Opinion: Kennywood’s Bites and Pints Brings Great Flavors, and Great Value

PHOTOS BY OLLIE GRATZINGER | THE HALUSKI FROM THE POLAND BOOTH FEATURED CABBAGE AND NOODLES, TOPPED WITH POLISH SAUSAGE, WHITE SAUCE AND GREEN ONIONS

What do you get when you mix delicious food and drinks with thrill rides that flip, spin and speed?

The obvious answer might be a stomachache, but that isn’t the case at Kennywood — at least not for me. 

The park’s Bites and Pints Food & Drink Festival is taking place every Friday, Saturday and Sunday through July 5, which means there’s just one more weekend to go before it’s gone for the season.  

The event features eight unique tasting booths set up in a large circle around the park’s lagoon, with menus inspired by Cuban, French, German, Greek, Italian, Korean, Polish and Mexican cuisine.

It works like this: You purchase a tasting card, which gives you access to either eight or 12 samples of chef-inspired tastings, craft beer or specialty cocktails. (If you’re a season pass holder, you can get an exclusive 15-sample tasting card.) You pick up your tasting card at the Bites & Pints Welcome Center booth, near the lagoon and tasting locations, and present it at each subsequent booth to sample some, well, bites and pints. One food item or drink equals one punch on the tasting card.

I admit, I was skeptical, mostly about the price tag: the tasting cards cost between $45 and $60, depending on which tasting tier you purchase and whether you buy online or in-person at the park. (There’s a $10 discount if you buy online, by the way.) I didn’t realize at first that this cost is on top of a regular admission ticket to the park, which ranges in price from $40 to $75, again depending on how and when you buy. Overall, then, the cost of attending the food festival ranges from $85 to $135 before taxes and fees — a significant investment for most folks in this economy. 

However, when I got inside and saw the portions the chefs at Bites and Pints were doling out, and the quality of the food they were serving, I decided it was actually a pretty good deal. 

The portions were generous; each sample could’ve easily been a meal on its own, and I could eat eight of them on my punch card! Eight meals for $45 isn’t so bad. They were prepared fresh in the tents (or in some cases, such as the Bavarian pretzel and bier cheese from the Germany booth, prepared elsewhere in the park and brought over piping hot), and delivered on quality and taste.

I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of meat packed into the gyro from the Greece booth, the generosity of the ham inside France’s croque monsieur and the tenderness of the pork belly inside South Korea’s gua bao. The haluski from the Poland booth, topped with Polish sausage, white sauce and green onions, was overflowing in the bowl, and the short rib ragu from the Italy booth was enough to share the tender gnocchi with friends. 

The portions on the drinks were a little smaller, but it felt like a good, strategic choice. After all, Kennywood is a family park, and it wouldn’t make much sense — or be very responsible — to give someone access to 8-15 massive alcoholic drinks. Nevertheless, they were served in full cups, ranging from 5 to 8 ounces, perfect for sampling without feeling like you were going to overindulge. 

I sampled the frozen pina colada from Cuba, and friends tasted the pinot grigio from Italy, the frozen margarita from Mexico and Cuba’s Cigar City Jai Alai IPA. The pina colada was strong enough to taste the alcohol — no watered down samples here — but sweet enough to be refreshing on the hot, humid day.

It’s worth noting that you’re also able to pay a la carte for any of the items on the tasting menus, and that the size of your drink is a little bigger if you choose to go this route. The a la carte menu items are also generally between $10 and $13, with some wiggle room for specific food items or drinks, once again making sure you get some bang for your buck on the tasting card price. 

When it says on Kennywood’s website that all one-day tickets and season passes include event access, it means that you’re able to go to the booths and buy things a la carte even without a tasting card, not that the tasting card includes park admission. Reading a bit deeper into the website, it becomes clear that this isn’t the case, but I heard enough folks at the park entrance talking about it that it seems to be a fairly common misconception — one shared even by me at first. 

Nevertheless, if you’re looking for a new way to experience Kennywood, the Bites and Pints Festival is well worth the investment, especially if you buy your ticket online ahead of time and cash in on those savings.

Bites and Pints booths open at 4 p.m. on Friday and at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. 

Alcohol service will conclude at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and at 7 p.m. on Sunday. 

Food service will conclude at 8:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 7:30 p.m. on Sunday.

For tickets, visit Kennywood’s website, or the ticket counter outside of the park.