SD Oysterfest

I should’ve read the Unilocal reviews before agreeing to this event. It was disorganized as soon as my group and I showed up. No signage to tell the different entries apart and the staff was giving contradictory answers. When we finally got in, we headed straight to a beer booth. We were told they couldn’t sell us beer b/​c we didn’t have a wrist band and asked how did we get in. Someone appeared out of nowhere and gave us all wrist bands. We spent a fortune on oysters that were good, but I’m sure we could’ve spent less for more comfortable seating. We’ll save our money and watch/​listen to the bands from the sidewalk.

1 star for Thievery Corporation. Everything else was grossly overpriced and not worth it.
18 $ for 6 tiny oysters?! seriously? or $ 15 for some crappy sandwich. I enjoyed spiced cucumber margarita, but $ 15 left a bad aftertaste.
San Diego has so many great restaurants or even food trucks and none of those vendors were present.
Not worth it!

I don’t regret experiencing the event but I certainly wouldn’t come back next year. The event is advertised as an oyster fest, which is misleading to customers. With most festivals, the customer has unlimited tastings of something, which is what I was expecting. You basically pay for entrance, only to fork up more money for the event.
I got 6 oysters for $ 18 and a beer was moderately priced. The music sucked; I didn’t know any of the bands playing. I’m not saying they weren’t talented, but for such a big event, I was expecting a lot more.
The money you pay for entrance, food, drink and other purchases, could certainly be used toward a great seafood restaurant in the area, instead.

A few friends and I got a table for this event.
It was a really nice experience. Not to mention the free drinks all night. That made things interesting.
All of the food that was served was really good too.
The music was great, and again because we were back stage it made it all that much better. And our entrance was stage left, so coming out to dance and back was a sinch.
There was sooooo many people. And everyone was having a great time. That made it fun for sure.
I will definitely be coming every year to this fun event.

Boyfriend and I had a great time here. In the heart of SD! First, Parking was awful, and most street parking is 2hr max when this event is way longer. I wish they would have a designated area for parking. We got trapped when we thought we could find parking at seaport village, don’t even try. When we finally got in, the atmosphere was awesome, vendors were great. We enjoyed half dozen of oysters (great quality!) and a seafood po’ boy! Yummy! We will be back next year!

I may be the only 5 star rating
But I didn’t pay the high prices. I didn’t have long bathroom line. And I certainly didn’t have any a-​holes in my vicinity. Just good music

I guess I’ll repeat what everyone else has said or say things people do not want to say.
I only came with my girl because she loves Thievery Corporation. I actually loved their show. It was a great performance and they had the crowd going. The venue was in North Embarcadero right next to Seaport Village. Sure you had the bay in the background along with the many yachts in the port that looked great… but just trying to get their was horrendous. You couldn’t park in Seaport Village because they weren’t allowing it but of course everyone parked there which they didn’t have any space by the way. Even if you were getting dropped off by Über, Lyft or a taxi getting in was a pain in the ass. It’s a Saturday, it’s sunny and it’s the beginning of the summer. The tourist along with everyone else is in town.
So the festival cost $ 30 some odd dollars. For ½ a dozen oyster on a half shelf you’ll be paying $ 18!!! The craft beer will then cost you $ 9 a cup!!! Holy shit!!!
There was of course long lines for the bathroom but I blame that on how they were arranged.
I mean c’mon… The event is called an Oyster Festival but no one got one single oyster for free. I’ve been to craft beer events around San Diego and paid the same price and I got all the free samples I wanted. None here none at all. But even if you got any they weren’t anything to rave about. The Pacific Northwest, East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico has better oysters.
The only positive things where the line-​up. How about changing the name to something relating to the line-​up instead of oysters! The only vendor that was worth getting food from was the ceviche from Barley Mash! Now that was worth the price.
I should have brought my own bottle as the security didn’t bother to check for anything besides the your ticket.
The event coordinators and promoters will probably do the same thing next year…

Horrible waste of money!
Ridiculously expensive food & drink
Not enough seats. Everything about this event sucks.

