For the past five summers, the 626 Night Market has graced the Santa Anita Race Track with a palatable array of Asian foods.

This unique food gathering surely brings forth an abundance of people being that it is the largest Asian-themed night market in the United States. Sadly, this event is not held every weekend throughout the Summer, in fact, it only runs from July 1-3, July 22-24, August 5-7 and September 2-4.

I had the pleasure of attending one of these weekends and found that it would be beneficial to provide a review of my evening since I have had numerous individuals ask me my opinion about this event.

Firstly, I would like to point out that I love the 626 Night Market because it is only about ten minutes from my house and provides an opportunity for the community to support local vendors that people may have otherwise not been aware existed.

That being said, one of the few downfalls of the evening was the parking situation. I was ecstatic to find out that parking was free, but it took me about fifteen minutes to find parking, but this problem is to be expected with any event of this nature.

Admission for the night market is $3 which I found to be a good price considering that there is music and other activities besides all of the mouth-watering food options. I arrived at around 7 p.m. and was greeted with excruciatingly long lines. Each street food vendor had its own line, so purchasing food and then dessert would take you approximately forty-five minutes, if not more.

The crowded milieu and long lines were one of the only cons I found with the night market, besides the prices of the food and drinks. I would say that my biggest expense is food, but I certainly do not enjoy spending $9 on a drink after having already spent $15 on a meal. Because I went the the 626 Night Market on an empty stomach, I felt the need to buy food as well as desserts.

I would definitely advise anyone going in the future to eat before arriving and leave room for desserts since I found the latter to be far more unique and delectable.

Overall, I truly enjoyed this food experience and I will certainly be going back in September to devour Ridges fruity pebble churros with ice cream.