The lounge went through a major overhaul, it's a different lounge, maybe the best in *A network.
Wiley, I traveled 4 times now on the new C-seat and never had any issue with it. There are plenty of ample storage spaces in-sight, I never thought about side-pocket for storage. In terms of power, on some flights they only turned the in-seat power and USB after take-off, so this might have been the case on your flight.