Hua Mei Cafe

This restaurant serves over priced food that is not fresh. The Asian Chicken wrap had old moldy lettuce in it.

One of the worst things about waking up with a hang over is that moment of pure fear when you realize you can’t remember portions of the previous night. It’s right about here, knowing yourself, that you turn on your computer and start streaming through all of your social media accounts in a damage control type fashion.
The review below was part of such a recent night of overindulgent splendor. I was going to delete it, but the more I compulsively read it, the more I realized it’s pretty on point with how I felt about Hua Mei. Perhaps it’s a bit in-​eloquent, but hey, so am I most of the time.
I’m not sure why I took a shot at SD Zoo, saying its «not the greatest place on Earth». Maybe just part of my unconscious love-​hate feeling for zoos. That rant, however, is for another day.
Other than that, it’s a fairly accurate review. Hua Mei is what it looks like it is. A mostly Asian fast food place within the zoo. The quality and ambiance were what I expected. Not the best food but good enough for the moment. It was just a spot to sit and eat for a bit, while surrounded by all the other annoying people and their misbehaved, whiny children.
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(Disclaimer: Intoxicated rant below)
This place has a bad rep.
Look, the San Diego Zoo is not the greatest place on Earth.
If you’re expecting a 5 star meal from an eating establishment at a zoo, there’s a problem with you not the restaurant. I had the Mongolian beef lunch ($ 10.29) and also got a refillable drink. I think it was something like $ 11.95 and you could refill this plastic POS drink container for the rest of the day for free or something. Either way it was a great deal if you caught on to it early enough.
The food here was passable, but mostly I liked that they had an Asian option for food right near the Panda exhibit. Added to the ambiance or whatever…

I ordered General Tao Chicken and a chicken sandwich, which they forgot to ring up after I told the cashier 4 times what I wanted. The food was mostly unflavored rice and overpriced, but it is in an amusement park.

Garbage. Don’t get seasoned fries… disgusting, the burger, kind of edible. The chow mein is a couple noodles on top of ¾ rice… trying to hide the fact that they are ripping you off. Doesn’t deserve the one star.

Taking in that this is fast food at the zoo… the food was pretty good. I would especially recommend the pot stickers.

I remember coming here 3 years ago during my 1^st visit to San Diego. Exploring the world’s largest Zoo works up an appetite and choosing from 12 Restaurants scattered around the Zoo I randomly chose this place for Lunch (Big Mistake).
What I got was General Tsao’s Chicken (Or so I thought), it was steamed Chicken, it wasn’t even Breaded (Super Bland) with a watered down sauce (No hint of Spice) and undercooked vegetables. What a waste of 13 Dollars that was, its a good thing that I got that Root Beer Float so I wasn’t too disappointed.
Eating here was a complete waste of my time and money, I should’ve gone to Rainforest Café or Sabretooth Grill for Lunch. I think I’ll do that next time, there Food looks way more interesting, but that’ll be during my next visit.

I know its inside a park or zoo then you expect it is gonna be a little expensive. But come on! The serving is for kids meal! The orange chicken is saggy. Recommends to eat outside before coming in the zoo. For $ 10.29 + tax was not worth it!!!

This food is well worth eating while at the San Diego zoo. For the price and high quality of food with the spices and flavors that are used are amazing. I also like the white Asian box it comes in. I would suggest getting fried rice for the Lottie extra charge.

Worst Mongolian beef I’ve ever had in my life. The meat was soggy, half of it wasn’t cooked well and the rice tastes just as bad.
Eat before you come to the zoo.

Overpriced, bland. Only highlight was the service; staff was helpful when my gf had an issue with her dish.

I agree with the other reviewers that a Panda Express would have been much better, but I also have a weakness for Panda Express. All zoo food is pretty dismal in my opinion and this was no exception. But what else are you going to do when you’re here and hungry? I was glad they had veggie chow mein since noodles are one of the few foods my toddler will eat. The salted edamame and the orange chicken were relatively decent. The egg rolls and potstickers were deep fried — not really a fan.

