Chase Sapphire Lounge, Boston Logan

Boston Logan Airport, assuming you aren't flying out of terminal A (Delta), is a decent place to be a Priority Pass member.  In terminal C there is a pretty lackluster and generic option, The Lounge, and in terminal E is the Air France lounge that always surprises me in how tasty some of the offerings are.  Both are fairly small, subject to access restrictions due to capacity, and aren't gorgeous showstopper spaces, but they get the job done, and I've always been happy enough with these options for a short stay. Since terminals B, C, and E are all connected airside, so it is easy to access them no matter which airline and terminal you are actually flying out of.

But in the summer of 2023 a new lounge opened up, and it kinda changed everything.  The Chase Sapphire lounge, a partnership between Chase Sapphire and Priority Pass, located in the B to C connector.  It makes the others look like Motel 6 compared to The Ritz Carlton.  It is also considerably more exclusive; Priority Pass members are only allowed a single visit per calendar year, to any of the worldwide Chase Sapphire lounge locations.  They aren't allowed guests.  The access rules are more extensive than that, so if you are interested in a visit, I recommend looking them up in full.

The lounge really is remarkable for a US domestic lounge.  It is fairly large.  The space is stunning, both the interior design and the views over the active tarmac.  It is brand new, so designed for the modern traveler, e.g. power outlets, usb ports, etc abound.  It has some extra amenities like wellness rooms, shower suites, and the like that aren't as common in domestic lounges.  

In terms of food and drink, this is not a standard buffet, packaged snacks sort of place.  Everything about it is many notches above average (although, there are certainly some issues, as you'll see below).  It is overly well staffed, to the point where it nearly seems like there are more staff than guests, and many seem to be just milling around looking for something, anything to do.  During my visit, there were 4 behind the bar, several behind each section of the plated food, and at least 2-4 circulating every small seating area ready to take away any dirty dishes.  The over staffing was borderline over bearing, and sorta took away from feeling relaxed and private, as it felt like I was being watched and hovered over at all times.  That said, they were friendly and efficient, professional, just, clearly lacking much to do.

Overall, I did enjoy my visit, and it would be easy to hang out there for a few hours and forget you were at an airport, but, it was far from perfect, and the hard product definitely outshined the soft product.

Setting

I didn't check out any of the reservable amenities, such as massage chairs, shower suites, or relaxation areas.  The regular bathrooms seemed a bit small (only 3 stalls), but were well appointed and clean.  I did peek in at the kid's room, but somehow failed to get a photo.  The lounge was fairly kid-friendly, with a confined, walled in play space, high chairs available, and kid's menu items.

The lounge is moderately large, bigger than the lounges I've visited in Logan (Air France, The Lounge), but is much smaller than most international lounges, or even bigger domestic ones.  It is broken up into many different small zones.

Taproom.

There was a lot of media fanfare around the "Taproom" section of the lounge when it first opened, a nod to Boston's bar culture, etc.  It was intended to have bartenders behind the tap bar here, and offer up local beers, but at least during my visit, it was not staffed, this area was used as just general seating by anyone (including myself) for dining, and beer was just ordered at the regular bar, or via the app.

Also note that the area is quite small, this is literally all of it - a couple high tables with stools, a couple small bench side tables, and that is it.  If you try really hard, you can pretend you are in a bar venue, but really, it is just a slightly different decorated tiny section of the lounge.

Bar.

The main bar is definitely a center of attraction, and is pretty elegant, with marble (ish?) bar top, velvet (ish?) bar stools, and bottles on display.  Note the power and USB outlets at every seat too.  This area was well staffed, and quite active, even if no one was actually seated there.  Guests walked up to order, or ordered via QR code from their seats and had drinks delivered.  The cocktail and local spirits lineup is a big focus of the lounge.

Window Seating.

There were many types of soft seating throughout the lounge, some along windows, some interior.  Again, all had dedicated power outlets.  The views over the tarmac were pretty great, for those who are into it, great plane spotting to be had.  I appreciated the abundance of natural light.

