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Dessert Wars

3.7 (31 reviews)

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Krys P.

It's a great concept, and I'm so excited I have won a pair of tickets on Yelp to try this. It's great for anyone with a sweet tooth! There are plenty to try, but I focus on the booths I've never seen before. There are a couple of nitrogen ice creams, and plenty of cupcakes, but the variety is good enough. As for the vendors, there are chains like Dunkin Donuts, Cici's Pizza, Cream (ice cream sandwich), Edible Arrangement (the tartness of the fruits is great after too many intense sweetness), well-loved local places like Morelia Paletas, Honeybee Donuts and Brain Freeze, as well as entrepreneurs like Sweet Melody and Happylicious. I want to be honest and make a few suggestions, in hope that the organizer will improve the event. After all, I would love to see this event returning in the future and maybe other similar events popping up! What's great: - parking was plentiful and free so that's a great ++ - A nice variety of desserts: ice cream, donuts, cupcakes, fruits, truffles, cookies, pizzas, paletas, fried oreos... Can there be even more varieties? Sure, but I'm sure that will come as the event expands. - take out box: great idea, very nice touch. - free coffee, and you get a choice too! Espresso, cappuccino, hazelnut latte... What can be improved: - I entered FIU via the main entrance on 107 Ave, and there was no signage whatsoever about the event. Took us a bit driving and asking around to find the spot. - some of the vendors sold out half way through, and several listed on the website are "no show." - as another reviewer pointed out, on the website it says "Tickets include deluxe tasting, your personal to-go box along with coffee, water and ice cold milk." Not nice to go in and have to pay $1 for water. Won't even take tickets. - more garbage bins: all these samples use a lot of disposables

Our Boxes Are FULL!!
Samantha D.

On the Wednesday before a text message comes through with an Invitation to attend Dessert Wars 2016 with friends of ours! With a quick Google Search, I was instantly intrigued even though not much information was posted for the event. For $15 and over 20 Vendors, I'm In! Lucky me I did come across Dessert Wars on Yelp and found out a little more info by fellow Yelpers! Arriving to Bank United 10 minutes prior to the event start time, parking was a breeze and there were plenty of signs pointing us in the right direction. With a bit of a line to check in make sure you have your ticket available and ready. Ticket purchase includes entry into Dessert Wars along with Basketball Ticket to go to the game afterwards. Once the event opened we were scanned in quickly. We were told that you must print your tickets but then witnessed people getting their phones scanned as well. Once inside we had no clue what was next; the greeters hand you a To-Go Dessert Box to carry around with you to each Vendor and also 23 Tickets to get the assortment of Dessert you want. Now 23 Tickets is a great idea when you first get there and are all amped up but in reality, that is just way too many tickets per person. They were never ending!!! Desserts~ Desserts~ And Desserts!! They were in every direction you looked, on everyone's mind, and in competition for the Best Taste! Participants included Velvet Creme Doughnuts, Pudding Utopia, Cupcake Galleria, a little R&R Bakery, Sweet Sunday's Baking Co, Rachel's Jars, Bettersweet Bites, Exquisito Fine Chocolates, Dunkin Donuts, and Plenty More!!! All of the Vendors were very friendly and welcoming when approaching their tables! Pick one from each or ten from one, mix and match, and make sure to take breaks to Enjoy your Desserts! By 2:00pm the Vendors started to run out of their goodies leaving a lot of new comers with half empty boxes. The lines at the Vendors still stocked got long with much anticipation. For Drinks, Winn Dixie had a Milk Bar set up (Vitamin D Milk Only) and there was also a Beverage Booth with Beer, Wine, Sodas, and Water available. Also, Dunkin Donuts provided Hot Coffee at their station! Time for the Winner ^^^^ Exquisito Fine Chocolates with their Matcha S'more!!! Gooey Matcha Marshmallow with a delicious Green Tea blast of flavor topped with Chocolate Sauce and Cookie Crumble!! This however is my opinion only and not the actual winner of the Dessert Wars. Boxes are full and it is time to dig in! Sadly, all of the bites were just mediocre leaving much to be desired. The lack of flavor from the majority of Cupcakes, Cookies, Pastries, Cakes, and more was disappointing. On the bright side, this was something fun and unique to do and we had an Adventurous Dessert Wars Showdown!

