9th Avenue Food Festival
“But overall, a really fun street fair.”
“Tasty eats, some live music, free samples…all in all a fun way to spend some of your day!”
“Happens every May, worth checking out, especially if you have kids”
9th Avenue Food Festival
Good for Kids: Yes
Price range.
Price range
6 reviews
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This would have been so much better if there had been more of the local restaurants. As a fan of 9th Ave dining, I was hoping to see most of the restaurants represented. Unfortunately this was not the case. Not only did the majority NOT have booths, it was your typical street fair cuisine. Picture endless funnel cake stands, sausage and pepper stands, etc. Bah, Meh, whoopee…
I work in the area and during my many walks from 59th Street to the 33rd Street PATH station via 9th Avenue, I've marveled at all the happy hours and specials that the restaurants on this block have to offer. Having only ventured in a select few of my regular spots, I was excited about this festival, knowing it would feature not only international foods throughout NYC, but 9th Avenue as well.
This 2012 weekend was a busy one!!!
In this neighborhood alone, there was a dance parade on Broadway and a tattoo convention on 52nd. You know I had to hit up the tattoo convention!
With the little bit of time I had to enjoy this festival, I tried to take in as much as I could. I had a great time, don't get me wrong, but I feel like I walked away with some disappointments:
** It wasn't as "international" as its namesake had me thinking it would be (the FTR failed to give it its full name: 9th Avenue International Food festival).
** I felt most of the food was typical festival fare and I would've been able to find them anywhere.
** I didn't feel 9th Avenue was featured at all. Most 9th Avenue businesses may have put out some tents, tables, and chairs out front, but you're ordering from the staff and menu inside. I guess I was expecting something other than just added outdoor seating.
I did have a bit of excitement. I was eyeing the alligator sausage stand at the Hoboken Arts and Music Festival, but didn't get around to it. I was on a mission to find it out here…and I did. That was exciting, the "finding" part. The actual sausage was anticlimactic. It tasted like any other sausage. Having never had alligator before, I didn't know what subtleties to look for. They could have given me a regular ol' pork sausage and I wouldn't have known.
Having no other years to compare this year's festival to, I can't say if things are getting better or worse. It may not have met my expectations, but I still had a good time and I would indeed do it again next year.
More like a 3.5 star street festival. Like another reviewer mentioned, they pretty much clone each block and not many actual Hell's Kitchen restaurants are represented.
However, all the food I tried was tasty and pretty reasonably priced. Also, there were a few food companies giving away samples of products. For example, Post cereal was there giving away coupons and samples of a few of their cereals.
While there I tried Arepa…I think that was the name. It's basically a lightly sweet corn cake sandwich with mozzarella inside. Very tasty. I had some chocolate covered strawberries, a Jell-O shot, really good chocolate caramel popcorn, fresh lemonade and a wonderful empanada from Empanada Mama. It was mozzarella with guava…sooo good!!!
Overall this is definitely a fun place to walk around for an hour or two. Tasty eats, some live music, free samples…all in all a fun way to spend some of your day! One tip is to come early when it's cooler out and not as crowded.
I felt the "international" was misleading. It's more like a large carnival minus the rides and also what the hell was up with the Shamwow booths? That really ruined the idea of "food festival" for me. The Colombian booths were really tasty and if you love deep fried anything there's definitely plenty of that here. The deep fried Oreos are one of the most decadent things I've ever eaten.
Food is the international unspoken language that unites all cultures. We live to eat, period.
Foodie is what comforts me in my darkest days as 2014, I stroll New York's Ninth Avenue to see what edible gems lie. Two Empanadas at $5.00, yes! There were many local restaurants that partake this event. Clothing and kiddie games are available but not to my interest. Yes, family friendly. This event is recurring every year, so if you missed this year you still have the next to look forward to in the month of May.
I don't usually like these kind of street fairs but I stumbled into this one and I think I'd go again.It has some interesting trinkets on sale at some booths and some good food stands.I didn't eat ,I'd already had lunch but unlike your usual fairs with disgusting looking Italian sausage and fried dough stuff(fried usually in left over industrial sludge) there were items I actually wanted to try.I was fascinated by the giant turkey legs ! There was a roast suckling pig turning in all its glory.Ecuadorian food stands , German food and Polish food.And you could get beer!I did try Bronx Pale Ale- and it's good.It beat going up there for it. I also had an IPA from Coney Island Brewing.A lot of the restaurants participate in this and they seem pretty open about letting you use the bathroom.