I’ve been to SD Oysterfest twice now (2012 and 2015) and for the $ 35 or so it costs just to get in there’s really no way to justify going back to this event.
Pros:
— Fantastic people watching
— Good bands (Little Hurricane, Thievery Corp, Iration)
— Zero wait for the guys porta potties
Cons:
— You’ll spend a shit ton to eat/​drink once you’re inside
— For bevies you get: Shock Top, Stella, Goose Island (how in the HELL is not a single SD-​based brewery available?)
— Ladies had to wait in loooong lines for the porta potties
— Cash only warnings outside (next to high priced ATM’s) only to find out everyone takes cards inside

I just got an email about the 2015 event, and my initial response was «not going to that sh*tshow again.» I also figured I’d finally Unilocal the event as I have been 4 of the 5 years they have done it in SD.
The Good: The first year was by far the best, it wasn’t super overcrowded it was cheaper, pepper played, and it drew a better (dare I say more mature) crowd. Good music, booze, and oysters. Seems hard to screw up right?
The Bad: Wrong! Over the last three years I have had to deal with d*ckhead security guards, d*ckhead attendees, d*ckhead staff in the booths. It also gets more and more expensive every year and the much touted oysters seem to be less and less available. Last year we were paying double the price it costs to get oysters down the street at Bluewater grill and they were much lower quality. It also seems like this festival draws some of the worst people in San Diego out to work and attend the event.
The Ugly: The line for the women’s bathroom last year was about 2 miles long. Sucks for you ladies!
Since children aren;t allowed in the concert area, this isn’t really a kid freindly event as advertised. I really don’t think it’s dog friendly either with so many drunk idiots falling all over the place after slamming $ 10 rum and cokes.
Maybe it iwll be better this year. Maybe. But that’s what I told myself the last 2 years and was disapointed, so I’m not going to chance it again in 2015.

Still running out of oysters again ! We got there early and the oysters they did have were so tiny it was a joke… you are better off going to a nice restaurant and get your money’s worth and good service at least
first beer we ordered was ½ foam… at least learn hire experienced bartenders for this event… they are clearly doing things on the cheap and taking advantage of people for the sake of greed
such a Poor value!
the shock top honey bourbon beer was good

wow the oysterfest’s Unilocal page has 2 stars? i’d probably give them 1 – 2 stars too if i actually had to pay the regular $ 27.50 for my ticket but since Hiro S. and I got comp’ed we can’t really complain too much.
there couldn’t have been a more beautiful location. i mean slurp’n down oysters with the SD skyline as the backdrop with live music floating through the cool summer breeze. as Hiro S said «how can you be in a bad mood once you’re here?» he said that bc bahhaah both of us were getting seriously depressed trying to find parking for the event. i was like confused on the oysterfest website it said to park at the marriot convention center for $ 10 but there were NO attendants there. actually no i found one guy walking through but idk who he worked for? i asked him where to get the vouchers to stick into the parking meter at the exit and he said you can try to find a security guard but i don’t know where they are or who they’ve giving the vouchers out too. that’s reassuring. not. so instead of risking paying the normal like $ 20– something dollars we exited out and parked suuuuuuper far away and didn’t even end up saving that much money baahhaaha.
anyway when we got to the venue, we got into the first oyster line that we saw, which in reality was only one of a handful of long lines. we were in line for FOREEEEVER hahaah but we both were sipp’n on beers i mean the sun was shining, ppl all around were laughing, dogs were playing. whatever i wasn’t mad. UNTIL THEY SAID THEY WERE OUT OF OYSTERS bahaha that was a downer. i guess they had to go make a run for some it would take 45 minutes and there was only one type available. pacific oysters. i was like what does that even mean that’s so vague the pacific ocean is the biggest effing ocean in the world WHERE EXACTLY in the pacific ocean and what breed of oysters am i about to eat? lol. they didn’t know anything. they weren’t even like an oyster company i was like where are you from? and the girl told me like best beverages or something like that baahhah. whatever we paid for 2 oysters and waited for the text she would shoot us in 45 min to say that it was ready. in the meantime we got the scallop ceviche which came with like hardly any chips so i was like umn can i have more chips? and the girl gave me an extra tray yessss! the scallop ceviche didn’t have hardly any flavor. and it was supposed to come with mango and i was expecting mango chunks but it was like itty bitty pieces of very sparse mango pulp. the scallops themselves were super fresh tho!
we did end up having ½ plate of oysters from drake’s bay. and oyster’s are only good as the water they’re grown in right? well supposedly this place has the freshest water anywhere and yeh. their oysters were super bomb. the only thing i tasted was the few drops of fresh ocean water that was in the shell with the oyster lol i liked them they were super good. kind of scary looking bc they’re so damn big. (my favorite oysters are the petite miyagi oysters) but anyway yeah it was good.
the main reason we wanted to come to oysterfest was the venue. i mean i didn’t have my hopes up that high to eat oysters bc think about it. i mean the oysters are out in the sun, there’s gonna be thousands of other ppl there trying to get some. if you really want good oysters go to a restaurant. we went there to enjoy the scenery and watch matt and kim perform. they ROCKED it. so entertaining! and raunchy?! my goodness. did not expect them to be so hilarious. to see them perform against the backdrop of a blue sky, dancing around atop on Hiro S.’ shoulders. i mean come on. it was a good day [:

