Whenever I've flown out of LAX, I've been able to find only one fast food outlet in each "pod," and the seating areas aren't cleaned often enough, so that you have trouble finding a table that isn't littered with napkins and junk.

If possible, I try to route trips to Asia through SFO, which has some of the best concessions and shopping of any airport in the U.S.

Phillips in the A/B Concourse at BWI.
Pappadeaux in Terminal E at IAH.
Chick-Fil-A at CVG, but not on Sundays.
Anthony's in the main dining atrium at SEA.

As terrier wrote two years ago, in this derby there is a million-way tie for most horrible. I still think the Chili's at DTW is appalling. And there's a big faux pub at LHR Terminal 3 that is absolutely grim.

quizno's - I think ATL

lovely food poisoning - I can't even drive by a quizno's without shuddering now.

The Mexican restaurant in the SFO UA International Terminal, not good at all. However there is a great sandwich/deli outlet in the same terminal, they have prepared sandwiches which are nice but will prepare a fresh made one for you, all kinds of bread, cheeses meats etc. Also very good salads and other choice goodies. Always take one of their sandwiches on the plane. In fact an FA coming by serving dinner wanted to know where the sandwich was from it looked so good to her.

Food poisoning from Quizno's, I doubt this.

Me too. Concourse C or D? No problems with any other Quiznos and I still prefer them to any other sub chain.

Chills, vomiting, hallucinations, diarrhea for 24 hours. Maybe food poisoning is the wrong term, but it was not best I've ever felt.

Airport food
 

Good: most any airport in Italy, Malpensa is very good.
Bad: seafood at Heathrow is okay but extremely over priced.
Any JFK restaurant is bad in my opinion.
Most Admiral Clubs serve pre-made panini's and wraps...not very good and expensive. Heat and barf....
Good: AutoGrills on Italian autostradas..

A family member was a leaseholder at a major USA airport...rent is based partially on gross revenue, so, leaseholders jack up the price of their products or keep a separate set of books...oh no, that would be cheating!

LAX does not have this policy. At least that's my guess after walking into Mickey D's and seeing a Quarter Pounder meal for $8.39.


And FCO is very bad. Or at least the restaurant I tried on the second level of Terminal A was. Spaghetti with watery, bitter marinara sauce, undercooked meat, and stale bread was something awful.

Where is the food court in JFK where "The Terminal" is suppose to happen. I always bounce through JFK when flying Delta via Freedom Airlines and that terminal doesn't go anywhere. Is there a bus or something Im missing? But there is a place in there I ate breakfast at one time. Kinda sucked.

BEST: Blue Mesa at DFW (I get stuck there often enough, so I really appreciate their food), Legals and a few others at DCA, some fabulous sandwich shop in Philadelphia (I used to take one of these home for my husband when flying thru!), and the restaurant across from the AA Ambassador's club at Chicago's O'hare. Those nice folks actually looked me up in the passenger waiting area when my food was ready... and gave me my drink while I was waiting! Actually, ORD does have some other decent restaurants.
WORSE: Islip on LI ... OMG. Don't even get me started. Best thing on the menu is nachos... Stale nachos with some stale cheese and a few jalapenos. The view is nice there, tho.... looking out over the runway.
SDF in Louisville. Nice airport, Nice servers, Nice lounge,...but BAD food at the one and only REAL restaurant.
JP

Best: Vino Volo in PHL, several in ORD

Worst: Any Fox Sports bar, pretty much anything in EWR terminal A

There's a noticeably dropoff in quality of food choices in the secondary terminals of most hub airports.

Best: ZRH. Not much can compete with Sprüngli... In fairness that one is just a chocolate stand (no, they don't have the hot cocoa there - alas!) but before security, there's a great little bakery, and if sweets just aren't your thing, there's also an entire supermarket there.

Runner-up: Legal Sea Foods (BOS, if I recall). Not cheap, but at least the price reflects the quality. Wish it was a little more isolated, though; I felt like I was sitting at the gate eating my dinner.

2nd runner-up: Cafeteria at KEF. (It has a name, but it's basically a cafeteria) Sprüngli and Legal's are not quaking in their boots, but for good basic food at a realistic price - and in a city where nothing else is priced reasonably, no less - this was a really pleasant surprise.

I usually fly coach, so an airport restaurant has to seriously goof up my dinner to make it worse than what I get on the plane. But for sheer pricing lunacy, CPH was way up there when I flew through there last year. There were no cheap options, not even pizza or a burger. Pizza was there, and burgers were there, but they weren't cheap either!

I have no idea what the name of the place was, but at BOS I found a booth selling Complete Breakfasts featuring bacon, eggs, hash browns, and toast. I asked for jam for the toast: "Sorry, that's extra."

Best: Amy's Ice Cream in AUS! :p

Worst: There are so many to chose from! The restaurant in the hotel in MIA terminal comes to mind -- not that the food is so terrible, but it's painfully ordinary for what it costs.

Sammy Haggar's restaurant at LAS. Crappy service, crappy food. Avoid at all costs.