Original Long Beach Lobster Festival

I was really excited when I saw Living social post a deal that I couldn’t pass up for Lobster Fest. So of course I got it and waited for the day to come. The day before the event I get an email reminder of the upcoming event. As I read the email I noticed a line that said food is not included. Great, I knew when I purchased the deal I tried to see if food was included in the ticket price. As this point it’s too late I jump onto the lobster fest website to try to buy some food vouchers. No longer available, I guess I will just have to wait until the festival now.
On the way to the event we were expecting to find parking close to the venue however, we were told there was no parking on the nearby lots and needed to park by the aquarium. So we parked and walked about a mile back to the venue. When we got there I was pretty disappointed. There was a long line in the middle of the venue. The area towards the front if you really don’t look is confusing on where you need to go to purchase food tickets because it was a small booth in between the enters nice and where you pick up the lobsters. Oddly in between the two lines for lobsters if you had purchased tickets online you would need to check in the tables first and then go all the way back of the line to wait for your lobsters. For the lobsters it ended up costing us either $ 28 for a 1.25lb lobster or $ 50 for the 2.5lbs lobsters (I maybe wrong but I recall previous years you could get 2 lobsters at a discounted price). We ended up getting the smaller of the two. After waiting for an hour in line we were finally up we grabbed our tray that contained the lobster, a dinner roll, slice of watermelon and coleslaw.
We finished everything in 15 minutes and was still hungry. We walked around to see what other lobster items we could get however there were more long lines at the vendors. We waited at one of the shorter lines for The potatoe spirals however, that even took a good 15 minutes after ordering for us to get our food. I can only imagine how long the wait was for other vendors.
There was a vendor who had some lobster mac and cheese that had caught my interest however since there was a long line and we were so hungry we left to get something else. However, while walking out I saw a few people throw their Mac and cheese saying it didn’t taste good at all so that reassured me that we did the right thing in leaving.
The money spent here could of got us a really filling meal at a nice sit down restaurant. I know others have said that if you get there earlier it would be better but I’m already too disappointed to ever try to come back and find out.

I wrote a long drawn out opinion about this place, which I will not exhaust myself in re-​writing again. Needless to say, I won’t be back for several reasons. I’m not telling you ‘not-​to-​go’ I’m just communicating that my experience at the ‘Original Long Beach Lobster Rip Off Festival’ didn’t warrant 2 stars

This Year, I took my husband, and family to the Lobster fair in Long Beach. Needless to say, it was a total DISAPPOINTMENT.
I didn’t pay that much as I had a LivingSocial deal at $ 6 per person (a little over half off their horrendous overpriced $ 15)…so I thought it was a good deal. (Overall there were 6 of us, so I spent $ 36 for admission). ok I got a good deal there, fair enough…
We ended up getting their large (2.5 lb $ 50) meals because of how horribly long their 1.5 lb $ 28 meal line was). Also because I had read a head, I brought ONLY cash.
Nobody in my group had the cash so I’m glad I did or we’d be eating nothing at all. WIsh they accepted Credit Cards.
The lobster tasted good but everything else and all the hassles getting to it made it not AMAZING.
LACK OF CHOICES:
There was only ONE place where you could buy lobster on the whole, that was the two lines of the 2.5 lb and 1.5 lb. Other than that there was lobster shack but that was mostly just fried seafood; not fresh it seemed. Other vendors were the usual or typical ones from the County fair… NOT lobster. This should have been called «SEE FOOD» festival.
Not coming back.
And if you do here are some tips for you:
–Parking could be bad so arrive early
–Arrive early to avoid «long» lines. The 2.5 lb lobster line for $ 50 a plate is usually shorter than the 1.5 lb $ 28 plate. but granted it IS more expensive
–BRING CASH. because no money, no lobster or any other food.
–Bring a hat because it can be HOT in the summer/​fall months…
TOTAL SPENT: $ 36 for entrance, $ 100 for two lobster meals + 2 hour wait = 136 $+WASTED TIME.

