KLM / Air France Lounge, SFO

Update Review: June 2019 Morning Visit

I've cruised quickly through the Air France/KLM lounge a few times before, but never in the morning.  This visit was at 10:15am, so I got a chance to see the lounge in breakfast mode.

I was only there to fill my water bottle up with sparkling water, use the bathroom, and grab coffee, but I ended up trying a few things.

Sausage / Tater Tots.

The hot offerings were sausage and tater tots, served where the pasta/sauce usually goes.  No eggs, no pancakes, just these.

I tried a tot, it was *horribly* greasy.  I moved on.

Fruit / Bread.

The area usually for sandwiches had bread and fruit.

The bread was just white bread, with a toaster on the side, and simple Smucker's jams and butter.  No peanut butter, no bagels, no interesting spreads.  Very simple lineup.

The fruit was cut melons, grapes, and strawberries, which I had to stay away from due to my watermelon allergy.

Greek Yogurt / Fruit / Cereal.

The salad bar area had a build your own greek yogurt or cereal bar.  Just the one kind of yogurt, no low or nonfat, no flavors.  Pumpkin seed granola and flake based cereal.  Milk on the side.

There was additional fruit here as well, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries, and they weren't bad actually, and they had individual honey packets to drizzle on top.

Assorted Croissants.

I'm all for baked goods, and the lineup here minimal, croissants only.  No other pastries, muffins, scones, etc.

The croissants didn't look horrible, plain and chocolate.

Chocolate Croissant.

I grabbed a chocolate croissant.

It was ... buffet style average.  Clearly below average from an actual coffee shop or bakery, but not worse than most buffets.  It wasn't particularly flaky nor buttery.

It had only a single bar of chocolate inside, but I did like that chocolate.

Not worth the calories, particularly when there is Tartine out in the terminal instead!

Original Review: December 2018

I usually travel on One World airlines, and so I visit the One World lounges at SFO (British Airways, Cathay Pacific, JAL), but on a recent trip, I was able to check out the KLM / Air France lounge for the first time.

It ... was odd.  Certainly a tier below all the others, and they don't exactly set a very high bar.  I enjoyed my cruise through, mostly because I just found it so entertaining - power outlets all covered up with tape and baby carrots served covered in ice were the highlights.

Dining Area.

The lounge was very crowded.  The furnishings were low end, plastic chairs.

Everyone was crowded in the fairly small dining area.

Not an Outlet.

In addition to that very crowded room, there is one small room before the main dining area, with a high table.  I was excited to see this area, and was about to set up there, until I saw that all the power outlets were covered up.  No wonder no one was out there.

Come on, what?  No power?

Water Dispenser.

I liked that they had sparkling water on tap, but, it didn't taste great.  It seemed like tap water, very chlorinated.

Still, nice to have somewhere to fill up my bottle.

Hot Drinks.

Coffee machine, hot water, teabags.

Spirits.

The wine lineup was fairly lackluster, but the spirits were standard, and they did have far more garnishes than most, including citrus slices and marachino cherries.

Garnish.

I'll give a credit for the garnish section, with cornichons, olives, and pepproncini.

Salad Bar.

The salad bar was ... odd.  In particular, each item came covered with a plastic cover, and then, the whole thing had a metal top that covered it.  People were constantly opening the main lid, the sub-lids, etc.  It was cumbersome.

And then, the contents.

It started with green yogurt and granola, then had salsa and cheese, and then lettuce, carrots, and more standard salad ingredients.  Oh, and seaweed salad.

I tried the seaweed salad, it was fine, but the style that gets stuck in my teeth and drives me crazy.

Dressings.

There were two dressings in front of the salad bar, including a very lackluster ranch, plus oil and vinegar perched on top.

Iced Carrots.

No salad bar ingredients looked great, including, um, the iced baby carrots?

Roasted Vegetables.

The vegetables, roasted, also made me laugh.  Large chunks of peppers and squash, whole mushrooms, none of which actually looked roasted, and, um, a few HUGE chunks of potato.

Such an odd lineup and presentation.

Pasta and Meatballs.

The hot food item of the day was ... meatballs and pasta.

I tried the pasta and sauce out of boredom, and it was as expected, fairly mushy boring clumped together pasta, tangy marinara sauce.  I guess perhaps the cheese in the salad bar would be good on this?

Ham & Swiss Baguette.

The sandwich offering was fairly french, or at least, on a baguette.

Turkey Pesto Focaccia.

The other selection, turkey and "pesto sauce" on focaccia.

Fruit.

Melons, totally not ripe, and grapes were the fruit lineup.

Cheese & Charcuturie.

I was particularly disappointed by the cheese and charcuterie lineup.  What kind of french airline is this?!  Lackluster cheese cubes and salami?

Random Add Ons.

Another fairly confusing section, with pretzels, sunflower seeds, banana chips, dried cranberries, raisins, and dried blueberries.  This was ... next to the spirits and cheese, not near the salad station.

Chicken Noodle Soup.

Of course, what is an airline lounge without a soup of the day?  Yup, chicken noodle.  Bo-ring.