The only times I even contemplate eating dinner in hotel lounges are when I'm too busy/tired to leave the hotel. When traveling on business, I can always expense meals at restaurants, and when traveling for pleasure, eating is usually part of the travel experience. While I have been to some lounges where the food was of comparable quality to standalone restaurants, the atmosphere is almost always distinctly "hotel lounge" (e.g. sad businessmen, chatty flight crews, cell phones buzzing); that's tolerable in the morning, but I prefer more enjoyable surroundings during the evening.