After purchasing my $7.00 ticket for the FoodieLand Night Market back in July, I spent the following weeks excited at the prospect of attending the “foodie inspired multi-cultural food and entertainment event.” Due to the excitement, I couldn’t even sleep well the night before the event!
FoodieLand Night Market in Berkeley, CA
FoodieLand Night Market is held at multiple locations throughout California. The event I was going to was the one in Berkeley, CA held at the Golden Gate Fields.
The Golden Gate Fields overlooks the Bay and San Francisco. You can even see the Golden Gate Bridge 🌉:
I had purchased the ticket for the 1PM entry (the first entrance period), but came early just in case – arriving at around 12:40 PM. Even though it was 20 minutes before the event, there was a long line already. (But luckily the line moved along quickly and I was able to enter a few minutes after 1PM.)
Restrictions
As stated on their website, you can’t bring large backpacks or bags. Clear, see-through bags under 12 x 12 inches are allowed, along with strollers and small handbags. There was a detailed bag policy on the Cal Expo State Fair website for Sacramento’s FoodieLand Night Market event HERE, so I referred to it. But even when I brought a small clutch bag exactly 5 x 8 inches, the staff inspected what was inside my bag. And they did a body inspection, too. 🙁
So be prepared to have your bags inspected even if you meet the bag requirements.
More Restrictions
Per FoodieLand Night Market’s guidelines, tickets are available only via Eventbrite, and no pets are allowed (except for service animals). To check out the official website for the FoodieLand Night Market event held in Berkeley, CA from August 5th-7th, 2022 (the one I attended), click HERE. If you’re going to attend future FoodieLand Night Markets, make sure to look up the official website for the event you’ll be attending.
The Event
Upon entering, I found myself surrounded by rows of booths after booths selling all kinds of food and drinks, like tacos, chicken, boba, tea, macarons, dim sums, ramen burgers, donuts, kettle corn, corn dogs, oysters, and even frog legs!
It’s useful to refer to the vendor list & map they have on their official website.
I couldn’t wait to try all the food!
Little did I know about the costs…
Delicious BUT Expensive
Having paid an entrance fee of $7.00, I thought the prices of the food/drink items would be from $5 to $10. Based on my past experiences at various events, I had NO idea that most of the items here would be about $20!
#1: Cheese Wheel Pasta (Black Truffle Cream Pasta – $28 <$30 with tax>)
I decided to start off with “Cheese Wheel Pasta.” They sold basil pesto, bacon, garlic lobster, and black truffle cream pastas. I decided to get the black truffle cream pasta.
It was $28. With tax, it was a total of $30.
To be fair, their pasta was “imported from Italy,” “aged for 24 months,” “made with the freshest milk,” and made with “ingredients from the Provinces of Parma & Reggio Emilia.” But I did not expect the food to be this expensive at this foodie event.
And the thing was, they didn’t have the prices up for people to see. It was only after you get to the cashier and order the item that they tell you how much you have to pay.
But since the pasta was delicious and I had it for lunch, I thought it was worth it.
I mean, all the other booths would be much cheaper, right?
#2: Kusina ni Javen Jesel (Bone Marrow Tacos – $25)
Next, I went to the booth named “Kusina ni Javen Jesel.” They were selling Filipino infused food, including lumpia, empanada and bone marrow tacos.
The bone marrow tacos were $25.
Again, to be fair, bone marrow tacos have quite some meat to it. Plus, it tasted great.
After two food items, I had already spent over $50. It hurt, but the food was great and I had faith that the other food & drinks were cheaper.
Boy was I wrong…
#3 – LemonTea Squeeze (Animal Jar Drinks – $25 with cash payment)
Having consumed pasta and tacos, I needed to drink something. Having read about cute animal jar drinks on the vendor list, I went over to the booth named “LemonTea Squeeze” to purchase one.
Again, the prices weren’t shown on the booth. It was only after waiting in line and reaching the cashier that I learned how much one animal drink cost.
It cost $25. Twenty-five bucks if I paid in cash, and $27 dollars (and I don’t remember the exact change) if I paid with my card.
But I was thirsty, had waited in line, and was swayed by the words “free refills.”
I purchased the $25 animal jar drink, with peach iced tea flavor.
After two items and one drink, I had spent about $80… It was too much, but since it was an “all you can drink” offer with this cute bear jar, I let it go.
#4 – Churromania Bakery (Churro Sundae – $12, Churro – $5 each)
This FoodieLand Night Market was until 9:30 PM. It was around 3PM when my friends and I wanted to try more food. We wanted to try the Hawaiian Honey Cones aka the J-shaped ice cream. But they were, if I remember correctly, over $20 each! I don’t remember the exact cost, as we ended up not buying the expensive ice cream. But I do remember it being as expensive as the pasta/tacos/animal jar.
So we decided to settle for some churros & churro sundae at this booth called “Churromania Bakery.” Churros couldn’t be that expensive, right?
The churro sundae was $12 and the churros cost $5 each. It was definitely overpriced, considering the fact that regular churros cost $1.50 to $2.00 each.
But as it was one of the cheaper food items (compared to the $20 ice cream!), we got the sundae and churros. And of course, we paid the $2.14 tax that was added.
#5 – Big Baby Bottle (Small Baby Bottle – $27.56)
It was 4PM when my friends and I were sitting around in the table area unwilling to buy more food. Everything was overpriced. Maybe not everything, as we couldn’t check out all the booths and food trucks (which were, according to the website, over 150 in total.) But the ones that looked good and the ones we did get were all overpriced. And we were running out of money about halfway into the event. (The event closed at 9:30 PM.)
But before leaving the event for good (as re-entries were NOT allowed), we decided to try the baby bottles people were drinking from. We wanted to get the really big baby bottles, but we figured they would be outrageously expensive. So we decided to go for the smaller ones.
When we got to the front of the line, we were told that the small bottles cost $25 in cash, $27.56 in card payment…
And I’m ashamed to say…
We got the small baby bottles…
Conclusion
Though the event had a ton of great booths, I regret attending the event. Most of the food and drink items were overpriced. I regret getting the small Baby Bottle. And I regret purchasing the Bear Jar, because the thing leaked really easily. My phone got wet with the peach iced tea that leaked out, and now I have a broken iPhone.
Other people might have had a great time at the FoodieLand Night Market. I personally regret attending it. I’m broke and phoneless after the event. (Beware: the cute animal jar leaks!)
In my opinion, FoodieLand Night Market is a great event ONLY for foodies with money to spare. It’s fun ONLY if you can afford everything without worrying about it afterwards.
P.S. There were also live performances and game booths. I do NOT recommend the game booths, especially this one selling giant Pokemons:
Because it’s IMPOSSIBLE to win the game. You need to throw the ball, hit this board, and have it fall into this basket. The man in charge of the booth does it well BECAUSE of where he is standing. From where you are required to stand, it’s impossible. ☹ I’ve seen everyone fail, including myself.
P.P.S. If you DO decide to attend the FoodieLand event but you are NOT a foodie with money to spare, I suggest that you eat just 1-2 food/drink items and purchase products instead.
From my experience, it’s just WAY more cost effective. Instead of spending $20 on a single food/drink item, you can purchase a plushie/keychain/succulent/K-pop merchandise or some other stuff that you can bring home as a souvenir.
There was this cute keychain shop called “Cloris Creates” that I couldn’t buy from because I ran out of money. They had key chains of different breeds of dogs, cats, bunnies, parrots and reptiles! Plus, I recommend this cute succulent shop that I THINK was called “Juliet’s Succulent Garden.” I didn’t have money left to buy anything from them, but they had really cute succulent keychains & more.
