Louisiana Seafood Festival

This year the festival was moved from City Park to Woldenberg Park. There was a $10 charge for admission per person to get into the festival. Children under the age of 12 got in for free. There were a bunch of restaurants that participated. The weather cooperated perfectly. It was not too cool and not too hot. Music was great. Great crowd on a Sunday although it was a Saints game day! Lines for different restaurants weren't long at all. I waited at max 5 min to get my food. I tried food from a bunch of different places so I will give a review of each restaurant I tried from. Ajun Cajun: Had the Shrimp Tempura Poboy from here. Overall, it was pretty good. The shrimp was fried really crispy. They used French bread from Dong Phuong compared to other places which used Leidenheimer bread. 4/5Bienvenue Bar and Grill: I got the voodoo shrimp and grits from here. I was expecting it to have a little spiciness to it, but there was none at all. The shrimp and grits was way too sweet for my tasting. The sweetness just ruined the dish in my opinion. I was very disappointed with this dish. 1/5The Blue Crab: I got the crabmeat remoulade salad from here. There was a generous portion of crabmeat in the salad. In addition to crabmeat, there was also shrimp. The salad was quite refreshing. 4/5Drago's: Got half a dozen charbroiled oysters from here. It wasn't my first time having charbroiled oysters from Drago's and certainly wouldn't be my last. It was simply amazing! I enjoy it every single time. 5/5Food Drunk: Had the crabmeat & crawfish mac and cheese from here. Each order came with 2 scoops. It was very cheesy and had very generous portions of seafood. I really enjoyed it. I thought this dish was very unique and different. 5/5Gulf Tacos: Ordered the Gulf Tacos from here. It was fried fish on a corn tortilla that was topped with slaw and some special sauce. Each order came with 2 tacos. It was average in my opinion. There wasn't anything special to it. 3/5Saltwater Grill: I got the crawfish & spinach boat from here. It was a crawfish and spinach dip that was placed in a bread bowl. The dip was good, but the bread was a little tough. Good concept. 3/5The downside to this festival was how expensive the drinks were. It was quite excessive. We already paid for admission so I feel like the prices for the drinks could be a little cheaper.

Shoutout to my sweet friend, Yelper Angie, who hooked me up with tickets for Saturday! This was the first time I attended the festival so I wasn't sure what to expect! Fortunately my bestie was there earlier and told me where they parked and I figured out where it was being held in City Park! The festival is open from 11am-9pm and I avoided the heat and came around 5:30pm ish when it was cooling off! Plus I missed the slight drizzle that occurred earlier so that was good!The entrance fee is $10 I believe which isn't bad for a festival but it appears to be free when it initially started. I think that the Red Fish Grill's BBQ oyster poboy was delicious!Meanwhile I tried Galatoire's shrimp remoulade. I have never been to Galatoire's and have it on my list of classic New Orleans restaurants to experience. Well, the shrimp remoulade was just ok. I kind of expected to be blown away since they are a New Orleans institution where I believe you have to dress up and they will lend gentlemen a sports coat if they aren't wearing one. There were craft booths, various types of alcohol booths where you could sample their beverages, etc.But my favorite part was the music! I caught The Village People ending their set with their classic YMCA. And I closed out the festival listening to "The Romantics!" And can I tell you I thoroughly enjoyed dancing to their music and listening to them rock out! It was a good crowd and I was able to see them from where I was standing. Plus they did an encore! I thoroughly enjoyed this festival! My only suggestion is to have more shopping booths for the shopper in me! HeheHappy Seafood Festing!

This was the mother of all seafood festivals, a true seafood lovers dream! From char grilled oysters to soft shell crab po boys to alligator sausage jumbalaya to crawfish sushi rolls, the options were endless. We grabbed a spot under the trees to protect ourselves from the scorching sun and were lucky to get a seat on one of the two random patio chairs/couches later on. The live band provided some great entertainment. Nice way to spend a day with the family tasting all the unique southern seafood dishes.

