Was there Wednesday evening and was pleasantly surprised at the new menu (I must have missed it being mentioned here.) They were out of the crabcake and shrimp rolls and beets and then I think I had the last asparagus.
Steak frites was quite good.
Service was mostly attentive.
They had LPGS if you knew to ask but I wanted to try the Ruinart as LPGS would be on board and at CCR.

 

Thank you for the update. This seems like a downgrade, and it feels like there has been some recycling and word wizardry here. If that lamb shank is shredded and taken off of the bone before it comes out, it's the exact same dish. And they've gone from 3 proteins to 2 with the loss of the chicken (though that dish left a lot to be desired). So really it's the addition of the Pasta and the Risotto. Big fan of Risotto, though they could have had an optional protein or made it a seafood risotto.

On the apps, the crab cake could be good if it's decent quality. And pea soup is great but they really should make it a weekly/daily soup. Pea soup although good, is a little niche to have as a permanent (10 month) soup.

Is anyone in over the next few days and care to ask waht they expect the menu rotation to be? Hopefully it's back to CCR/FFD monthly-ish rotation, if so, I'd be very happy!

 

Just for context, are you ever happy about anything?

 

I didn't realize you get personally attacked when you state facts. They have lost a protein. They have slightly tweaked most of the dishes with the same core ingredients. The crab cake could be the best addition.

It is besides the point whether I'm happy or not. the previous 2 lounges that this lounge was supposed to replace (as an 'amazing joint effort of the two great airlines') would rotate menus each month; this menu has taken 10 months to swap out.

As I said when I signed off; "Hopefully it's back to CCR/FFD monthly-ish rotation, if so, I'd be very happy!"

If you're happy to receive declining service, I'm happy for you. I'm not, so I voice my opinions using evidence.

 

It's hardly a personal attack. I'm trying to gauge where you sit in the spectrum of 'easy or hard' to please. If you're really hard to please and are not happy I will probably ignore your comments. If you're really easy to please and are not happy I will pay a lot more attention to your comments. If you're somewhere in the middle I will pay a modicum of attention to your comments. I will be there too in a few weeks so I'll try it for myself. I am generally quite easy to please in terms of airport lounges and food/drink.

 

Not a personal attack? So it's normal to create a post to ask everyone who posts a comment where they sit on the spectrum before you engage? Funny.

Regardless. Where I sit is not relevant, as again, I shared information which is objective.

Enjoy your visit.

 

Most of your post is subjective not objective. When you use words like 'feels like', 'seems like' and have assumptions based on questions starting with the word 'If' then it's clearly not objective.

An example of an objective statement would be 'the menu has changed'.
An example of a subjective statement would be 'the menu has changed for the worse'.

Your post is in the latter category and of course, you're completely entitled to post it but it's inaccurate to say it's objective.

 

Was granted access this morning ahead of my JFK-LAX flight in Y. Was really quiet, maybe a total of 5 guests in the lounge.

 

You're really reaching here. Look at my post. I shared my overall opinion and in ONLY that sentence shared my subjective view (highlighted to help you out), which then goes into a breakdown of the facts. Your entire attack here has no basis and you're embarrassing yourself by selecting a small part of my post and then suggesting the entire post is subjective. You're a good member of this forum, and many of your posts I've agreed with. This weird obsession with trying to disprove my post however is very weird so I won't be responding further to you. Excited to get back on topic.

 

You've used the word 'attack' repeatedly. I am not attacking you.
I am not trying to 'disprove your post' either. I don't have a view yet on whether I agree with you or not. I will form my own opinion when I'm there in September.

I was making the distinction between subjective and objective. Here's my categorization of your post. I have put the objective parts in blue and the subjective parts in red. There's not a lot of blue.

 

I think we can easily infer that from the fact that you seem satisfied with the BA premium experience

 

Food looks a lot better than when I was there and at least you could get some �proper� dishes whilst a few months ago I was down to burgers and salad, but that�s still far too many items missing. I can�t think of any other top Ba or aa lounge which ever misses so many items and I�m puzzled how they still manage so much disorganisation a year on�

 

We will be there early next week for a three hour layover and back again on the return leg 4 weeks later. Ever since it opened we have not been impressed with the food offerings nor the sporadic availability of the better quality champagnes. The best dish we have tried to date has been the Steak with fries. On our last visit in May we noticed that some of the staff we knew in the former CCR were now working - we had a long chat with one who was excellent in the CCR - she indicated that the atmosphere and working conditions in the Chelsea lounge were quite different compared to the CCR and that the job was not as rewarding from a customer perspective as before. In essence serving staff in the Chelsea lounge are expected to and monitored on how many tables they can serve and these numbers are much higher than the CCR was. As a consequence, she indicated that customer service was not as good or rewarding as it had been in the CCR.

 

I wasn�t aware that stealing bottles of spirits from the Chelsea lounge was an option.

Did he have any pointers as to how this might be achieved?

 

Much of the CCR staff has worked at Chelsea ever since it opened. For instance, Ronda, whom many CCR regular know has been there from day 1. It's fair to say that as reported upthread, many of them have disliked their work conditions at Chelsea from the start too and have missed the CCR.