Coachella 2026 review: For a steep price, festival food attempts to satisfy festivalgoers’ appetites
An art exhibit stands on the festival grounds at Coachella. The festival offers a variety of food and drink stands for attendees to try, but some vendors charge exorbitant prices for relatively small portions. (Courtesy of Coachella and Lance Gerber)
This post was updated April 21 at 8:46 p.m.
Running between sets, festivalgoers are bound to have an appetite.
Offering different stations across the festival grounds, Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival featured a varied food selection from quick beverages and snacks to full-on meals. Provided with multiple options to choose from, festival attendees also needed to consider cost before indulging in the festival’s exorbitant prices.
Read on to see the Daily Bruin’s take on Coachella’s food options.
Unreal Poke
The poke was good, but the prices? Unreal.
Unreal Poke, a Los Angeles-based poke pop-up owned and operated by Native Hawaiians, served food at the Street Food Alley during the second weekend of Coachella. The menu featured a variety of different poke bowls and even offered a spicy version of each bowl for attendees looking to add a kick to their meal. The spicy tofu poke bowl included cold tofu served over furikake rice topped with onions, cucumber and Sriracha.
The tofu was soft and perfectly cooked, creating a simply flavored bite when eaten in conjunction with the rice base. The Sriracha served its purpose of elevating the dish’s flavor profile. The tofu was rather bland by itself, so a little extra spice gave each bite more dimension. However, the bowl’s size was slightly underwhelming, as it felt more like a snack rather than a full meal. The small bowl’s size was underscored by the extremely high prices for the food as well: a tofu bowl was $22, with fish poke bowls costing even more. Although the ingredients were high quality and tasty, the size and flavor of the bowl did not quite justify the exorbitant prices.
While the quality of the bowls might draw hungry festivalgoers in, the prices and portion sizes might turn them away.
Spicy Pie
Looking for the perfect bite right after a set? Spicy Pie has Coachella-goers covered.
The pizza spot served pizzas at 12 Peaks VIP, Camping and Street Food Alley, offering a variety of slices and full pies for the true pizza aficionados. Ranging from simple items such as cheese and pepperoni to more specialty items such as a custom veggie pizza, Spicy Pie had numerous items that were sure to please any festivalgoer. The veggie pizza, although slightly cold when served, was still incredibly soft and chewy, with a creamy tomato sauce and a plethora of toppings from mushrooms to bell peppers.
The pizza’s crust was pleasantly thin yet strong enough to serve as a solid base for the toppings. The pepperoni and pineapple slice was a perfect balance between sweet and savory. While the combination of the fruit on pizza is not for everyone, Spicy Pie’s amount of pineapple was not overpowering. For those looking to give pineapple on pizza a try, the stand offers a subtle first bite.
Spicy Pie made sure to serve the festival crowd a good taste of a classic, quick meal.
Lovebite Dumplings
Look no further than Terrace North for the perfect bite of food.
Lovebite Dumplings, a Phoenix-based fast-casual concept restaurant, served a menu of dumplings and assorted entrees for the Coachella crowd. Additionally, there were several drink options, such as a strawberry horchata that served as an ideal, sweet milk-based drink for an evening refresher. Lovebite Dumpling’s menu included a tofu rice bowl that consisted of a perfectly cooked fried tofu and warm rice base. The tofu was incredibly warm when served and was chewy but not mushy and had a well-seasoned flavor profile.
Served on a base of greens, Lovebite Dumplings offered multiple types of dumplings, including pork, chicken and veggie. While the veggie dumplings seemed to run out faster than the other options, the chicken dumplings were nothing but enjoyable. Drizzled with a sweet soy glaze sauce, the steamed dumplings were perfectly soft yet pleasantly crunchy on their edges.
With larger portions, Lovebite Dumplings might be the only Coachella food stand with justifiable high prices.
[Related: Coachella 2026 review: Day 3’s artists amaze audiences through vocals, visuals, vibrance]
OAKBERRY
OAKBERRY still has a long way to go to become a crowd favorite.
Offering four different items on their menu, OAKBERRY’s stand at Coachella was a refreshing food option among other stands, even if unmemorable. “Fruity Bowl” was one of the two acai bowl options offered. The bowl’s base was sweeter than the standard acai bowl, yet it did not cross the line as overly sweet, leaning toward a berry flavor rather than acai.
Compared to last year, the bowl’s toppings seemed to take a turn for the better. No longer exclusively for decoration, the toppings included coconut flakes mixed with the acai bowl, giving each spoonful a a crunchiness that the dusty granola did not provide. Unfortunately, the more the bowl sat around, the soggier the coconut became, and it quickly lost its appeal. This year’s bowls also included dragon fruit. This topping had the potential to save the bowl, but the sourness of the fruit was too overpowering.
While a cold treat is ideal for the desert heat, there are definitely better choices than OAKBERRY’s $20 acai bowl.
