San Mateo County Exposition Center
66 reviews
San Mateo, CA
"Amazingly courteous staff plus tasty food plus sunny restaurant with nice wine list during a tough work day = five stars baby. So, I think…" read more »
8 Reviews for San Mateo County Exposition Center
I haven't been to this facility for any other function except for the YAHOO XMAS PARTY.....'07. YEAH!!! Can't wait till next year. It was great. The previous poster (aspasia s.) seemed to have summed it all up even if it was from the previous year. I just wish I didn't leave too early....arg! And the hooka bar -hahahahaha we owned that bar especially with the glow cubes in the mouth bit. And I will never forget how nauseated I felt after I heard the bartender suggest an Iron Man - apparently it's a tequilla shot you do but instead you snort the salt and squeeze the lime into your eye......I'd have to be really drunk to try that one - which I almost did mind you. There was just not enough time to eat everything, and drink everything and meet everyone.....hell I still think I have a memento of the event up on my wall.....not in a good way though. ;D
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This review applies to the use of this place as an MPRE testing center. As a stop for bead and antique fairs I bet it has a certain charm. As a testing location, the Expo Center gave a morning of aggravation and anxiety that added touch of hauntingly bleak despondence.
That the process of administering the CA Bar is designed to sap the will of potential lawyers is not really in doubt. The profession wants barriers to entry, and who can blame them. The MPRE is part of this process (60 multiple choice questions on legal ethics), as such the choice of the Expo Center was an inspired one, adding discomfort and depressing surroundings to the expected dose of stress, impersonality and pettiness.
These facilities have seen better days, and appear to have been abandoned since their mid-century construction. Water stains, rust spots, cracked concrete and close cropped laws give the general appearance of a Central Asian army base, handed over to poverty stricken local authorities with the exit of the Red Army. The hanger like interiors are kept either bracingly cold or uncomfortably hot.
The test chairs were a nice humiliating touch. Small rickety folding chairs, the white plastic ones used at outdoor weddings: musty, rusted and with seats of cream plastic gone brittle with age. My greatest fear was not testing failure, but that the chair wouldn't support my weight and, with a creaking scream or rotten snap, some part of it would give way, suddenly and shamefully dropping me to the concrete floor, a Dixon Ticonderoga clutched in my right hand.
At least the testing period was sepulchral in its silence.
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Car shows, fairs, botanical, job fairs.... there all here.
I've been here a lot to see old favorite bands, and for showing a friends 1/4 mile dragster.
If there's an event or show you might want to see, wait a bit and it will show up here.
Parking is great, and not to bad of a charge. The food is good and when the fair is in town, you can find almost anything you might want.
And being right near the race track, you can spend the day at the fair or what have you, and go play the ponies later...
Go and check it out, you'll have a good time.
For the acres and acres of empty sprawling space that presents an infinite possibility of carving out a theme, a decadent world for an opulent event, given the right budget, such as Yahoo!'s 2006 Christmas party, a nice five stars.
Last Saturday night, in sleepy San Mateo, large tents and canvases covered vast amount of area at the Expo center, sheltering Yahoo! employees plus guest from the cold and rain, while transporting them into a Vegas-like world ... an Oasis-themed evening of abundant food, wine, mixed drinks, belly dancer stations, and a stage showcasing an American Idol. In a separate nook, another huge tent section housed a Casino area with black jack pits, crap tables, games and other electronic forms of entertainment.
The Cirque du Soleil'ish feel and atmosphere was definitely festive and cheerful; albeit in a tame and very corporate manner.
Negative aspect of the evening: bottleneck due to parking congestion which stemmed from the narrow lanes at the entrance of the Expo Center. This caused a good ten to fifteen minutes of delay. Better traffic and parking planning should be taken in consideration for future corporate events.
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The San Mateo Expo Center is HUGE. Many events are held here throughout the year, such as the Gem & Jewelry show, Hot Import Nights, Hot Import Daze, the Halloween Superstore, some expo for Household products and housewares, Food...cat...dog...crazy chicks gone wild... gosh, almost anything.
Compare it to somewhere like the Moscone Center in San Francisco, and the San Mateo Expo Center is now crap. Although the expo center has parking, you have to pay for the parking, and not only that, the parking sucks compared to the rest of San Mateo. Theres potholes everywhere, loose gravel, and well, you can easily lose your car in their lot.
