The Pitch, Kansas City

Although we've attended many of these types of "sampling" events, this (2017) was our first time attending Taste of KC. Some (like one that focused on beer and was put on by a local radio station) are so awful that we generally embark with some pessimism. Large crowds, poor spaces and dwindling resources are almost always issues. After our experience yesterday, however, I am happy to say that this event had none of those problems. The location being in the square in P&L concerned us at first because, in the past, events we've attended there have been overly congested and hard to navigate. While it was a popular event, there weren't too many people. It was easy to find a place to sit a rest for a moment, even if that was on some steps. The restaurants were also open. The lines for the few alcohol concessions were a little long, but still not too bad. We found it easier just to enjoy the food and buy our drinks. At one point, we popped into Leinenkugel's, which was pretty much empty, bought a beer and sat at the bar for a bit. The food vendors were insanely efficient so that their lines all moved quickly. The options were diverse and high quality, and everyone seemed very friendly and helpful. Overall, a great event and, schedule allowing, we will go again next year.

Not enough vendors.

Loved the food choices and food samples, and different choices for drinks. The only thing I would differently is get rid of the lady's who were on the microphones and have a "real" chef giving a play-by-play and explain to the audience what the chefs are making and what ingredients they are using. They finally put a mic to one of the chefs who was explaining to the chefs what he made.

It felt like walking through Sam's Club. Small appetizer grade food. The MCS seemed scatterbrained and did not know what was going on half the time. Very underwhelming.