year of this fest take off. I LOVED that it was hosted at Washington park this year. The set up with the food vendors along the perimeter was great because you could see all the vendors, stage and the center had a couple tables for eating. The open set up made it really easy to meet up with people. Phở Lang Tang and Red Sesame were superstars with steady long lines, and it was great to see other food vendors make their debut, I particularly thought it was AWESOME to see Our Lady of La Vang (the Vietnamese Catholic Church) present. A little surprised to see no vendor chose to sell bánh mì, but there were other really authentic foods like phở and bánh xèo which were super yum. I did get a taste of these curry wontons which I don’t even remember where they were from but they were dee-​lish!
Aside from food, they had live performances of traditional dance and martial arts but in my opinion the BEST feature of all was the Human foosball! The best ten minutes of my day and I cannot wait to figure a way to play again.
Asian food fest did not disappoint. I’m very proud of the sponsors, people who orchestrated the event and especially the community that took the time to come out, support and make it such a successful hit.
…but seriously though HUMAN FOOSBALL where can I play this again?!!

Asian Fest was a really good time. I went there for a second time this year. It is pretty small — both times I went, I ate food from maybe three vendors and left within half an hour or 45 minutes. So, just know that it’s not a full days worth of adventures, and plan to do something afterwards — like going to the park.
I was really only interested in the food which was a majority of their booths. They did have a few with some trinkets, but none that were particularly appealing.
I would suggest that they consider a different venue — it has typically been on a hot weekend, and it’s not near any buildings that give shade, and all the pavement around the space attracts all the heat… not the pleasantest of places.

I hear this food fest gets better every year – yet another promising sign that Cincinnati’s ethnic food scene is expanding.
Food options are plenty. Some of the most well-​known Asian food vendors around town participate, including Phở Lang Thang, Green Papaya, and the new and hopping gastropub Quan Hapa.
While many vendors come to sell their grub, their offerings are rather limited. I was a little disappointed that Quan Hapa didn’t offer their (amazing) okonomiyaki. But I guess this is an opportunity to showcase some of their lesser known treats. Red Sesame, the Korean bbq truck, wasn’t selling their popular kimchi burrito. They only offered tacos and quesadillas. Nonetheless, they were one of the star vendors, announcing a 45 (!!!) minute wait for food to be prepared… not really worth it unless you walk around the whole market to sample everything else and come back to wait 35 minutes.
Other highlights include the honeydew bubble tea. Street Pops was also there, but a little pricey at $ 3 a popsicle. These are worth a try – they come in crazy good flavors like thai basil lime, vanilla red bean, and vietnamese coffee. Some of the food is bleh at best. My friend didn’t enjoy his pad thai but ate it all anyway (it was a heart-​wrenching 6 bucks per small plate), so definitely ask around for what’s good especially for the lesser-​known vendors.
If you’re planning to try at least 5 different vendors, definitely buy the $ 3 discount card when you first enter. You get $ 1 off your purchase at every vendor, but it does limit you to certain food options. For example, I could only get $ 1 off at Street Pops if I got the coconut instead of the lychee (which I really wanted). But my Asian savings instinct kicked into high gear, and I went with the coconut – yum, no regrets there :)
Atmosphere of this event is great. At night it feels like a «night market,» which are popular in Taiwan. Fireworks display after 9pm on Saturday is gorgeous and a great way to end the night.

I really didn’t know what to expect. It’s been years since I lived in the area and even more years since I’d been downtown.
Parking wasn’t a pain, but finding the parking lots was a pain. The last time I was downtown, I was there for a work seminar and stayed in some hotel, so I parked at the hotel. It’s good that the sports arenas have so much parking. It’s bad that it’s not easily navigated. Once I figured out what they were doing, I got into a lot. Trying to get out was another matter.
Once parked, I headed up the stairs into the wetness. It could have been called «Asian Flood Fest» for a while. Forget the food – it was raining.
There seemed to be something for everyone. I saw just about everything except Japanese and Pilipino food. What really struck me was the Red Sesame Korean BBQ Truck and it wasn’t even moving! It reminded me of the Kogi BBQ trucks in Orange County, California (next to Los Angeles County), and how much of an effect they’ve had on mixing Korean food with other cultures.
Natrually, I had to try the Beef BBQ Tacos. It’s been years since I had Korean BBQ in a restaurant in Japan, although I’ve got the grill to do it by myself at home. If I have a complaint, it’s that they used a sweet sauce, as if they were targeting westerners – which they were. :-D I usually eat Korean food at home as undiluted as any Korean family eats it.
I’ve got to say that, wet or not, the places to sit were greatly appreciated. It’s obvious that the coverings didn’t spare anything much because everything was at least a bit wet and some things were quite wet, but sitting on the curb was not really an option, so thanks for having places to sit. There were some people across the table and they said that there really was no place the previous year to sit.
I had gone for a walk around the downtown area after eating and I returned just in time to see the entertainment finish. Oops!
I hope that there will have been enough attendance that the event can be expanded next year to give a wider variety of food. Maybe, they could coordinate menus to not overlap.