The Bite of Seattle

The Bite is something that every Seattlelite has to do each time it comes around. It’s pretty much a mandatory event.
The only thing that I don’t like about the bite is that it gets sooo packed. I mean it’s a major Seattle event, so I shouldn’t be complaining… But. Yeah. We got there around 12 and probably had an hour before it became wall to wall in the streets.
I had alligator on a stick, which (as usual), was great! I also had lumpia (it was 10 pcs. for $ 5) and pancit, but I was disappointed because we saw the workers in the back break apart the lumpia from a frozen brick of solid lumpia just stacked on top of each other. Did they make it themselves or did they hit up that Costco wholesale? Guess we’ll never know.
I also had some chicken skewer and Thai Iced Tea from Bambuza, and that was really good. You can never go wrong with Thai Iced Tea — and the chicken was amazingggg. They gave it to us in a paper plate though and it was burning hot. Couldn’t feel my hand for a second.
All in all though, I feel like I didn’t have as much fun at The Bite this year as I normally do. We’ll try again next year!

The Bite of Seattle 2015 Great food. ONE PROBLEM THE FREAKIN TSHIRTS «««SUCK, SUCK, SUCK «» They used to have fantastic T Shirts. I have an awesome collection of T Shirts I have amassed from over the years Why do they keep using this outfit that makes ugly T Shirts Small wonder you never see people wearing them. Get a clue ««Bite of Seattle» get someone who can make some decent T SHIRTS «««PLEASE»»»» Back to food. Lots and lots of variety last night good, food, good selection some places were rather STEEP in prices. $ 8.00 for a couple of tiny bites of food. I don’t care how famous you are people come to the bite for good tasting reasonable prices. I remember the Bite when it was at Greenlake. Oh yes those were the days. The bite has come a long ways since then. Lots and lots of good food. Maybe next year you’ll find someone who makes good T Shirts

Really enjoyed getting to attended bite of Seattle. We are visiting from California so we wanted to check out some cool spots and this was one of them. I got to get a coconut water literally a coconut with water lol and it was super cold and refreshing. He weather was on point, nice and warm. There were a large amount of foods to pick from, nice music, friendly people all throughout, and also free stuff! I’m very happy we made this as one of our stops. And you can see the space needle right from there. Hoping I can stop here again in the future if we decide to visit Seattle again. Thank you to all the people that made this experience amazing!

My first year at the bites! Located around the famous World’s Fairs Space Needle.
Basically a street floor galore. All kinds of food trucks and tons of people enjoying some food. Hang-​out in the front of the waterfront and look at the space needle. It’s worth it.
The prices are what you would imagine at a food fair, a bit on a pricey side. Coming on a Friday it was too crowded. Not a bad way to check out some of seattle’s eateries all at once!
When: July 17 – 19, 2015
Cost: FREE ADMISSION
Where: Seattle Center
Hours: Friday & Saturday 11 a.m. — 9 p.m.
Sunday 11 a.m. — 8 p.m.

wow!!! This festival is soooo huge! It’s as big as three honolulu’ s eat the street and lopoloozas combined together, with three stages of band performers all day and night long. So many vendors selling food and other items in different places my feet were sore just trying to see them all. bands are great to whichever type of song you prefer, and with a background of the spaceneedle, makes it a memorable event. I’m so glad I got to experience this while I am visiting here since the night before all the restaurants at the armory near the space needle closed at 6pm leaving us with no choice but to go to mcdonalds for dinner. At least we were able to have much more choices later at night since the food booths and bands at this festivity closes at 9pm.

