The Big Grill Festival Festival

Phat Cat

The latest Google reviews are pretty much all negative. It seems like splitting the days into two separate entries and over selling tickets has ruined the festival for many people. The organisers will need to revert back to the way it was before Covid, and possibly make the tickets more reasonable, or give free food or drink vouchers as part of the entrance fee.

BeerNut

Don't be surprised if they don't do any of those things.

kg703

I went in 2015 - it was great craic, loads of food to try, samples, not overly busy, chilled out. Went with a bigger group in 2016 - totally different, place was rammed, vendors were now a lot more of the regulars you see, just completely different feeling to it all.

Never bought a ticket again. Hilarious now that you have to pay extra to go for different parts of the day. Cost of entry is far too much for a public park where you also have to buy your food and drink inside.

All over Europe they have class street & food markets where they have beers, food and music every day or every weekend and you can just rock up and chill out. Dublin is desperately missing one of these.

Citizen Six

I think we are starting to have places like that, but it's happening slowly.

There's Dosa Dosa at Grand Canal Street Lower, which has two other vendors in there now. Dine Town on Francis St. was promising, until it fell apart due to numerous complications. Just Chubby's in Clontarf, which looks to have a cannoli stand setting up too. And then there's the food market on the canal around Baggot St bridge. And the food trucks that used to be in Merrion Sq., not sure if they are still there.

magic_murph

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119492795#Comment_119492795

The organiser was on the radio during the week defending all the negative comments

The event wasn't oversold as they had a permit for 4999 people and ticket entry is monitored by a 3rd party and the cops - unless people were jumping a fence somewhere.

He also commented on the price of everything going up from Insurance to materials (he did mention a sheet of Ply or MDF used to be 25e but is now 125e - I think he was wrong on that front but prices have definitely gone up.)

Having the two different time slots my sound good in theory but it was really just a money grab that didn't work for the consumer.

I was at the event a good few years back and it was a great day as in zero queues for food and drink but it may have been one of the first years so not as busy as this years.

I am sure they will be back next year but hopefully with some fixes

Citizen Six

Just checked some plywood I got in 2018, 18mm birch 1525 x 1525. It cost €32.50, and the same thing is now €61. So almost twice the price. Not five times as he's claiming.

The Nal

Organisers are rip off merchants and have been since day 1. I was at the first one and it was fine for a few hours but then turned into huge queues quite quickly in the avo so we left. 10 quid for a dry floury bun with a few tablespoons of pulled pork etc.

Imagine going on national radio and blatantly lying about something that can be disproved with a quick Google.

Cloudio9

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119493267#Comment_119493267

When we're talking about "Oversold" we don't mean they breached their license, we mean the number of outlets and service staff was woefully under-resourced for the number of attendees making it an unpleasant experience for most people.

It seems to be a recurring theme for events in Ireland. I only went to Taste of Dublin once because of the same issue. It's a pleasant surprise when it doesn't happen such as at a couple of MCD outdoor concerts over the summer.

I wouldn't mind paying that entry fee if it was well run and you felt that they gave a crap about the customer.

Dave_The_Sheep

Sounds like typical Irish greedy overpriced shite.

the beer revolu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119493997#Comment_119493997

Whoever was interviewing shouldn't have let them away with that justification.

Obviously people were referring to the queues, not the licence capacity.

Suckit

Wow. I looked at going to this but didn't go in the end as I had something else on. I hadn't realised that if i did go for it I would have been booked into a 4 hour choice.

I thought it was the whole day, you just arrive with tickets etc. Sounds like it was terrible.

"Queues were all 15-20 minutes"

You would be best off having two people queuing at the same time in different stands, and the fact that you only have 4 hours is ridiculous. Sound like you really only have about 2 hours to get to 8 stands.

Very glad I didn't go to it now. The first three results on google reviews (and they don't get much better the more you read) :

Sunday evening session was poor, many food stalls closed & others sold out of majority of dishes. Long queue for food in those stands that remained open with limited options. Food quality was good but very expensive, lines for ordering we’re getting shut down over 30 minutes before the listed close time. Queues for drinks were short which was good but overall for me the event was poor value for money,, I brought some guests from the US who enjoyed the atmosphere but were shocked at how expensive entry & food options were. Overall very disappointing.

..

