SF Weekly DISH Event

More booze than food is usually a recipe for DISASTER
but in this case it actually turned out OKAY.
I have to say I was thoroughly enjoying the drinks served by SF Mixology. The Ginger Garden was the best drink I had during the event.
The food (the little that was there) was delicious. I especially enjoyed the pizza from Goat Hill Pizza; their crust has the perfect thickness. There were delicious lamb skewers, scrumptious tamales, ice cream, and all sorts of odds and ends. There were also more than a few places that ran out of food and didn’t look too interested in replenishing anything… at all.
The best part (besides the drinks) was the venue. The patio that overlooks Yerba Buena Gardens from the top floor of the Metreon was awesome!
I’ve heard that this event has been better organized in the past but I really enjoyed this one and look forward to going next year and I hope they use the same venue. :)

This was my 3^rd time at a dish event. This year it seemed a lot smaller than usual although the venue is much better than the past venues. Everything was spaced out more and in one place this time. It was also more spacious.
There were about 8 food vendors and a bar area with 5 cocktail choices and Stella.
For $ 28 bucks ($ 25 + $ 3 fee) it’s a poor deal if you don’t drink. However, if you do drink it’s an pretty awesome event. You’ll definitely get your $ 28 worth.

This was the best food tasting event that I have ever been to!
Plenty of restaurants, and wineries, open bar, a lot of beer, and they even had oysters!
It is true that there was a lot of people, but still it was amazing!
Can’t wait to go again next year :)

I have been to a few food, wine, spirit tasting events in the city.
This year’s DISH event at Terra Gallery was by FAR the best «foodie» event that I have been to in the past two years. 2 stories of fantastic food. The wine and alchy being served was ok… all the usual suspects were there. But the FOOD! Amazing restaurants participated, the demographic was fairly diverse, the music was fine (unassuming, non-​offensive).
My means of comparison:
7x7’s Best of 2011: Eat and Drink (food tasted like it was costco catering)
ZAP (great food and wine pairing, I only positive opinions)
SF weekly’s Best of 2012 (meh, the food was ok and in large sketchy quantities but the bar was open!)
Beer Fest (only really a drinking event… I don’t remember food)

I came here with low expectations and got taken completely by surprise. Seeing from the reviews of previous years’ events, this has taken a complete 180 degree turn! There were four floors (yes, count ‘em 4) of food tastings, plenty of wineries, and OPEN BAR!!! Yes, OPEN BAR with all kinds of liquor! The organizers of this event really took last year’s complaints into consideration and make the one for this year super AMAZING!
We stuffed ourselves silly and drank ourselves merry. I wonder what venue and style they will come up with next year! :)

This year’s SF Weekly DIsh Event was amazing! It was held at the SF Deisgn Center and I thought I would have an issue finding parking. but plenty of room.
We arrived 20 min. early and there was already a line. So people come early but there was plenty of food left to go around even 2 hours into the event. 4 floors of food, lots of alcohol (bar/​wine/​hard liq.) Desserts, sliders, ribs, phở, mexican… you name it and they pretty much have it covered. The few that I remember: (Cliff house, Hard Knox, Palominos, Chabaa, Turtle Tower, and ooooh so much more) There was an awesom food truck outside that got us started while we were in line too! I was stuffed by the time i hit the second floor! My acoholic friends were happily sloshing their way through the drinks. My favorite was the porkloin slider. Yum.
I was at the Oakland Eat Real just the week before and this was by far more bang for your buck and a lot «classier?» though how all you can eat drink and food is classy I dont know.
Only downside that I can think of which is minor: you kind of have to do a juggling act with your plate and trying to find a spot to eat it where you wont get bumped. There were tables on the first floor and sparatic tables on the top floors but not nearly enough for the amount of people there. There were people sitting on the floor along the balcony and stairsteps etc.
Over-​all excellent experience! I will definitely be coming back.
ps. we bought our tickets from Goldstar and what a deal!

