Sheraton Grand Krakow, Executive Lounge

In the years leading up to the Covid pandemic, I travelled quite a bit for work, regularly 100-120 nights a year on the road, with Marriott hotels (originally Starwood) as my loyalty chain of choice.  As such, I had fairly high status, and with that, executive lounge access at properties that have them.  I didn't know prior to all those nights in hotels how much I'd value such an amenity, but lounges have become key elements of my stay as a hotel guest, and I highly value a nice lounge.

"Sheraton Club is a space designed for relaxation where you can enjoy refreshments throughout the day and a wide selection of hot and cold snacks and alcoholic beverages in the evening. Access to the Sheraton Club is additionally charged."

When I was in Krakow this year, I had access to the lounge at the Sheraton Grand.  It was easily the least impressive lounge I've been to internationally, and seemed highly underutilized.  During the day, I literally never encountered another guest there when I would cruise through for a drink or snack.  The fact that it isn't open for breakfast, the time when I think most elite business guests really value it, is odd to me.  So, it was pretty ho-hum and boring overall, but I did absolutely adore the crispy peanut snacks they had all day, and some of the desserts were shockingly good.  A nice-to-have, but not defining feature of the property. 

Setting

The lounge is located on the 2nd floor, down at the far end of the hallway.  If you didn't know to look for it, you would not know it was there, just on the lowest guest room floor tucked away.  It is open daily from 6am-11pm, but is largely empty and unattended, quite different from most lounges I've visited.

Seating.

The lounge is fairly small, with just one section.  There are a few soft couches with coffee tables, and a few small dining tables, plus an area where the evening buffet gets set up.  Not really the type of place people linger around outside of the cocktail hour.  It is open to the interior atrium of the main hotel, overlooking the restaurant below.

Drinks

Soft Drinks.

Soft drinks are available to grab all day long.  Sadly no sparkling water, and only sugared drinks.

They had a self-serve filtered water tap that made still or sparkling water, but was located very close to the counter, so you couldn't use it to fill your own bottle (likely intentionally for hygiene reasons?).

There was also beer on tap.

Coffee Machine.

A standard robot coffee machine is also available all day, with cups to go.

Water and Tea.

Spa water and tea bags were available all day long.

Red Wine.

Red wine, vodka, gin, and scotch are available nightly from 6pm-8pm.  No white wine.

My first night, there were two red wines.  Pluvium Spanish wine and Castillo Lagomar Semi Tinto.  I tried both, and didn't care for either.  Both not generally the style of wine I go for anyway.  I don't get the impression that wine is big in Poland - everyone else in the lounge was enjoying the beer on tap, or the vodka, and we saw very small wine lists in general when dining out.

Red Wine Night #2.

The second night a third wine was added, Alto Barrica Red Semi - Dry.  It also wasn't very good.  

Wine selection: below average, **+.

Savory Food

The savory food lineup features several hot dishes, plus cold canapes, and your standard cheeses and charcuterie.  I didn't find anything particularly good.  It changed nightly.

Fennel Soup / Couscous.

Every night started with a soup and a grain.

The fennel soup was ok.  It was very thick.  It needed seasoning, and I wanted something a bit more going on, but it was ok.  **+.

I didn't try the couscous.

Minestrone Soup.

The next night it was minestrone, which I didn't try.

Chicken Strips / Porridge with Bacon.

Nor did I try the chicken strips or porridge, also on offer the second night.

Pork Meat / Pasta with Tomatoes.

The other hot dishes didn't look good, but I tried them anyway.

The "pork meat" was some kind of stew, lackluster quality meat, lackluster flavor.  I didn't care for this.  I think this is a fairly traditional Polish stew.*.

The pasta was literally just basic penne with tomato sauce.  The flagship restaurant on site is an Italian restaurant, so I somewhat expected more from the pasta offering. *+.

Polendusice (?) / Potato.

The next night, for the meat and carbs we had ... this.

