Irvine Farmers Market — Attraction in Irvine

I came around 9:45 am expecting it to be crowded, but the lines were fine. I barely waited when buying my food. However, I left around 10:45 am, and by then, I could definitely tell that the lines were getting longer. So, I would recommend people come earlier to avoid the lines, but you definitely do not need to wake up at 8 am.

While I was here, I visited all the stores - they really have quite a diverse group of stands. People sold vegetables, fruits, succulents, jewelry, soaps, meats, dolls, clothes, and desserts. They even have live music playing and animal balloon artists to entertain the children. Definitely would recommend families to come here!

The places I bought food from were Mama Musubi, Clayton's Doughnuts and Arnett's Farms. Everywhere else, I just tried samples, which to me was almost like its own meal because almost all the stands had samples.

Mama Musubi sells omusubis, and I got the mama special and the barbeque beef omusubis. The mama special had bay shrimp and imitation crab, while the barbeque beef had thin slices of beef with caramelized onions and was topped with ginger. I personally preferred the barbeque beef one over the mama special, but both were great to eat. I've had omusubis from other places, and this one was on par with the other stores in taste and price (around $4).

Clayton's Doughnuts sells vegan and gluten free donuts, which is just a cherry on top of their quality donuts. I got a mini donut ($0.50) because their bigger donuts are more expensive ($2.50) as well as much bigger. The donut was extremely dense and puffy - was well worth and half regretted not getting a larger donut. It was so good and it's vegan and gluten free! Note: They are cash only.

Arnett's Farms sells lots of fruit, and they are all grown well. All the fruits were extremely sweet, and when you go, you can try all the samples before buying. The most interesting thing here were the pluots, which is a combination of plums and apricots. I had never heard of these things until coming to the Irvine Farmer's Market, so this was a surprise. They even make different pluots taste a certain way, which really baffled my mind. They had pluots that tasted like honeydew and cherries as well as other flavors. Of course, farmer's market prices are more expensive, but I believe it is definitely worth to spend a little extra money on their fruit. You can taste the difference between chain stores and the farmer's market. And I would definitely recomming people to come by to try their pluots - unlike anything I've had before.

Definitely would recommend coming here, and I will be...

Look folks, this a fun place for family and or the person looking for interesting stuff to spend an hour or so strolling. It is a great place for people watching!!! Serious folks looking for that fresh farm produce, or freshly picked Okra!! May be Mullberries!! How about freshly, like way early this morning pulled from dirt Maui sweet onions!! I got them, best on home made burgers- well if you like the taste and crunch of the onion. Look the musicians are great, guarantee will cheer you up! The street food stands - variety and good fresh quality- love the roasted corns- the thing uou can get at the County Fairs, once a year! The MumaSumba Hand Rolls are delicious. I tell you not all the stands are from farms- a bummer! I mean be careful not to buy your Albertsons grocery, more expensive at the market!!! Look for may be ugly but really tasty picked from the tree yesterday peaches, nectarines, grapes, strawberries(great selections) cherries, and so on. The only place to get fresh beets, turnips( the natural antibiotics root vegetable, you knew that, right!) Go there with your friends and goof aroud, get stuff for the the evening gathering and party, gave some great brunch items, French bakery stuff, BUT bring yoyr own ...

Easy to find. South on Culver until the church corner, left then quick right into the church property. You'll be at a T - can only turn left to head to the free parking lot and structure. Clear signage. Ample parking for hundreds. Short walk back to the T where the market starts. Long row of vendors in the parking lot, to the back, then turn left and another long row of vendors. Dozens and dozens, so you can easily spend a few hours browsing. Didn't even come to shop, just see, easily spend over an hour. Worth the drive from afar. Today, solo saxophonist entertaining, brightening up the atmosphere. Balloon animals guy for the kids. Dozen plus food vendors to buy eats, another dozen plus for canned and packaged foods like fresh guacamole, bbq salt, honeys. Some unique, like wine and berry jams or mint honey. Mostly fresh produce. A couple fresh egg vendors. One fish monger. Weird, but long line at the onigiri rice ball vendor at the entrance. Always funny to see peeps buying what sells $1-3 in Japan for much more here - it's supposed to be a cheap eat. A few selling fresh herbs and tomato plants - easily two...