How I heard of this place: Every year, Seattle boasts one of the most attended and delicious festivals of its kind! The free event (not including the cost of food) brings out the diversity of our community and our city in this annual event. Being a foodie, it’s a festival I wouldn’t miss!
Type of cuisine: You name it, you got it! Everything from Thai iced tea to Greek gyros, Vietnamese phở & sandwiches to all-​American fried mac ‘n cheese, Australian road kill to New Orleans fried alligator on a stick, and typical fair food including strawberry shortcake, elephant ears and fried ice cream can be found at the Bite.
Ambiance: Crowded, joyous, filling. The outdoor festival can be enjoyed on a blanket with friends, walking around with family, or running through the fountain. It’s a casual event and welcomes all!
What I ordered: Everyone is happy here, ordering and enjoying what looks best to their palates. I went for the lemon-​pepper steak and grilled veggies in a pita ($ 7) served at Outback Jack’s, the Australian road kill sensation. At our blanket station, we also had the sausage pita from Outback Jack’s, several orders of curly fries ($ 3 each), chicken satay with rice and salad ($ 7), strawberry shortcake, and more.
What I loved: The ambiance; being outside with several hundred thousand people, enjoying the sun, the conversation, and the beauty of the Seattle Center and Space Needle can’t be beat. As far as the food is concerned, the curly fries were the big culinary hit in the samples I was privy to.
Why I loved it: It’s the perfect opportunity to enjoy time outdoors with — what seems like — all of your Seattle neighbors and friends! The event is free and thus not inhibiting. It is casual enough that you can bring your own food and simply enjoy the company, you can go by yourself and not feel alone, you can take a group of fifteen people and sample more than you would want!
Cost: Free to enter. Food costs vary according to size and restaurant/​venue.

Bite of Seattle aka the fair of Seattle!
I’ve been going to the bite for several years now. Last year was the most memorable and my favorite year! This year was fun but with crazy amount of people and really not that great of for food selection.
Bite 2013– great chefs, good food, music and crowd. I had kastoori’s amazing momos, cooking demo from Chef Theirry (Rover, Loulay) himself, drank enough in the beer garden! It was fun! Crowded but not so crazy that you can’t walk around.
Tom Douglas alley was fantastic. Armory wasn’t packed with crazy crowd. I spent a good 2 days eating, drinking and people watched from the beer garden right above. Talk about fantastic area.
Bite 2014– similar ish but with a whole lot more food trucks and craziness. Every place was packed. Hard to walk around to stand around. The alley this year had food from Crush, Din tai fung, cupcakes and then some. It’s a tasting plate aka very small serving.
Fun eats — alligator on a stick, Krispy crème burger! Waffle hot dog, chocolate corn dog! Piroshkys, pirogis and Ezell’s chicken. Get the spicy strip for Ezells. They go so well with all kinds of alcohol. Perfection!
Overall, eat, drink, sunbathe, listen to different bands and eat some more. Or drink. They have plenty of beer gardens and for you! The wine garden is right in the alley. Food can be hit or miss but it’s always a good fun to check it out. Especially on a hot sunny Seattle day!

First off, it’s super crowded, so if you’re the type that hates wall to wall people where it’s tough to navigate, you won’t enjoy this.
On the plus side, there’s lots of food stands and plenty of options. BBQ, Thai, sausages were well represented. Even a few Philly cheesesteak stands that seemed to get it pretty close to authentic. Lots of carnival foods like funnel cake, popcorn, corn on the cob, snow cones, etc. Also lots of specialty stands and many Seattle favorites that you see around town or at Pike Place Market.
Overall not bad, but ideally I’d like to see more sample options so you could try more things without getting filled up on full servings. Also the massive crowd on Saturday was cumbersome. You might have better luck on Friday or Sunday.

