“ The food was great and I enjoyed the atmosphere as it was very safe and relaxing. I will be back next year. ”

“ Still a great go-to event in the suburbs of Chicago. Definitely not as crowded as the Taste of Chicago, with enough food vendors to try out and spend an hour or so on. Venue is setup with lots of space and shaded seating area near the Park Ridge Metra station. There is a large stage area with entertainment on the east-side of the venue. This place sells food by the ticket, so the layer of abstraction helps with not knowing you're paying $12 worth of tickets for two chicken skewers and rice. Most food items worth trying out are around 8 to 12 tickets, with prices, as of 2023, being $10 for a strip of 8 tickets. No surcharge for cash, but if you only have plastic, they do apply a surcharge. In either case, still better than $30 for a piece of lettuce at the Taste of Chicago, wading through a large crowd, while hoping to not have your food bumped out of your hand from an unaware crowd. BATHROOM REVIEW: Plenty of port-a-potties, with mine being pleasant and clean. Not a lot of use so far when I went around 2PM on a Saturday afternoon. We'll see, as the festival goes on with drunks destroying the bathroom. But for now, sit or squat? Squat... it's still a port-a-potty. ”

“ Delicious food. Visit Phoenix flame restaurant in Niles on Waukegan and Oakton. Friendly owners .You won't be disappointed. ”

“ Nice neighborhood fest. Be ready with cash, as the ATM's empty quickly. ”

“ Lovely street fest. There is not only a good variety of food (not just pizza). But also a nice variety of alcoholic options. Frozen cocktails, beers, wines, sangrias, Moscow mules, Bravo! The stage area had lots of seating plus open areas for dancing. We came around 4 on Saturday and were sad to see all bounce houses being deflated and the shopping part all broken down. I would have gone earlier if I knew. I had looked at the website and did not get a lot of info from it as it was vague but this would have been helpful if it was there. We will be back next year. ”

“ It's been four years since we've been back at this Taste, but our visit reminds me of what a great little summer festival this is. Parking is close and free, there is no admission fee, the crowd is well behaved and friendly, the food is very reasonably priced and good quality, and everything is in close proximity. There is also quite decent live entertainment and we returned on a Friday evening to listen to Seventh Heaven, and also learned (by walking by) that they had a classical orchestra playing in front of City Hall as well! Seventh Heaven played a montage of hits from the last four decades and sometimes that is all I really want to listen to anyway and it was just a great free concert for me anyway. The local vendors have kept up with their good participation in this Taste as well and I noted several relatively new businesses that were well represented here. Some of the notable additions to me anyway were The Sandlot, Holts, Harp and Fiddle, Countryside Saloon, Hey Caramba, Saint John Orthodox Greek Monastery, and Cream of the Crepe. I had a couple of burgers from The Sandlot and they were made to order and very good for $3.75 worth of tickets for each. It was great to catch up with the Taste of Park Ridge again, and the event made me proud to be a permanent resident of this fine community. ”

“ I love the Taste of Park Ridge! This street fest is located in dowtown Park Ridge so you can catch the Harvard Metra line to Park Ridge and walk right out into it. This is a free festival to attend and tickets are required to purchase food. From top to bottom this street festival is excellent. It truly has something for everyone. There are tons of local food options from pizza and Italian at Rex to burgers at Sandlot to Holt's cheesy classics. There is some more adventurous food which looked great, but I was sharing with picky children. Holt's had a great booth serving their awesome cheese curds - a must have! The Greek stand is very good and the spinach pie is always a standout. Dairy Queen is there with Blizzards and slurpees to cool off on a hot night. There are tons of drink options: beer, wine, sangria, Moscow mules, sangria and frozen lemoncello are all available. Entertainment ranges from children's games and performers to some local talented bands. The music is pumping and people are all having a good time. Check the website for details. This fest runs Thurs - Sat 7/15. We spent about $50 for 2 adults and 2 kids with drinks. The organizers and volunteers all do a great job putting on this wonderful event! ”

“ I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this festival. Also, I thought that it might be painfully crowded at 1pm on Saturday, but it turned out to be just the right size for the attendance. I required only five minutes to survey all of the vendors but at least fifteen to decide what to get. This Taste suffers from a lack of range (similar to Park Ridge itself) but everyone in your group should find at least a few good things to eat. My favorites were vegetable samosas from Himalayan and strawberry and mango italian ices from Lisa's. Both businesses were new to me, which fulfilled my mission to discover some new places after a year of living here. Like I said, the selection of booths reflected the variety (i.e. lack thereof) of restaurants in Park Ridge itself. But actually, the festival beats the town in this respect, because in the town about 60% of the restaurants are Italian and/or pizza, and here only about 40% were. After that you have two or three burger/hot dog joints and then one example each of Greek, barbecue, Mexican, sushi, Polish, Indian/Nepalese, Turkish, crepes, and seafood. For sweets, you have baked goods and italian ice. (Plus...Subway and Dairy Queen in case suburban living hasn't delivered enough chain exposure for you the other 364 days of the year.) So there is room for improvement, but they are doing pretty well so far. I hope to return each year and find at least one new-to-me local restaurant. ”

“ Look forward to Taste of Park Ridge every year! Able to walk around uptown visit with friends, family, and Park Ridge officials! Great variety of food and drinks! The activities for the children are fun, diverse and some educational. Things to do for all ages, senior day, family fun day etc. Music each nite is entertaining, and appeals to all ages! Thanks to all who volunteered to help make this event so successful each year! Can find some good sales at the stores as well. ”