Huge night market with mostly food, but also plenty of crafts. Spans 5 blocks. Something for…read moreeveryone! Some faves: Hunter's tri tip K-Bop's kimbap and japchae combo Nora's cakes Take a walk on the Pier after! Parking can be tricky, but you can park at the Civic Center lot and walk a couple blocks.

What a pleasant way to spend your evening, grubbing on good food while walking the calories off!…read moreExpect it to be crowded, so come early. If parking is your hesitation, we made our trip into a staycation at a close hotel (The Seabird) and the walk is just a short distance away. Later when it gets crowded, just walk back out to the beach and pier for a romantic night walk!

For the past couple of years we have eagerly looked forward to the Vista Viking Festival. It has…read morebeen fun to dress up in Viking themed attire and enjoy friends, vendors, entertainment, and good food. The festival was moved to the Vista Antique Gas & Steam Engine museum and it has been a great venue for this two day event held late September. They have Viking games, lots of Mead and Cider vendors, Viking clothing, jewelry, and leather accessories and the music entertainment has been phenomenal. We'll definitely keep returning whenever possible.

Another great turnout for the Viking festival. This year's '25 theme was honoring Valkyrie Ladies…read more How fun. This was the third consecutive year that we've attended. And the amount of people that we know that go here is growing. We meet up with several who also attend this event annually. And recognize lots of other regulars. I literally cannot wait to get the Swedish meatball dinner! It comes with smashed potatoes and lingonberries. Seriously it's the best combo. To drink is to have a drink of the times a cider or particularly a Mead! So many great and local vendors for that! This visit I got to try a free Viking Berry Monster drink. I don't usually drink these but it was actually a pretty nice treat & I liked it. This time around we came prepared with enough cash and credit...and had given ourselves a budget in order to get the drinks, food and just enough to get merch items that we wanted. I finally created a combo oil blend that I had gotten at a Renaissance faire, in No Cali, way back in the 90's! The oil is put into a vile of your choosing. So I picked a small one that doubled as a necklace. Definitely created nostalgia in a mini bottle! So much going on this year! It's a two day event and some stay and attend the entire weekend. Or they just come back the next day. If you like this sort of outing you should go!!!

Over the years we've come to the strawberry festival and we tend to come a little later in the day…read more& after the run event takes place. But how fun for those who do participate in that part of the event. I'd have to say this year they had a fantastic turnout, from the marketing, and the business being true to the strawberry theme. Being that the majority of the business, that had a pop up there, had some sort of strawberry something or other to be sold. Many people came in theme too ~~ with their very creative outfits. I especially loved that! And if you didn't come in theme you had lots of options to buy something and join in on the berry fun of it all. You can see in the photos that I posted just some of the things that we enjoyed. I like to sample and then circle back to buy if I can't stop thinking about something I spotted or tried. We took some cards and also followed some on their social medias in order to revisit supporting them at a later date. *Only qualm is people's impatience and driving erratically nearby & the fight or flight mode that kicks in because of issues with getting just the right parking spot. And one that's close enough to the event no less! We finally did get good parking karma tho. My Goodness! Overall it was a great event. It checked my boxes...if it has...Good food, Company, and Live music. I'm in!

Our first time checking out the Vista strawberry festival. We checked the website and it said it…read morewas a dog friendly event so we took our fur child in his stroller and after standing in line to take the shuttle from the court house parking lot to the festival, we were told we were not allowed to take our dog on the shuttle (although a lady got off the shuttle with her dog). So we took our car to where the shuttle dropped off everyone (mall parking lot) and was able to park closer to the event. It worked out in our favor later on as the line to the shuttle back was super long. The festival was surprisingly huge with a lot of vendors but out of all the places we only saw one single place selling strawberries. It had all the overpriced festival food and a lot of people. We did buy a half pack of strawberries and they were super sweet. I just wish there were more "strawberries" and the strawberry festival.

Absolutely loved their Obon festival. It was small, but large enough to have lots of wonderful…read moredancing, food vendors, and small shops. It was our first Obon and several temples joined from around the state. There was a live drummer and they handed out water to all of the dancers. We're interested in the Vista Buddhist Temple and decided to attend one of their upcoming services.

