The 2022 Flower and Food Festival has finally arrived at Dollywood and we are ready to eat!
Today we are bringing you our BEST OF THE FEST for the 2022 Flower and Food fest selections along with our thoughts on improvements for the menu!
The Flower and Food Festival Is going on NOW and will run through June 5th! This year’s fest brings many old favorites from last year and also adds in some new exciting options. What are those? Let’s find out!
The Seafood Mac! $10.99
This new savory mac and cheese really adds something special to the 2022 Flower & Food Fest!
This dish blends smoked gouda cheese with shrimp and crab meat. We found the mac and cheese to be the perfect combination of cheese and seafood. The flavor of the seafood was not too overpowering but the dish contained plenty of shrimp and crab meat so we felt like we got our bang for the buck!
Feisty Lemonade! $4.99
The Feisty Lemonade is a new lemonade-based drink that combines Sprite and passion fruit. It is Served with a cherry and lime garnish!
The passionfruit flavor really shines through on this one! We also enjoyed the carbonation provided by the Sprite that blended perfectly with the tartness of the lemonade. We were pleasantly surprised with this one as it packs a punch that makes it worthy of the name FEISTY! This is probably our favorite beverage of all Dollywood festival drinks.
Korean Barbeque Nachos! $9.99
This returning favorite includes nachos covered with BBQ-marinated ground beef and is topped with green onions, sour cream and sriracha mayo.
The beef marinated in BBQ really shines through on the flavor profile and the salty nachos compliment it perfectly!
The toppings of sour cream, green onions and sriracha mayo does not add too much spice so everyone can enjoy! This dish is shareable for a quick snack and we think the whole family will love them!
Smoked Chicken Wings! $9.99
These wings are marinated with brown sugar, fresh herbs and Himalayan sea salt and they are served with a parsley garnish and lemon. We found these wings to be EXTREMELY flavorful and will definitely order them again for a light lunch or quick snack during the fest.
We HIGHLY recommend that you check these wings out!
The Berry and Lavender Mini Funnel Cake! $7.99
We can’t help but LOVE this dessert! It made our top pick last year and returns to our top favorite again this year!
This funnel cake is seriously the perfect Springtime treat! It combines a mini portion of Dollywood’s signature funnel cake topped with fresh blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, Chantilly cream and then is drizzled with honey and lavender!
The funnel cakes are typically prepared when ordered so they come out warm and the fresh berries and Chantilly cream add a delicious light spring flavor. The honey and lavender drizzle helps soften the tartness of the berries. We commend Dollywood on the consistency of this item always being fresh and delicious!
If we were forced to choose just one item to eat during the fest this would absolutely be the winner every single time! We may or may not be devouring about 10 of these by the time the festival ends!
Now lets discuss what we didn’t like… and yes even Dollywood can improve in some areas! Just so everyone knows. . WE 100% understand there are still supply chain issues plaguing the industry and some of these may be corrected as the festival continues. . .but we wanted to provide a word of caution for those who plan to attend the festival in the coming weeks…..
Raspberry Boba Tea – $4.99
We were pretty disappointed with this one as the one we were served only featured unsweet tea topped with 4-5 blueberry bursting bobas. The menu describes this drink as “flavors of raspberry blended with floral accents and juice-filled blueberry bobas in this fruity and delicious tea” but all we really tasted was unsweet tea.
We would not consider this something worthy of paying full price for OR using the tasting pass. This made us sad as we were most excited about trying this specific drink for the festival and thought it would make the top.
Smoked Mac and Cheese – $10.99
The menu described this dish as “creamy smoked gouda cheese with grilled chicken and bacon. This cheesy goodness is then garnished with onion crisps”
Our dish came with mac and cheese and chicken but was topped with imitation bacon bits that can be found in the grocery aisle. The dish also had an abundance of these bacon bits that really altered the flavor described by the menu. If this dish had been served with real chopped bacon we could have easily added it to our top five best of the fest but with this current iteration we cannot recommend that you stop by to try this one.
So there you have it.. OUR BEST and WORST of the 2022 Flower and Food Fest! We hope everyone is out there planning a visit to the park during the festival and is just as excited about the food as we are!
Recent Comments