Just got back from this year’s SF Weekly DISH Event at the SF Design Center, which is a big step up from previous years venue at the Metreon. SFDC had the perfect natural light flooding through their roof windows on a late SF summer day. It was very spacious and you did not have any trouble wading through crowd patches.
You had 4 floors to explore, that is if you’re not already stuffed to capacity on the 1^st floor. Each floor had at least 3 sides lined with food and drink vendors. As you progress to each floor, you would notice the patrons getting more and more sluggish and sloshed by the 4^th floor.
There were a handful of vendors that had 5 minutes lines to grab a bite/​drink and the remaining were pretty easy to grab and go. Although there were not enough tables to rest on and nosh on your goodies, folks were pretty innovative in using stairs and reception desk areas as makeshift goody rest stops.
Food and drinks were sumptuous, but since there were so many to tastes, your buds get confused with the variety of flavors being forced on it from hungry eyes. I had to force myself to stop by the 3^rd and 4^th floors. I had a few drinks on me already by the top, so I had to do a double take when I saw Turtle Tower. They served up their Phở Ga, which is an infamous noodle soup for coping with hangovers.
Now I have to disclose that I did not have to pay for my way to this event, so it was very much so worth every penny on someone else’s dime :)

Although this is going to a good charity, I think they oversold the tickets. I was expecting something really great for $ 60 that I paid for VIP tix but if you have to fight for your food then maybe it is not worth it. I have to say it was a really nice night and the City View at Metreon had some really good views.
We only got there 40 mins late (3 hr event) and most of the food was already running out. The stands weren’t clearly marked what restaurant/​vendor it was & the lines were disorganized and too close together. You couldn’t tell where it started or ended.
I should’ve gotten the $ 20 regular tickets because the VIP bags didn’t even have much in there. The VIP area is just some extra standing area with its own bars and some bean bags to chill on.
Good thing for Gussie’s Chicken n Waffles who quickly ran out and sent their ppl out for more. Thanks Gussie’s! (everyone let out a big cheer when they came back & then proceeded to go crazy like they were giving out $ 100 bills)
Mission Minis had some really good cupcakes, & my friends passed me this really delicious tomato soup.
The great thing about this event was that it was all you can drink. So just drink at least $ 60 worth of alcohol then you are all set. I drank myself full. =p
Not sure if I would go again next year…

Horribly oversold and disorganized.

Let me say, I had huge expectations for this event and I went there in «starvation mode», certain I would have had the chance to sample a big deal of delighting food. What a disappointment! it was definitely not worth the price (37 $ including a promo code) and especially not worth all this longing of mine. Way too many people but, above all, way too little food and struggle to get it! I came at 7.30 and already then there was not so much left to eat. At 9.00 there was nothing at all, only cupcakes, and some people were still coming. Poor guys …
Thumbs up for the concept, the drinks (at the end, 2 mohito’s, a Blue Moon, some sake partially compensated for the lack of food and I got out a bit happier …), the gorgeous view on the city at night, the enthusiasm and kindness of most of the staff.
This event can and must get way better!

love, love the concept of i eat and money goes to charity. love it! did i get bang for the buck… well, i got half price tix on gold star so did i get my $ 20 worth… not so much but am glad these events take place.
im sure it will get better with time. vendors were wonderful and the bites of food i got were very good. loved Lark Creek Steak butterscotch pudding and carne soup from tres agaves.

I wish I could give 0 stars — worst event like this I have ever attended. So disorganized and way too many people for the space.
After spending an hour in line to get in, then another line to get a plate and plastic cup, there was no food left at any of the vendors aside from some random cupcakes… on top of that, I finally got to the front of the line for the bar and was told they were out of vodka too… Aren’t «food and wine» events supposed to actually have food?
So $ 40 for a beer – thanks SF Weekly /​Eventbrite for a memorable experience – never again…

When I first heard about this event, I was pretty excited. Advertised as an «all you can eat» event featuring some of SF’s finer restaurants. It was really very disappointing with the long lines, poor organization, and food outages.
The food that we tried was pretty good so credit needs to go to the participating restaurants. The food outages prompted some of the restaurant vendors to pack up only after an hour into the 3 hour event. Given the large crowd, the Dish Event is a definitely a great idea but they need to do something to make it a better experience for both the vendors and the attendees.

I’ll preface by saying that I DID have a good time, but «Meh, I’ve experienced better.»
The food was overall pretty good — a few really good, most ok, and a couple bad. Same goes for the wine. All the vendors and bartenders I interacted with were really nice and friendly, I think partly because my guest is super friendly and genuinely interested in food and wine. I think the vendors responded positively to his vibe as opposed to the greedy, grabby hands of most of the attendees. We arrived early and were able to get our fair share of food and drink — yay!
Negatives:
— Poorly organized and laid out
— Most vendors ran out of food early
— Too crowded, but made for a lively night
— Lots of skinny girls who stormed all the dessert vendors only to take a tiny nibble out of each thing, if at all
— Long cafeteria-​style line that naturally formed
— Sometimes desperate, frantic vibe from attendees
I’m glad I didn’t purchase the VIP tickets though — their area looked sad.