While great for adults this event is very much not kid friendly despite what they advertise. It is far too crowded for young children and the food vendors are obviously unprepared for the numbers as the queues are all in excess of 15-20 minutes which is far too long to expect a child to stand and wait patiently for food or a drink.

..

We have been to this festival a few times and it has been amazing weekends. We where looking forward to this year afyer 2 years out. It was a total let down. There was way too many people in on the days making the experience of getting food a nightmare 1hr Q. We then had to leave for an hour and Q back up to re enter even though we had Whole Hog weekend pass. This used to be a great long weekend of drinking, eating great food, and chilling out around the area.

The Nal

This money racket is back this year. Lineup looks great.

https://lovindublin.com/food/big-grill-fest-lineup

But beware

https://www.newstalk.com/news/barely-any-access-to-the-food-big-grill-festival-slated-for-huge-queues-1373171

Carfacemandog

Carry on as you wish to continue...

https://twitter.com/biggrillfest/status/1692837480830046692

11am - 4pm slots cancelled at 10.54am! And to add to it, they have given the option to just cram in to the already no doubt overfilled other slots.

I'd call it disgraceful, but anyone who booked after last year's fiasco kind of deserves it. You reward this type of behaviour, and you'll just get more of it.

Muahahaha

I gave up on this about four years back when it became obvious that they just sold thousands of tickets to corporates like Google and Facebook and that then drove up the prices for regular punters who are actually into BBQ and do it at home in their back gardens all the time. It just became too expensive and had no sense of any value for money and then you add in the massive queues to get a bite to eat and a drink and its just not worth it. But thats the way these things always go, its the same with Taste of Dublin, every year there are complaints about queues, high prices and tiny portions. But it is still always sold out the following year so people get more of the same.

Theres probably room for a similar competitor BBQ festival even in another city like Cork or Galway.

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121003205#Comment_121003205

TBF the very first Big Grill was like that. Queues were insane. I lasted about 2 hours and haven't been back since.

VinLieger

Things were so bad in 2022 that they removed their reviews page from google, queues for any food 1 hour+ long for insane prices on very small dishes, billed as family friendly when it very much was not imo. They had a stream of 1 stars that they obviously werent happy with but couldnt be arsed fixing the problems as from what i heard 2023 was pretty much the same so they just nuked the ability to publicly review it. I would never recommend it to anyone.

squonk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121384147#Comment_121384147

Haven’t ever gone but it’s kind of quaint that they think nuking a single review page will keep any news or customer impressions from getting out there. 😀

Citizen Six

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121384147#Comment_121384147

Wasn't it this year that they cancelled the first session with about 20 minutes notice? So people were already almost at the venue by that stage.

rdser

I was there on the Thursday this year before the weather set in. It was ok, not really worth travelling for and as a bbq thing it was poor. The food was expensive, queues not bad but I wasn't blown away by anything I tasted there. I got a steak sandwich thing from the stall selling Madri beer and the steak was like shoe leather, my jerk chicken was also kind raw in spots so went in the bin. The duck pancakes from hang dai ,(I think)...were a comple rip off. Would do better myself.

I went there for the bbq side of it, but it was seriously lacking in that regard. There was bbqing, but a lot of it a bit hidden away. I was expecting something different, it was more like a food area of a festival without the rest of the festival. Music was limited, the chilli eating contest was entertaining enough but hardly unique or groundbreaking.

Of course if you wanted to pay more there was another area, with more stuff but I paid enough as it was.

The merchandise stall on the first night had one tshirt only in my size. It was definitely an afterthought and apart from a yeti stall there was little else. Can get yeti stuff anywhere.

Overall, style over substance imo.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121387615#Comment_121387615

Six minutes.

Black Sheep

I'm resurrecting this thread to throw up a quick review of our visit to this year's Big Grill, at Herbert Park.

We went for the late slot yesterday, and spent four hours there, from 4pm to 8pm.

Entry was straightforward, no real queue to speak of. QR code scanned off the phone, and we got wristbands with drinks tokens, and lanyards for the Rancho Relaxo access we paid extra for.

Rancho Relaxo

Rancho Relaxo was a separate area, with long tables, some covered, some uncovered, and a private bar selling 1661 cocktails, wine and O'Hara's Beers (Session IPA and stout). Although it was a dry evening, with a lot of people in the main festival just sitting on the ground, we did tend to end up drifting back here to sit down properly. The main advantage of Rancho Relaxo was undoubtedly the upgraded toilets, which were genuinely in great nick. Not sure what you'd call them, they weren't permanent but they were a significant step-up from portaloos, and very clean.