The Bite of Seattle is an annual event at Seattle Center, and it brings together local restaurants (brick and mortar, food trucks) and food vendors. There are also arts and crafts vendors that sell everything from luggage to henna tattoos. Although the food offerings may not be the best that Seattle has to offer, it is representative of the diversity of the cuisines here. One can find bites and meals of every cultural origin, from deep fried PB and J sandwiches and chocolate covered cheesecake on a stick (ah, so American) to Filipino fare.
The Bite offers a variety of food that will feed your stomach, but probably not nourish your soul. I recommend The Alley, which is located near the Key Arena. The Alley offers a selection of «bites» from a handful of outstanding Seattle area restaurants. This year’s plate had BBQ (brisket), mac n cheese, and cupcakes. Its well-​worth the $ 10 price tag, and the funds raised support a great cause.
The festival itself is packed, so there is plenty of people watching. Every year, the festival is sponsored by local and national companies. This year, Post offered samples of their cereals, Land o Frost of their sausages. There are also free and fun activities for kids, teens, and adults: Groupon offered photo «tents,» where one could take pictures of themselves or with friends as a keepsake memento. Ford offered custom printed t-​shirts and sunglasses.
The Bite of Seattle is a good annual event for a sunny day where you want to sample and eat food with your friends and family. Its a great thing to do on a lazy weekend afternoon.

Seattle is known for its fine dining and its events, and Bite of Seattle definitely combines food and events! A good majority of the food available is fair fare (fried oreos, corndogs, teriyaki, funnel cakes, etc.) but there are some interesting food trucks and other vendors out there as well, like Strawberry Shortcakes from Biringer Farms, Big Boys Filipino Food Truck, My Chef Lynn, and People of the Chubbs, among others.
The Alley, in my opinion, is the best value at the Bite of Seattle. $ 10 for sample size portions from 7 different restaurants in the region. This year we went on Sunday, and on the menu was: Brisket and Blueberry Corn Mojo, Coconut Chicken with Cumin Rice, Lamb and Goat Cheese Fritter, Pork Belly Mac and Cheese with homemade chicharrones, BBQ pork buns, cold cucumber soup with salmon pastrami, and Creamsicle Cupcakes. They were all delicious in my opinion, but the brisket and the cucumber soup were definitely the front runners. The cupcake ended the course perfectly. The Craft Beer Garden is definitely worth the value and you get a cool 5 oz. Souvenir glass to take home, but the wine garden I cannot say the same for. Lots of fatty food, yes. Entertainment and vendors of random stuff? Yes.
My biggest complaint, would unfortunately have to be that a lot of the staff, especially from Staffing Pro, were walking around smoking cigarettes on duty… and at their waist height is my older son’s face. Too many people stuffed into a small space for people to be smoking.
Despite my complaints, my family and I had a great time. We will be returning next year!

We come to the Bite yearly to partake in the offerings by the Foodline charity at the Alley. This is what the Bite is all about to me. Where else can you get good from Millers Guild and Skillet and try local WA wines? Then walk over and try Alligator? Yes there is a lot of fair food but find the Alley and you won’t be disappointed. The wine offerings this year were very small which is why it’s not 5 stars.

BITE THIS!
Oh wait it’s the annual Bite of Seattle. The annual food festival where the masses gather to gorge themselves on over priced local Restraunt samples of there cuisine. And those old enough to will liquor up in the beer garden for hours on end until your either run out of money or pass out cold!
I’d recommend hitting it up on Friday for lunch time or Sunday. Saturday is the definitive rookie day for those trying to be scene. Also pay to park in a lot! It’s either $ 10 in lot or $ 50 payable to City of Seattle.
Have fun and enjoy the grinds brotha’s & sista’s!

There are so many wonderful restaurants in the area, yet this fair food is what was chosen to be representative of Seattle? What a joke. The only thing that the Bite of Seattle is representative of is our state marijuana laws, because the only reason you should eat here is if you are high and craving grease.
I decided to walk over to the 2013 Bite of Seattle during my lunch break. The majority of my break was spent wandering through the overwhelming number of sub-​standard vendors. I finally settled on a Philly cheese steak and a «bite» of seafood chowder. The cheese steak was small, soggy, and made from crappy ingredients. The seafood chowder was a little better, but nothing to write home about.
$ 11.75 for a crowded, uncomfortable environment and nasty food. Bite of Seattle can bite me.