The first dish was ... a mystery.  The word it was labelled with, "Polendusice", doesn't translate to anything in English from Polish, and I can't find it anywhere.  I later asked about it and was told it was pork tenderloin.  It was ... not very good.  Tender, but not great flavor in the pork, and it didn't seem very high quality. The brown gravy tasted like from a jar.  *+.

The potato wedges were ok, not great, clearly not freshly fried, but they had good seasoning, and there were tasty sauces to dunk them in.  **+.

Pickles, Olives, Condiments night #1.

I liked the mixed pickles.

The first night had just mayonnaise and "burger sauce" which I didn't try.  The next night though this was bbq sauce and garlic aioli, both of which were tasty.  The garlic aioli was particularly flavorful.  ***+.

Tartines with turkey, salad fixings,
charcuterie, cheese, fruit, nuts.

Most nights had some kind of crostini or tartine, basic salad fixings, and cheese and cold cuts.

I didn't try the turkey open faced tartine.

The salad station was mixed leaves, tomatoes, and cucumbers.  Nothing special, but not bad.  Nice to have some vegetables.

I also tried a few things from the charcuterie platter, including an ok rillettes style product.  

Eh.  **.

Cheese Platter.

I tried a few things from the cheese platter, not knowing what any was exactly, and didn't care for them either.  One looked really promising, grilled, halloumi-like, but I hated the flavor.  From my later research on Polish food, I think this was grilled oscypek (which I confirmed when I saw it at breakfast too).  I later learned (from the excellent description cards at breakfast), that the one that looked like Gouda, but then surprised me with its different taste, was Amber cheese, an aged yellow cheese.  **.

The next day at breakfast, at the restaurant (review coming soon!), I found many of these same items, with labels, which was much more helpful.

Sandwich offering day 2.

The second day this area had a tortilla with cheese (cream?) and cucumber instead of the tartine, which I didn't try.

Tartines with Egg Paste.

Next, another tartine, this time with "egg paste".  I tried this one.

The crostini base was overly crispy.  The egg paste, e.g. egg salad, was fine.  Yay for a little more freshness from tomato and arugula too.  **+.

The next night had a similar item, but on softer baguette slices.

Mushroom & Cabbage Strudel?

The second night had this item, with no label.  I think it was a mushroom and cabbage filled strudel? There may have been leeks too.  The mushrooms were the kind that taste like from a can sadly.  I really couldn't tell if it was leeks or cabbage, but, there was some kind of very cooked down vegetable in there.  Not particularly well seasoned.  The pastry on top was flaky, but was entirely raw on the bottom.

Just not very good. But yay pastry? *.

Canape with Fish Paste.

Did not like this either, very fishy odd taste to the paste. *.

Burrata Salad.

The salad selection the first night was burrata. Again, given the Italian restaurant on site, I had high hopes for the burrata.  The restaurant, and the casual rooftop bar, both feature burrata preps on the menu.

It was ok?  Not as ripe and oozing cream as I'd like, but it tasted fresh.  The drizzle of olive oil and maybe pesto was a decent compliment.  Eh to beets, but that's just my preference.  **+.

Macaroni Salad with Chicken.

The next night the salad was "macaroni" (as labelled) with chicken.  It was just some basic corkscrew pasta with tomatoes and slices of chicken.  Not particularly good. **.

All Day Snacks.

Every day, all day, had some kind of coated peanuts.  I became addicted to them.  Super crunchy shell, flavorful coatings (different color/flavor every day, these were paprika I think?  Other days had orange bbq? ones and green wasabi? ones), all with a peanut inside.  Highlight of the lounge.  I adored these.  Why do we not have them in the US?  *****.

Sweet

So the drinks, the savory food, not really netting the Sheraton Grand Krakow lounge any points in my book.  But you know how much I value good desserts, and here, they shockingly did deliver on some items.

Cake / Filled Croissant.

During the day, a few sweet bites are available.

