ilani BBQ Fest Tickets

My friend and I were so looking forward to feasting on some yummy bbq and seeing the celebrity chefs. We have been to a few bbq festivals and even attended one Dupont, WA and had a more enjoyable time in Dupont with several bbq vendors and tasty treats. We purchased the Ilani weekend pass and arrived to Ilani on Saturday around 12:30 pm. There was a line of people waiting in the hot sun to 'check in' and then had to figure out where to go. The logistics weren't well thought out. Most of the staff didn't know where to direct people. After we moseyed around, up the elevators to the rooftop we'd hope to find something to eat. There was maybe one bbq vendor on the rooftop (subpar) and maybe 1-2 in the parking area, in fact there were more wine and spirit vendors there than there was food. We were so disappointed and only stayed a short time. We came back the next day thinking maybe things would be better...they weren't. One of the vendors ran our of food and the only other one we noticed had sides. I hate that I hated it.

Food Network. That's all you had to say to draw me in. I live 30 away from this casino and don't normally patron but if you put a food festival, include food and drink tickets and casino play with the price AND get celebrity chefs, I am there! I was so lucky to be in town while this event happened. I've never been to Ilani Casino. The tickets were very reasonable for a lanyard full of wine/beer/seltzer tasting punches and 5 food tokens which was almost plenty to satisfy, but I needed to buy 5 more to enjoy more food. Most restaurants were those that were already on site in the casino including the Michael Jordan steakhouse but there were a few from the area. There was tacos, pulled pork sliders, steak ends, corn, cole slaw, fruit cobbler and brats. The chef demos were compelling, entertaining and interactive especially the sampling afterwards. I sampled a spare rib, but the gigantic scallops were all taken. I met Antonia Lofaso, took a pic with her and it was so generous of them to autograph pictures, too. Service at each station was top notch. I was so close to meeting Robert Irvine but the line was long. This event was executed perfectly with good signage. It was organized from the ground parking lot to the rooftop parking lot. On the Sunday late afternoon that I went, it was crowded but not so much that it was elbow to elbow. I hope this event returns and attracts even bigger and more celebrity chefs. It was worth the drive and the admission.

Was not organized well at all. There was no direction and couldn't watch any of the chef demos because there was such a small area for the crowd. Very upset that there was not more food vendor. There was a ton of drink vendors. I love the idea but standing in line for 45 minutes even though we had tickets and then the staff really not being able to direct where we go was upsetting

The entry line took over 40 minutes in the heat it wasn’t very pleasant. There was sufficient number of drink booths and the variety of drinks was good. However the food offerings was way too low. The lines were very long and vendors ran out of food too much. There wasn’t any signs about the offerings and how many tojens needed. Also not enough seating.

Enjoyed it but would have liked a schedule of events. And we’d love to see it again with sooner notice so we could schedule to be a participant in the competition.

Very unorganized, poor planning! Not enough seats to view the show and no big screen tv’s for people around the venue. Food and drink was good. This was totally overpriced for not having seating available for even a quarter of the people who paid too much for the tickets. I will never attend a event that costs at ilani. I was so disappointed! They could have had big fans around and better seating out of the sun, most of the picnic tables I saw were in the direct sun and it was hot outside.

Too many failures to fit. Admittance line was around the casino and we were not admitted until after Alton Brown completed his show. No schedule published on which chef would be presenting when. Presentation was done in a hacked up stage that STOOD a hundred for 5000 tickets sold. Overflow tv presentations were in the sun so nothing could be seen Booths were done in the sun with no shade when the 6 story parking garage was 50 feet away providing tons of space, shade and was 20 degrees cooler Only a handful of booth were serving bbq ~5. There was no explanation about the way the tickets, punch card lanyards worked. It had to be explained by the vendors. The '10 food and drink tokens' were a lie. $10 credit towards the purchase or either with the purchase of more $2 tokens in which I could buy a $4 drink sample that was literally less than a tablespoon of a drink or a single soggy square of a smore. Borderline fraud

It was a fabulous event! The food and demonstrations were amazing and so were all of the guest chefs!

This weekend we attended the Ilani BBQ fest and had a great time. The weather was a scorcher for an outdoor parking lot event but the food was great and guest chef experience a 10!. Hope to see this back again next year.