Located around the famous World Fair’s Space Needle, The Bite of Seattle provided weekenders a taste of what could be found around this special city. I was in town for the weekend and my friend who lives here thought it would be a nice way to spend the day after the Sounders game this past Saturday.
I expected it to be a crowded, cash only type of event, which it was. We were all kind of excited to see what would be available to try and buy. We were looking forward to finding a wine or beer tasting booth… unfortunately for us, we never found those booths. Sadly, the food here was at best mediocre, but it was nice to be outside, have music, random booths for free photos, and just for the overall atmosphere. There were things that we enjoyed, but many things we didn’t. We tried some fried lasagna which was delicious and left us wanting for more. We also all had refreshing strawberry lemonade as well as mango lemonade. My friend Melinda also really enjoyed the falafel she ordered.
Everything else we tried wasn’t enough to write home about. The burgers the guys had was only slightly above average. We all had high expectations for the fried mac and cheese but we all felt like it tasted like mac and cheese from the box. The cube of curly fries we shared tasted bland and was super oily. The food choices and booths were only so-​so, but that is to be expected when there are big food festivals like these. I think if you have time to kill, it’s fun to come for the music, hanging out and meeting new people– just eat beforehand or come to try some lemonade. Overall we had a pretty relaxing time walking around and just soaking in the experience as first timers in Seattle… make sure you’re not hungry when you come haha.

I have gone to the Bite of Seattle for 7 of the last 8 years. The only year I missed was the one when it rained over that weekend. In that time, my love for this festival has waned.
The problem that I have with this festival is that it does not give a good representation of Seattle cuisine. Most of the places at the event offer fair food. There are only just a handful of current Seattle restaurants that participate in this event. Though at least they do offer spots to food trucks that is in line with that recent food trend in Seattle. I will say the food pricing at the event is not that bad. It is reasonable enough to allow for sampling numerous vendors.
Aside from the entertainment and fun in the sun aspect of the festival, the only spot worth venturing is The Alley. Each day, 7 local restaurants participate by serving up an item for the event to raise money for charity.
Attended the Sunday version of The Alley this year. As is usually the case, the Tom Douglas food item (smoked pork shoulder with blueberries and shallots) was the best of the offerings. I liked about half of the items that I had. The offerings from Din Tai Fung (pork wonton), Luc (cod rillette) and Shanik (vegetable flatbread) were enjoyable. But I was less pleased with the offerings from The Repp (stale toast, but duck was good), O’Asian (pork pastry is forgettable) and PinkaBella (cupcake too sweet).
If you like beer, the beer garden may be of interest. The Fisher Pavilion was filled with craft beer stands. Though I found the pricing a bit on the high side.
I am not as enamored with the Bite of Seattle. It is not a bad event, just one which could use a refresh. It needs more representation of the current Seattle restaurant scene.

For the first time in 14 years, I decided not to attend The Bite. Then my child wanted to go. Bummer. So… we went.
Here’s some of the things to do at The Bite:
— Listen to music on a variety of stages. I’m partial to pretty much any cover band that shows up.
— Obtain fair food like funnel cakes, shave ice, and elephant ears.
— Spin prize wheels for useless marketing trinkets which include yo-yo’s that break before you get off the premises, pretty much every color of plastic bracelets you can imagine, cheap pens, balloons, key chains, etc. You know the drill.
— Get drunk in the beer garden if that’s your thing. That hasn’t been my thing since I was a college student.
— Get less drunk in the «wine» garden where instead of standing in the beer garden, you get to sit at tables sipping glasses of booze.
— Buy a $ 10 ticket at the Alley to eat sample sized food from Tom Douglas and a handful of other restaurants.
— Play in International Fountain.
— Pay inflated prices for you and your child to ride a slide, be trapped in a plastic ball floating on water, or to jump in a bouncy house.
— Be entertained by buskers.
— Watch dogs jump long distances to fetch items out of a pool.
In past years, I used to really enjoy The Bite. It has gotten really big but for me and not in a good way. If you sort out the typical festival food and vendors that do the circuit, you’re actually left with a relatively small number of unique experiences.
This year, the Ford marketing (that’s what it is) site was amusing and actually well done. I sat there for 45 minutes while my child went from station to station shooting a basketball, spinning a wheel, and kicking soccer goals.
The Alley turned me off this year because I perceived two restaurants that day as not being of the quality I’ve come to expect so I took my money elsewhere. Although it’s for a good, charitable cause, I did not find the food appealing. I like Tom Douglas but I can go to his restaurants to enjoy his food.
In recent years, food trucks have also been on the scene. I think having about 5 – 7 of them is appropriate. It gives a little variety to the offerings.
For me, it’s getting hard to justify the cost of the food at The Bite compared to the bang I’m getting. Many of the vendors are local so I can grab their food at their regular locations for ½ the price and twice the portion (which I did after I left on Sunday).
Don’t get me wrong — there’s fun to be had at The Bite. I’ve just learned it’s not my thing anymore.

