Like many other Chicago neighborhood festivals, we assumed that the Taste of Romania would allow us to learn about the culture, enjoy the food and have fun. The festival takes place in a school parking lot and is not a very large area. When you walk into the festival you walk past several neighborhood booths where you can get a few free pens and things like that. The rotisserie is off in the corner where you see a real pig roast.

One food booth has a few selections of food items. A beverage booth offers Romanian wine and beer. A few other booths were set up but unattended. They offered henna tattoos and a neat eyebrow hair removal with threads. A stage was set up for the band but no one was playing.

Unfortunately I believe this festival advertises itself improperly. The festival is advertised as follows:
"Annual rotisserie cookout of pigs, lamb, sausages and stuffed cabbage. Live music and folk dancers from Greece, Poland and Romania include groups Talaisman and Redmiak. Grape stomping each day at 3 p.m. and free grape juice during festival hours. $7 donation benefits the South Lakeview Neighbors."

It ended up the $7 donation was a required fee. There is no grape stomping at all. They have a grape press which they use to make the grape juice. The main reason I attended the festival was to see the grape stomping and try Romanian food so we were quite disappointed. We did have some lamb which cost $11 and it was incredibly dry and tasteless.

We went in the late afternoon and the place was quite empty. I suggest of you go to this festival that you make it a part of your evening when it may be more crowded.