nikejack

Right. It’s just not a premium experience all round. And given the market they are trying to attract and retain, United is undermining all the work they’ve done so far with the Polaris rebrand.

Flying Machine

Has anyone noticed the chicken parmigiana on the Buffet. In fact, I thought it was a really good rendition

tr3k

First visit to EWR Polaris lounge since "before COVID". The difference is pretty striking. It is now basically what UA club used to be but with a (very sad) buffet and slightly more private bathrooms. Still has bartenders "fishing for tips" though. After a long wait was able to summon a service person to carry previous passenger's glasses away, but no one available to clean the dirty table. Thankfully in "after-COVID" era there is sanitizer gel and napkins - so cleaned it myself (not a problem for me, but not much of a top shelf experience).

Will move over to the Senator lounge shortly.

P.S. Was hungry, so had some of the buffet food. Our local school district cafeteria food is quite literally better (granted - they do care about the school food quality). All dishes reeked of low quality oil and bottom shelf cheese. And how dare UA label "charcuterie" that dollar store sausage and cheddar :/ Ugh.

Flying Machine

So saddened to hear! It used to be one of my favorites I just routed a South America flight through there, to take about the the lounge with a long layover.. I may have to rethink. Is everyone else in harmony the the lounge now is a pale picture of what it once was??

bmwe92fan

To me the hard product is vastly superior to anything at EWR in the present or past - it’s the soft product that has really gone down hill compared to pre-Covid. I’m there pretty much weekly and it’s getting a little better in the soft side - and I’m patient as I know they’ve had such staffing issues - as have my companies - coming out of Covid….

Botttom line - with classified closed it’s by far the best place for me in the airport….

travelhive

This thread has been disheartening. We are flying Polaris out of EWR this Saturday, with a relatively short connection time before our 8:45pm flight, and we had hoped to grab a decent meal in the lounge. Now sounds like not only is the food mediocre, but there will probably be a wait time as well.

Anyone have a restaurant recommendation in Terminal C as an alternative? Thanks in advance.

bmwe92fan

if you can get to the Polaris lounge before they close the restaurant that’s your best bet - honestly can’t recommend any other place since OTG took over….

WineCountryUA

A couple of thread suggestions
favorite restaurants/food places in UA hubs
The OTG Airport Experience at EWR
Restaurants pre-security at EWR

But let's stick to discussing the EWR PL in this thread

WineCountryUA
UA coModerator

Flying Machine

In the past I can make a meal alone from the chicken Parmigiana from the Buffet it was so so good. Does anyone ever remember trying it?

st530

12-person deep line to get in but agents got to me within 30-45 secs. Lounge crowded but not crazy busy most of the time I was there. Very efficient and competent bartenders. Champagne still Lanson.
Buffet unchanged since the reopening. I’m still a sucker for the Jersey eggplant rotini, especially with extra red sauce on top (red sauce strangely placed two spots away as an accompaniment to plain white basmati rice).
There was a wait for the restaurant around 4 pm; got a buzzer after putting my name on the list. Took about 20 mins to get the buzz. Tried the tandoori spiced cauliflower and the miso glazed cod and both were excellent and well presented. Service was quick and efficient. Seems like things have improved since a couple of months ago (or else I got lucky).

Flying Machine

Looks like the eggplant replace the veal parmigiana, . Thanks for the update and photos,, seems encouraging

whitecastle

How late is the a la carte restaurant open? Have the option of flying in at either 7:54pm or 8:29pm before a 10:50pm TATL flight this Friday so trying to see what the best option would be to have dinner.

alternatively, I can fly to IAD Instead and arrive At 9:06pm with 10:35pm departure but that seems like a tight connection to get dinner if any is even available that that point.

bmwe92fan

Currently in the EWR Polaris lounge -- arrived at 3pm and went immediately to the restaurant -- wait time was already almost 30 minutes -- got the burger and it is much better than the last one -- and the fries were very well done. Only downside is that it took over 30 minutes to get the burger -- glad I have plenty of time and taking it slow in restaurant as all of the good seats in the main lounge are already taken.... EWR is mobbed today -- security wasn't great - even with CLEAR & TSA PRE -- really strange for a Thursday mid-day but I guess EVERYONE is travelling again! Included pictures of current menu for those travelling soon. My wife left on ANA today for Tokyo and is seated in the "Room" and she said JFK was empty - so jealous....

st530

It seems staffing issues affected dining room yesterday. Tables were only half-filled the whole time I was there, but still had a 45-minute wait.

Once I got seated, everything was good -- lentil soup, spiced cauliflower and lamb kofta, together with the tasty Prisoner cab. Wish I had had time for the cookie!

dingo

Hopefully this is an OK place to post this question.

I'm not a UA person; AA in captive hub of Charlotte. Me and my family will be flying from CLT - EWR on AA. We will have a several hours layover before boarding SAS to Copenhagen in Business.

1. Could we access the Polaris Lounge?
2. I'm having a tough time understanding the EWR SAS gates; can we get from one to the other w/ out exiting security?