If you prefer dining tables, there was also a sizable dining area adjacent to the buffets.

Food & Drink

The concept of the lounge is unlike most others.  There is a buffet, two different buffets actually, but both feature individually plated small dishes.  There is no salad bar, no grab and go snacks, no steam trays.  No token bar snack.  It certainly feels classier.  In addition, you can order "made to order" dishes from your table by just scanning your table's personal QR code, and these items will be brought to you by servers when ready.  Not quite a la carte dining like some lounges, but certainly more efficient.  You can also order any alcoholic beverages that way, or go up to the bar.

That said, I have really mixed feelings about the food and drink offerings.  On one hand, the quality is clearly higher than your average airline lounge, the menu reasonably varied, and the fact that all buffet items are individually plated rather than large vats that everyone serves from is certainly better for sanitary purposes, food safety, and quality control.  But ... every item I got from the buffet that was supposed to be hot was lukewarm at best, I did miss being able to take as much or little as I wanted, and the made to order dishes really didn't seem any different from the buffet items, except that someone had to fetch them.  They were ready near instantly, and didn't seem to truly be made to order.

Self-Serve Beverages.

Soft drinks are located in a couple beverage coolers for you to grab yourself, along with dispensers for still or sparkling water.  The lineup here had the usual suspects of Coke, Diet Coke, and Sprite, but also three flavors of more pricey Spindriff, two flavors of Ollipop, and apple juice boxes.

I mostly stuck to regular sparkling water, and was happy to be able to fill my own bottles with it too.

Cold Beverages Tap.

Also on tap was cold brew coffee, seasonal cold brew ice tea, and unspecified spa water.

Hot Beverages.

Hot beverages round out the self-serve drinks, with coffee, nice quality tea bags or hot chocolate, and an espresso machine that makes both regular and decaf drinks.  Good variety of milks, both regular dairy and alternative, are provided.  There are two of these hot beverages stations on opposite ends of the lounge.

Raats Red Jaspar Stellenbosch.

The wine lineup had 3 each of reds and whites, along with a single sparkling and rose.  Other options included several beer options on tap (yes, local Sam Adams of course), juices, fairly premium spirits from local distributors (gin, vodka, brandy), and some pretty tempting sounded cocktails, which seemed to be the primary draw for most folks.

I went for a red blend from South Africa (retail is about $25/bottle).  It was fine, but not something I'd care to get another glass of.

Full Menu (December).

The buffet has 4 cold plates, plus 2 regular hot plates, and 2 additional chef curated hot plates, along with 3 standard desserts, and one special chef curated dessert.  The special chef call outs are from local chef Douglass Williams.

You can also order 4 made to order dishes (one is a kid's meal, and one is just fries, so really, two main dishes), or 3 additional chef curated made to order dishes.  These are ordered via a QR code you scan at your specific table, and then brought to you by a server.

The menu seems to have very recently changed (and had been fixed since opening), as every review I had read of the lounge had slight different offerings, e.g they had burrata instead of roasted beets and carrots, clam chowder instead of bourguignon stew, veggie lasagna instead of cassoulet, crispy chicken croquettes instead of the honey ginger chicken, a kid's grilled cheese instead of nuggets, and a raspberry lintzer bar instead of lemon bar.  A few dishes seemed unchanged, namely, the ricotta, the K-town bowl, the brussels sprouts, the made to order noodles, burger, and meatball parm, and the rest of the desserts.

I had read really positive reviews of the clam chowder and croquettes, and loved the looks of the lasagna, so I was fairly disappointed by the changes, but that is just personal preference.  The current menu is a bit more hearty winter fare.

Everything was well labelled with allergens and dietary constraints.  The vegetarian offerings are numerous, and many are vegan.

