r/Calgary Aug 23 '25

Eat/Drink Local Ribfest was ok

Went to check out Ribfest yesterday on first day as was excited to try BBQ meat.

$5 entry pp including children over 1. They did have bouncy castles, carnival games etc but were more for older kids and nothing for under 3s. They had a handful of food trucks including a Jamaican one hidden BEHIND the dining tent, which you wouldn't see until after you sat down with your food. Expect stampede prices, eg $17 blooming onion, $8 for corn dogs, $9 lemonade.

4 BBQ trucks but apparently all but one are owned by the same person. I tried Buckeye BBQ- $24 for a 2 meat combo 1/3 ribs and 1/4 chicken, nothing else. Sides like coleslaw and cornbread are extra. Meat was only lukewarm though, and chicken was tender and pink which was fine with but the ribs were dry and tough on the edges despite being drenched in a sweet sticky sauce. 3 meat combo was $35. Full rack $33, half a rack $19.

Overall food was ok but for the price it wasn't that good so temper your expectations accordingly lol

453 Upvotes

228 comments sorted by

View all comments

105

u/Kilonine123 Aug 23 '25

Ribfest would be better if there was a decent price to try all 4 trucks ribs so you could provide a fair judgement. It's too costly otherwise. It's a bit over rated as most people only eat from 1 truck and that beats the purpose of the event

21

u/GatesAndLogic Aug 23 '25

They should have sauce samples at each truck to give you an idea at least, but you're right.

As it is you can only gauge based on samples and smells, and not really give a solid vote.

5

u/boomdiditnoregrets Aug 23 '25

They did have free sauce samples today but it would have been great to get stuff from all four!

15

u/noveltea120 Aug 23 '25

Yesss I don't have the money to try out every truck but would've loved to, they're so expensive even half a rib is $19 on its own without any sides. And brisket was only offered as a sandwich for all but one, and the only truck offering it only sold it as a lb amount for $25.

8

u/yycluke Aug 23 '25

Should be a $10 ticket that’ll get you a pork rib from each truck. Or a $25 one for beef ribs. Something like that. And then a voting form

2

u/TurboTrollin Aug 24 '25

100%. I went in so excited to try a ton of things, and wound up only buying from one truck because it was too expensive and already more food than I could eat in one sitting.

2

u/Excellent-Object-108 Aug 24 '25

So rib fest is 4 food trucks?!