Best of San Diego Magazine Party

Great food, drinks, etc. The lines were so long and by the time we got into the venue, some of the samples were out. There were so many people that you could hardly move, until the end of the night, it was difficult to get around.

Chaos!
Where shall I begin? First of all: NO direction was given to anyone upon arrival, no real line. Getting inside this event was the most painful and irritating experience ever, no lines, just a large crowd gathered in front trying to get inside first. Oh wait, the first 500 people get a goodie bag — false, no such thing occurred.
The rolled up lumpy carpet on the grass caused people to trip, the dirty wet bathroom floors, the cupcake trucks that ran out of cakes, the horribly crammed area where most of the wine was given, the hideous outfits they displayed at the fashion show, the badly dressed crowd, some people dressed up and others wore shorts and flip flops, I saw a group of guys JUMP a fence and come in the event for free, nothing stopped them.
The place was big enough yet I kept bumping into people, again NO line for anything and if you were nice enough to form a line: You’d be pissed by the guy who just cut right up front and grabbed whatever tiny sample was offered.
Lots of marketing junk, came home with a dead tree. Seriously, ton of marketing crap. I got sick from eating here last night too: /​
I suspect it was the lunch trucks, I waited until the end to try the lunch trucks and threw up around midnight.
Some of the things I did enjoy: Free parking, the Monsoon group put on a great booth (Indian), five stars for them!
The photo book booth was neat and there was no wait when I first got there.
They have an entire year to plan this, WTF!!!

Thank God for Groupon because I didn’t pay the full price of $ 50 to stand in long lines.
This review is soo untimely.

What started this thing off on the wrong foot:
No trays. Should that not be part of a food and wine event!!! I was inside no later than 15 minutes after they opened the gates and I didn’t make it in time to get a tray. To say the least, I was not happy.
The saving graces for the night:
Bare Back’s organic burgers, Oceanaire’s oysters, Phil’s BBQ, Monsoon’s plate samples, Dolce’s Donuts, tasties from Roppongi, and the random wineries with the short lines.
If this annual event is like this again next year and for a full price ticket, I rather use that money for a nice sit down meal. That way I can avoid getting bumped into, slobber on my face from having to eat and walk/​stand at the same time, be seated in a comfortable setting, have a plate with real utensils and a full glass of wine. (sigh and relax)
And as with everyone elses’ review (as of current): I concur.

Bought a groupon for $ 25 — this was a good party BUT they squeezed everything into a too small of an area! I loved all the wine, food and entertainment but there was not enough room to move around. The lines to get samples were so long that you could barely navigate.

Here’s your tip: arrive early…
1. This event was worth the $ 25 bucks I paid through Group On. It wouldn’t be worth the regular price of $ 50 or even the pre-​sale price of $ 40.
2. I would agree with the same negatives Brian and Joanne mentioned in their reviews completely. I was able to avoid most of the lines and fill up with food and drinks early on because I arrived a good 20 minutes before opening to wait at the gate. So like cattle in a corral, I rushed in when the floodgates opened. But yup, as the night progressed, so did the lines.
3. It was cool they had a lot of good restaurants represent at this event. But it seemed like these restaurants showcased their less popular dishes, mainly because their samples were eh ok. With the exceptions of…
*** Monsoon and their big, tasty samples. Big ups for their belly dancer for entertainment.
***Loved the wedding area, Cookies from the Cravery, Dolce Donuts, cupcakes from Trulucks, Monsoon, Royal India, and some tuna on top of this crispy thing. Bummed I don’t remember from where :-(Anyone remember?
4. Entertainment in general was kinda eh. I probably would have rather heard a DJ spin some dope tunes in the background instead of watching some pussycat dolls wannabes, out of tune live bands, and some fish lady squirt water out of her hands and head. I’m just sayin.