I tried the filled croissant, it seemed to be filled with some kind of jam.  It was a darker style pastry dough, like it was trying to be wholesome and healthier?  Not much buttery flavor.  Vague fruity filling.  Not very good.  **.

Nutella Donut.

The next day, during the late morning/afternoon, there was a nutella filled donut, the same kind that Marriott hotels have worldwide in their breakfast buffets, and I do kinda like.

Other days had other fillings.  Many of which I hadn't had before at other properties, such as Biscoff or white chocolate, both of which were great.  I do like these, in their own way, but when in Krakow, if you want a donut, I highly recommend going to get an actual Polish donut, even if you just go somewhere like Dobra Pączkarnia.  ***+.

Banana Cake.

In the evening, the afternoon cake was back, but more dressed up this time, with a little cream and dried apple slice.  I did not try this.

Nut Cake.

Another night it was nut cake, that I also didn't try.  Again very dressed up.

Chocolate Cake with Pistachio.

One night, the cake offering was much better looking: chocolate cake with pistachio.  This wasn't really "cake" though, it was VERY rich, and very excellent, flourless chocolate cake style cake.  

So dense, so rich, so chocolatey, so very very good.  Consistency, texture, flavor, all done really well.  It had a fantastic crispy base as well.  I wanted whipped cream to lighten it, or some fresh strawberries or raspberries, but it really was excellent.  ****+.

Brownies.

The second night the other option was brownies, that I didn't try.

Cheesecake.

My final night it was the cheesecake, the same offered in the cafe downstairs, or served in the restaurant, for 40PLN.  Literally same item as the display case in cafe.  Very big slices.

It was good cheesecake.  Ricotta style I think, some lemon to it.  Tasty crust.  ***+.

Tiramisu.

"Mascarpone | savoiardi | cocoa."

Every night also had some kind of pudding.  This thrilled me, as I adore puddings (hence why my blog has a label devoted to pudding reviews!).

The tiramisu was fabulous.  Truly fabulous.  Great actual amaretti flavor from the biscuits on top, well soaked moist but not mushy ladyfingers within, thick rich cream, notes of coffee and chocolate.   Probably the best tiramisu I've had in many years.  I'd gladly get this again.  ****+.

Tiramisù Classico is on the menu at the restaurant for zł 43.

Mascarpone with Peach.

The next night, I was delighted to see another type of pudding-pot, as I just adore puddings in general.  Mascarpone sounded good to me.

It was ... ok-ish.  The base of the jar had the peach, which honestly somewhat reminded me of baby food puree.  Like applesauce, but, peach.  I love fresh peaches, but I wasn't really into this.  There was a lot of it.

Above that, the mascarpone.  It was thick, rich, not very sweet.  It had a strange bitter aftertaste.

The berries on top were fine.

I really wanted to like this more than I did in practice.  *+.

Vanilla Cream with Raspberries.

Another day, another cream.  This one didn't say mascarpone, but I think it was.  And again, there was something just not ... right about it.  Such an odd aftertaste.  "Raspberries" were just goo in the base. Did not like. *.

Panna Cotta with Apple.

Another night, the pudding offering was even more appealing to me: panna cotta!  I even have a label on my blog just for this particular type of pudding, so, clearly a favorite of mine.

It was good.  Well set.  Rich.  Strong cinnamon flavor.  Sweet enough.  I didn't really care about the apple compote or little cookie on top, but the panna cotta was good.  I did want a touch of whipped cream to complete the deal, but it wasn't needed.  ****.

The restaurant has a version of this on their menu too, although that one has rosemary.

Apple Crumble.

And finally, my last night, apple crumble.  (Side note: they really seem to like using amaretti cookies for garnish.  They made no sense here.  I also was not into the tart cherry-apple thing on top).

But the apple pie filling was good, a mushy style with thin sliced apples, but well spiced, and good.  The crumble topping had no clumps, but good flavor and sweetness level, added some texture.  I really wanted it warm with ice cream, but it was good.  ***+.