Food wasn’t terrible and some were decent but man what a rip off! You’re better off going to a seafood restaurant for your lobster feast…
Admission $ 15 ($ 13 with coupon, even cheaper with LS or Groupon deal if you’re able to get one)
Small lemonade $ 5
Can of coke $ 2
Lobster bisque from Lobster Shack $ 6. It was super salty I couldn’t finish it. I saw they had an old sign that was turned upside down and it said $ 5. I guess they raised their prices and were funny enough to keep the old price sign visible!
Lobster roll $ 20!!! Small with fries. The taste was pretty good but far from being the best lobster roll I had in Miami.
Lobster plate from the other place (Seafood Shack by Wayne Magnusen) was $ 22 which included a grilled tail, grilled corn and rice that was cold and bland to eat. Tail was grilled perfectly, yay!!! That was delicious. Corn was sweet and nicely charred but it was cold!
Lobster mac and cheese from this same shack ain’t cheap either although I forgot the price. It was cheese more than lobster.
Lobster quesadilla contained a generous amount of lobster but the flavors were masked by the sharp cheese.
Event was small with few vendors. The seating was plenty and I liked how they had a giant tent for shade.
For real shacks that sold lobster, these two were pretty much it and obviously there were long lines where each took more than half an hour from beginning till your food was brought out.
Overall I think this is an event where they sucked in people who love lobster and kind of forced us to pay a steep price for subpar food. «You paid for admission already and you must buy our food no matter how expensive and sloppy it is!» That’s how I felt afterwards. We were done in less than 2 hours with most time spent standing in line.
I’m over with any food or drink festival. It’s pretty dumb.

Just went on Sunday and was greatly disappointed. The festival was smaller than what I’d thought. My family and I were too late to purchase tickets online and opted to purchase tickets there. Our family of 3 paid $ 13 each for admission and we got the jumbo lobster meal which was $ 50 for a 2.25 lb lobster, a slice of watermelon, a hawaiian roll, and a small serving of coleslaw. They also gave out a small bowl of melted butter and lemon slices to flavor your lobster.
The lobster was decent but I wish there were cracking tools because we were trying to scoop out whatever meat there was with plastic utensils.
Overall, I don’t think we will be coming back. It was pricey paying for admission + lobster, when we could have gone to a restaurant and saved some money and time.

It’s not as bad as the reviews — there is live music, lots of eatery shacks to choose from, and plenty of room to bring your own chair. The line to get the one lobster meal is long, but just mentally prepare going got that going in. It’ll be over an hour if you’re there when everyone else is. Also, I would recommend the“jumbo” meal option. It’s a shorter line and more lobster! It costs more, but worth it. Plus, military get in free, so bring your ID and come on in! Also you can have one person secure the line spot while the others buy the meals up front and drink tickets and drinks and snacks to keep the hunger away. Plus, keep your peepers peeled for when they’re placing the lobsters in and out of the vats. It’s pretty cool.
I say go, just be prepared for people and lines, but also lobster! Yum.

So, I may be a little biased, because my boyfriend and I did the VIP Experience. This was basically $ 13 entrance, plus $ 87 for VIP. Kind of pricey, but if you have the money to spend, I would suggest it! Why not? You only live once, and OLBLF is only once a year! What you get for EACH ticket:
1. Entrance to the festival and more notably the VIP area which is fenced off. You can enter and exit the VIP area to explore the fest at will.
2. A 2.5 lb Maine lobster meal with watermelon, cole slaw, dessert (chocolate chip cookies and a fruit tartlett) — Lobster was sweet, succulent and juicy — perfectly steamed!
3. 4 alcoholic drinks (beer on tap, margaritas and some other cold mixed concoctions to choose from)
4. Assigned table under the tents in this said VIP area — We sat with 2 nice couples. There was room for 240, but this area was not even close to being sold out!
5. Access to VIP port-​a-​potties (yeah, I said it, VIP port-​a-​potties) They were just regular port-​a-​potties hahah!
6. One Lobster Fest T-​shirt
7. One Stella Artois beer glass
The staff members in the VIP area were so sweet and helpful and I kept going back for more watermelon… because it was a toasty night. I actually recommend this festival on Friday because it starts in the evening when it had begun to cool down. The festival takes place in Rainbow Harbor across from the marina where parking is located ($ 10). Also, the VIP area is adjacent to the dance floor and stage. We had a great night and will be returning next year!