In reality The Bite of Seattle is in between 3 and 4 stars. We’ve always made an effort to make an annual visit to The Bite. But we’ve noticed the prices creeping higher and higher and the portions getting smaller.
This year (2013) we made the trip just for The Alley. Great bites from 7 restaurants spearheaded by Tom Douglas for $ 10. All the food from The Alley was really delish! I really loved the blueberry BBQ beef brisket and corn pudding from Palace Kitchen.
After that we were pretty satisfied so we were just strolling to see what else was around. I swear it was a hoochie convention! I know it was hot, but seriously, some girls look like working girls, if you know what I mean.
I digress.
Anyway, there are a lot of free stuff to be had (my inner Filipina came out) from free dog food at the Science Diet booth to cases (that’s right, cases of 12) of Muller yogurt, to photos and a bag at the Sparkling ICE booth.
TIP: Bring a bag for your free goodies. There weren’t that many companies offering free bags this year.

Lots of choices from local restaurants to try out their food in smaller sample sizes so you can taste small plates from a few places prices were around $ 5 each plate so it was a little pricey.
I was a little disappointed with the amount of big chain restaurants so instead of having more local places the chain restaurants took up several.
They also featured a grand tasting where you could pay around $ 10 and get samples from 8 places. The portion sizes looked small for the price paid and I couldn’t try it because several items had gluten.
The 2 shows I attended were kinda lame I went to an ‘Iron Chef’ competition featuring two local chefs, the announcer was annoying, and the 3 ingredients featured weren’t that obscure. We also saw a comedy routine in the 21 plus area that was ok, it featured an amateur comedian.

2.5 star.
Folklife and the Bite of Seattle, along with other street fairs, are all pretty similar in terms of food options.
Each year, I see the same or similar food trucks and options at the Bite and Folklife. Nothing is really new year after year.
However, I was SO excited when they added new restaurants to this year’s Bite after watching local news programs. I watched about this new food vendor added to the Bite, which is from the Asian fusion restaurant called Chopsticks I believe. I went up and ordered the «Peking Duck taco» because I thought it would be worth trying. That is where the problem come from:
I WAS CHEATED BY THE AD PICTURE!
On both of the local program as well as the picture advertised on their food truck, they showed their dish of TWO peking duck tacos in a to-​go box. I looked at their menu and thought ok $ 3.5 is pretty good for two tacos. I should buy that. When I got my dish, I only had ONE taco. I was like, WTF?
Then I tried to make sense and was like, oh well, $ 3.5 for TWO peking duck tacos are just too good to be true. And it was too good to be true. But I was not happy.
In general, food portions are small. It is better to try small side dishes at these events rather than spending $ 8 – 10 on a dish that is accessible at a better deal.

The sound of the event excited the foodie in me weeks prior to our trip — I had clicked «I’m In!» on the Unilocal events page and book-​marked it…
This was a great opportunity to multi-​task: see the Space Needle while fulfilling my variety-​loving fantasies. Alas, the event itself did not live up to my great expectations.
Riding the Monorail to the event, cruising the vendors and checking out the Dave’s Killer bread booth saved the event from the dreaded one-​star.
#20/​365