Sacramento Greek Festival

I arrived early for the $3 admission fee on Friday, from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm.Otherwise, admission is $5 age 13 & up.I had the chicken gyro, and shared the loukoumathes with the table. No more lunch specials on Fridays this year, and of course, prices have gone up.The gyro was very juicy, with mild flavor from the tzatziki, and the pita was vey moist. I enjoyed it.The loukoumathes was topped with honey and nuts, and had a mild sweet flavor, but I found it a little doughy, tougher than usual.No entertainment this early, but most performances will be Saturday and Sunday.Parking is always tough but I heard there is parking on 49th and C, with shuttle service to the festival. I don't know how often it runs.Not too many craft booths but the ones they have are good ones. The outside food vendors were spread out, which would eliminate congestion when it gets crowded. Can get a little warm outside, but plenty of tables with umbrellas.@yelpsacramento

Had gone to a greek festival in TX w dance performances and music, hoped for similar. There was live music and people were encouraged to dance but too hot (high 95F today) & no adults danced.The festival mainly consisted of food and vendors selling jewelry and other items. Admission $2pp, parking is somewhat plentiful and free around the area. Note there are a lot of homeless encampments around the area, but I didn't feel unsafe. Food was not bad, but the line for the food was insane. The line to get in was not bad when we got there at 3pm but when we left at 4pm, there was huge line to get in as well.The line for the gyro had at least 50-60 people, so didn't even try bc a good portion of it was in the blazing sun.The line for the doughnuts was long too, probably 20+ people ahead, but I braved it to try it- it was ok. Needed more honey. $6 for small box and $12 for large.The line for the other food inside was also extremely long, about 20+, and when we got there, only chicken was left. $17 for chicken, rice, 1 spinakopita and a small greek salad. Overall disappointed... was hoping for more entertainment or greek culture there, but really just had food and music... would rather go to a greek restaurant and not have to stand in multiple long lines in the blazing sun. They do offer multiple tours of the church which was not something we did.

Open today Friday until 10:00 pm... Saturday and Sunday all day.... lots of food, music and vendors.. Lamb dinners included Pilafi, Fasolakia and bread.. Spanakoptia, Tiropita, Fasolakla, Beef and veggie Dolmathes... Desserts .. Lokoumathes, Kataifi, Tsourekia, Baklava and lots more... Parking can be a challenge, but they have shuttles..Come enjoy the live music and dancing... wine and beer

Going the first day and arriving prior to the gates open is a win. We easily found street parking a block and a half away. No tickets here. The space we choose was free and gave us a good 6 hrs to park, we only stayed an hour.I would suggest you bring shopping bag to easily hold your goods.Food is really spread out, we think we found everything. My favorites:Savory- Spanakopita Sweet-loukoumathes, almond crescent was yummy tooWe are so much outside in the courtyard that we were full prior to making it to the dining court.I always like to support the organization directly. I found their booth and bought all my goods there.

Dig this festival. Come for lunch, stay for dancing!A few years back, this was held at the Convention Center. Great because there was so much space to run round and everything but not so great because it was huge and another event was happening in the other part of the center. A few years back, the names were there and not much else. This year I saw vividly illustrated menus with the names of the foods on both handheld menus and boards. The entrance fee of $5 is still $5 I believe- the wife did some searching and found that cyclists actually didn't pay that fee so we parked somewhere in Midtown (oooOOOoOoooh) and rode a few blocks over to the church. "Estiatorio" (Greek restaurant?) line split in two which helped expedite the lunch line. It was great- I got to nod my head (or not) after seeing each food item and pay at the end of the line. This time we got both the tiropita (cheese) AND the spanakopita (spinach) pastries so there was no mix up on that note. Moussaka here was delicious. I've tried this dish at a few places and the conclusion is that this was probably the best I've tried. (to me anyways, so take that with a grain of salt) This'll probably become an annual eggplant stop and there is so much more. Get your Opa! on here.

