Boston First Lounge for pre-flight dining
 

We are scheduled to fly BOS to LHR on the late - 10:50P - flight. We will have dinner before the flight. How is the food and service at the First Lounge or would we be better off paying for a meal at a restaurant?

The lounge should be fine, I've always found it a reasonable offering, provided I arrive no later than 1 hour before the last flight. Which class are you travelling? If First then the food options are better on board, but it's a very short hop so there's a sleep versus food trade off. If CW, definitely you want to eat in the lounge. I don't find BOS the best place food wise in the terminal - many US airports have some good options, but not in this location - however downtown Boston is a very different matter, of course.

We are in first but my hope is that we can go right to sleep on board and have a decent nap before arriving. The retaurants in terminal E look pretty bad.

Dining options in Terminal E are generally awful. There's a sit-down place near the BA gates (Cisco Bar and Grill or something like that) which serves unforgettable food at inflated prices - not recommended. There's another sit-down place right before security - it's slightly more upscale but again nothing special. My usual place of choice in E is Burrito Elito, but it's way down in the Southwest Airlines concourse (a brisk 5 min walk from the intl gates).

If you're coming from the city, I'd eat dinner there and head out to the airport around 9pm. Security is deserted at that time of night.

Otherwise, eating in the First Lounge is decent enough, although I haven't eaten there for a couple of years.

Just to add to what C-W-S has already mentioned;

-airport food options are very poor for a 'normal' meal in BOS

-you could eat in the Hilton that is a 5 minute walk away and attached to the airport but that would have to be before you go through security obviously

-for anyone else reading this, you need to be flying first or CW to actually eat in the BA lounges, if you are Silver or Gold that doesn't count (you can still go in the lounge and drink or have the snacks but you can't sit or eat in the dining areas) :td:

Have a good trip!

Have a look at this somewhat recent thread also with reviews on the BOS preflight dining:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...ts-ex-bos.html

Both the first and CW lounges offer better food than you would get in the airport. Although the first dining room is very quiet and has good service, the buffet offering in CW lounge has a bigger selection (good salads and hot and cold options). Mrs MD and I base ourselves in the first lounge where the wine is marginally better and then take the buffet in the CW lounge. In my experience, very few people eat on board, preferring to get as much sleep as possible on what can be a very short flight, especially if you get any of the very strong tail winds of recent months.

I ate in the First dining area at Logan last week. The service was vey efficient and the scallops and sweet potato mash were great. Enjoy.

Thanks everyone for the great information.

Having had a meal at the airport Hilton last week that was decidedly average, I wouldn't recommend this option, although maybe it was an off day. I can't do a comparison with the lounge food as we were only in the lounge at breakfast time.

I can see the logic from an economic point of view but sounds awkward checking the boarding passes at table service

I found the meal service in GF to be quite good. Better than the food in the air.

The landside restaurant in terminal E is also good. Certainly not gourmet, but it is certainly acceptable for the price.

I also recommend Earl of Sandwich, which is airside. For an airport sandwich shop, they do a great job.

I'm on the morning flight in first. Is there a breakfast service in the lounge, or should I eat at the Hilton before heading over to the airport?

Dining passes are given to eligible passengers as they enter the lounge. It's not awkward at all.

Their beer's not bad, especially for general airport beer outside a lounge :)

Agreed about the food being nothing to write home positively about.

For food around the centre, it's hard to go wrong with the Legal Sea Foods on the waterfront by the aquarium, time it right and you can even take a ferry boat across the harbour to the airport if you like to. The service at that Legal is usually fairly snappy, though the queue for a table can be long at popular times.