I took my first flights in more than 15 months last week; it was a just a quick trip, but I made the most of it for blog content. Stop one was at the much ballyhooed Capital One Lounge DFW Airport. Though open for only about 6 weeks now, the lounge is getting rave reviews in the blogosphere. My take: this is a top domestic lounge, one which largely justifies the early hype.
Note: this installment is part of my larger trip report to Louisville and New Orleans in December, 2021. Click here for the trip report summary and introductory post.
Capital One Lounge DFW Airport
Location
Terminal D, near Gate 22, adjacent to the American Flagship Lounge. From the common entrance, take the elevators up to the 5th floor. If you are flying from a different terminal, take the Skylink to the Terminal D. The Gates D1-D22 stop is the closest station to the lounge.
Access
Capital One Venture X cardholders receive unlimited complimentary access with a same-day departing boarding pass. In addition, Venture X cardholders can bring two guests free of charge, with additional guests $45 each. Meanwhile, Capital One Venture and Spark cardholders receive two complimentary visits per year (no guest privileges). Additional visits and guests are also $45 each. Any member of the general public may visit for $65, space permitting. Children under two are free. Note that lounge access is not permitted on arrival; you must be on a departing or connecting flight.
Capital One Lounge DFW Airport hours are 6 am – 9 pm daily.
Date of Visit: December 12, 2021
Capital One Lounge DFW Airport – Review
I arrived a few minutes after 3 pm for my 4:45 flight, giving me about an hour in the lounge. There were two other guests in line, but it took just a couple minutes to get checked in. The agent then welcomed me into the lounge, and I proceeded to find a seat. The lounge wasn’t very busy – maybe 1/4 full – and so I spread out at an empty table in front of the bar in the back.
Upon entering the lounge, you’ll find a self-service coffee and drink station immediately to your left. Though this drink station is mostly designed for grab-and-go, there is a large, square dining table as well.
Further behind the dining table is the grab-and-go food selection. This selection consists of packaged sandwiches, salads, yogurt, smoothies, and fruit.
Continue straight back past the grab-and-go area, and you enter the main dining area. To the left was a selection of breads and pastries.
You can also see the large sitting area immediately behind and to the right of the lounge entrance. This view also gives you an idea of the eclectic artwork throughout the lounge. Surprisingly, this area remained empty throughout my stay.
To the right, meanwhile, is the primary meal selection. Lunch on this Sunday consisted of lentil curry, mac and cheese, chicken pot pie, beet salad, and bibimbap. Rather than your typical buffet setup, the Capital One Lounge offers miniature pots with single-serve portions. I’ll talk about the food itself a little later in the review. My only complaint – a shortage of napkins.
Continuing past the food stations, the main seating area is to the right. Large windows provide plenty of natural light throughout the lounge, along with a nice view of the Terminal D ramp area. Probably thanks to the view, this area was the most occupied part of the lounge. If the seats by the windows are taken, there’s also some “hidden” high-top seating behind. You can still peek out the windows from over here.
At the back of the lounge is a pretty impressive bar area. There’s some seating at the bar, along with a larger seating area in front, and some additional high-top seating. The bar itself has a decent liquor/beer/wine selection, and also features an espresso machine. Barista made espresso drinks are available; I didn’t try one on this visit but plan to next time. The bar also provides a few local craft beer options, along with a few “premium” wine selections at an additional charge.
In front of the bar is a self-service drink machine for water, iced tea, sodas, and lemonade.
There is also a small departures board to the left of the drink machine.
At the end of the bar area, turn left to find a quiet area of sorts. You can also access this seating area from the grab-and-go area by the entrance.
Also past the end of the bar area are the restrooms and other lounge amenities.
Amenities include:
- Showers
- Yoga/exercise room
- Nursing room
- Relaxation room
- Prayer room
The lounge agent mentioned that they can open any of these upon request. Since I didn’t have a ton of time, I didn’t ask to see any of these rooms on this visit. (As a DFW local, I probably won’t have much need for these amenities anyway.) Lucky from OMAAT took a peek inside these rooms on his visit. The relaxation room (really a nap room) looks quite useful if you have a long layover after an overnight flight. And the gym, while not huge, is unique for an airport lounge.
Restrooms are set up as individual, unisex rooms, and were clean and functional.
And now on to the most important part – the food. I sampled the mac and cheese, chicken pot pie, and bibimbap. Capital One describes the food as “regionally inspired cuisine”. I’m not sure any of this really fits the bill. But the important part is the taste, and on that point, the lounge mostly delivers. The mac and cheese was probably the highlight; the pasta was cooked just right, and the bacon was deliciously sweet.
The bibimbap, served over rice, was also quite tasty. Though the sauce was a little on the sweet side, the seasoning on the beef had quite a kick.
The least successful of the three was the chicken pot pie. For one, the “DIY” setup to fill your own “pie crust” with filling was awkward. The bread was too small to effectively stuff with filling, leaving you to dip it instead. The filling was also too sweet.
UPDATE: on another visit a month later, I tried out a few more food and beverage options. The first was a Texas take on a popular cocktail, the butter pecan old fashioned. I enjoyed this one; Texas bourbon and butter pecan flavoring makes this a unique local variation.
Next, I sampled the lounge’s signature cocktail, the Nickel City Frozen Irish Coffee. I’m not a fan of this one. Cold brew isn’t my thing to begin with, and frankly, it struck me as a really gritty milkshake.
On may way out, I grabbed a chicken salad sandwich for my evening flight to Burbank. This was quite good; the sandwich was fresh, and the bread wasn’t soggy even an hour later when I ate it. Certainly a far superior option to most of the grab-and-go items at airport concessionaires.
Overall, the food selection receives high marks in my book. It’s certainly far better than what you find at The Club at DFW, the airport’s sole Priority Pass option.
Capital One Lounge DFW Airport – Final Thoughts
If you don’t have access to one of the airline lounges, DFW has long had a dearth of contract options. The new Club at DFW is OK, but significantly undersized in my opinion, with long waits a problem. (At least that was true pre-pandemic; I haven’t checked crowding since.) If you ponied up for the AMEX Plat, you also had the serially overcrowded Centurion Lounge. Capital One definitely upped the game here with a very solid offering; it definitely rates as a top tier domestic lounge. Well, at least until it too gets overrun. As a DFW resident, I’ll thoroughly enjoy having access to this lounge until that happens.