We went to the Greek Festival for the first time this year. I looked at the menus posted on the festival's website and picked out what we wanted to eat. We found a place close by to park on the street and bought our tickets.Most of the food lines were a mile long sadly. So our before hand meal planning didn't mean anything. We got into the shortest line and made do with what it offered for food. It was OK, but nothing to write home about.After eating we looked at the booths selling merchandise, but weren't impressed by anything.We got there about 1:00 in the afternoon on Saturday and think that is why the lines were so long. If we go back and we probably won't we will go earlier

Very fun and welcoming you experience everyone dressed in traditional clothes traditional foods some reasonably price some little pricey nice to have exotic drinks family friendly face painting my daughter was able to try some good authentic eats I had an authentic drink and overall had a really good time best part is they allow any in and outs there's a park across the street if your kids get rowdy which always comes in handy really cool costumes and do traditional dancing my daughter was totally into it so much funThat was hella fun

It was okay. Loved how they stayed to the blue/white color theme. The gyro and beef dolmas were just okay. The food inside the building was a bit pricey for how little we got. I didn't care for the greek coffee, but i liked watching how they made it! The band was good and there was plenty of seats.

Cliff's notes: 5 stars for the food but a terrible venue We lucked out with street parking and arrived at 6:30pm on Saturday. The entry line was a bit intimidating but it moved quickly and we happily paid our $5 per person entry fee only to be dumped into a courtyard holding tank. From there, we could either filter into the food line or explore the festival. Once we overheard mumblings that the food line was a commitment of over an hour, we decided to meander. That lasted for about 30 seconds before we realized the festival consisted of a couple of Gyro vendors and a plethora of tables with folks who earned their seats and were not moving as long as the Greek wine was flowing. With a nine month baby in tow, we begrudgingly decided to brave the food line which easily resembled Space Mountain on a school holiday. Thankfully, older ladies in line adore babies and great conversation cushioned what could have been a torturous experience. Of course, once we arrived at the cafeteria style food station, I was starving and practically ordered one of everything. We ordered our food to-go since seating was at a premium and we were sick of waiting. Despite the transport home, the food was DELICIOUS! The lamb was tender, the Spanakopita was a flaky piece of heaven and the vegetarian dolmas almost convinced me to brave that line for seconds on Sunday.It's a shame we basically paid a $10 cover for delicious takeout. I would have loved to have been able to relax and enjoy the ambiance but the venue was unaccommodating and cramped. When we left, the entrance line wrapped around the block and I had to fight my internal civil duty to inform folks of the wait time. I attended the Taste Of East Sac at this same venue and it was lovely so perhaps they over estimated the crowds and next year's event will be better organized. I would gladly brave that line again for the food and hopefully next year it will be more accommodating for the festivities.

The 51st Annual Sacramento Greek Festival is an event with Greek historical vignettes, museum artifacts, classic Greek dancing, live music, and of course traditional Greek food.I attended this festival on the first day, Friday August 29, because I figured it would be less crowded. Boy was I wrong! I saw children dressed in traditional Greek costumes, and groups of people gathered around blue checked tablecloth tables, having loud animated conversations.The perimeter of this large convention center multi-purpous room was aligned with various food, drink, and sweets booths. And in the center of the multi purposes room was a stage with a makeshift dance floor in front of it.I went straight to the gyro booth, ordered a gyro with extra tzatziki, and found a front row seat in front of the stage. I devoured my meal while listening to the music from, Takis Kokotas, a traditional Greek band. The Tavera Suite dancers were very entertaining as well. I especially enjoyed the dance demonstrations with balancing a shot glass of Ouzo on their heads and smashing them to the ground after throwing back this Greek elixir. It was so fun joining in with the jeers and cheers of the crowd..oh how I wish I were Greek. After the entertainment, I meandered over to the bakery booths to check out the baklava. The selection was bountiful and I wanted to try them all. Side Bar: If my step mother is reading this please don't get mad at me....but I really liked the variety of baklava at this festival (stepmother is Greek BTW.)I bought a selection of baklava and had it wrapped unpin a togo container. I also tried the honey soaked donuts as well. They are really sweet and rich and all I can say is yuuummmmo!!! I hope you didn't miss this fantastic cultural foods event! Opa!