This is the first year for this BBQ event so there are a lot of room to grow. #1 - need more vendors to sell BBQ! There are less than a handful of BBQ vendors that actually had stuff to sell. When we spoke with most of them, they didn’t even know they are allowed to bring anything extra - so they just bought enough for the competition. #2 The line heading to the event - they gave out bag with tokens and punchcard - but NO explanation whatsoever. We figured it out after a while, but that can be avoided with perhaps a TV screen telling us what they are for (so you don’t have to have an employee repeat the same thing to hundreds of people…and people can just read it in line while they wait to get in) #3) GREAT job with the punch card! Good to have samples to try out different breweries/distilleries/spirits! Will definitely check this out again (even with the 3 hour drive for us) next year to see the improvements!

Nobody checked for tickets, the line to get in was over an hour long. They let in way too many people. There was hardly any bbq for a bbq festival! The drink options were amazing though! Loved and appreciated the celebrity chefs but the stage was too small and we couldn’t hear them/not enough room for spectators to see and hear the chefs. I’m not sure if I would go back. Brewfest is a better value with way shorter lines and less chaos.

It was terrible, long lines to get in 90 degree sun, 1 hour to finally to get in, all out-door in the heat, so crowed you couldnt see shows, worse time I have ever had and I go to all food events at this venue

Wouldve preferred to use the punch card for both food and drink. Most of us can not drink 20+ alcohol samples in 100 degree heat

Too many people. Long lines. Not enough vendors for libations. Food vendors ran out of food. Very disorganized. We've been to other events at Ilani and this was VERY disappointing. Bad idea for rooftop too, it was too hot and not enough shade.

When you see the words BBQ fest, you probably expect world class bbq, tasting different kinds of bbq, etc. Although it was fun to drink a lot of different sips of beer and wine and eat very little, it did not meat (haha) expectations. Yes some big names came and disappointingly gave no great tips on cooking bbq, but even that fell flat. Just saying it was a decent time but money should’ve been spent elsewhere.

Why have the event on the top of the parking garage. The rate limiting step was getting everyone up the evaluators. The event should have been in the parking lot, better monitoring, elevated stage so you can see the chef. Overall a very poor experience, would not go again

I will definitely go back if they do this event again but there were a lot of issues with the event. The check in process was flawed. After standing in the hot sun for an hour, I was then abruptly separated from my party and they were sent one way and I was sent another even though we had electronic tickets all on one phone. The event was on the roof and access was limited by the need to use elevators and the sheer number of attendees. Food lines were long and you didn’t know what the options were until you got to the front. We got 5 food tokens and one overcooked chicken skewer was 3 tokens. My sister waited in a line only to have them run out of food when she reached the front. We spent $70 to have lunch in the casino. Trying to redeem the free play was another long line, then the computer broke down, then when we tried to use the free play downstairs on the card we were given it was not available. The presentation stage was hard to see and the tv’s they set up were also mostly hidden. There was almost no seating in the shade. But I would do it all over again for Alton Brown and Antonio Lofasa. And the staff was great, they handed out free cold water, they were friendly and as helpful as they could be. The food network stars were amazing. And we enjoyed our lunch at Tom Urban.

We went to the Saturday BBQ event with 3 other couples. We waited in line 45 minutes before we received our drink lanyard and bracelet (remember we already purchased our tickets online). There was no information given about where food, drinks, cook demos where — we had to figure it all out ourselves, as did many others. The setup was fragmented, unclear and poorly staffed. The food was good but lines were too long. There weren’t many chairs available to watch the chefs, and not enough places to sit to eat. Ilani gets an “F” for lack of organization.

Very poor planning. Checkin could have been much faster. No schedule as to what was happing. It was an event for people to drink alcohol. If you didn’t drink then there was water. Paid for two days and only went once

Whoever thought of funneling people through elevators first to the second floor wasn't thinking clearly! What a mess, especially when an elevator broke down! Food was fair, except the brisket Mac and cheese was AWESOME! What shocked me the most when we got there, was that there was NO non-alcoholic booths for kids or designated drivers. WHAT????? Couldn't use our tokens on soda, lemonade, tea , etc. Next year, Please sell non alcoholic drinks!!