For $ 25, I’m not going to tear this event with a nastygram. Not bad for $ 25.
For one, I knew I wasn’t going to get lucky that night — you can’t expect to get your fill of grub and grog in under three hours and for $ 25. You just can’t get lucky; like they say, if it’s too good to be true, it probably is. As Watts would probably say, «No sh1t, Sherlock.»
That being said, I have to bless the powers that be that I had a great time with wonderful friends and a cover band that butchered Lady Gaga’s Poker Face. A simple, cost-​benefit analysis led some of us to this decision: Let’s skip the food and load up on fermented grape juice, distilled cacti (agave) and brewed barley.
So after trying saltine aphrodisiacs on the half-​shell, jumbo shrimp and a cajun-​style burrito but with large-​and-​in-​charge shrimp, some of us opted to cast off the food. No, not because it was bad but the lines were just more insane than Kathy Bates in coastal resort gear. No, we weren’t going to have any more of this. Yeah, not going to wait 7 minutes for a piece of chicken.
Towards the end of the night, things slowed down and that’s when the hunters became the hunted — some of us were on prowl mode to finally eat. The carrot cupcakes from I-don’t-know-where-bakery were amazing; I had two. We located a spot where the wine was free-​flowing albeit at the conclusion of the event; at this stage, the Cab blend tasted like the Zin which tasted like a aggregation of Palm beer, a few types of wine and maybe some tequila that accidentally got in there.
Positives: Free parking. The entire event was a huge clusterphuck. You know how you hear about human stampedes and how people can get trampled to death? It could happen here. The soft entrance to the foutain/​stage area was in complete disarray.
A ~10-​minute wait for a tiny plate that would barely satisfy an elf? Yeah, no thanks; it’s unfair to tease. They needed more staff; it’s not the individual restaurants’ fault but the organizers.
«Gross» was the perfect but elementary word that describes how they didn’t have water to rinse out your glass. So by the end of the night, I had a glass that was mixed with Palm beer, a few types of Zin, a Cab blend, Petit Verdot and some other stuff.
This wasn’t Best of SD’s inaugural event so you would think that they’d get their act together but no. Where in the world is Carmen San Diego? No, where is in the world is a trashcan?! Also, so much plastic waste enough to the point that it would make a Dupont smelter look environmentally-​friendly.
ALL IN ALL, for $ 25, look, I’m not complaining; had a great time with friends. Had I paid $ 40 or $ 50 (the going rate day of), I would have been more pissed than a Chargers fan awaiting the fate of Jackson and McNeil’s contracts.

Prior to stepping foot into this annual party, a good number of us attendees (that purchased a discounted ticket through Groupon a week before) were concerned about the lack of organization and communication that made us wonder if we were going to have problems getting in.
Basically, a total of three hundred, $ 25 tickets were sold on Groupon’s website (it’s $ 40 presale and $ 50 at the door). We bought it through there and since I purchase stuff on their site regularly, I did not think twice about buying my ticket here. Then, we had to validate our Groupon through a bad link. Some were told a hard ticket was going to be mailed to their home and others, such as myself, registered the Groupon with no type of confirmation and additional set of instructions of what to do thereafter. A friend emailed Groupon asking what next, but got no response to later find out (after he had called) that our tickets, but really wristbands, were going to be available at the Will Call table at the entrance of the party.
This event runs for three hours at the former Naval Training Center, now called NTC Promenade (where the movie Top Gun was filmed back in the day). Nice layout and venue of where to have a party of this caliber. I suggest you get there early because a ton of people were there last night, felt like a cattle call at times… lol.
Parking is free & plentiful, but fend for yourself because there were no parking attendants directing traffic on where to park. Not that it was bad, but it left us wondering where to park considering this event brought in at least a thousand attendees.
Once you walk in after getting your wristband (BTW, no ID check or anything which surprised me at the Will Call table and to enter for this 21 and up event) it was packed like sardines. It was really crowded, to walk around was slow-​paced and to get food, beer or wine took a while because the lines were so long at a majority of the booths.
San Diego Magazine did a great job rounding out the best of the best out there. I wish I had more time and/​or patience to wait in line for some of the samples of yummy food, beer and wine, but enjoyed most of the stuff I did get my hands on.
What do I remember having:
— A simple salad from Nobu,
— A tasty shrimp taco from Rubio’s,
— A glass of sangria from ?
— A sample of Oktoberfest beer from Karl Strauss,
— Three mini donuts from Dolce Donuts,
— A mini hot dog with sauerkraut and fancy mustard from Quality Social,
— Pulled pork from?
— A lemon cherry basil cookie from the Cravory,
— Pâté from Tender Greens,
— Three more mini donuts from Dolce Donuts after I enjoyed the first sample, hehehe,
— Chips & salsa from La Salsa,
— Piece of shrimp with ginger sauce from ?
— Wine from Callaway Winery,
— Some yummy risotto type of sample from Bice, and
— More wine from whichever booth that didn’t run out of it!
Overall, the representation of great restaurants were there, too bad I didn’t sample most of them since their lines were ridiculously long. The bands and acrobatics that kept us entertained at the huge stage was a nice touch and it maintained the overall good vibes throughout the night. The spot where all the wedding related blee-​blah was cool, one of my friends is getting married on 09.10.11 next year and she liked getting her hands on some freebie stuff.
However, here’s what kinda bugged:
— Long lines,
— Lack of signs for parking, rest rooms,
— Lack of trash bins,
— Overflow of existing trash bins,
— Water coolers would have been nice when only beer & wine was served, felt like I had to dilute from the richness of some dishes,
— Loud sound during some song sets scared the crap out of people (tech problem),
— Wine & beer booths should have water to rinse out glass (only buckets to chuck unwanted beverages were avail),
— Some restaurants wasted good sized plates for Costco-​sized samples, it bummed me out that I had to throw away a few after having it in my hand for just a minute.
One thing I noticed was the assortment of eye candy for the ladies and gents. Folks got dolled up for this party, which made it fun to sit back at the cool lounge area at the center of it all and just people watch while you waited for the crowd to thin out.
I’ll probably go back next year since I had a great time with my friends, but hopefully San Diego Magazine will learn from their snafus of the little things us regular party goers noticed and run a tighter ship in 2011. Cheers!