Summary:
If you’re an oyster lover, you’ll probably be disappointed by the lack of oysters. But if you like to drink and hang out in a lively environment, you’ll get over it and have a good time.
Details:
I first heard about oyster fest a few years ago. I missed it the first year, then choose not to go because of the scathing reviews out there (and not just on Unilocal). But my friend invited me to go this year, because he’s a big fan of Matt and Kim, the headlining musical act. I thought, why not. I’ll finally give it a try.
I have to agree that this hardly qualifies as an oyster «fest». There were only three different oyster vendors there, occupying four separate booths, and only five varieties of oysters that I saw. All were west coast oysters, and I only saw two different preparations — on the half shell or grilled. At $ 2 an oyster and up (based on variety), prices were ok, but definitely not a deal. There were way more alcohol booths than oyster booths. Beers were an average of $ 8 for 16oz, and hard alcohol (in a measured pour) was $ 11 I think. There was wine too, but I forget the price. This event is more like a party by the bay that happens to have oysters, than an actual oyster festival.
The crowd was good. Mostly yuppie, white blondes. Nice eye candy, but a bit homogenized. Mostly 20– and 30-​somethings. The music was fine. It was interesting, but not great.
Bathroom lines were long and slow moving for the girls, but a men’s only urinal section kept me a happy camper! And they weren’t troughs! They were individual urinals, a bit close together, but affording some privacy.
Face value admission is over priced at $ 32. I got a discount ticket for $ 20, but I also saw deals for as little as $ 15 (after I already bought mine). I wouldn’t suggest anyone pay more than $ 20.
I had a good time overall. I’d go again if I had nothing better to do on a nice weather day, but only if I got a discounted admission.
Extra tip: For those looking for a regular oyster fix, check out Herringbone in La Jolla for quality, and South Beach Bar and Grill in Ocean Beach for quantity.

My wife and I thought the third time would be the charm but disappointed again. Having come later in the day the last few years, we finally made it just after it opened at noon. The goal was to avoid the VERY long wait times for oysters, food, drinks, and the restrooms. They have also run out of several types of oysters in both years past.
We got here early enough to avoid an extremely long order time but it took 35 MINUTES for the RAW oysters to come out (ie no cooking required). And this is before it gets busy… Also, it’s called OYSTERfest, there should be more than 3 booths selling oysters out of at least 30 stands.
Or first year we came VIP — it was actually worse than the regular ticket due to overcrowding in the VIP area.
This is our last time coming to OysterFest. Although the music is good, it’s just not worth it.
Thanks for reading!

