Leaping Lemur Cafe

Reviews

• Christine S.

  star star star star star_border 2 July 2026

  I was so relieved to see that this place had actual decent options for lunch compared to the Oakland Zoo. You can even get beer though I wish wine or boozy lemonades were also offered since I don't drink beer.
  
  My husband and I shared a bowl of mac and cheese and a water and both got BBQ Tri Tip sandwiches. The mac and cheese was perfect by not having cheap, watery cheese and the noodles were large and of good quality. However the sandwich was a huge disappointment. It was sitting under a heat lamp so I'm not sure if it was cold on accident or it's meant to be served cold but a BBQ anything sandwich should never be served bone cold. It felt like we were eating leftovers that we were to lazy to microwave warm. The sandwiches looked so tasty but what a let down. Might have been better off getting pizza instead.

• Lillian W.

  star star star star star_border 27 June 2026

  Ouch...the food is a bit pricey for the quality you get.  But hey we are a captive audience and the zoo needs to pay its bills.  
  
  The Leaping Lemur cafe is cafeteria style.  Grab a tray and go wait your turn at one of the various food stations.  I went on a weekday and not all the food stations were open. They did have the likes of mini whole pizzas, salads, soups, sandwiches, chicken tenders and hamburgers and fries. Blah blah.  The thing is that most of these items are pre-made.  The pizzas sit under heat lamps and you help yourself.  For the burger, foolish me I thought would be fresh grilled.  Wrong, the woman pulled the patty out of a warmer drawer.  The fries also were not fresh dropped.  
  
  The burger patty was on the larger size, which eased the thought of the price I paid.  It was good tasting, not great tasting though.
  
  The other cheaper food options in the zoo are the food carts selling the likes of a giant pretzel and bags of chips, and the food station near the train ride.

• Liz T.

  star star_border star_border star_border star_border 24 June 2026

  Biggest disappointment ever. Ordered a banh mi sandwich, noodle soup bowl, coffee and it came to more than $32 and NONE of it was edible! Banh mi sandwich was served on a cold, hard French roll with unseasoned cold dry chicken breast and wilted sliced cucumbers. Mystery sauce slathered on one side of roll with shredded cabbage. That's it. Disgusting. The noodle soup was cloudy unseasoned hot water (seriously, not even salted) poured over cold pre-cooked rice noodles with a sprig of cilantro and some crushed peanuts. That's it. No seasoning whatsoever. I had to pour on soy sauce and sriracha just to give it any flavor at all, but I still couldn't eat it. We ended up buying 2 plain hot dogs for $20. Unbelievable. And - they don't allow you to bring any food inside. Wow. Just wow.

• Kevin S.

  star star_border star_border star_border star_border 23 June 2026

  This cafe is located in the San Francisco Zoo.
  
  I wanted to love this place since I was soooo hungry after walking all over the zoo. However, this was not the case.
  
  Food was not fresh. Prices were very unreasonable for small portions of food. Tables and chairs were dirty. It didn't look they had been cleaned in awhile. The soda machines were either empty or most of the soda was very flat. It's hard to recommend other suggestions since there is limited food places but I cannot recommend this to anyone.
  
  If I had to choose, I would go to The Station Pizza Parlor or the Café Playfield.

• Liz B.

  star star_border star_border star_border star_border 4 June 2026

  If you are hungry, don't want to outside the zoo and then you could eat here.  I was with my 5 grandkids and we were all very hungry; I brought 4 still personal pizzas, 4 milks, big water and 1 Smuckers PB & J kid's meal for $62.  I remembered why I don't buy meals at the zoo.
  The pizzas were brunt stiff and it was like eating cardboard with dried up cheese. I would not recommend eating here.  Save your money and eat some else.