The Big Grill Festival Festival

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.