Oktoberfest

Two things that should NEVER go together… Chinatown and Oktoberfest! Um, how about GOOD German bier! Half assed food… Ugh… Munich, there is no substitute for thee

Oktoberfest is a college student’s wet dream. Open containers on the street, check. Slutty co-​eds dressed in rented lederhosen outfits, check. Ample access to clubs and bars, check. This was a great event for anyone in their early twenties. For those of us «elder statesmen» with liver battlescars, there wasn’t a tremendous amount of attraction to this event. In fact, we only came here because we were supposed to meet friends. Luckily we were able to retreat from the mayhem outside, into a club where we could share a few drinks and some conversation.
I found it amusing that despite its billing as «Oktoberfest» the primary beer sponsor was Samuel Adams. The sausages and grilled onions were pretty far from brats and sauerkraut. And a Thai restaurant was peddling food out of their side door.
Some of the female attendees appeared to be unsure what lederhosen were and appeared dressed in their finest stripper attire of thigh-​high white boots with six inch heels, and white corsets. There was also a punk rock girl with a tartan plaid mini skirt and black combat boots. Oh well, I guess I’m not really complaining about the slut factor, just get the theme right is what I’m saying.
Also, Chinatown is loaded with hobos, and at night, your parking space is their backyard… and bathroom. They are fairly bold and will approach you, much like transients in any major metropolitan city, and ask for spare change to get further besotted. This is a big turn off for anyone bringing their lady friends. Especially when the hobos smell like a combo of booze-​sweat-​and piss.
Pass on future iterations of this event unless you are under 22 years old.

Lets start with the food. Not one German stand, no German foods. Nothing. I was hoping that the restaurants would at least try to do some type of German infusion but there was not a Reiberdatschi (potato pancake) insite. Even the beer, come on Sam Adams? Really? Yes Sam Adams is good but that’s what they consider German beer? No German music even though the live bands were really good. The only thing great about this was being outside and drinking. They didn’t even sell beer steins! They totally hyped this event up and it wasn’t worth going to. Thank you Emi for the wrist bands and it was worth getting just to get into the clubs. I was glad I went to Eat the Streets before coming here. $ 5.00 for a beer was not worth the trip over. The few guys in liederhosen were pretty funny to see.

As a street festival it was fun but as an Oktoberfest I was disappointed. There was only one brand of beer and it was American at that. There was no German band, though the Royal Elephant Brass Band was entertaining. Lots of good food available, but I didn’t see any real bratwurst. Wasn’t down with paying for the opportunity to drink. Had I known it was just Sam Adams I wouldn’t have bought it.

Who doesn’t love sausage and beer?!
Oktoberfest is located mainly on Nuuanu between Hotel St and Beretania. They had 3 stages with live music and contests. Tons of food booths and of course, beer booths. It is not as big as St Patrick’s Day block party, but pretty good in size. They had wristbands to drink for sale for $ 3 just for drinking and $ 10 for drinking and club/​bar access. Lucky for us Unilocalers, Emmi gave us vouchers for free $ 10 wristbands.
All in all, a drunken success!

*Ratings are subject to change depending on how I feel about the possibility that I might have been barbqued along with fellow Unilocalers last night.
**After thinking it over, someone suggested I not blame an event on things they have no control of. But I still consider it «A-​OK», because it is an OKTOBERFEST, so where was the German music?!?
According to reports «one of the propane tanks sprung a leak. 6 foot flames shot out the back of the cart» on a certain food truck. It just so happened that last night I attended the Oktoberfest with fellow Unilocalers and earlier in the night we had been standing not to far away from said truck for a while. We were luckily that we decided to go somewhere else, considering that one of us could have been hurt if we had stayed around there.
Other then that it was a great event. With lots of beer and great conversations to be had with fellow Unilocalers.
# Unilocal 365 ⁰⁶²⁄₃₆₅
Date Visited: Friday, September 30, 2011

Ok, I can totally see why other people rated it so low. And yes, I am giving it 4 stars for a street fair but 2 stars for an Oktoberfest
Yes there was no German beer, the closest you could get to a bratwurst was an Italian sausage, there was no German music, and yes, a food truck did go up in flames. But MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR points for having Oktoberfest in September, which is when it is traditionally held in Germany. And did anyone catch Taimane Gardner and Friends? Oh My God! That girl rocked the ukelele!
But come guys! How authentic of an Oktoberfest were you expecting when it was being held in CHINATOWN?!
The beer was good, relatively cheap considering they really overfilled the cups and didn’t put much head on. I mean Sam Adams Oktoberfest, Cherry Wheat, and Ale? How is that bad beer? Better than Bud or Coors, which is what you tend to find at street fairs. Lines were relatively short and the bartenders tried to get you served as quickly as possible. Also, it was kinda nice that there was hard liquor and not just beer.
We didn’t try any of the food because we went to dinner at Eat the Street, which was less than a mile away. I will say, the pickings seemed slim. However, there was a dessert tent by some tea place where you can go to have afternoon tea. Those were pretty tasty, and when I freaked out when a friend who showed up late started whispering in my ear from behind, a nice gentleman manning the booth was ready to get in a fight and call the cops because he thought my friend was harassing me. I personally appreciated that.
Yes, it was more than a street fair than an Oktoberfest. Maybe next year we can work on getting an oompa-​band and getting some more traditional foods like Heineken, pomme frites, bratwurst, and curry ketchup?
Also, Unilocalers who complained about prices for wristbands. If you had checked in using your app at the Unilocal Booth you would have gotten a voucher for a free wristband.