Amazing… went to the fest today with the family and had plans to just be there for a little while because it was too hot but we were having such a great time we were there all day. The food was good lots of variety, the music was great, all genres which everyone enjoyed, a play area of various jumpers, games, and face painting for the kids. The only negative is that some of the vendors ran out of food early in the day. Bring your chairs and blanket and chill out for the day. I will definitely be returning.

Great location! My top pick of the 3 local Lobsterfest’s. Not too crowded. A lot of other food choices/​food booths but not too overwhelming. Parking is $ 10 today.

Well, here it goes:
The admission was fair enough being that it was a living social deal.
Lobster Feast: One location sold 2 lobster dinners for $ 28 & $ 50. With a small slice of watermelon, ¹⁄₃ of corn on a cob and a dinner roll
Lobster Shack: ran out of lobster, so they closed early
Kettle Corn: best part of the festival! So yummy!
Random booths: lobster balls, noodles, rice, garlic fries, fish and chips, fruit cobblers, tarts, slushie drinks, and BBQ.
It should be called the Sea Food Festival, since there was barely any lobster at all.
The workers if the booths, clean up crew and whatnot, were amazing!
Sadly, I won’t be returning to any future lobster festival. I came expecting a variety of lobster dishes and was filled with disappointment. Maybe it was hunger pangs from the lack of crustacean entrees that are supposed to be offered. I expect that crawfish festival to have a plethora of chicken booths!

Poorly organized. I expected to get there and have several options of lobster made in a variety ways not a line that you had to wait two hours to spend $ 50 in one place which was the lobster dinner. The line ran in the middle of the entire venue blocking people that were trying to sample some of the food at the other booths.
Strange to see a BBQ booth at an event supposed to be featuring lobster!
We even went to the Lobster Shack instead of waiting in the line for the dinner and they were out of most things. This was shortly after we arrived around 4:30pm, and I quickly figured we were wasting our time there after observing the s*** show that this place was.
The best thing was the lemonade. We grabbed some of the beignets, and shrimp, listened to the music for about an hour and then walked over to Gladstone’s for an amazing dinner.
Won’t go back. I’ve orchestrated several high end events including festivals, charity golf tournaments, silent and live auctions, corporate events, tradeshows, and galas. If the event owners want to get serious for next year, feel free to contact me.

I’m actually glad I got the lobster feast as the vendors were lacking on Sunday. I came late as I was out of town until today. But anyway. I wanted to check it out. At 6pm on Sunday at lot of vendors were sold out. Stock top beer was gone. I don’t like beer anyway. It’s odd to have the promoted beer unavailable. But ok. I’m a margarita girl $ 10. Lobster feast is $ 28 for a small with coleslaw, roll & watermelon. Tasty. Lobster fries $ 12, not bad. Drinks $ 7 beer, could be worse. Fun time anyway

