Food Truck Fridays in Gilbert

Update: The Gilbert Food Court is no longer in the Historic District as of 12/18/2015. Their new name is AZ Feastivals, please check them out using the link at the bottom of the article.

There's a new event going on in Historic Downtown Gilbert called Food Truck Fridays. (Update: The event WAS in downtown Gilbert for 3+ years, but is no longer located there two months after this article was published). Basically, a bunch of vendors get together every Friday night to offer up a selection of interesting culinary creations, prepared and served from their mobile kitchens. Recently, a friend invited me to go check out Food Truck Fridays.

I should clarify that I went into this event wondering why anyone would care about a bunch of food trucks. As far as I knew, food trucks were kind of a trashy thing; stalwarts of county festivals and fairs that served overpriced and low quality food with questionable standards of cleanliness.

Arriving at Food Truck Fridays, I found no such thing. Apparently I missed the memo that food trucks are hip and cool now, and people actually like them!


These trucks were not like the grimy, sun-faded trailers of the past. They were purpose-built trucks with bright, colorful graphics and cheeky slogans like "Lettuce feed you." Many of the vendors even took credit cards, with signatures rendered via a Square reader and an iPad.

There were a couple of burger and hot dog trucks, a couple of Mexican food trucks, one offering Vegetarian fare, and two ice cream/dessert trucks. I was particularly intrigued by the wildcard ones serving more unusual fare. There was a truck serving Lobster Rolls, one that offered made-to-order pizzas, and one that offered a variety of grilled cheese sandwiches.

My friend went for some barbecue food while I couldn't decide where to start. After debating for a bit, I settled on the grilled cheese truck where I ordered a BBQ pulled pork and mac-and-cheese sandwich with fries. The price was reasonable and the wait wasn't too bad. I did enjoy the sandwich but felt it could have been bigger - maybe served on a hoagie roll instead of sandwich bread.

There were a few picnic tables in the area, but they were full of families. With no seating options, we parked ourselves on the curb under a streetlight.

I was surprised to see how many people were interested in checking out the food trucks. There were families with little kids, couples on dates, and even some older folks out and about.

My opinion of food trucks has changed dramatically after visiting this event, and I would go back again sometime. If you're looking for something different and want your food to be an experience, go check it out!


Address: Various locations in Gilbert, AZ
Time: Fridays from 5:30pm to 9:00pm
Parking: Free
More info: https://www.facebook.com/azfeastivals/