Home made ice cream
Rabia J.

All I could think was about sweet decadent treats when I became aware of this event. Dessert Wars did not disappoint. This was my first time going to D.W, I believe there was one in 2015. I'm glad they kept this event this year as well. The tickets were a great value at $15 per person. I was able to buy them online and print out the certificates beforehand. The place was packed with people in line. Im glad we went there on time. The event was 1-4PM and I kid you not, I think the majority of vendors were out of desserts by 2:30PM. I like how they gave you about 20+ tickets to try different desserts. But I think in the future they need to come with a plan how to estimate the amount of serving samples they need to the amount of tickets they sold. I have some of my favorites: Urban desserts had the best dressed team with colorful waffle treats. They cater in events and do a great job with this unique concept. Also I liked Rachel's jars with great packaging and awesome flavors. My third favorite was Benson's bakeshop(not a storefront yet but caters). Benson's had the best cupcakes with great variety such as banana split, lavender and coconut flavors offered. I tried a gazillion desserts here and plus brought some things home. I like the fact they gave white boxes to put leftover desserts. In drinks they were offering milk. But in drinks my favorite was the flavored milk shots like the chocolate salted Carmel shot I drank. Overall great event and I hope they do this next year because I have many friends who became envious of my snaps and Instagram photos today because of Dessert Wars event :)

Cool Rice Krispies Treats from Krispie Creations
Cassie P.

Dessert Wars provided the best of both worlds. For $15, you got enough sweets to devour until you simply had to tap out AND a ticket to an exciting Hurricane basketball game. This was an inaugural event and I hope it becomes a yearly production! With tipoff at 6:30pm, Dessert Wars started at 4pm in the Bank United Center Fieldhouse, adjacent to the basketball court. No need to worry about VIP ticket levels here, everyone paid a flat fee and got a long stream of raffle tickets that could be exchanged at any of the thirty vendors. Upon entry, we were also given a sheet of paper to rank each company from 1-3, with one ultimately named the best. Even with sharing almost every bite, my boyfriend and I still got stuffed without making it all the way around... Some standouts include the red velvet fried oreos from Donut Divas, Nutella chocolate chip cookies from Casa Gioia (the winner), key lime pie from Sugar Buzz Buffet, and Smores brownie from Patty Cakes. But really, we didn't have a bad bite. After about an hour of sampling, we had to reluctantly throw in the towel and turned in our ballot boxes to save ourselves from getting sick. Winn Dixie was there with some milk but I think everyone wanted more water. The poor guys from Liquid N2 Ice Cream (the only food truck in attendance ) were getting flooded with people buying some, even at room temperature. There was also a pie eating contest which I think should've been advertised before. They kept calling for contestants but I assume everyone was already full like we were! Knowing about it beforehand might convince some people to save some room. We headed to the game afterwards on a sugar high that definitely led to a crash mid-game. Thankfully, the Canes kept it exciting and pulled out a victory in the end! All in all, definitely enjoyed this Sunday afternoon treat. It's always nice when you feel like you get the bang for you buck and I discovered so many new vendors and places here that had never even crossed my radar!

To go plate!
Cynthia C.

Wow!!! I was literally in for a treat at this event. I was one of the Yelp Miami winners with 2 VIP tickets... lucky me! A whole array of 50 dessert samples all to myself! Thank you Yelp Miami So, let me tell you guys. I was a little nervous at first to encounter all these desserts. I mean how much sweets can I possibly take in and enjoy all at once. But, the vendors and the program organizers were genius! Unlimited milk to wash down all those sweets. I started off at Best Brownies 305. They were right by the entrance and I was not disappointed, bacon maple brownie!? So delicious! Then I also made a stop at the all time famous The Market Milkshake Bar.... literally by far the best milkshakes I have ever tasted, from Cookies and cream to Nutella (mouth watering) I can't even continue naming all... but after trying over 30+ dessert samples from different vendors I can officially tap out with a happily diabetic coma. So worth it! See you next year Dessert wars!

