What can you eat at Kroger Field this season? We tried ice cream, nachos and more food.
It’s football time again in the Bluegrass.
While Kentucky football’s 2024 season-opening win over Southern Miss on Saturday was marred by weather delays — which ultimately forced the game to be called early with nearly 25 minutes still to be played — it still offered an opportunity for Wildcats fans to get their first look at Kroger Field this season.
A crowd of 61,627 was the announced attendance for Saturday night’s game, which was the first of eight home games that UK will play this season.
While not ideal, Saturday’s lengthy weather delays also afforded fans the opportunity to stroll around the concourse and sample some of the food options available at Kroger Field this season.
Herald-Leader reporter Cameron Drummond (that’s me) joined in this mission, and I spent the entirety of the game’s initial two-plus hour weather delay tasting some of Kroger Field’s offerings.
From soft serve to steak nachos, here’s what I found.
Disclaimer: My food preferences are not your food preferences. You might try these same items and have a totally different taste experience than me.
Reviews are listed in alphabetical order, and a complete listing of the food items available for purchase at Kroger Field for the 2024 UK football season is included below.
City Barbeque
We’ve been down this road before with City Barbeque.
The first year that I ventured around Kroger Field sampling concessions came during UK’s 2022 home opener, and I was left disappointed by the pulled pork sandwich and potato salad that I had from what was then a new City Barbeque concession stand.
This time, I opted for a different menu item. The pulled chicken sandwich was, again, unremarkable, but the accompanying sauce did add some meaningful flavor.
If nothing else, this is an easy food item to eat on the go or with minimal mess from your stadium seat. That’s probably not enough to garner an actual recommendation to get it, though.
Rating: 2.5/5.
Menu items: Pulled chicken nachos ($12), pulled pork nachos ($11), pulled chicken sandwich ($10), pulled pork sandwich ($9) and potato salad ($4).
Nathan’s Taqueria
If you’ve been to a UK athletic event in recent years — especially one hosted in the Barnhart Family Athletics Complex where Kentucky Proud Park (baseball), John Cropp Stadium (softball) and the Wendell and Vickie Bell Soccer Complex (men’s and women’s soccer) are all located — you’ve probably seen a Nathan’s Taqueria food truck on site.
A frequent Mexican food option for UK fans, Nathan’s Taqueria now has a several concession stands located inside Kroger Field and a solid menu to choose from.
I opted for the loaded steak nachos on Saturday night, and it delivered far beyond expectations for stadium nachos.
While the steak wasn’t top of the line, it was accompanied by a smattering of fresh vegetables, sour cream and cheese as the toppings and provided a complete layer of food across warm tortilla chips. There was a bit of a contrast between the warm chips and steak and the cold toppings and room temperature shredded cheese, but this still far outpaces a run-of-the-mill basket of chips and cheese that most venues offer.
This hearty meal is a bit on the messier side, so the fork provided was also much appreciated.
And as far as cost-to-food value goes at Kroger Field, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better deal than the loaded nachos for $11.
Rating: 3.5/5.
Menu items: Taco combo with choice of protein ($19), hot dog combo ($13), burrito or bowl with chips and salsa ($12), loaded nachos with choice of protein ($11), nachos ($6).
Protein options for Nathan’s Taqueria are chicken, pork and steak.
Taylor Belle’s
You know it, you love it and now you can get it at Kroger Field.
Taylor Belle’s had a concessions presence at Kroger Field in 2023, but now the iconic soft serve ice cream that Taylor Belle’s serves at Rupp Arena is also available at Kentucky football games.
Almost as soon as fans were allowed inside Kroger Field on Saturday night, a line formed at the Taylor Belle’s soft serve kiosk. It moved with almost military precision as fans stepped up, purchased soft serve cones and retreated to find a spot to consume them at.
My chocolate and vanilla soft serve swirl was everything I hoped it would be and more, and I only managed to drop a bit of it on my shirt as I devoured it.
Perhaps November home games against Murray State and Louisville aren’t the ideal times to be eating ice cream outside, but I think Kentucky fans will do so anyway.
Rating: 5/5.
Menu items: Soft serve ($7), hand dipped cup ($7), hand dipped cone ($9).
Soft serve flavors available at Taylor Belle’s are chocolate, vanilla and swirl.
Kroger Field concessions for 2024 UK football season
There are plenty of food options available at Kroger Field for fans during the 2024 UK football season.
Here’s a list of where you can get something to eat, sorted by section number.
Section 1/40: Taylor Belle’s Ice Cream (hand dipped ice cream).
Section 2/3: LaRosa’s Pizzeria.
Section 3: Soft pretzels.
Section 4: DJC Concessions (chips, cotton candy, peanuts, etc.).
Section 5: Dippin’ Dots.
Section 7: Mr. G’s Kettle Corn.
Section 9, 10: Soft pretzels.
Section 12: Mr. G’s Kettle Corn.
Section 13: Taylor Belle’s Ice Cream (hand dipped ice cream).
Section 14: Chick-fil-A and Nathan’s Taqueria.
Section 16: LaRosa’s Pizzeria.
Section 17: City Barbeque.
Section 19: DJC Concessions (chips, cotton candy, peanuts, etc.).
Section 19: Taylor Belle’s Ice Cream (soft serve).
Section 19/20: LaRosa’s Pizzeria.
Section 21: Mr. G’s Kettle Corn.
Section 22: Kroger “Grab ‘N’ Go Beer & Snacks.”
Section 24: Dippin’ Dots and DJC Concessions (chips, cotton candy, peanuts, etc.).
Section 27: Chick-fil-A.
Section 30: Kroger “Grab ‘N’ Go Beer & Snacks.”
Section 32/33: Mr. G’s Kettle Corn.
Section 38: Mr. G’s Kettle Corn.
Section 201: Soft pretzels.
Section 202: Dippin’ Dots.
Section 206: Nathan’s Taqueria.
Section 210: Dippin’ Dots.
Section 211: Soft pretzels.
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