When you walk into the expo center, it feels cold and gloomy, maybe because of its super high ceilings and the cold grey flooring. Wait, its not even flooring, its cement. Theres many differnt rooms which can easily guide you to somewhere you didn't intend to go. Whatever.
Oh oh, and the food there is EXPENSIVE for hot dogs and nachos! 'cause you know you're going to be hungry after walking for so many hours.
i run. i run so far away...
bad things happened. sort of. its all my fault. i self-sabotage ur, myself. i don't wanna talk about it now so leave me alone. sigh. point is i freaked out, left a shit ton of food for my cats and then i ran away. i did not know what to do and i felt vacant and black, unbearably vulnerable, scared and restless. so, obviously, i headed down south to the expo center in san mateo where somehow i had a magical last minute job to perform for cold hard under the table cash which required me to wear about 120K or more in rubies, sapphires and emeralds while selling very expensive jewelry to indian chicks in saris. i wish i had pictures of this shit man. absolutely fucking insane*)
anyway, this dude tony or troy or something comes up to me and says "are you karen?" i turn the bejeweled vision which was myself to face him and reply, "yes." "karen," he says, "this is for you."
wouldn't ya fucking know it there's a 107.7FM 'THE BONE' beer tasting festival going on next door and this guy just hands me over a ticket. why? i dunno. how does he know me? he doesn't. i'm afraid i can't explain everything in this life so just leave it at that, k? i took a break, went over there in the 100K of gems i was wearing with my friend kat and we got shitfaced drunk in like maybe 11 minutes flat using only 1 tiny ass cup per person. fantastic!!!
sidenote: smirnoff has created something so insane its incredible. they have this green tea malt beverage that FUCKING TASTES LIKE GREEN TEA!!! i mean, you could give this crap to children and they would think it was arizona iced tea. no shit:/
after that the expo job center day went very fast and i got offered a free indian food dinner at the very best indian restaurant in all of downtown san mateo and a night of 'endless and forbidden pleasures' from my new boss type person man. GROSS!!!
instead of doing the nasty with this 50 year old married chode, i went to saratoga where i made a mother cry and children laugh then i ate a bunch of kickass bbq chicken on a tiki torch pool compound thing and smoked pot and got loaded with cops and fags. i do not remember the ride back to whatever hotel i crashed in. don't worry, remember that dude tony or troy, yeah, he drove! also, he proposed marriage sans ring to my friend this morning. not so good when a) she won't sleep with you and b) you are at a fucking JEWELRY show. duh.
today's expo center work day consisted of people-watching and holy fuck there are some crazy looking mofo's trying to purchase some jewelry... example 1, the asian dolly pardon. i cannot get over that vision of weirdness. she could have been trying for little bo peep, who knows? example 2, the young tennis couple complete with white short shorts, arm and headbands. example 3, the fatass long red hair having dwarf looking dude wearing a black pleated denim SKIRT, green push down scrunchie sox and brown penny loafers sporting a hot bald chick. loved every second of it...
last night i learned many things about myself. including my calling here on earth (thanks kat's mom - also thanks for the valium. you know i needed it:/) and the reason why i fuck myself over constantly. so, know what - hey, if tomorrow everything falls apart, i have an in with the police department which would make my new career as a criminal THAT MUCH EASIER!!! so WATCH THE FUCK OUT and have a nice day!
ahem, running away is beautiful. the expo center, not so much - horrible food, gross bathrooms, lots of crazy rich folk.
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As long as they offer great arts and crafts shows, then they get five stars from me! Just went today to the Rubber Stamps and Paper Arts Festival and got some great deals and advice from the vendors. There is parking on the streets across from the expo center (usually 2 hour EXCLUDING Sat, Sun, & Holidays) and there is also 1 hour (enforced at all times I think) if you don't think you're staying long. The parking is $8 inside. Looks like they have multiple events going on at the same time because there was also a quilt show in another building.
It was raining today but still fun!
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The County of San Mateo management sucks. Here we have this sprawling (in the best sense of the word) 48-acre, seven building, Exposition Center and the best we could offer is this dump. The county collects taxes on everything, including some of Silicon Valley's stars (Oracle among them) and all it could offer is this? Ridiculous.
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