Houston Margarita Festival

Please save your money this festival is a ghetto hot ass mess!!! It looked like someone’s family reunion or something. I wasted $ 50 on watered down margarita drinks. I stayed at this festival for an hour and I left. Save your money and time and don’t attend this festival. I was extremely disappointed.

I did not stay to the festival long, and was happy that the weather cleared up enough to even go. It seemed like a great time. However, it was nothing like I expected. I should have taken advantage of the pre sale drink tickets. With a $ 35 admission then drinks costing about 7 tickets at $ 2/​ticket it was kind of pricey. All in all I had a great time though and the drinks were delicious. The park was a great location. It looked beautiful around sunset especially to see the area with a special someone. Did not care for the lack of signs as far as parking and entrance. I would go again but I would take advantage of the groupon ticket price of $ 25 for two tickets. That is more reasonable.

This year, 2015, the festival was moved to Sunday due to the weather forecast. The festival featured flavors such as jalepeno, melon, lime, grape, green apple, grapefruit, and others. There were stands for on the rocks and frozen drinks. There was also a mixed drink bar with Crown Royal, 1800, and other liquors. The drinks were handed out in 4oz cups.
We purchased tickets for $ 35 for entry and a free drink. The tickets sold for $ 2 each and the cost for the drinks were 3 – 4 tickets depending on the type of drink. I spent $ 40 for 20 tickets and was able to 2 drinks each and 3 shots top go on top. The margaritas had little to no liquor and we very expensive (over $ 6 each). There were a lot of food vendors but the lines were minimal and the food was good.
The music was mostly rock (in the front) or tejano (in the back) until the late evening hours. Needless to say, the margarita festival is definitely a one time event and I’m glad I had a chance to experience it.

Despite all the negative views, I had a great time this year. The festival was moved from from Discovery Green to sam Houston Park which was great. I didn’t experience any lines. Just a great hint to have the best time is to get VIP. VIP in my opinion is the only way to go. One dollar drinks. Any drink from mixed drinks to margarita. The gave each person food and lots of it. I will be going here every year. If you are a native Houstian or an out of towner. This is a must try!!!

A hot ghetto mess!
I knew from the moment I got out of the car and saw a 300 pound girl with a red lace front wig and crop top showing all of her fat but I was in the wrong place. Once I got inside I was not let down.
Firstly, Discovery Green is too small to hold this event. On top of that, all of the food and drink stations are concentrated into yet a smaller area. There were so many people it was nearly impossible to walk through, difficult to tell where the lines stopped and started, i’m just flat out annoying. If you were able to find a spot in line good luck with the wait. I waited in line 45 minutes to order and then another 45 minutes for my food to be cooked.
The margaritas are a joke. Probably about 6 ounces and you end up paying about eight dollars. But there are so many people that the machines could not keep them frozen so basically the margaritas being given out are half melted slushy’s.
Basically, I’ll never be back. My friends and I ate listen to the music (which is what the one star is for) and left to go have real margaritas at cyclone Anaya’s.
Do not pay money for this event! Heck, even if it’s free don’t waste your time.

This event was a huge waste of money and time. JUST SO EVERYONE IS CLEAR, WHEN YOU PURCHASE TICKETS, nothing is included. So you pay $ 20 a person for absolutely nothing.
The biggest headache was the unbelievably long line to get in. And the line was there for hours. Oh and make sure you are in the correct line or you will have to wait in another line for an hour.
Next let’s talk about how this event is a rip off. To «buy» margaritas you have to purchase tickets at $ 2 a piece. So that means to purchase a 6 oz margarita really costs $ 6 or $ 8 which frankly is a rip off. You can get a premium margarita 12 oz bowl in some really nice Mexican restaurants for $ 8-​$ 10!!!
Ah the tempting food. We paid $ 10 for 3 pieces of ribs between two Kroger buns. Why? I don’t know… moment of instantly. It tasted ok, but even at Pappas BBQ you can get much more for less.
Their were a lot of vendors there trying to sell you things and make you sign up for things. Most of it was irrelevant in my opinion. There was no seating and no shade. And the entertainers on stage? I’ll keep that to myself.
Needless to say I will NEVER go again. And I hope the city of Houston made someone $$$ off this event cause someone seriously did.

