I'm not going to lie, traveling as a family with three kids five and under is a lot of work. Quite often it means not getting to use some of the airline or lounge amenities -- like daybeds or even showers -- that you otherwise would. But once in a while there can also be…
Continue reading: Review: Sampling Every Dish At The United Polaris Lounge
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I believe that it would be rather easy to expand the menu for vegetarians and vegans. For example, United could offer a vegetable patty alternative for the hamburger.
In your photo of the menu it says, "Cash or credit gratuity is appreciated. Your server or bartender will kindly charge your preferred gratuity to your credit card."
The closest I have come to seeing an equivalent in a lounge is a tip jar at the bar that may or may not be official airline lounge policy.
Looks impressive! I'm flying SFO>EWR>DEL in October, so I'll be doing a breakfast>lunch Polaris itinerary myself. 🙂 That is, assuming both the SFO and EWR Polaris Lounges are open by then as scheduled.
One correction to your review: those are clearly not gnocchi, but tortellini. Gnocchi don't look anything like that. Perhaps the sweet potato was inside the tortellini?
"We were quite impressed with the restaurant style dining at the Polar Lounge."
Oh, were there polar bears, too?
Hi, FYI, they didn't serve you gnocchi at all. The pasta in the picture is tortellini. I am not sure what kind of sauce was on it but it does not even resemble the dish on the menu.
Travis, apologies if you have answered this question in this or other posts, but if I'm flying Polaris to, say, LAX from London with an ORD stopover, will I get lounge access?
Travis, if you preface the article by saying that you aren't going to lie, does that mean that when you DON'T say that, you are normally lying? First sentence would have sounded the same yet more professional simply by stating "Traveling as a family with three kids five and under is a lot of work."
My wife confirms that they did tell us it would be tortellini.
My knowledge of Italian food sort of begins and ends with spaghetti.... 😉
Rick, yes you will get Polaris Lounge access on your stop between LHR and LAX assuming you are in business or first on the LHR-ORD flight.
@Lucky they have a chocolate chip nut bread pudding out now and its by far the best thing on the menu. The chocolate decadence dessert is definitely pre made. Chicken sandwich was disappointing. Rib Eye quality is good though even though its small.
Ate there yesterday and the shrimp and grits were great. The only ding was how often the server stressed gratuities would be welcome.
Instead of the simple "reserved" signs, they had something to the effect that this table is reserved for your dining and please be seated (don't remember the exact wording) so l guess others were confused by the reserved signs.
Interesting how few people were taking advantage of the dining option while you were there.
Guess that's a good thing.
Great report!
Considering all the travel air blogs on the net, this is the first one to completely review the menu. Thank you!
I think the Shrimp & Grits would be the highlight of my meal, btw. 😉
One question, what did you guys end up doing about the "tipping?" And since it's all free, do they present you with a $0 bill and then have a spot for gratuity? Or just expect cash to be left on the table? Present you woth a tip tray?
Rather awkward.
Thanks!
I was there for a long time a couple weeks ago and nobody said a word about a gratuity. I gave the bartender some cash after about my 5th beer but he never asked for it and seemed kind of surprised to get it.
Donald -- they don't present a bill at all. And nobody asked for a tip when I was there. The menu suggests that you can put a tip on a credit card, but when I tried, she told me that they actually weren't equipped for that yet, laughed, and said maybe on my next visit if I wanted. Really low key. So it definitely didn't seem like it was expected at all, which I liked, and that prompted me to give her some cash anyway.
I plan to share my thoughts on a tipping in a separate post.
Did they look twice at you for coming for lunch, leaving, and then coming back for dinner? I have a 10 hour layover next month before the SAS flight to CPH and was thinking I may do the same thing - esp since the T5 lounges are all pretty weak...
Thanks!
Fun post. I guess the moral of the story here is that it's more a "tasting menu" than actual lunch/dinner service, though it's nice to hear that the quality is good.
It looks nice, but...
This is the only United news I can think of at the moment:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/mar/23/pilot-admits-twice-legal-alcohol-limit-transatlantic-flight-glasgow
Horrifying.
Thanks Travis. Good to hear they're not pushing the gratuity part of their service. Supposedly United picked the creme de la creme for this new lounge, so hopefully they're paying more too.
Still haven't connected through ORD yet! I'm always going West to Asia or flying over. Ah well, thanks again.
@Travis, the food looked really good! I am based in Qatar and have had the opportunity to try the food in the Al Safwa Lounge (Qatar Airways 1st Class Lounge). On my first visit, a little over a year ago, the food was over the top. I still have fond memories of the seared scallops. Unfortunately, the food had taken a real tumble. I am told it is because open flame cooking is a fire hazard :p Anyways, everything looks and tastes like it was cooked earlier in the day. Now that I see what you have experienced in the Polaris Lounge, it gives me added reason to keep pestering the '5 Star Airline' to do better!
Chris -- Not at all. That said, I guess we were gone long enough that most of the staff didn't recognize us when we came back, probably due to a shift change. And trust me, we with 3 kids five and under, we tend to be fairly memorable.
So I'm confident you'll have no issue. Enjoy!
Regarding portion size, we experienced similar small portions at BA Concorde dining at IAD. I was worried it would be too much since we did intend to eat in the 380. So all in all too small, order another serving
It's called a figure of speech. Please find better things to do with your life than offer article corrections.
Can anyone tell me where I can buy the seasoned flat crackers? I had some in Ohare. I was told they are made in Chicago at a local bakery.