I know, what do I expect for getting Chinese food at a zoo, right? But really, even a Panda Express would have been more acceptable. As with most theme park eateries, expect a long wait in line, high prices for what you get, and less than mediocre food.
Food:
— Teriyaki Chicken with Mandarin vegetables and rice — The chicken was pretty dry. Vegetables were alright… at least they offered a decent variety of green beans, broccoli, and cabbage. I was expecting white rice, but it’s actually more like fried rice with peas. Teriyaki sauce was more salty than sweet.

You see this is what happens when you don’t own a smart phone. You can’t read up about park restaurants! Like others, we literally stopped here for lunch after hiking all around the zoo (walking on inclines will do that!).
We ordered the chicken teriyaki box, veggie chow mein and a kid burger. My kid wanted a teriyaki burger and I asked the clerk whether they can smear some teri onto the burger. She said they can’t do that but they can give us a side of teri sauce. The burger came with nothing. Not even a piece of lettuce. The Kid said the insta-​Teri burger was ok but Carl’s Jr.‘s was better. That’s saying a lot.
Veggie chow mein used real egg noodles not the instant wired noodles. The other Kid said it was ok.
They screwed up my order and gave me Mongolian beef instead of teriyaki chicken. We kicked it back. Teri chicken was ok. If you have to have Asian food at the zoo, the teri chicken is your best bet.
It’s ok. Not the best but if you’re hungry, what can you do?

The Service: It took us almost an hour to wait in line to see panda… but it is so worth it! However, it took us almost half an hour to wait in line to get some Chinese food… so not worth it! The staffs at the counter were not efficient and didn’t work as a team. Really slow down the line. :(
The Food: The quality is worst than Panda Express. The food is cold, greasy, salty… Totally a wrong image to present Chinese cuisine.
The Price: SUPER overpriced!

I’m a regular at the zoo, it’s great. We stopped by hua mei for the first time, the food was yummy! Orange chicken was fresh and the potstickers just delicious, wish they had togo boxes. Lol The Service was nice and fast too, well worth the money.

This is typical park food, overpriced and OK. That’s what monopolies do. This is by the Panda exhibit and reminded me of my favorite Panda Express with all the Panda pictures.
The chicken strips were ok and hit the spot. We were ravenous after all that walking the park and could have probably eaten cardboard.

If I could give this place negative 5 stars I would.
It was UNBELIEVABLE they served such crappy food which was not even close to acceptable level.
The magnolia beef with fried rice… make sure you look at my picture.
The flavor was off… but I wasn’t expect it to be authentic at all even it was surrounded by pandas: P
Don’t be fooled by their Chinese name Hua Mei…(It’s named after the first United State surviving panda. I am feeling so sad for this innocent panda)
and don’t be fooled by the line waiting to order. (They are all first timer tourists like me).
The food was made very lousy and careless. The vegetables were bland and under-​cooked. Some snow peas still had stringy part on it. The rice was under-​cooked and not tasted fresh at all. The beef was very low quality meat.
I don’t know how to cook but my cooking is way better than this at least put some effort in serving food for human!!!

Hua Mei’s the lone «Asian» food stand in the San Diego Zoo. Yeah. I’m glad Hua Mei served burgers and chicken tenders too because the Chinese, Panda style food was horrible. The food was expensive, the plates were small and there’s not enough seating around that area to accommodate everyone.
Stick with your burgers, pizza, chicken tenders, fries, etc., elsewhere in the zoo for your lunch/​dinner. They do serve beer and even Singha THAI beer too.

Typical theme park quality grub that cost us an arm and a leg. Don’t expect to be blown away by the selection of food. The only reason we ate here was because we needed to make efficient use of our time. Whatever you do, don’t order the Pad Thai. It is horrendous and they used the wrong type of noodles. The food is literally microwaved and the only saving grace was the peanut sauce. That was one thing done right.

I had such high hopes!
Zoo– you disappoint yet again!
I thought with the new revamped restaurant and the Asian theme, it would be the place to go at the zoo. EEK! Avoid the pad thai at all costs. The noodles were swollen starchy spaghetti noodles you would expect to find at a public school or a prison. Sad to say for San Diego public schools, but true. There was virtually no flavor and even using several packets of sriracha didn’t improve it.
There is a cool-​looking sake tasting bar nearby, but after the food, I didn’t want to mess around with bad alcohol. Bathrooms are few and far between at the zoo!!!