San Diego Zoo Sandwich Company

I’ll be nice and give it a four, but really it’s probably a 3 to 3.5. I actually come here almost every visit because I like grilled cheese and soup… and I’m not a snob for grilled cheese unless the cheese isn’t melted.
Honestly though both my friend and I really enjoyed our early lunches. This spot is located pretty close to the entrance right above the bathrooms near the bus that you can take around the park for free once. It’s a convenient location. We were hungry, had some time to kill and decided we’d come stop here and get food.
He got some sandwich, maybe a club and a soda? I got the grilled cheese with the minestrone soup which I enjoyed.
Prices are expensive, what do you expect? Places like zoos, airports, theme parks have that ability to inflate prices. I just hope the money goes towards good causes. Regardless I think I only paid about 7 – 8 bucks so it wasn’t awful. I’m just not someone who would ever dish out money to pay 3 – 10 bucks for a soda in a cup. I’d rather bring in a bottle of water or my own soda…
The place is nice though. Good seating options both inside and out.

good option if you’re starving and have no other option. even their coffee taste not so good.

I included a short review about this sandwich shop in my San Diego Zoo review because I wasn’t able to find it in the Unilocal listings. Apparently, I must have not completely spelled it out. I wish Unilocal was more user friendly when it comes to key words and looking up a business like other search engines are able to do! Anyway, today, Unilocal gives me this business as a suggestion to review on my home page. It was a nice surprise to be able to give the SD Zoo Sandwich Company it’s own and well deserved review after all!
As I clicked on their Unilocal site, I was bummed to see that most of their reviews were 3 stars or less! It looks like a few years ago they didn’t make much of an impression. But they must have made improvements in their food since then, because I’m happy to give them 5 stars for our own experience!
When we stepped through the zoo entrance, our first thought was to have a nice lunch before doing all the walking that was in store for us. We spotted the SD Zoo Sandwich Co. I was uncertain that «zoo type» food would be very good, but it turns out this deli style restaurant was beyond delicious! I ordered a tuna salad sandwich with cheddar cheese and side of macaroni salad along with an iced mocha, and my sister had a turkey breast lettuce wrap. I can’t recall what my brother-​in-​law or nephew ordered, but we all agreed that the food was very fresh, tasty and of high quality! What made this place even more memorable was, that they had no problems making our meals to however the way we wanted them, especially for my sister who can’t have gluten or a few other ingredients. She was able to eat her turkey breast by using lettuce as a wrap and had a side of avocado & mustard to add to it. I was able to order an iced mocha, even though it wasn’t on the beverage menu.
I hope they continue serving the delicious food as we had that day! I want to see their star rating improve so they stay in business! Until my next zoo visit, they will be my first choice in eating there again!

White bread given when requested. One of the things we ordered was a grilled cheese with a cup of soup. The grilled cheese was as expected. It was good, nothing special, though. Soup of the day was clam chowder, which was mediocre at best.
The kids meal had options of turkey sandwich, grilled cheese, or mac and cheese. It also came in a cute little bag with jungle cookies, applesauce, and a drink for around $ 8.00
The club sandwich was HUGE. My husband (who has a big appetite) and I split it, and we were both more than satisfied with our meal. It had bacon, lettuce, tomato, turkey, and I forget what else. You have to grab the condiments such as mayo, ketchup, mustard… and put it on yourself, though. It also comes with a scoop of macaroni salad, which I think was delicious.
Their soft serve is good, and is pretty big, and comes in a sugar cone. I think this place was a good choice for food that was on the healthier side. We spent nearly $ 40, but our drink was refillable around the park that had the fountain drinks for .99 ($ 1.08 with tax). Also, keep in mind that the San Diego is world famous, non-​profit, and a conservation… so the money goes back to the animals. =)
BTW…on the patio, there’s a little foot spot there that sells pizza, hotdogs and such. They also have beer… if that’s your sort of thing.

It’s a zoo, so expect inflated prices. But this is definitely a healthier alternative to pizza and burgers. We got a roast beef sandwich and it came with a side of macaroni salad. The portion was pretty small but it was satisfying and their drinks have free refills so that’s a plus.

This was the worst sandwich I have ever had. The bread was really dry and hard and it smelled like mold. If they had used fresh bread the sandwich would have been good. For $ 9.99 it was just horrible. I should have opted for the hot dog place. Do not eat here.