So much deliciousness in one box.
Miriam D.

I love that this event is hosted at my alma mater, FIU and game tickets are included in the price. We were given a discount code and took advantage of it. The event was well worth it and a lot of fun. I have a sweet tooth and was looking forward to this for days! Let's get on with the review. We were one of the first in line to the event. As we were waiting one of the security guards seemed to be quite obsessed with what bags people had and whether they were clear or not. I understand why, since there is a clear bag policy. However, he was quite confused about it and said to another guest who had the same clear bag as me, "I hope they let you in with that bag." Even though it was clear and under the required size. Once they were ready to get us in, they separated us into three groups. I was the first in the second group in. When they got us in, it was kind of annoyed that people just kind of gathered around and people behind us were now in front of us. There wasn't a sign for VIP and the GA sign was hidden, leaving people confused. Once we were in the event, I was able to get a lot of the good stuff. The Real Donutty was a major highlight and we got a few delicious donuts from them. We were able to try an entire paleta from Paletas Morelia. Many vendors gave you a sample but I liked that these two companies did not skimp out and have out a full food item. On that note, we got a ton of stuff. The boxes were quite small and it was getting more difficult filling it with stuff. We basically had to eat and go and eat and go. We did end up taking a ton of stuff home and I even took a box to my mom for her to enjoy. We had extra to spare. Great event! I look forward to next time!

Red velvet fried Oreo
Amanda T.

This event was very poorly ran. Beyond disappointed and left within the first 30 minutes. We were the first ones in line and overhead the entire conversation "Brad" had with the FIU people in the entrance. Guests were to get a box & 30 tickets to I sample the desserts. Based off the Dessert Wars event page on Yelp and main website, tickets were to include dessert tasting, water, coffee and milk. The minute we walked in and went to grab a water, the vendor was charging for them. There was nowhere else to ask for water & I asked the girls giving out milk. They didn't know & asked a girl who was walking around. I made my way to the entrance wherein they claimed that the vendor wasn't supposed to charge for water but that maybe once they run out of the 500 bottles they had, that they might. Being that we had only been there for 20 minutes & were the first ones in to ask for water, I don't see why they would be charging for it. The girls apologized and left it at that, stating there were water fountains inside. Then I mentioned to the same girl that was walking around that this wasn't the way the event should be running, especially when "Brad" told them no one should be paying for anything. The vendors also weren't on the same page, quite honestly everyone was lost. Some vendors were taking one ticket per small dessert, and other vendors weren't taking tickets at all. Some vendors were really nice, like CiCi's pizza & Edible Arrangements. But then you had other with attitudes and a face that said "I don't want to be here". Thankfully I won these tickets through Yelp, but the whole event left a sour taste in my mouth and I will not be returning.

Andrea A.

This is my all time favorite event!!! I hope I can keep on coming back to every single one! It is so much fun to walk around and try the desserts from all the different vendors. This year I won VIP tickets for the event and it was definitely helpful to come early before the big crowds and try everything before every vendor had a huge line. However, I definitely ate way too fast and didn't feel the best after but it was so worth it. I like that they give you a little to go box so you can bring goodies home but it's hard to hold while going around and sampling other desserts and trying to hold the box and eat things at the same time.

Emily H.