Whether or not Rancho Relaxo was worth it is kind of a subjective thing… If on a budget then the obvious answer is "no", but the women in the group we were with reckoned it was worth it for the toilets alone. The 2 drinks per head included soften the blow of the extra cost somewhat.

Drinks

Looking at receipts from my phone, it looks like I paid 7 and 7.50 per pint. Everything was in plastic, as you'd expect.

There were about a half dozen craft beer stalls.. White Hag, O Brother, Carlow, Sullivan's, Trouble Brewing, Rascals and Wicklow Wolf. A few cider producers, Schweppes, Jameson, Neighbourhood wines, Madri and a few random things like Kinsale Mead.

Trouble Brewing seemed to have sold out of a lot of stuff by the time we go there, as had White Hag (Atlantean, for example), but I had several pints of Elevation from Wicklow Wolf, and was happy enough.

Never had to queue for a drink.

Food

Nothing is included in your ticket, people seem to struggle every year with this fact, but … yep… You pay entry and your ticket doesn't get you any food. It is what it is.

You're eating off paper plates, with wooden cutlery, and people are either standing or sitting on the grass, or on some benches or in Rancho Relaxo.

In cost terms, it's not restaurant pricing, take-away or eat in, it's lower, but it's not inconsiderable. I ate 5-6 dishes, and they ranged between 7.50 and 12.50.

Off the top of my head:-

Achara (Thai BBQ), 7.50 for a Northern Thai spiced sausage with a really really good green salsa. Bao and excellent iberico pork skewers from Hang Dai. A slow-cooked lamb flatbread from Reyna that was a bit disappointing. Flank-steak, salsa and slaw from celebrity Texan smoker / BBQ outfit Leroy and Lewis (Over seasoned, IMO, but tasty). Beef ribs from Bah 33, these were 12.50 but for those who equate size with value for money, probably the most substantial of anything I got, and really good. The Bah 33 guys aren't the darlings of the Irish food scene the way others are, but don't sleep on them if you're into smoked foods, they are amazing.

In terms of food quality… Some good dishes, some so-so. I'm not sure what people expect, but this is clearly outdoorsy/food truck fare, and I think most vendors did a good job of judging what they could deliver in a reasonable manner. Usually a dish was 2 elements, 3 at most. The reality is, being outdoors, it's piping hot when it's plated up, but within 30 seconds it's tepid. That's the nature of the beast.

An issue in previous years was that some places ran out of food, or queues were inordinately long. I did queue for a couple of minutes, here and there, but generally food was moving quickly.

A few places had sold out of things I wanted, but in general there was enough choice left over, and I did go at the tail end of the festival.

My buddy was disappointed Leroy and Lewis has sold all their smoked stuff, but again, we were just too late going along. They had obviously got some big cuts of bavette and chucked that on the grill to have something to serve still.

People have said, in a previous years, that if you are really into grilling/smoking, this isn't a festival for you, but I think that's a bit unfair. I shot the **** with several of the chefs and chatted away. Not sure what people expect, but it found it interesting to just walk around and watch them working, and asked the odd question here and there. It's clearly not a hardcore US-style grill festival, but that expectation will never be met in a mainstream event of this size.

General stuff

The regular toilets were pretty grim, according to one of our group who went. Standard for a festival, though.

The crowd was very middle-class, and probably 25-45 in general. There were loads of kids around, and the vibe was pleasant. Didn't see anyone falling over drunk, or anything anti-social. There were several Gardaí floating around in uniform.

The one slight 'shock' we got was that when 8pm came, everywhere stopped serving on the dot. No "ah just one last round", that was it. Which is fair enough I suppose.

Overall… Probably spent 150 a head, but I'd consider it a very good evening. At times discussion on this forum always devolves into what something costs, which is somewhat tiresome, because evaluating something doesn't always have to come down to the question of value for money... This wasn't cheap, but everyone had a great time. Compared to other years, they seem to have a got a handle on some of the issues that bedevilled them in terms of crowds and queues.

youcancallmeal

Nice write up, still haven't been but seems like they might be improving the organisation alright. You'd have to wonder if it was better this year because a lot of people staying away after being burned in previous years 😅