Disorganized, overpriced, and overcrowded. I’m very surprised that Groupon would support this event entirely. We did the same as many other disappointed patrons… we went to get our own (real) margaritas instead. Don’t waste your money here.

After reading some of the previous reviews I almost wanted to eat the cost I had paid for the VIP passes and not go.
First off, when we walked out of our hotel a Charter bus just happened to be pulling up. We asked if he dropped off at Discovery Green and he said he dropped off right across the street from there.
After the 5 min. ride, it was about 1:30, we go walk right up to the VIP entrance. I was expected thing great long line again because of the previous years reviews, but there were only 2 ladies ahead of us. So me and my friend were the 3^rd and 4^th person. They would not allow us in yet, which started making me uneasy, because our passes allowed for us to enter early. (This and the BBQ was the reason for the 4 Stars)
We could see patio furniture and standing table already setup and covered. So it looked good so far.
There were about 5 or six other people seated inside already. I think they may have gotten in because they made it there before the front was set up.
The people at the entrance had no idea what they were supposed to do.
At about 1:45 one of the guys that was in charge of setting up came and gave us our wrist bands, food tickets, and let us in. (Food tickets were for Wings and BBQ.
This particular gentleman actually came around to check on us the entire 7 hours were were there.
So we figured we would grab something to eat and drink. We bought some drinks tickets, but the margarita machine was not ready. However, they did have the cans of Budweiser Ritas, sodas, and water. The sodas and water were free, everything else only cost one ticket ($ 1) even the Crown Royal shots.
As for food, the wing and nacho stand were ready to serve. (Cudos to Pat’s Wings On Wheels) those wings were freakin awesome.
They did not start serving BBQ until about 4pm. I was told that there was some type of miscommunication of some type.
In the meantime, I kept my eye on the entrance, just to see how bad the line would get. There was NEVER a line at the VIP entrance. People were slowly coming in for the rest of the day.
The music and performances were great. There were people on the water in canoes, everything was very nice.
We walked over to the other side where the stage was just to see what was going on. It was very crowded and we were told later that the lines for food and drinks were horribly long.
There was a table set up with people watching between where the stage area was and the VIP area. So if you did not have an arm band on you could not get to VIP.
I finally went to get BBQ at 6pm. They had run out, but said that there was some on the way. I went back at 7pm and they had BBQ, but no sauce.
I do have to say that I had some type of pineapple and grape margarita. They were very tasty and they did not skimp on anything of the ingredients.
We stayed for about an hour or so more and left. When we walked outside the gate, there was another charter bus that had just pulled up. So we were again dropped off in front of our hotel.
All in all everything was great.
Can’t wait til next year.
We will again be purchasing VIP passes. They were well worth the money.
Those that purchased the $ 10-​$ 30 tickets, and have complaints, please understand. You get what you pay for

If I could give 0 stars I would. I feel bad for anyone who paid more than the still terribly overpriced groupon price of $ 10 to get in. The margaritas were mostly sugar and overpriced at anywhere from $ 4-​$ 8. Music was so so, little shade, way, way, way too many people. Whoever put this onside a killing but I’ll never go back. Buyer beware. Do a crawl downtown instead, that’s what we did after leaving after 1.5 hours.

This was a poorly organized event. Bought tickets online, then had to stand in line to get in, then had to stand in line to purchase drink tickets, then had to stand in line to get margaritas, then had to stand in line to buy food. 2 hours later was able to get comfortable and listen to the mediocre bands. A total waste of time and money.

Poorly planned. Extremely disorganized. Sold us a pipe dream of a complimentary margarita on groupon just to pull that lil tidbit from the website at the last minute. First issue, it’s a Margarita Festival in one of the largest cities in America. Should have been at a bigger venue, should have been longer than 8 hours and should have been for more than one day. Should account for the number of people that can comfortably fit in and only sell that amount of tickets. Would be helpful to allow prepaid drink tix that can be exchanged for the real ticket at the gate. More so, don’t change the rules of the game after we’ve stood in line for an hour just to say «oh yeah, we moved the groupon line over here. You are standing in the living social line» really!!! Did it matter??? The only good thing about this festival was that it got me out the house.