I love baked goods and I am always searching for new bakeries offering sweets and I thought this would be a good event to be exposed to a variety of cupcakes, cookies and other baked goodies. Honestly I didn't do much research on the event and I didn't read the reviews. After reading some of last years review I feel that the organizers of the event did make improvements. I definitely didn't have problems finding where the event was located and parking was not a problem. The organizer sent several updates before the event and the day of the event with specifications on security and bags allowed in the event. That being said there are much needed areas for improvement. I had two specific vendors that I wanted to visit, however there were no signs on each of the tented booths. The booths were numbered, however no name of the vendor. If the booths were numbered a list distinguishing vendors would have been helpful. I also found the go to boxes small. After aimlessly going to each of the booths trying to find them I found one of the vendors, Fatty Cakes NY. Their IG cookie cake posts had caught my eye and wanted to try them. I was disappointed that they topped off their product with ice cream. I had to scoop out the ice cream to taste the cookie. The cookie was hard because of the cold ice cream, but still seemed that the cookie itself was very good, however the ice cream took away from trying their actual product. I had already wasted about 1/2 an hour searching for vendors and waiting in line so I decided I would just fill up my go to box before the vendors would start running out of the their baked goods. Nonetheless I filled up my to go box without tasting any of the them and left. I saw a lot of people doing the same which really defeats the purpose of the voting element of the event. Would I visit again? Yes I would because I had the opportunity to meet new comers as well as established based business owners. Sweet Delights top my list. Miss Debbie, was a delight, serving her different pies that have earned her five star yelp reviews for years. She was offering her famous key lime pie, sour sop pie , guava pie, chocolate cake and love cake. Everything was delicious. Michelina Bakes Me "Queen of Tres Leches" was serving different variety of Tres Leches, including guava, amaretto, s'mores, orginal and many more which I can't recall. I had the guava and amaretto which were amazing! Another vendor which I enjoyed was Hailey Pancakes serving Rosemary cookies, lemon almond cookies, chocolate red wine cupcakes, just to name a few. Bite me cupcakery , another winner in my book, with their pastelito cupcake and peanut butter chocolate cupcake. The pastelito was a vanilla cupcake filled with guava, cream cheese frosting and topped with crushed Maria cookies. Lastly I found the 2nd vendor I was looking for, The Real Donutty, but by the time I got to them they were out of most of their selections. They had cinnamon, matcha and strawberry left. None of the flavors that I would have hoped to find so I can't base an opinion on their donut. This event is reasonably priced and I hope they don't hike up the price. If they fine tweak some of the mishaps this will be an exceptional event.

Cupcake and Milkshakes!
Stephanie P.

My first dessert wars and hopefully not my last! Tons of different vendors and their sweet treats. Some much to choose from, they even have vegan options. Have to give a shout out to Mr. Bing, tried their shaved ice cream and loved every second of it. Wish the venue offered water instead of milk, but overall great event. Can't wait for the next one!

Cupcake strawberry shake from Cupcake Galleria
Jennifer C.

Having such an insane sweet tooth as I do, I was counting down the days until this event. I was so stoked to have won two tickets (thanks, Yelp!) to the event just the week before. Unfortunately, we arrived to the event at the Bank United Center at UM an hour late (our bad), so some of the vendors were all out of certain items or just had 1 or 2 flavor options left. Even so, there were 30 vendors so we were still able to walk around and fill up our box with whatever sweets were left from each vendor relatively quickly. As we walked in, we were given 22 raffle tickets each and a empty cardboard box for us to fill with sweet treats which we would trade in for the raffle tickets. One of my favorite things was the complimentary glass of cold milk to go along with all your treats! Since we were late, we quickly began walking around and grabbing cupcakes, cookies, ice cream, and donuts left and right. Some vendors had really long lines so we had to skip out on in order to be able to take advantage of the others before they completely ran out of sweet treats (which we encountered with a handful of vendors). Everything we tried was really good and we discovered so many vendors we had never even heard of. So all-in-all, it was a fun event. Just wish there would have been more samples available from each vendor so that they weren't sold out just an hour into a 3-hour event. Some of my favorite treats were the Cupcake Strawberry milkshake from Cupcake Galleria and the Guava and cream cheese cookie from Nummies Bake Shop.

Yessenia O.