Good GOD this was awful!
To sum it up: MONEY MAKING SCAM!
Luckily I got a deal through Goldstar to this for 50% off. I feel sorry for all of the people that paid the full thirty something dollars for this.
1. The ticket prices are incredibly stupid. This event should be free. At least give a away something with the entrance tickets — an oyster ticket… a drink ticket… SOMETHING?! It’s simply NOT worth the ticket prices just for the entrance. Wondering why? They claim the entrance ticket is for the music but meh (the bands are terrible) and oyster fest is more like oyster-​bust. Read on…
2. When something has the label of «fest» that should be the main highlight of the «fest.» Oysters were far from the main attracting. It seemed to me like it was all about the alcohol. There were more alcohol booths than oyster booths! Not only that, but there were only three different types of oyster vendors there. There was also nothing INTERESTING about the oyster «fest». Oysters on a half shell… who cares?! There are many places in San Diego to get Oysters on a half-​shell for only a dollar…(Herringbone for example). Make it interesting — not just oysters on a half shell.
Management seems to be clueless about this oyster fest. Feature some local restaurant chefs that put a different spin on serving oysters and have some different recipes for sauces to accompany them. Have something interactive for people to do (oyster shucking contest… oyster eating contest… etc…). Something, ANYTHING would be better than the few booths that actually served oysters there.
3. If you’re going to keep the the title of a «fest» you should really consider make oysters the main attracting. They’re clearly not. Which is such a shame. It’s such a nice venue and such a nice city and there are so many good local restaurant chefs that you could get involved to really make it a fun time.
The group of people that I went with probably spent a little over an hour there then got bored and left. We took our money elsewhere and spent it in the Gaslamp and had a much better time. Thank goodness we went at noon when it first opened so we didn’t have to deal with the horrendous lines that I’ve only heard about.
Dear management: when you reorganize this festival and actually feature oysters, let me know. I’ll be enjoying DELICIOUS oysters at one of the local establishments that you should really consider involving…

One word… AWFUL.
My friends and I all bought VIP tickets thinking this was the way to go. While the $ 50 Über credit was a positive, it was the only positive out of this whole experience. (Thanks Über, at least you followed through on your commitment)
What started out as a $ 107.50 day ended up being much, much more expensive considering the VIP tickets barely got us anything but in the door. They certainly didn’t get us any oysters as promised. In fact, they promised all you could eat oysters. I was even planning a contest with my friend. Guess what? We didn’t get ONE oyster from the VIP tent. We had to go buy them elsewhere at $ 20/​dozen.
The VIP booths for drinks and oysters were very late in getting set up. Lines for drinks were 25 – 50 deep. And oysters barely even made an appearance. The oysters were hours late in getting there and when they did, they had a very limited amount and only one guy shucking. They ran out before most people could get to them. So we had to spend $ 20/​dozen at booths outside the VIP tent.
And to top it off, the staff was rude and could have cared less that they were screwing people over.
EPIC FAIL. I hope this event comes back under new management. Otherwise, I will definitely NOT be making another appearance. It was so awful I disputed the charges. My friend even met with their lawyers to start a class action suit. These guys don’t deserve to make a dime off this event!!!

What a joke…
I was enticed to come when I heard that with last year’s entrance fee you get free oysters. Ok, I’m in.
I was sent a deal $ 12.50 + $ 4.50 [service fee] = $ 17. First of all $ 4.50 surcharge? Then we were directed to park in lots around the area. So I spent another $ 10 in parking, which was a couple blocks away.
Entered and no freebies. Sure there are booths — spin to win prizes. So, basically I bought my Safari Park tickets that I won.
Since I was at an Oysterfest, I may as well buy some expensive oysters. I opted for the 3 for $ 5 Carlsbad oysters. I admit, although they were small, they were yummy. I was craving more. I spent another $ 5 in tater tots since I was still starved.
You see massive amounts of people eating, drinking and just mostly sitting around. This is something I can just do in someone’s backyard for FREE. I was really disappointed… We didn’t even spend a couple hours in here and left to find real food.
$ 17 + $ 10 + $ 5 + $ 5 + gas [R/​T from North County] = $ 37+
I felt duped…
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Negative NOMS, Brad!!!

