Last Spring break I took the girls to the California Academy of Sciences, using a couple of the free tickets the San Leandro library so helpfully provides for its members. I hadn’t been to the Academy in years, since it was at its temporary space in downtown San Francisco. At that time it had a small but actually pretty good cafe. Alas, it’s now become much larger and the quality of food seems to have downgraded.
The Academy Cafe is basically a cafeteria with about four different stations. Make sure you identify on which are the items you want to avoid unnecessary time in line. The prices are high, specially for drinks/deserts, but that’s to be expected.
My youngest daughter had the butter pasta. It was fine. The portion wasn’t too big for $7, but enough for a 9 yo. My oldest daughter had the chicken & chips ($12). She had to wait for the chicken, and then it was very, very dry. I would not recommend this dish. It was a generous portion, however.
I didn’t have lunch myself, but shared a very underwhelming bread pudding ($4, I think) with the girls.
They don’t have regular sodas, the Izze sodas they do have were good, but very expensive.
The Academy also has a full-fledged restaurant, the Moss Cafe. Prices are higher, in the high-teens/low twenties for entrees.
Academy Cafe
California Academy of Sciences
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, CA
http://themossroom.com/