I went for one made to order dish, and a few from the buffet, both hot and chilled.  From what I could see, the made to order burger and the meatball Parmesan sandwich both seemed very popular, and I saw quite a few adults also ordering the kid's chicken nuggets.  I never got a glimpse of the other two made to order items, the chicken piccata with egg noodles, nor the Sapphire noodles.

Buffet Dishes.

The dishes were all mostly small plate size, not full size entrees, but also not really standard appetizers nor side dishes for the most part.  This made it easy to try a few things I guess.  I did expect the made to order dishes to be more like entrees, but at least the one I got was not, and the meatball parm sub looked about half size too.

Overall, the dishes seemed well though out, and quality was reasonable, but this plated buffet style doesn't seem to work well, at least the way they are doing it.  My biggest issue was the hot dishes, which were lukewarm at best.  Each station was completely full of small plates, all just sitting there for extended periods of time.  The turnover wasn't high, so these really did not hold temp well at all.  It seems like scaling back quantity, and putting out fewer dishes that get replenished more frequently, would greatly improve things.

(Chilled) Roasted Beets & Carrots.

"Quinoa, Dijon viniagrette, arugula, pepitas."

I didn't try the roasted beets and carrots chilled dish, which seems to have replaced the burrata that I was looking forward to.  Both those dishes used a quinoa base.  

(Chilled) Fresh Ricotta.

"Cherry peppers, sage."

I did try the fresh ricotta, which has been on the menu since opening.  It was good, creamy, nice light curd to it.  It indeed tasted nicely fresh.

It came with a very large hunk of roasted red pepper draped over it that was a decent pairing, although not one that I was crazy about, and a hard piece of bread (but not quite a crostini) that I didn't eat.

Overall, a fine dish, but not particularly special.  My second favorite of the savory dishes. ***+.

(Chilled) K-Town Grain Bowl.

"Brown rice, tofu, cucumber, diakon, kimchee."

I didn't expect the k-town grain bowl to be chilled, but later saw it listed that way on the menu.  I didn't have the brown rice at the base, but the pickled diakon and cucumber were fine, the kimchi average, the hunk of tofu large.  A decent vegan offering.  ***.

(Chilled) Charcuterie Plate.

"Proscuitto, fig jam, aged gouda, olives, dill, crackers."

The final cold dish was a simple charcuterie plate, with cubes of gouda, a trio of olives, slices of proscuitto, crackers, and dollop of fig jam.  Oh, and a tiny random sprig of dill.  Proscuitto and gouda are a step above generic salami and cheddar found in many airline lounges, but are still pretty basic and approachable.  This is the closest thing on offer to a traditional lounge offering or snack.

(Hot) Roasted Brussels Sprouts.

"Lemon zest, crispy Parmesan."

I love brussels sprouts.  I was very excited to see this dish remained on the menu, so clearly, it must be doing well?

I found it underwhelming.  The sprouts were all small sized, cut in half.  They were fairly soft, not quite mushy, but pretty close.  Kinda the type of cooked cabbage that makes people turn their noises up and declare they don't like them.  I prefer either bigger, juicer, more al dente sprouts, or crispy fried ones.  They seemed to be cooked in some kind of Asian-ish sauce.  Seasoning was ok.

The crispy Parmesan was tasty enough, but a rather odd pairing at least for me.  I think those crispy cheese bits would have been a better garnish for the roasted carrots and beets perhaps.  Some of the plates were >50% parmesan bits.

I was glad to see the brussels, but, execution was off on these, and, like the other hot dishes, they were actually lukewarm.  **+.

(Hot) Ginger Sesame Chicken.

"Crispy chicken, sweet spicy glaze, scallions."

I don't generally go for chicken, but the ginger sesame chicken really did look rather delicious.  It replaced the Korean chicken croquettes from the original opening menu.