We started out the day with a carefully planned Bloody Mary meet up, followed by a stroll towards the waterfront, we wore hats, we held hands and skipped, we anticipated a sexy oyster saturday… we gave Oysterfest every chance in the world to impresses us. Le sigh, It was like when you get your hair did and get all fancy for a date, only to be disappointed in what the dude is wearing when you meet him. High hopes…
25 $ a ticket, PLUS a hefty 5 $ service charge… basically I could have gotten my tickets at the door cause it ends up being the SAME? I felt like that was a little shiesty. This price tag gets you into the event, you get to hear some cool bands, there was port-​o-​pottys (even a giant urinal where the guys had to stand there in groups, feet and upper body exposed to the breeze! It gave the impression of a man in a barrel
) but what it doesn’t get you is ONE SINGLE OYSTER… or beer. Did you bring cash? I hope so!
We’re the kinda kids that love life and sunshine and music so we made the best of it. It was a great day, we didn’t start it off right for nothin! We got there early and snagged a table and drank and eventually purchased some grilled and raw delights (about 20 dollars for a dozen and drinks were pricey too) What we did consume was quality and tasted like a slap in the face from the sea-​the combo of the atmosphere and tastes and smells and music really lended to an enjoyable day. So sad you can’t drink at this park generally anymore!
With so many other amazing restaurants in town, combining the 30 $ entrance and what was spent on food and drink, I’d rather spend it differently and go and have a 60 $ Oyster fest meal of my own somewhere! I hope next year the price of admission comes with maybe two oyster samples of your choice or something? We’re not asking for much, just the feeling of value! Lovely atmosphere, and with a little more bang for your buck I’ll get sexy by the sea again next year… if not, I’ll get my aphrodisiac elsewhere!

Like a 3.5. Seriously, the only thng that sucked was parking and looking for it. But if you figure this all out before hand by reading the Unilocal reviews or just calling, it really isn’t all that bad. I probably almost would have rated it a 2 if I didnt have a great time at the Oysterfest. Which I DID!
So take these tips with you:
— Park at the Marriot for 10 $ the whole day. walk through the hotel and make your way past the pool and around the bay.
— Out of all the tents, just hit up Drakes. None of the other tents are worth it. Unless your that much of an Oyster snob that you’ve gotta get the fancy shmancy ones, just stick to Drakes tent. The raw oysters were awesome, BUT YOU HAVE TO TRY THE BBQ ones!
— Cash only.
— Get a cocktail. or two or three.
— Seating is a little hard but theres plenty of grass space (bring a blanky or not) or you can get romantic with it and sit on the rocks by the bay. I sure did with my girlfriend. ;)
Serious fun times on Saturday. I went with one other friend and we had a blast. Bring more people and I think it’ll be good times for everyone!
P. S. Personally don’t think the VIP would be worth it. I had more than enough oysters and cocktails and even with admission I spent less than the $ 100 VIP.

I realized yesterday at SD Oysterfest the residual effects of the ban of drinking alcohol on the public beach/​parks. Unless you have been living under a rock you know that if you are caught drinking on the beach or in a public park in San Diego you will be slapped with a hefty fine. It was a luxury we once had, took it for granted and now are only able to do do if you are in a highly monitored and captive environment. Enter Oysterfest.
$ 25 bucks in advance and $ 30 at the door. What does this get you? The answer is nothing. Nothing except entrance through the gates and the opportunity to drink by the bay with some of San Diego’s greatest views. Enjoying such a luxury was once free to us San Diegans and now we pay because a few bad brewskis spoiled the case. Once in the gate you will have to pay for everything and you are paying a premium. The beer, booze and oysters are all retail prices but it is well organized and the selection is impressive.
We enjoyed a dozen raw and a dozen BBQ’d oysters. My vote goes to the dozen BBQ’d which were topped with a warmed cocktail sauce and Tapatio for $ 20. There were other food options and one person in our group opted for the cheesesteak which was a pretty good buy, especially at an Oysterfest.
We lasted about 4 or 5 hours at the event but can assure you that we would have only been there for about half of the time if we didn’t land a table with an umbrella and chairs nice and early. It made all the difference in the world and I would suggest to the organizers that they look into adding more seating options like this to next year’s event.
Am I looking forward to next year? Not really. Will I be there next year? Probably, but I am not counting the days since I can go to Oceanaire 5 days a week and get a fantastic oyster for $ 1 during happy hour all year long.