San Francisco taco and beer festival organizer accepting refund requests after community blowback

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A weekend food festival left a lot of attendees with a bad taste in their mouth.

The West Coast Taco and Beer Festival promised a fun event with unlimited tacos and bottomless beer samples.

That's not what attendees tell 7 On Your Side they got.

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Hundreds of people attending the West Coast Taco and Beer Festival in SF Saturday were met with a long line leading to underwhelming expectations.

Now, event organizers say they're taking refund requests.

"The festival, the event organizer, was trying really, really hard to get people to attend the event and they definitely overpromised and did not deliver," Dr. Yi He, a marketing professor at CSU East Bay, said.

Matt Jenkins and his fiancée left the San Francisco event disappointed.

Each ticket was $50, with the promise of taco and beer tastings.

"After the first 20 minutes, all of the free options ran out, but no one was even able to get in by the time that was offered, if that was a thing at all," Jenkins said.

Since Saturday, complaints for this event continued to pour in online on sites like Reddit.

One poster said: "We were in by 1:15 p.m. - there was never any free taco samples."

Another said: "Spent an hour waiting to get in (arrived at 2 p.m. got in at 3 p.m.) to be told that they ran out of food and everything inside needed to be paid for."

Posts like these continued to say: "definitely felt like we were scammed."

Dr. He says if something seems too good to be true, do your research before buying.

"It's always good to make sure it's coming from a well-vetted trusted company," He said.

The venue, The Midway, says it only rented space to the event's promoters.

MORE: Taco festival runs out of 'unlimited' free tacos

Refunds are now being granted to some who attended the Bay Area Taco & Beer Festival. Here's why.

In a statement, they told 7 On Your Side, "we are encouraging the promoter to either refund the attendees or find another way to make this right..."

But if this story sounds familiar, that's because you've heard it before.

The Bay Area Taco and Beer Festival held in San Jose back in 2019 had the same issue when viewers asked 7 On Your Side for help.

"Never got a free taco, no," Joanne Kindel, a 2019 festival attendee, said. "By that point they started charging $2.50 for a taco. This was news coming up the line from us."

According to Kindel, the wait for a single taco was 90 minutes.

They ran out when she was halfway through the line.

Turns out, it was all under the same management, Brandon Mozley, CEO of Live Free Events.

"All sales are final, no refunds, cancellations or exchanges. rain or shine. 21+event," Mozley said in an emailed statement. "However, based on the community's feedback, we are accepting refund requests to guests."

Event organizers gave us no information on how to apply for a refund, but 7 On Your Side says your best bet is to dispute the charge through your credit card company.

The organizers have another event planned for San Jose at the end of this month.

History San Jose says the event is still scheduled as planned.

Organizers say they've lowered their prices to get in for that event, but still promise bottomless beer samples.

However, this time, they say the food costs extra.

Mozley says festival attendees can submit feedback on how to improve for next year at westcoasttacobeerfestival@gmail.com.