Food in US Zoos

team tapir

team tapir

Well-Known Member
One thing a lot of us who venture to zoos around the country can relate to is food not being very good and often very high priced.This topic came up during our visit to the Maryland Zoo with Blospz.What we want to know is what Zoo you feel offers the best food and the best value.Bonnie and I are going to go with the Burrito Bar at the Living Coast at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago for about 6 dollars you can build your own burrito with a large selection of items.

Team Tapir
 
Rosamond Gifford I felt had the best value at there concessions. Columbus used to have free refills on the souvinere cups but not any more, that by far was the best drink value at any zoo I've visited. It was 75 cents last time I visited.
 
The cafe at Range of the Jaguar (Jax Zoo) was pretty good when it first opened but over the years has regressed towards usual zoo fair. I remember at the Cincinnati Zoo there was a United Dairy Farmers stand which had some great ice cream.

Besides that, I can't really recall anything special off the top of my head.
 
I had some beef with broccoli at Woodland Park that was really good. I don't remember how much I paid for it. It tasted better than your average Chinese restaurant.
 
San Diego Zoo probably has the best food, but at a very high price. They have their own dining restaurant in their zoo.

Oh the other hand, Oklahoma Zoo probably had the cheapest food I have ever seen. I think hot dogs are like $2 dollars each and they are the normal regular sized ones.
 
The owner of the Dallas World Aquarium made his fortune (or at least enough to fund his remarkable buildings, colections and conservation prorams) as a caterer. The food at DWA is excellent....
 
Agreed the food at DWA is outstanding although a tad pricy you still are at least getting good food.Also Fort Worth Zoo serves Blue Bell Ice cream which is awesome way better than the garbage soft serve that most zoos serve.

Team Tapir
 
I was fortunate enough when I worked at the Seneca Park Zoo to get a discount at the snack bar. I think I could get 3 chicken tenders, fries, and a cup of cheese for under $5. They were pretty good too! In Philadelphia we got some food, but I don't remember what it was. It was a tad overpriced, but not too horrible. I can't remember if Pittsburgh Zoo either had cheap price or expensive price. It was one or the other. The thing I liked about that zoo was the second floor space to eat, where you can watch the gorillas in their outside yard.
 
I've noticed an improvement in both quality and variety of food service at Columbus this year over years past. Meals are $5-$7 (with many including a drink), and they've upgraded from standard, plain french fries to either seasoned curly fries or seasoned potato wedges (depends on location). Their kids meals come with really good apple chips, fruit gel, and a juice or milk. We bought an $8 souvenir bottle at the beginning of the season, which gives us $1 ($0.94 + tax) refills until the end of the year.
 
I am agree with Otter Lord: One of the best food in an US zoological institution (from those 30 and up I have visited) you can find in the San Diego Zoo (Albert's Restaurant). As mentioned, it's not cheap there.
Also in the upper row (remember, we find ourselves on a low level here) is the food in the Seaworld restaurants and in some parts in Disneys Animal Kingdom and the cheese steak sandwiches (but nothing else) in Philadelphia Zoo.
Awful (if not to say: to vomit): Bronx Zoo NY, Dallas Zoo, Fort Worth Zoo, Miami Metro Zoo.

Best Zoo Food all over the World: Singapore Night Safari.
Good choice: Burgers Bush (Indonesian), Terra Natura Benidorm (Indian) and Tierpark Hellabrunn Munich (Biergarten, German).
 
I will second the food recommendation of the DWA. It is like dining in a fine restaurant.
 
blospz said:
a cup of cheese for under $5.
Click to expand...

Cheese in a cup? That really does sound disgusting...

And to add my two penórth on US zoo food: once had lunch in the Bronx. Everything about it - everything - was awful. Vile fast food, served by extraordinarily rude people, in a filthy environment, designed with no thought or care at all. It was one of my three all-time worst zoo meals (and therefore, probably one of my three worst meals ever - although I once sat next to my brother as he ate a cheeseburger at Coventry City`s Highfield Road stadium, and the smell still occasionally comes back to me in a sort of hideous nightmare flashback).
 
This is a great topic and by the number of responses in such a short time, you have obviously struck a nerve (zoo directors take note).

As for price, I do not find them particularly expensive - about the same as any retail food outlet. The one exception is drinks at San Diego Zoo - they only have one size and it costs 4.75 - a complete ripoff. (Fortunately I always have my own water bottle).

Having not been to the aformentioned DWA (which may be a contender), I can say with 90% confidence that the best food service of any zoo in the United States is Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Their quick service restaurant (the less expensive of the two) is where I always eat and has some great gourmet salads and fish soft tacos and fruit and yogurt cups in addition to the usual burgers and pizza. They also have (an expensive) fine dining restaurant with full table service and truly gourmet meals. On their popular summer Saturday nights it is quite crowded (which is somewhat surprising considering meals are so expensive).

As for the post that says Dallas Zoo and Fort Worth Zoo are disgusting, I am surprised because they are really not that bad. (The Meridian in Dallas has a much better variety than the new African restaurant with the lion viewing).

One thing that impressed me on my recent trips to English and French zoos is that the food service seems to be much higher than American zoos.
 
sooty mangabey said:
Cheese in a cup? That really does sound disgusting...

And to add my two penórth on US zoo food: once had lunch in the Bronx. Everything about it - everything - was awful. Vile fast food, served by extraordinarily rude people, in a filthy environment, designed with no thought or care at all. It was one of my three all-time worst zoo meals (and therefore, probably one of my three worst meals ever - although I once sat next to my brother as he ate a cheeseburger at Coventry City`s Highfield Road stadium, and the smell still occasionally comes back to me in a sort of hideous nightmare flashback).
Click to expand...

To each their own. We all have different tastes.
 
This is blospz's partner chiming in! What I like to see are more foodie or fresh things going on in zoo dining. One of my favorites was at pittsburgh where you could order fresh cut fries prepared right in front of you. Something you don't see at every zoo. I also think it's interesting that zoos either don't give you straws and lids for your beverage or give you those weird paper, biodegradable straws. I know it's for the safety of the animals, but it's something peculiar and unique to zoos. Just an observation from the other half....
 
Not in the US, but Wroclaw Zoo in Poland produced a nice surprise. My tired and footsore wife was demanding nourishment after dragging round the zoo all morning; absolutely amazed & delighted to get really good halibut and chips, hundreds of miles from the sea.
 
At Adirondack animal land in Gloversville, NY all they had hot dogs, hamburger, cheeseburger, and fries your. Had two hot dogs and fries they were better good not great.
 
On my two days at Woodland Park Zoo I had really nice fish and chips and fish tacos. i'm a seriously picky eater but I enjoyed the food. I also had a nice cookie.

Oregon Zoo was awful. I had the worst pizza I have ever had, like something from a really cheap frozen food supermarket that had been stuck in a microwave. There were flies and wasps around all the outside food areas too. I had something called an elephant ear, basically a huge piece of battered dough covered in suger, (like British seaside doughnuts but bigger). I have to say it was delicious but definitely not something to eat every day!
 
While I have had a lot of truly awful food in a great number of zoos over the years, DWA still stands out in my memory as having some truly excellent food, even by good restaurant standards (visited in 2003). Bad zoo restaurant food is certainly not US specific, there is also a separate thread in a German zoo forum about zoo restaurant food - and there is plenty of sh... around. On the other hand Leipzig and Hannover are known for excellent zoo restaurants.
 
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