I have to say this was the sweetest event that I've been to in a long time. I scored two vip Yelp tickets and I had to buy four others because I figured my nephews would really enjoy it . I got there early, and I noticed there was a line that went around the block. At 2 o'clock everything was smooth flow with the tickets and entrance. The venue was large enough to accommodate a sold out event. They handed me 50 tickets and a container for desserts to go. Im so glad it was indoors too. Once I went it to my left was the coffee station, and milk (4 different types). There were over 50 stations with desserts. The competition was tough, they thought of deserts I've never tried. I couldn't even use all my tickets, I was just too full. I'm really happy I got to enjoy my desserts and vote. All of the stations were well stocked. There was a dj playing great hip music and green screen phot booth. I have to say the only con is $5 water bottle being sold. Thankfully some stations with desserts also had water. Can't wait to come back next year

My little box of to go desserts!

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30 plus minute line for parking plus 20 minute line for entry (with a timed ticket) and individual lines for desserts.

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Review Highlights - Dessert Wars

VIP tickets allow you early access (4pm entrance instead of 5) that in itself is worth the price difference.

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It's my 4th year going and I always have a great time at SOBEWFF. This year we attended 2 events…read more We did the dinner hosted by Jet Tila, Aarti Sequeira and Christopher Aguirre. Damaris Phillips was also a surprise chef. The food was delicious. From the passed appetizers to the sit down meal everything was well seasoned and beautifully presented. We also attended the Family Cookout, hosted by JJ Johnson with a special performance from Fat Joe (the BX baby)!!! The food was great, the vibe was awesome and we had an amazing time!!!! I plan on going back next year!

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SOBEWFF
SOBEWFF
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Lantern Light Festival - The main lantern... a giant dragon

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1.7(72 reviews)
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Went to the Lantern Light Festival at the Alameda Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, California. The main…read moredraw for me was the lights. I have no children to worry about entertaining, so I just wanted to come here to enjoy seeing all the lanterns and light installations. It was absolutely gorgeous. As a cosplayer wanting to build more light-up props, I enjoyed seeing the lanterns up close. Everything from the entrance gate, the long undulating Chinese dragon with its animatronic head rotating from side to side, the astrological signs, the castles, apple trees, wishing trees, animals, all the flowers, and so much more, were absolutely inspiring and filled my heart with holiday joy. My friend and I enjoyed going around taking photos of the lights. I also appreciated that the pamphlet with the map of the park included photos of how the lanterns were built. The other attraction at the festival was the Chinese acrobat performance. They occurred once per hour, and the performers are very talented. Such amazing display of athleticism! I could have sworn that the adult ticket allowed one dragon ride. Unfortunately, to my disappointment, the dragon rides were ONLY FOR CHILDREN. I felt very mislead and cheated. The food was pricey. Although we ate dinner before coming, I paid $5 for 3 deep fried oreos, and another $5 for a drink (I had hot apple cider, my friend had hot chocolate). Churros were also $5, and just ONE deep fried Twinkie was $6, so I passed on that. Everything else at the festival was geared towards children, so aside from walking around being awe-inspired by the lights, there was nothing else to do. I went to WinterFest at Great America earlier this month, and while I'd say the Lantern Light Festival has much more impressive light displays, WinterFest had much more to offer since in addition to dazzling displays of beautiful lights, they also had roller coasters, more variety of shows, and more activities that not just the kids can enjoy. Overall, the Lantern Light Festival felt like a cheap version of WinterFest.

I bought the groupon when it was an additional 20% off so my ticket was $14. Parking is $5. It…read moretook us about an hour to walk through. There was an acrobatic show that was not good. There are food venders selling noodles, cinnamon rolls, pizza and elephant ears. You can buy tickets to do activities such as mini golf, simulator ride, face painting, etc. Little kids will like the activities, but older kids will find them stupid. The lights are pretty to see and photograph well on a cell phone. If in the area, and you get the discounted ticket I would recommend visiting the festival. It is NOT worth the full price ticket.

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Dessert Wars - festivals - Updated May 2026

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