DELee

As well as "I gotta get a presentation out before midnight" and "Weather/outside is crappy and I've got an early flight, so gotta get to bed".

When ya gotta make do, you make do.

David

Happy

You obviously have not seen the good Asian lounges. The "spreads" are Real Dishes, no different than what you would get from a mid-price restaurant.

Some of these lounges offered, are no less, in both varieties and quality, than what you can get at a mid-price restaurant. More often than not, restaurant meals are not satisfactory due to one way or the other, from foods to service, you name it.

Sure. if you want to have a high end restaurant with exquisite foods and the prices to match, then the lounge no matter how good the "spreads" are, would not be for you - because it lacks the important element that a high end place would have - that is not the foods, but a quiet, elegant setting to enjoy your dinner.

But if you are just for DECENT foods together with drinks, a table to enjoy such, and not mind the fact that you have to get the foods yourself, plus you are sharing the "spreads" with other guests, then many Asian properties lounges meet the requirements and then some.

In fact we dont mind the buffet style, because we can see what the foods look like and determine whether to try it or not, versus you dont have any idea how a dish ordered at a restaurant would turn out. Many times there are disappointments. Not to mention the fact that no way we can order that many different dishes when dine at a restaurant, versus pick and choose at the good Asian properties lounges.

Outside Asia, I think the lounge at Sheraton on the Park at Sydney offerings should be good enough for a dinner as well - nightly freshly shuck Sydney Rock Oysters and palm size King Prawns, sushi rolls, nightly rotated hot dishes from Western to Indian to Asian, plus pastas, together with the cold stuff (salads, smoked fishes, varieties of cold cuts and cheeses, breads, desserts, etc) that can certainly be called a dinner, except that it again, lack the element of being a proper setting for a nice dinner, but the "spreads" certainly qualify for a dinner without any stretch.
You can have similar spread at the casino and pay about 50 or 60 AUD per person without drink....Just fyi.

SP03

Many lounges in China call their “happy hour” dinner and its essentially a dinner buffet. Not as extensive as the main hotel buffet but it’s the same concept as lounge breakfast vs main restaurant breakfast. It has all the elements of a proper meal including bread, rice/noddle dish, veggies and cooked meal. Plus fruit, cheese, cold cuts, salad.

I’ve had several dinner there and it’s quite good. I think lounges are great when you don’t want to plan in advance or want to have a quiet/lazy evening.

seat38a

The Club M lounge that I visited, at the Marriott Marquis San Francisco might as well just be called dinner. The only difference between the Club M Lounge and most full dinner buffet was having just 1 main, 1 vegetable, and 1 starch. Everything else, such as the fruits, salads, soups, charcuterie, dessert could give any buffet a run for its money. First night we had roast chicken, potatoes and green beans. Second night, giant meatballs in marinara sauce, mixed vegetables and pasta. Didn't go out to dinner afterwards because we were wayyyyy too full.

ac/elite

Sheraton Tel Aviv has a very good spread for dinner.

yyzflyer

I made this exact comment about the Marquis after a stay in June, only to find out that a lot of people here don't like this hotel or anyone that compliments it.

Adelphos

IMO, dining out is one of the joys of traveling - one of the first things I do is pull up Yelp, Eater, Infatuation or other guides to pick out nice restaurants at my destination. However many others don't look at this the same way. YMMV.

seat38a

Thats what I save lunch for. Fortunately, Titanium benefit doesn't cover lunch. When the serve food like the Club M at the Marriott Marquis San Francisco, its a bit hard to justify skipping it.

Antonio1990

My wife and I have done it numerous times in India while on vacation.

CMK10

Leisure travel, yes. But for business travel one of the joys of traveling is going to be your room, putting on comfy clothes and not having to interact with people any more that day.

Happy

The problem is, others "likes" may not be the same as ours. Or the foods turn out way below expectation based on the comments on review sites. That is far far more often than not that we feel the reviewers standards are too low. The percentage of disappointment is so high that we hardly give much weight to such review sites, especially for those mid price and below.

The really good (and pricey) places often require reservation way in advance. That is a big hassle for just a casual meal.

Happy

Last year when we were at JWM Macao, they even had 2 chefs at the dinner time, cooking some dishes from fresh ingredients that you picked and chose.

I would also add that those lounges often have 2 separate areas - the dining area often is closed during non-dining hours, while the "lounging" setting area is opened thru the day when the lounge is opened. In the dining area the setting literally is set up like a regular restaurant, with the proper table and chairs, even booth seating in some lounges. If this is not for the "dinner" service setting, I cannot think of anything else could better described such.

The concept of "lounge" and the expectation / usages by the guests, is very different in Asia than in US.

Hence I said from the beginning, the question has no answer because the settings / offerings of a hotel lounge has such a big difference depending on where the property is located. It all depends on the reality.

navarcht

Just came back from the Westin in Qingdao, and did both; dinner out the first night and ate dinner in the lounge the second night. As others have said here the buffet spread in China/Asia is very different from NA. I enjoyed both options for different reasons. First night to go out to be social and second night in lounge to relax and not head out anywhere. I didn't feel 'cheap' but I did enjoy the savings!

enthrop

When I'm traveling within the US for work, yes I eat lounge food for dinner. I'm being thrifty (I'm a per diem employee) and lazy about heading out to get other food... yes, lounge food is all about the same and boring in the US. But so is eating out for the past 10+ years.

When I'm overseas on vacation, I almost never eat lounge food. I want to enjoy local cuisines and try different foods! Which I can get "ironic" often because Asia lounges have MUCH better offerings than US...
I went to China one year w/ my dad.. and he almost always wanted to eat lounge food only to save $$$. I ended up eating out and letting him and my mom go to the lounge in my place

lovefly88

Stayed at Marriott Manila last night and had all of our meals there in the lounge.

breakfast - made to order omelette, hash browns, bacon, made to order waffles, impressive spread.
high tea - yesterday was chicken Caesar wraps or vegetable panini, today was chicken sausage sandwich or vegetarian taco
h’orderves at 5:30 - chicken curry, lots of desserts, cold cuts spread, made to order pasta with chicken.

granted we had been in Philippines for 2 weeks so had plenty of time to try local cuisine already and was all about saving money.