Idea: A website for reviewing restaurants in airports
I do a fair amount of travelling, and I don’t always have time to eat before I leave for the airport. Sometimes I get stuck in terminals for hours due to layovers or delays. And one thing I’ve learned is that there is an enormous inconsistency in food quality at airport restaurants.
Photo: tspauld / flickrMost of them are just awful. Everything’s greasy, undercooked, overcooked, or just plain tastes bad. There’s butter slathered on everything. But every now and then I eat at an airport restaurant that’s delicious. I might as well be eating at my favorite restaurant, that’s how delicious it is. I’ve been to airport restaurants that served as test kitchens for famous restaurants. And I never would have known about them if I hadn’t stumbled upon them.
So why doesn’t someone build a website that reviews restaurants in airports? That way when I’m taking advantage of the terminal’s wi-fi connection and I realize I’m getting hungry, I can hop on-line at whatever.com and see what the best restaurant in my terminal is. Or if I know I’ll have a big layover in Chicago, I can look up the restaurants before I go and see what gets the best reviews?
Unfortunately, I really do have air travel to do this week, and I can predict I’ll be in a rush getting to the airport and won’t have time to eat first. Can anybody recommend a good restaurant at Miami International?
Comments
Hi David! I got to your blog from a link at TVGasm.com for your pixellated T-shirts. This is one of the most amusing blogs I have read in a while. “Baliban v Taliban” ~ Hee-larious!!! Keep writing! Gives me the sheer jollies.
~ Maggie
Posted by: Maggie | March 21, 2006 2:26 PM
like wikipedia where people can add reviews as needed. I’ll nominate my boyfriend as the ambassador for the San Juan airport cuisine.
Great idea; great blog here.
Posted by: PLD | March 21, 2006 3:06 PM
at o’hare, in the united terminal, there is a sandwich place/brewery that has *the best* reuben sandwich ever.
and the beers are good too.
can’t remember what it’s called, and this doesn’t help you in miami, but the only good thing about having to fly united and stop at o’hare is this place.
Posted by: airporteater | March 21, 2006 3:09 PM
Excellent idea. I’ve eaten enough bad airport food to last me a lifetime. Knowing ahead of time where to find the edible food would be a huge plus.
airporteater: Is that the Berghoff Cafe you’re thinking of?
Posted by: czeltic girl | March 21, 2006 6:33 PM
I love your blog.
This would be a good idea were it not for the fact that a guide to good food in U.S. airports would be an empty page. :)
I claim there is no good food available in restaurants at airports in the U.S. I have been wrong before so I could be wrong now as I have not eaten at every airport in the U.S. That said, I welcome anyone who disagrees to give specific examples.
(The exception always proves the rule… the Auntie Annie’s pretzel chain which has a branch in the Denver airport makes delicious buttery bready pretzels. They’re not real pretzels per se. They’re more like the pillsbury of pretzels.)
Asia is a different matter altogether. Some of the airports there have incredible food.
:)
Posted by: tastingmenu | March 22, 2006 2:57 AM
$100 Hamburger does exactly this. (At some point, it went to a subscription model. It was free when I first reviewed it.)
Posted by: Bill Brown | March 22, 2006 9:42 AM
There’s a pretty decent Cuban place, maybe the Bacardi Cafe or something equally ludicrously named, in the main check-in area (near the airport hotel with the pool deck) at MIA. I had a nice sandwich, and they have loads of rum drinks.
The other times I’ve been through there I was in a hurry and so didn’t eat at the airport.
Posted by: richard | March 22, 2006 1:14 PM
If the good restaurants aren’t chains then http://cafespot.net is a good place to add and rate the ones you like. You can search by the address of the airport and rating to see what’s good right there.
Posted by: cafespot | March 22, 2006 10:24 PM
Nice restaurant in Concourse A at the Denver Airport across from the Pretzel place. There is only one “Terminal”, but 3 “Concourses”, so if your flight leaves from Concourse C, no problem, just go through security at the Terminal, then go to A to eat, and then continue to C to fly away, or whatever:
Chef Jimmy’s Bistro and Spirits
Concourse A, (303) 342-5882
Mouse over the food/cocktails link:
http://www.flydenver.com/shops/food/food_A.asp
Posted by: Justin H Haynes | September 26, 2006 6:50 PM
Nice restaurant in Concourse A at the Denver Airport across from the Pretzel place. There is only one “Terminal”, but 3 “Concourses”, so if your flight leaves from Concourse C, no problem, just go through security at the Terminal, then go to A to eat, and then continue to C to fly away, or whatever:
Chef Jimmy’s Bistro and Spirits
Concourse A, (303) 342-5882
Mouse over the food/cocktails link (rather than the plain old “food” link):
http://www.flydenver.com/shops/food/food_A.asp
Posted by: Justin H Haynes | September 26, 2006 6:52 PM
It’s a little out of date, but there’s a book Stuck at the airport. I think you’re actually required to buy the book seeing as how you suggested it be done as a website.
Posted by: hanford | December 18, 2006 12:02 AM