This was touted as the «best fest» in Houston. I don’t think so. Endless lines for every single thing… it took us almost an hour just to get to the entry gate. The festival area was way too small for the number of attendees. Just a solid sea of people packed in like cattle in a feedlot. It was tricky to know which herd to join for any particular drink… just a giant mishmash of people. Things might have been more agreeable in the VIP area, but us peasants really took it on the chin. We won’t be back.

I have never written a Unilocal review. I have to now.
I don’t just wish I could get my money back, I wish I could be paid for the time we spent behind those fences and the mental anguish we were submitted to.
1 star is not low enough. We actually were lucky to have used groupon. This line was a mere 15 minutes while all others were at least an hour. We were also lucky enough to get there early enough to only stand in line for 30 minutes for drink tickets.
We left 2 hours in and our friends who had used living social had about 15 minutes left in line for drink tickets. (Sorry guys)
If I could see how much money they made and how much money went to the organizations that it supports, I may not hate everything about this terrible piece of s&@!.

Terrible… extremely long lines for tickets to get Drinks and long lines to get drinks and let not forget the shitty drinks as well. Overall it was a very shitty experience that makes hate that I planed this 4months in advance via groupon!!!

If I could have given this festival negative 5 stars I would. Worst festival ever. Longest lines ever and extremely crowded and way too overpriced. AND I didn’t get my free margarita as promised!

WORST FESTIVAL EVER! And let me emphasize EVER! The lines were long, it was over crowded, the drinks were watery, and the venue was just a joke. Basically you pay $ 35 to stand in seemingly ambiguous lines. Please save your money and time.

Welcome to the third circle of hell. This venue is WAY too small for the number of patrons. There were lines for the ATMs to get cash to pay the cash only admission, lines to get in, lines to get every flavor of beverage (for which you needed special currency, or drink tickets, which you also needed to stand in line to get), then to get food; some of the proprieters accept credit, some don’t, and you even have to walk in lines cutting through the lines to get to the overcrowded stage areas with bands that weren’t loud enough to hear from the various drink lines… Suffice it to say, a miserable time, and a miserable waste of a day off. (Parking+admission for two and two complimentary drinks +ATM fees+ boudin and a turkey leg=$ 105. Paying to stand in line for 2 hours: pricelessly stupid)

Very long lines, overpriced, low class, poorly run, expensive. Left the fest and went to The Grove for a margarita instead.
BASIC

This is by far one of the most poorly executed, over priced, and over hyped festivals in Houston. The drinks are low grade, there is a large cover of $ 30 and that’s just to spend money on over priced drinks. The line was 30 min to an hour to get in. There is little to do once in there.
Overall sub par experience, never going back.

«Much much much better this year.» Those were the first words I could mutter as I walked onto the grounds in the VIP area at Discovery Green. The year before when I got there at 11:00 AM there was nothing setup yet for VIP and it took about 2 hours before we in VIP saw the first chairs come onto the lawn. This year. it was a whole different story.
We arrived at about 11:30 AM and their was a VIP entrance exclusively for VIP ticket holders. We were given a blue Cuervo cup to use for refills which was a nice touch vs the thin plastic standard 4oz clear cups you get from the other areas.
Every single drink I had that day cost me exactly 1 ticket (which is a buck a ticket) and many times they didn’t even accept the ticket. The entire staff was extremely nice and very friendly to us. They kept coming by to see if we were all doing okay.
The seating was allot better than last year and the chairs more comfortable. My only issue with that is they had only a limited supply of those cushioned chairs when all VIP paid the same and should be able to relax in the same way. You can’t have a VIP within the VIP area… it’s not fair for everyone else. Because of this they are certainly losing a star.
Although there is still some improvements needed and I’m looking forward to seeing them made for next year, this year was miles ahead of last year. The food selection was great, tasty and FREE all day for VIP. The bathroom accommodations with hand washing included was a nice touch. In VIP we experienced little to no lines at all and this year it wasn’t over sold. We were positioned in a great spot to enjoy the band as well as have an area not so loud so you could converse with your friends.
The mixed drinks were of high quality and wasn’t weak as you would think. They had selections of Grey Goose, Crown, Ciroc Vodka, and a few others all at just $ 1 for VIP only. Nicely done.
Looking forward to next years event. Keep up the good work.
Drink Well and Prosper.