Priority Pass offers access to over 1,000 independent airport lounges worldwide, and many premium credit cards (such as The Chase Sapphire Reserve, Citi Prestige, and The Business Platinum® Card) come with a Priority Pass membership as a cardmember benefit.
With AmEx’s expansion of their popular Centurion Lounges, Priority Pass has been making positive additions to their lounge network including Minute Suites for travelers needing a quick nap at ATL/PHL/DEN, and new restaurant options that allow members to enjoy a full service meal. Last fall, I got to dine at Timberline Steaks & Grill at DEN using my Priority Pass card.
Priority Pass recently added another pretty generous “lounge†option in Terminal 8 at JFK airport in New York) – Bobby Vans Steakhouse, and I had a chance to check it out before catching my flight to London.
The restaurant is open daily from 6am until 10pm and is located airside in Terminal 8, right after the security checkpoint, adjacent to Gate 14. You can view the full menu with prices here.
The Priority Pass benefit at this restaurant is limited to the cardholder and a maximum of one guest. All cardholders and guests are required to show a boarding pass with confirmed same-day travel.
Each guest is allowed a total credit of $28 to be used towards the bill (alcohol and take-out is included), so if you’re traveling with a guest – that’s $56 off your bill!
If you’re dining with others who have their own Priority Pass membership, you can all sit together and then apply the per-person allowances to one single check. In our case, there were 4 of us and we were able to use two Priority Pass cards to have $112 deducted from our check.
We ordered 3 entrees – a dry-aged steak, salmon, and ahi tuna. The food was good (but I’ll be honest – the steak wasn’t anything to write home about), and after the allowance was deducted, our balance only came to $9.94. Keep in mind that gratuity is not included and unused credit cannot be applied towards it.
The restaurant is spacious, and didn’t seem very busy when we dined at 8pm, but I can imagine it gets crowded during certain times of the day and will continue to gain popularity once word continues to spread about its inclusion in the Priority Pass network.
Bottom Line
I enjoyed dining at Bobby Van’s Grill, especially since we were able to eat a solid meal before an overnight flight in economy. It’s nice to have more restaurant options in airports.
I think the allowance is decently generous (though not as generous as others, since each cardholder is restricted to only bringing one guest). The main courses are a bit pricey before tax, so be prepared to have to cover the difference. There are also plenty of cheaper items such as burgers and salads.
What are your thoughts? Have you had a chance to swing by?
We were there a few weeks ago. The hostess was rude, barely acknowledged us, and seemed annoyed that we even showed up. She brought us to a high-top but there were 4 of us, so we asked if we could move to a regular table. Without saying a word, she just walks over to the new table, puts our menus down and walks away. Great service!
Fortunately the server we had was much better, knew exactly what the deal was with the Priority Pass credit, and explained how it works. I requested a vegan pasta dish, which they accommodated. We also got the scampi pasta, short ribs, and another fish dish. Everyone enjoyed the food, especially the short ribs.
Angelina, I’m curious: did *you* circle the ‘gratuity suggested’ area of the tab before nabbing that pic, or did it arrive at your table that way?
If you added the emphasis, all good: that’s a great reminder to folks you should always tip on the pre-discount portion of a tab, although I’d also hope none of the well-traveled folks reading you NEED such a reminder. ;) But man, if it came to my table that way, I’d be affronted. In big thick sharpie, no less?
Haha I certainly did not do that – the server did
We are a family of 5 with one Priority Pass. Would that be 56 dollars off the bill or are we restricted to only 2 guests dining.
Thanks
You can tell them up front that you’d like to put two priority pass guests on the check