Oooh wee! It was hot out there, y'all and I ain't talking about the shrimp and jalapeño cheese grits I had. That sun was shining. There was nothing but open space. I was glad I wore sunblock. I was mad I wore jeans (serious rookie mistake!).This was my first time checking out the Seafood Fest and it didn't disappoint. My only real complaint is that it was in an area with no tree coverage in the middle of the summer. I think having it in the fall would be better, but what do I know? I was able to sample a few things, so I'm going to review each one by one.PJ's: 5/5 stars- This was our first stop. I got a nice iced coffee for $5 and if you saved the cup, you get could get a refill for $3. Considering this was one of the few booths with a huge fan and tables, this spot ended up being a lifesaver. Bonus points for the free coffee coupons they were handing out.Lüke: 5/5- I got the shrimp and jalapeño cheese grits and they were amazing! For $8 they gave a nice size serving and it was served nice and hot. My favorite dish of the day.Saltwater grill: I can't rate it because I wasn't the one who ate it, but for $5 you get a really big alligator sausage stick. It looked tasty and you can't beat that deal with a sausage stick.Drago's: 3/5- We got the half- dozen charbroiled oysters and they were just okay. The oysters themselves were TINY. I know this is supposed to just be a sample, but I was underwhelmed and for $9 it didn't feel like it was worth it.Dirty Dishes: 5/5- We had the dirty mac which was smoked gouda mac and cheese with crawfish and tasso. I have written a separate review for Dirty Dishes and this dish before- I am definitely a fan. They gave a huge serving and the cheese was nicely melted over the whole dish and it was quite tasty. For $8, this might be one of the better deals at the fest.I also stopped by the Barefoot wine tent for a few samples and I really enjoyed them. Also, the misting tent was a total lifesaver. It's amazing how good semi-cool water can feel when you have been standing under the boiling sun for 45 minutes. We didn't stop to listen to the bands, but I liked what I heard and they sounded great.All in all it was a good time. Next year I will remember to wear a sun hat and shorts and a tank top, so that I can stay cool. It would be nice if they moved this fest to the fall or at least under the trees where Brunch Fest was, but I know beggars can't be choosers when there is a festival nearly every weekend.

Great way to try a variety of unique seafood dishes! I loved the music to and all the proceeds go to flood victims this year!

Oh yeah! All kinds of delicious seafood dishes from local restaurants served under sunny skies. Craft beer tent with drafts from Abita, Sweetwater and others. Live music to cap out a wonderful day. Streetcar or bus to city park fairgrounds. Cheers NOLA!

This festival was definitely worth the stop!Food vendors as far as the eye could see, live music, shady treed areas and the football game on! Parking was convenient as we parked in the Art Museum lot! It was just a short walk through City Park to the festival grounds and let me tell you it was a beautiful walk!It wasn't overly crowded and of course everyone was serving up their style of Po Boys! I had a blackened shrimp and avocado po boy that was out of this world. I could have eaten five of them and it was reasonably priced for being at a festival coming in at $7.00. Eric had a po boy that had bacon and friend shrimp on it and he said his was great too! I personally think mine looked better!Everyone was really friendly and people brought their own chairs out to see the music. It really reminded me of Blues on the Green in Austin!The entry was free and like I said the food and drinks were not overly priced. They had sodas and waters for $2.00 at most places and beers and hurricanes ranging between $4.00 and $8.00!I think the food alone made it worth the stop! You can't get much closer to authentic local food than that!

This has always been one of my favorite festivals because I love seafood and it's held at City Park which is one of the coolest areas in all of New Orleans. Parking was pretty easy despite the number of people hunting for spots. It was not super crowded but there were a decent number of people there. There are always tons of great vendors at this festival but the one that stood out for me was Food Drunk, who were serving up the most amazing mac n' cheese with Louisiana crab meat and crawfish tails. It was sooo good. The weather was nice when I went on Saturday, it was just hot sitting out in the sun. Fortunately there are tons of huge live oak trees where quite a few people, my friend and I included, stood under to cool down. It's free to get into this festival and they have live music so it is worth checking out even if you are not a huge seafood fan although the vendors also sell a number of non seafood items. If you haven't been I highly recommend going next time!

This festival has improved and grown dramatically over the last few years. The move to City Park has made for a much more enjoyable and spacious venue to enjoy the food and music but I really miss the shade form when it was in Lafayette Square. There are lots of great food booths doing amazing things with our local seafood, great music, and many local vendors selling their crafts. This is like a mini Jazz fest without all the lines and FREE admission. The City Park Festival Grounds don't have a lot of shade where they set the stage up so make sure to prepare for bright sunlight with a good hat, shades and sunscreen.

It was my first year coming to this festival. Located in City Park, there was plenty of bike parking, which I highly recommend because car parking would have been a total blow to our day if we chose to go that route.There was plenty of space to sit in the grass and enjoy the music while chowing down on your favorite seafood dish. It did start raining at one point, which put a damper on things, but nonetheless, it was still an enjoyable event.Another thing worth mentioning: there were plenty of Port O' Potties! I always look for that going to festivals and am always disappointed when there aren't enough. I know they're not the cleanest, but at least it's something. Final Point: I'm not even going to talk about the food because we all know New Orleans knows how to do seafood right!