I attended for the first time on on Saturday with my my family and some friends of theirs. They got there early and had a nice spot staked out near the dance floor.
I arrived around 12:30 ready for lobster. I don’t it often so I was determined to get lobster served more traditionally. Since there was no list of the vendors on the website (con), I refrained from buying the feast deal before I went. Unfortunately, there was only one main spot serving steamed lobsters. Everything else was serving lobster I various ways: fried balls, with waffles, fried on a stick, in a quesadilla… plus there were non-​lobster vendors, including hamburgers, Chinese food, and grilled squid. Also tons of slushee, frost, and smoothie places.
After checking the price of grilled lobster tail ($ 22), I sucked it up and bought a feast ticket for $ 28. Half an hour later, I had a whole lobster, Hawaiian roll, cole slaw, and watermelon.
Feast– decent but by the time I got it, my lobster was cold. The sides were average.
Grilled squid– $ 6, large portion; spicy but very chewy
Boiled shrimp-​probably the best thing I ate. I should have gotten just this instead of the lobster. Very well seasoned and piping hot.
Fried lobster ball– really good. The lobster taste was evident and not overwhelmed by the fried dough surrounding it. Rich and creamy inside
Red hibiscus & lime frost– $ 8; deliciously refreshing and not too sweet. Made with juice, ice, and agave nectar
Music– I loved the two live bands that played while I was there and enjoyed dancing. Blues, rock, jazz.
It’s fun if you have a lot of time to hang around and don’t mind long lines. For everything. It’s irritating that the organizers apparently don’t care to improve service – the feast line was ling when I got there and twice as long an hour later. Plus it wasn’t clear that you didn’t have to buy the feast ticket before entering. Also, they didn’t
tell us that there was a separate line for the jumbo order. This line was way shorter than the other one. The food and alcohol are expensive, but they always are at these types of things.

My bf and I just came back from our first Lobster Festival in Long Beach. After reading all the negative reviews on Unilocal,I felt a little deflated after being so initially excited to go. Turns out that all those «one star-​wishing there was a zero star-​reviewers» were probably just not as prepared they should have been.
It opened at 12pm, so we parked on the Marina Green by 11:25am. Walked across the street and lined up at Gate 1 with our online tickets in hand. At this time there was a line to get in, but we were still only about 20 feet away from the entrance. At 11:54am, they started letting people inside, so our tickets got scanned, and we were shown the way to the lobster feast area to get our tray of fresh Maine lobster, butter, roll, watermelon, and coleslaw. Again, we had our online tickets ready to give to them, and all of a sudden found ourselves 2^nd in line to get our feast. I think most of the other people in the entrance line hustled to get a picnic spot before getting their food.
After waiting 5 minutes and getting to watch the lobsters come out of the steamers, we finally had our food! The lobster was cooked perfectly, and was already cut at the tail and claws so there was no utensils needed. Dip, dip, dip in the butter and our lobsters disappeared! It is true that after eating your feast, you will still be hungry, but that’s why they have so many other vendors at the festival!
Long story short, we quickly devoured lobster tacos and lobster balls and fries from the Lobster Shack, organic watermelon juice slushees, and a medium bowl of jumbo cajun shrimp. I’m still thinking about those lobster balls… very lightly fried and FULL of lobster tail that you can taste and smell without any sauce on it. On a hot and humid day like today, those delicious watermelon slushees were the perfect complement to our meal. RemJ, the Michael Jackson impersonator, was on the main stage and provided the music and moves to make our experience even better.
By 1:45pm, the line for the lobster feast was wrapped around the festival and we were so glad we got there early. So final tips from our experience: get there EARLY, get the feast EARLY, get the watermelon drinks, and get the LOBSTER BALLS!

Had a great time at lobster fest, good people and great freaking lobster!!! Best I have ever had!

Line to pick up your lobster is ridiculously long (over 2 hours!!!). Incidentally, we ended up standing in the wrong line (apparently, there are two separate lines — one for the large lobster and another for the small) and wasted 15 minutes of our time since there were no signs whatsoever. The company that was hired to organize this event should be fired and replaced next year by one that is competent. As much as I love Maine lobster like everyone else who attends this annual event, I cannot honestly say it is worth standing in line for over an hour and a half. Save yourself a lot of time and frustration and take your 50 bucks and buy yourself TWO live Maine lobsters elsewhere and steam them at home without having to stand in line for what seems like an eternity.
Lobster was tough and chewy; obviously over-​cooked by the catering company, «O Entertainment». Today’s Lobster Feasts are nowhere near as good as they used to be when this event was catered by Bristol Farms. We definitely will not be returning next year after such a negative experience. Such a shame.