Should be ZERO stars! What a rip off! $ 45 and I had to fight through the crowds for 2 items that were not really memorable… and I had one glass of undrinkable Chardonnay.
Won’t fall for this one again next year… AND I want my money back!

Since the 2009 DISH event was my first, I was super excited to go this year. Last year was GREAT! The portions were generous, the liquor flowed freely, and even though there were A LOT of people there, you were still able to get your fair share.
This year, I even bought a ticket for my BF and made him leave work early even though it’s was release time at his work. He got there around 7pm, 30 mins after opening time. His dinner consisted of food I scavenged for him prior to him getting there. Since a bunch of cupcakes should never constitute as dinner for a 6’4 ft guy, we wandered around looking for more food.
The lines started from the entrance and continued all the way to the back. We stood in line and watched people snake in here and there. Who could blame them? They were probably half crazed from starvation! He managed to get a rib, and a steak sandwich. The guy serving the steak sandwich/​meatball was rude and seemed totally over it. He barked to a few people, including me, that he was only giving the sandwich out and not the meatballs since they’re running out of food and you could only get one or the other. I didn’t get anything!!! I was going to grab a meatball but alas, no meatballs for ANYONE!
We wandered around a little bit more and saw that most of the table were empty and they were either waiting for more food or were packing up. The lines for drinks got ridiculous since people wanted drinks if they couldn’t get food.
We left around 8/8:30pm. My poor BF apologized to me about wasting my money on his ticket because he barely got any food. This event sucks! Poor BF should not have to apologize, this lame DISH event owes us an apology!!! The ticket was also about $ 10 more than last year’s. Who comes home after an all you can eat event and eats???
FYI: I got my fill on food because I got there at 6pm, waited in line and ran around in an organized pattern. Plus 1 star because I was organized.

It was first year attending the SF Weekly DISH event, and it was fun! This does not go to say that it didn’t have its flaws, but the event was decent ad enjoyable.
Location: The City View at the Metreon was great. Spacious and beautiful with an indoor and outdoor area.
Food: Plentiful. I know people are complaining that the food vendors ran out of food quickly, but that’s not exactly the case. I was still sampling food up to 8pm, and I’d had plenty. The organizers DID warn you to come early, since vendors might run out of food.
Organization: TERRIBLE. This was the worst part of the event. When I arrived at 6:20pm, the lines were snaking around the lobby in a neverending queue, with no sense of where the beginning/​end of the line was. The worst part was, no one knew where to direct traffic for check-​ins and entry. Turns out… you didn’t really need to check-​in in the first place! The folks just crossed your name off a list, and that was that. No ticket. No wristband. No nothing. Then you’re off to wait in ANOTHER line to pick up plates/​cups to start sampling. If only they had signs directing traffic…
Bottom Line: I’d definitely attend the event again. I had a great time with unlimited food and drinks. I paid a discount rate of $ 26 through Goldstar Events, versus $ 40 regular admission, so it was definitely worth it!

This is my first time going to Dish. I have to say I was not very impressed. Don’t get me wrong the food and wine I did have was good and definitely filled my tummy but I definitely have been to better.
I arrived about an hour into the event and the line to get in wasn’t too bad. It was the normal wait. There were loads of people at the event already and there was lots of food on other people’s plates that look really good. Here comes the sad face, lots of vendors ran out of food and was packing up. There was still about two hours left on the event. I know lots of times, events end early but not that early. As I walked around about ¹⁄₃ of the vendors were packing up, that’s not a good thing at all. There are many food events that happen in the city and I have been to many of them. It’s not a good thing when vendors don’t supply enough food for the people. There were some vendors that were apologetic but some that were just whatever.
Ok, off my soapbox now. I loved the foccaccia bread with pesto was delicious, really simple but delicious. The cheese selection from Sugar Café was full of flavor. The fontina was nutty and went well with the cracker. My personal favorite was the grit cakes from Gussie. I also had the catfish and the breading was kind of salty but no fishy flavor at all. It was tender and the breading gave it a nice crunch. They were really sweet because they had ran out of food rather quickly.