Price aside, definitely one of the more satisfying meals I’ve had at the zoo.
Tuna melt on white with coleslaw:(whole wheat available on request) tangy coleslaw and warm tuna on a tasty toasty bun– pepperoni for a little kick and I added avocado for an all around really good sandwich. Mac and cheese is old-​school cafeteria style creamy with at least half a bar of Velveeta– way different from the boxed Kraft Mac and cheese they serve for a premium at Alberts. Along with a bag of Doritos, we paid around $ 19 for one adult and one kid– no drinks (we always bring water). Lots of indoor seating which is a plus on hot days. Also outdoor shady patio tables avail. Service is fast and courteous. I rate this place above Sabertooth, Hua Mei and Alberts for pure comfort food.

Yes, it’s expensive, but you’re in the San Diego Zoo. It’s like being in Disney– food and drinks are going to be costly.
This was a healthy alternative for us — and kept us away from the chicken fingers, french fries, and hamburgers at other lunch stops. The California Turkey Wrap was good– large portion, and came with coleslaw or potato salad.
And, best of all, a friendly other zoo patron returned my better half’s wallet that he left on the cash register. Very pleasant surprise to know there are some honest nice people also dining here. I wish we knew her name, so we could really thank her!

Awful overpriced food. $ 5 a soda is ridiculous. Never dining there again

Food is mediocre and overpriced. Highly recommend that you bring in your own food to the park. It’s a little embarrassing that a drink is $ 5, a $ 1.50 bag of chips is more than $ 3, and a decent sandwich is $ 10.

If I could give this place 0 stars I would. Eating at the Sandwich Company was the reason why my visit to the zoo was not as great as it could have been. I have never been so horrified at finding what I did after eating a meal anywhere.
First off the bf and I didn’t have breakfast prior to arriving at the zoo so we decided to grab some breakfast burritos at the Sandwich Company. It was also the first restaurant we spotted as we entered the zoo.
As I was finished up eating one half of my burrito I started chewing on something hard. I thought it was just the potato skin in the burrito so I kept chewing until I realized whatever it was began scraping on my gums so I spit it out right away to find that it was a STAPLE in my BURRITO! I screamed at that point and was in such a state of shock that my whole body started trembling. I took the napkin with the staple that I spit out and my plate of food and showed it to the kitchen staff. I told them what I found and demanded to speak to the manager. The manager didn’t show up until about 20 minutes later. They refunded our money for both burritos and asked if they could compensate for anything else. I lost all my appetite at that point but they gave us a churro as a snack. They said they didn’t have any staplers or staples in their kitchen prep area and it could have been from the potato manufacturers. Whatever the reason this is totally inexcusable and it scares me to realize that there are so many children at the zoo eating and I would never want to imagine what would happen if a child was to swallow the staple in their food.
PLEASE DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND DO NOT EAT HERE!

This place was ginormous!
By the end of the day I was definitely tired. I think my group and I spent perhaps… 5 hours here to cover all the different trails that they have. Make sure you have good walking shoes, lots of sunscreen, and a person good with directions. You can easily get lost with all the different trails that they offered.
The best part of the trip, for me, was obviously the pandas in the panda trek, that is absolutely the on spot you have to hit.
You can also visit the polar bears and elephants and all the other staples of most zoos. Another good one to see are the Galapagos tortoises. Some of them have been there since the 1940s! crazy!
Food is the usual high priced of any tourist amusement/​zoo place. If youbuy the souvenir cup, you can refill around the park for $ 1
Would i come back and visit? Probably not for a while… but it’s a nice stop for those wanting to visit San Diego.

We wanted to eat something relatively healthy at the park and considering everything is over priced, the food was pretty good. We got the California sandwiches and opted for the souvenir drink cups. Yes they were over priced but we had plans to go to the Safari park the next day and with $ 1 refills for future visits, in the long run it was worth it. I would probably bring food with me next time so we don’t get reamed by high food prices though.

This was the closest restaurant to our location that had some healthy food — we got the sandwiches which were fine. I was happy to see the woman at the register helping guests save some $$ because it is expensive at the zoo for food. A tourist trap for those of us unable to bring food with us and you’re spending the whole day to make the zoo admission price worth it.

Definitely the most negative aspect of my trip to the SD Zoo. We ordered two sandwiches and a rice bowl. I ordered the Californian, which would have been a fine pick except that I asked for no ranch dressing twice, and they wound up making it with ranch. Plus, we ordered three drinks and we had to buy the souvenir cup, which is $ 5.00 for each cup!
So it was a $ 50 lunch for three people, which to me, was really over the top. I would definitely recommend eating someplace else at the zoo, or better yet, brng your own grub!