Wonderful. We look forward to it every year! Grandma gets all the Japanese food she misses and the…read morekids get a peek at our culture. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Parking can be a bear when not allowed to park at doctors office next door

Huge and diverse! It's not as chaotic as the Little Italy farmer's market. There are plenty of…read moreproduce stands, niche food stands, prepared foods, and crafts. There's something for everybody and something special you can find! I loved the fresh baked goods from 1 stand, the biltong meat sticks, and the Carribbean food. The parking can get crazy so take what you can find. I am annoyed there is no seating at the market so you can enjoy your meal. I couldn't even find a public trashcan. I wish it was a more friendly place for the prepared food where the market is open later and you don't have to stand to eat your food.

A fantastic market with a wide range of premium goods in addition to produce and plants, along with…read morea diverse set of prepared food boths. My only complaints are: 1. The food all looks great, but there is no place to eat it. There is a big area near the booths that could be set up with tables, which I'm sure the vendors would appreciate and enable them to enjoy more sales. 2. It's only open until 12:00 and while I'd like to try the food, I don't eat lunch before 12:30 or later. It should be open until at least 1:00. 3. The website says that dogs are not allowed, but they are everywhere and it's a pain to avoid them and tripping over their leashes. There also health department regulations FOR GOOD REASONS, to not have animals around food.

First time attending the Highland Games located at Brengle terrace park. Purchased tickets online…read more Cars are lined through the streets but there's two entrances. The main gate or at the McClellan center both are $10. The annual event is nicely situated throughout these park grounds. Paved walkways with one slope down to the field area. The Scottish accent will soon travel from your gut to your tongue and chule foind new experiences emerging tru des lands. On the far East end there's sheep dog herding. It was pretty incredible seeing these border collies move on the command of a whistle. Just like in Babe.. I began to long for a pig to do just the same. There's a nice kids playground and dedicated area to practice their own Highland Game skills. Pipe bands are a thing! Who knew. Competitions were in progress when we arrived. The first food area is just past the band tents with a few umbrella tables connecting to the tented beer garden featuring live bands like Bad Haggis. Decently priced food and beverages for a festival. The athletics area is on the lower field this is where the men and women will be competing throughout the day. This is also where the main stage and shaded seating area will be along with merch and food vendors. Opening and closing ceremonies will feature all the bagpipe bands marching through the lower field onto the main stage area. Overall 5 stars being that the crowd was a good bunch with kindred spirit. All there for a good time enjoying traditional Scottish competitions, music and food.

Awesome day of fun and culture. Sheep herding dogs, the games including caber tossing (they like to…read morethrow things) ,pipes, drums and bands filling the air with glorious sounds. Kilts, kilts everywhere, oh my. Foodies will love the meat pies. They were upscale pot pies with lamb and beef with mushrooms unexpectedly good. The Scotch eggs are hard boiled egg surrounded in sausage with panko breadcrumbs deep fried. Awesome Celtic breakfast burrito.

100th review of my Yelp 100 Challenge! Might as well make it about something community-related…read morethat provides good karma... For the last few years, Rubio's has been hosting a beach cleanup and party near the Oceanside Pier. I've always wanted to do something to give back to the community, and was looking forward to doing this. Unfortunately, this year's beach clean-up was marred by the rain... but the CoastFest went on as planned at the Oceanside Pier Amphitheatre. With free admission, free food and drink (Santa Fe Crusted Tilapia Tacos, coconut & lime bars, chips & guacamole, and even churros in the kids' section), music provided by local bands such as Broken Stems, Max & the Moon, and The Mowgli's, a kids' zone full of activities for the little ones, and freebies provided by Regal Springs Tilapia Farms. SDCCU, and (of course) Rubio's, the festival serves as both a get-together for the community and an educational opportunity about keeping the beaches and oceans clean. There were even surf lessons offered - but with the rain (and later, thunder and lightning), no one was taking advantage. In fact, we left early due to the weather getting even more unstable. Still, I'm looking forward to coming back next year to serve as a volunteer for the beach clean up and to check out more of the CoastFest if the weather cooperates. Do it for all the oceans!

I think CoastFest is a pretty perfect example of a company PR event. Rubios puts on the festival,…read moreso they get to polish up their environmentally-friendly image. Part of the event is a beach cleanup, so the community gets a clean(er) beach. And participants get free food, so I get fed. Yay! I admit to having a weakness for free food, and this is a great event for that. Participants (and I think non-cleaners too, but it's not that hard to pick up some trash!) get a taco (this year Rubio's was promoting their tilapia), chips with guacamole, a dessert, and a drink. Last year there was some candy as well, this year there was apple sauce and churros too. Yay! But you also get a booklet and if you go around to the booths and collect stamps, you can get a free meal later at the restaurant. Mmmm....