Omg !!! I am having the time of my life here ! The band is Flashback Heart Attack and they are AWESOME !!! I had the best lobster mac n cheese ever and the shrimp was awesome and they have BEER !!! Yes !!! This place is awesome I am coming every year for the rest of my life !!! Woooo hoooooo

Hundreds were in line before the gates opened and you could just smell the aroma of lobsters in the air. The crowd didn’t seem to be as lively as my previous visit 3 years ago, but it might have been the heat on the black asphalt that kept the crowds from being as excited as they might otherwise be. Once the gates opened, the excitement came back to the crowd.
My mom and I shared the ¹¹⁄₄ lbs. Lobster Feast (at $ 42, it was not what I expected) which included a wedge of watermelon, coleslaw, and a dinner roll. The presentation was not as nice as the one I had 3 years prior. But, the Hawaiian in us, dug in and got as much meat out of it as possible from the «miso» or «tamale» of the lobster and all the way down to the legs, no shell was left unpicked. The coleslaw was overly mayonnaise-​y and bland. It would be great to include a roasted/​boiled corn on the cob. Maybe an idea for next year?
Barrett’s Lemonade always quenches the thirst with the old fashioned handmade lemonade. We were introduced to them at the Oxnard Salsa Festival and glad they were at the Original Lobster Festival. Their blueberry lemonade is awesome!
We were still hungry and Jester’s Kettle Corn was calling my mom’s name. Their small bag was a generous size. The popcorn smelled so good and had the perfect balance of sweet and salty flavor.
The Sweet Stop makes some of the best funnel cake around. It was so hot that we decided to go with the Banana Split Funnel Cake. It had all of the toppings you would expect on a banana split — bananas, strawberries, vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, chopped peanuts, and a cherry on top. With the heat from the freshly made funnel cake and the sweltering hot weather, we had to eat fast before it melted off of the plate. It was a carnival of flavors but sure hit the spot to cool us down.
I think next year, I will skip the feast and check out what lobster creations the vendors have. Some of them sounded pretty tasty like lobster tacos, lobster lollipops, and more. Until next year!

I have been coming to this lobster festival for 3 years. I use to go to Redondo beach because they have angus steak and much closer to me. But the entertainment is better here. I enjoy the lobster dinner but they can keep that water down cole slaw. They need to change the side.
The people who take the tickets, serve the lobster and drink are very nice.
There’s a lot a different food venders and I particularly like the big prawn lobster vender. Oh! my goodness. I catch him at ever big festival. I also get me some peach cobbler and ice cream and sit in my beach chair and listen to music, look at the entertainment and people watch.
By the way they had the frozen mango ritas and strawberry ritas. I was on.

5 stars for the hardworking people who run around all day in the hot, hot sun trying to provide us with food and trying to keep things clean. I really do appreciate the effort.
2 stars for the lack of lobster at a «Lobster Festival». If it were a «come down and hang with your fam outside in the sun festival», it would’ve been 3 – 3.5 stars but I came for lobster!
Prepaid for our tix online: $ 30 includes entrance ($ 13 at door) and 1 – 1 ¼ LB of lobster, bread roll, coleslaw, watermelon, and more than enough butter. You can buy shock top beer to drink or find the vendor that sell fresh organic smoothie.
Only other lobster options at other vendors included: lobster quesadilla $ 10, lobster Mac and cheese $ 11, lobster hush puppies, lobster plate $ 21 (with salad, small corn on cob, and 5 Oz lobster tail)… That’s it! Mexican and BBQ food were popular at the other vendors similar to those found out carnivals or fairs.
Photobooth was the funnest activity there.
$ 10 if you park your car. Covered long tables provided for seating, dance floor if you feel inclined to get your boogie on to a DJ/​live music.
I’m glad I got to experience it but unless they up the lobster factor, I won’t be attending next year’s.