I liked it.  The chicken was super crispy and flavorful, well battered and fried.  A mix of slightly dark meat and white meat.  I didn't taste ginger nor sesame exactly, but, the glaze was sweet (not really spicy as described), and vaguely Asian-ish.  It sorta tasted like a lot of generic Americanized Chinese food, which really can be tasty from time to time, and I hadn't had in ages.  The quality was no better than mall food court Chinese, and it was lukewarm, but again, crispy and flavorful, and that was appealing.  The scallion on top was fresh too.  

My favorite of the savory dishes. ***+.

(Hot) Braised bourguignon stew.
(From Chef Douglass Williams)

"Braised beef, carrots, pearl onions, potatoes."

I did not try the braised bourguignon stew, which frankly looked very unappealing.  The top was congealed, and it was just a murky brown color.  It did not look fresh, nor comforting.  I didn't see anyone take one of these.

This replaced the well regarded clam chowder, sadly.

(Hot) Veggie Cassoulet.
(From Chef Douglass Williams)

"White cannellini beans baked with winter vegetables and roasted peppers."

Another fairly congealed top, brown, unappealing pot, this one, a vegetarian cassoulet.  This replaced the veggie lasagna that I was excited to try, and as I don't really care for beans, this was a big downgrade to me.

Made to order: Seafood Bouillabaisse
(From Chef Douglass Williams)

"Fennel, onion, tomato, seafood stew with mussels, shrimp and clams."

From the made to order menu, I ordered the bouillabaisse.  This was the only seafood dish available in the lounge.  I placed my order via the QR code app from my table, went to the buffet to get a few items, and it was delivered within a minute of my sitting back down, probably about 4 minutes total.  I'm not really sure what was "made to order" about it, as it seems like they probably just had a big pot of it in the kitchen, and dished out a bowl?  I had somewhat expected it would be a bigger size (compared to the little bowls of the hot cassoulet or bourguignon) or that it would have some kind of garnish or other flair, perhaps served with a hunk of crusty bread with rouille.  But ... it was just a little pot of soup.

In my serving was three very small shrimp, two mussels, and some chopped clams.  The clams were quite chewy, the shrimp dry and rubbery.  The mussels were fine, juicy and plump, no grit.  The base to the stew also wasn't particularly impressive, thin, not much flavor nor depth.  I didn't taste any fennel.

Overall, not particularly successful, and I'm not sure why it was on the made to order menu.  **+.

Sweet Treats: Chocolate Chip Cookies, Brownies, Lemon Bars.

The main buffet desserts weren't particularly special: pretty average looking chocolate chip cookies, fudge brownie bites, and lemon bars.  Unlike the savory dishes, or the special chef curated single dessert offering, these really didn't seem premium in any way.

That said, I couldn't resist trying a brownie.  It was decent, moist, rich, deeply chocoately.  ***.

Sweet Treats: Whipped lemon-mascarpone parfait.
(From Chef Douglass Williams)

"Whole berry jam, honey granola."

The final dish in the buffet was the special dessert, one that was on the opening menu, and people seem to adore.  I was thrilled to see it still available, seemingly unchanged.

I took one bite, and any grumpiness I had about lukewarm previous dishes, or kinda lame other desserts, was gone.  This was just as delightful as others said it would be.  It was however *very* rich.  Thick and creamy.  Lightly lemony ... if you wanted strong lemon flavor, this wasn't it, but I didn't mind the lack of lemon.  Grown up pudding.  Delicious base.  ****.

The berry jam was a good compliment, but I would have preferred fresh berries (blackberries or blueberries would go really well with it).  At least my jam didn't really seem "whole berry" either, I couldn't tell what kind of berries made up the fruity jam.  ***.

The granola crumble made it eat a bit like a brunch or breakfast dish, rather than a true dessert, and I would have preferred something a touch less wholesome for the crunchy element, particularly with all the seeds (but I definitely applaud including a crunchy element).  The granola was a bit soft, as again, many of these had been sitting there a while (although the turnover on these was much higher than any other dish, I was not the only one to turn right back around for a second one!).  ***.

Hands down the best dish in the lounge, and I really enjoyed it.  ****.