Coachella Under Fire For Insane Food And Drink Prices, And 'Freezing Cold' Cuisine

What’s meant to be a dreamy desert getaway filled with music and celebrity sightings is quickly turning into a wallet-draining wake-up call for thousands of Coachella attendees.

The Indio, California-based music and arts festival, which draws over 100,000 fans across two weekends, is known for its iconic performances and star-studded lineup.

This year’s headliners include Lady Gaga, Megan Thee Stallion, and Charli XCX, with notable names like Kylie Jenner, Taylor Swift, and Jeff Bezos spotted among the crowd.

But the Coachella experience comes at a steep cost, and not just the ticket price.

Beyond the nearly $600 general admission passes, festivalgoers are confronting eye-watering costs for food and beverages inside the venue. Social media and online forums have become flooded with complaints from frustrated attendees who are now realizing that the price of sustenance at Coachella may be the biggest setlist surprise of all.

In a Reddit thread devoted to the event, one commenter didn’t hold back, writing, “Expensive. Most items start at $15-20. ‘Meals’ are like $20-30.” Another user chimed in, estimating prices were “Basically 2.5x the price you can grab it outside the festival.”

Several guests offered more specific breakdowns: $11 for a single slice of pepperoni pizza, $20 for chicken tenders with fries, and $30 for a chicken slider combo, a far cry from the deals you might find just beyond the festival gates.

This disconnect has proven particularly jarring for fans like Ruth Viveros, who took to TikTok on Friday, known as “day zero” by seasoned attendees, to document her food experience in a post titled “Come have dinner with me at Coachella.”

“I’m starving so let’s go get tacos... while I wait for the tacos I got a $17 lemonade,” she said in the clip. “It’s mostly ice but it’s so good.”

Her haul? Two servings of tacos and one of nachos in polystyrene containers. The price? A jaw-dropping $102.

“I’m not going to lie, they are not good. They are not good at all. The tortillas were like freezing cold,” she admitted, giving the underwhelming meal a five out of 10 rating.

Meanwhile, Coachella’s official website paints a more appetizing picture: “Our food program features new and exciting restaurants from Coast to Coast, as well as your favorite staples, offering a wide variety of cuisine that pleases any festival-goer.”

But for many on the ground, reality is falling far short of expectation. Social media users were quick to weigh in, with one commenter saying, “Coachella seems like a miserable money trap that everyone falls for.”

Another added, “The fact that GENERAL ADMISSION is $600 and you still have to pay that much for mid food is making me irrationally angry.”

As The Blast reported on Friday, what should have been the euphoric kickoff to a weekend of music, memories, and desert sunsets turned into a logistical nightmare for thousands of Coachella car campers. Instead of being welcomed by the usual pre-festival buzz, early arrivals were met with gridlock, confusion, and rising temperatures, both literal and metaphorical.

Campers began lining up in the early hours, hoping to snag prime spots in the on-site camping area. But those hopes were quickly dashed as traffic snarled and lines of vehicles stretched endlessly into the horizon.

"Hearing lots of reports of Coachella getting off to a rough start for campers today, some have waited as long as 12+ hours to reach a campsite," one user wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. They included a screenshot of a DM from an attendee who claimed they arrived at 2 a.m. and were still waiting at 3 p.m.

“No porta potties in sight… We were forced to pee on the side of the roads," the message read. "A lot of people [are] running out of gas and no restrooms.”

The sentiment was echoed across platforms, with one Instagram user commenting on a Reel of the car chaos, "And it's hot AF on top of it."

The frustration was palpable, with words like “chaos,” “bonkers,” and “insane” popping up repeatedly in posts from stuck attendees.

Some compared the scene to the infamous Fyre Festival, a failed 2017 event synonymous with poor planning and broken promises.

As the desert heat rises and parking woes continue, the backlash surrounding Coachella’s food and drink pricing shows no signs of cooling down. From “criminal” to “ridiculous,” festivalgoers are making it clear that their patience, and their wallets, are wearing thin.