This was my first time attending this foodie event organized by the weekly free publication SFWeekly, and while I didn’t leave hungry I thought there were many areas which this event can improve on. Leading up to the event it appeared to me that the organizers were trying to cram as many people into this event as possible offering suddenly deep discounts on all ticket prices and offering tickets on Goldstar.
In that respect I think they achieved their goal, but by not having enough food to feed the masses I think they failed. If you’ve read any of the other reviews you’ll know there was plenty of disarray and disorganization. Even to those of us who arrived early and waited in the proper lines to check in the fact that there were lines everywhere was mind numbing. I watched in horror as the private security personnel directed people into lines unknowing of which line was which. There were signs posted that I followed, but apparently the security never even realized they were there.
Check in was pretty straight forward, but once we got inside more confusion followed. This was the first foodie event I’ve attended where you needed to grab your own paper plate, utensils and a biodegradable cup before you could start sampling. Eventually there was a line for that too. The lines for food were insane with people properly standing in line waiting their turn and others constantly trying to crash in. I could sense that the food servers were tense and frustrated when one of the servers at Tony’s Pizza Napoletana started barking at event attendees limiting everyone to just one item among the four they were displaying. This was only fifteen minutes into the night.
More of the same followed at every food and wine station and some restaurants even ran out of food within the first hour. Desserts and alcohol aside most of the food vendors ran out of food within the first 90 minutes of the scheduled three hour event. Ones serving up the tiniest of portions ran out just as quickly.
It was nice to find the VIP only area far in the back of the venue for it was less crowded and the two bars were relatively free of lines. I finally was able to grab a couple of cocktails comfortably back there. Glad to know the extra $$ spent wasn’t a total lost. The Greyhound using VeeV vodka was nice and strong and opened my eyes quickly. The VitaminWater and Crystal Head Vodka was an absolute joy to consume. Tiny seafood bites from Masa’s and decadent dessert cups from Bi-​Rite Creamery for VIPs only meant I got a chance to indulge without constantly being pushed, shoved or barked at by somebody.
For the record the meatball served by Tony’s Pizza Napoletana was among the best I’ve had. My favorite desserts were the Butterscotch Pudding from Lark Creek Steak and the Grand Marnier Cheesecake served up by Gold Mirror Italian Restaurant.
If trying to maneuver among a maze of people packed into a big space and trying to avoid contact with their food plates and beverages bothers you I’d say avoid this event. I’m not certain I’ll return again either. I’ve posted food photos many of which I sampled. Kudos to the individuals who staffed or volunteered at the event for all were quite helpful and very composed among a crazy atmosphere.

The worst SF event I have been to! It was horribly organized and not efficient at all!
Maybe this year was different from other years, but I know I will not ever go to this event again.
First, even though we bought tickets online, there was a huge line to go in. We were in line for 1 hour to just check in. We kept asking the people working the event why the line was so long and what kind of check-​in they were doing to make getting in so slow and they didn’t have anything hopeful to say. Finally, when we were close to the front (an hour later), someone tells us that since we bought our ticket there was a different line to check in that was shorter. What? Why didn’t they communicate that!!! Everyone in line was like us so they didn’t know either. Poor management, communication. Once we checked-​in, then there was another line to get our plate and wine glass. WHAT!!! ugh. Another line? Seriously!!!
Then, once we finally got in with our plate and glass… there were lines to get any food and drinks. Whenever we tried to get food, most of the tables were already out of food. Yes, no more! No plans to replenish! What kind of foodie event was this? I mean it was still early and they didn’t plan this event well enough with supplies!!! Poor planning. So we didn’t eat anything. The stuff that was available to eat was bleh anyways — cupcakes, crêpe crumbs… nothing gourmet at all. Really just food crumbs. We only managed to eat mini cupcakes bec that was all that was plentiful. We looked around and people were scrounging around for food and all we saw were people eating cupcakes. uh-​huh. Random people were coming up to each other with food-​envy asking where they got their crumb morsels… So very sad.
Then we thought, well lets just drink our money’s worth. Not only was there a wait to order drinks, but they ran out of vodka. WTF!!!
We left immediately to go eat because we were starving… We just ate somewhere else.
Not worth going to at all until they get it all figured out! I don’t organize events for a living, but there were some definite things that could’ve made the process much much better. I thought they were pretty obvious that it would’ve avoided much of the slow long, multiple lines.