My first time flying with United from San Francisco to New York (well, Newark). This route, along with flights to LAX, are marketed as "premium transcontinental" and as such include some extra nice things like lounge access and extended dining (I've flown the reverse direction before, which you can read about in my previous post). My flight also happened to take place just a few weeks after United *seriously* upgraded the dining experience for these routes, really putting it on par (or frankly surpassing) their offerings for international flights. My feelings on it are a bit mixed.
Flight Details
Departure: SFO 1pm (scheduled) 1:40pm (actual)Arrival: EWR 9:35pm (scheduled)
Aircraft: 777-200 (scheduled) 757-200W (actual)
Sigh.
So I booked this flight for the full on Polaris cabin experience (although still domestic first class of course), on a 777-200. I booked way in advance, and scored my favorite seat (single, row 3, window, right hand side table, etc). And ... aircraft change to narrow body, 757. 2-2 layout. Sigh.
I did however "win" in that starting November 15, 2024, United revived the premium transcon routes to be a full on experience. First meal service had an appetizer added (in addition to salad and bread), entree sizes were increased, additional dessert options added, wine list upgraded, and then ... a full second meal pre-arrival added (no more hummus plate or cheese platter), with multiple options. For this flight, with a flight time of under 5 hours, um, this was a lot. Salad + app + bread + generous main + dessert and then ... full second meal 2 hours later? Uh yeah. They over compensated for years of sadness. But I was still excited for it.
Drinks
There was no PDB offered, although we had water bottles at our seats. Pre-orders were confirmed (or orders taken for those who didn't pre-order) for the first meal service, and drink orders taken, while still on the ground. Once underway, we were brought hot towels.
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| Wine List. |
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| Drinks, Nuts. |
I asked for the pinot noir, and the FA said, "the red wine", so that made me a bit uncertain if they did indeed have two different offerings, and if I'd get the one I wanted (answer, yes, and I did end up trying both). Drinks were served nearly an hour after takeoff, along with a small bowl of (warm, in a very hot ramekin!) nuts (almonds, cashews only).
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| Red Wine. |
Talbott “Sleepy Hollow Vineyard” Pinot Noir, 2022
Santa Lucia Highlands, California
"A vibrant Pinot Noir with ripe cherry and black raspberry on the nose and stunning flavors of dark berries and peppery spice on the palate. Pairs best with chicken and vegetables."
This was decent. Not too much tanin, a touch of acid, and a fairly ... round taste. Again, decent, not great, but decent. ***.
Louis Martini Cabernet Sauvignon, 2021
Napa Valley, California
"A full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon with aromas of blackberry, blackcurrant and sage that greets the senses. Layers of vanilla and cassis are complemented by cedar on the palate. Pairs best with beef."
I later switched to the Cabernet just to try it. I actually liked it more, it had a bit more structure and just more going on overall. I've had this before elsewhere and always found it "fine", so I was surprised that I preferred it. ***+.
Takeoff Meal
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| Menu. |
So for the main meal, as I mentioned, salad and appetizer, and then choice of 4 mains, and choice of 4 desserts. So many options!
For the main dish, I was actually quasi-tempted by the Chilean sea bass, as I am primarily pescatarian and I love asparagus (that it came with), but, I was headed to NY intending to eat lots of good seafood there, and I loathe lentils (also what it came with), so I ruled it out. I don't eat chicken, and didn't want the sides that came with it either (meh, broccolini and roast potatoes), so that was easy to rule out. Which left polenta with mushroom ragout (that might be ok?), and the beef. I literally never ever get beef (filet) on a flight, and I didn't actually want a giant steak at such a weird time and with such a big meal ahead, but I really wanted the sides: potato gratin and green beans! And thus, pre-order filet it was.
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| Meal. |
Our trays were brought out one by one. No tablecloth provided. Salad, appetizer, and main dish all at once, along with butter, salt & pepper, and dressing packet.
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| Bread: Pumpernickel Roll. |
After the first several rows were served, the FA came through with a bread basket. He did a second pass later in the service as well. Choices were garlic bread, white dinner roll, or pumpknickle, which I selected.
The bread was really nicely warm. Soft, not stale tasting. A bit boring, and not super strong pumpernickel flavor, but, not offensive. I prefer some of United's other breads. **+.
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| Salad: Baby red oak leaf arugula salad. |
"Baby red oak leaf arugula salad with shave parmesan, artichokes and roasted red tomatoes."
The salad was fine. Greens nicely crisp and fresh. I dislike artichokes so I picked them out. Roasted tomatoes were fine, flavorful, and likely better than the usual mealy out of season tomatoes. The shaved parmesan was huge shards, decent, but it was too much cheese with the giant ball of cheese appetizer alongside. I didn't try the dressing, but I know others are excited about the recent dressing change.
So, fine, but not really things I care for all that much. Still, nice to have fresh salad base. **+ just due to my preferences.
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| Appetizer: Burrata. |
"Burrata with grilled asapragus (sic) and caper salsa."
Ooooh, burrata. Now, I love wonderfully ripe burrata. And I know burrata has become kinda a menu staple of airlines in recent years, and it generally is ... well, no better than average mozzarella. And this was no different.
It was a huge ball of burrata. Really too much for a single serving like this. It wasn't particularly creamy, no bursting with fresh cream. Basically, slightly softer mozzarella. Fine, but not what I look for in burrata. ** burrata.
The asparagus/caper element was fascinating, truly, a "salsa" of sorts with finely chopped asparagus, I think raw, or at least, very lightly cooked. I love asparagus, so this was good. I didn't taste any capers. It was all in a bit of flavorful oil, well seasoned. I liked this, but it didn't seem like a natural pairing for burrata, and instead, I put it all on my salad to jazz that up. ***.
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| Main Dish: Sautéed beef filet. |
"Sauteed beef filet with green beans, sweet potato gratin and thyme demi-glace.'
And the main dish, which I ordered mostly for the sides.
The piece of meat was really quite substantial. It was attractive looking actually, crusted with herbs, and even seemed like it had a nice sear. It was reasonable for airline steak - cooked well done, but at least soft, and easy to cut. The flavor was decent, not too chewy, no fatty bits. The herb crust was flavorful. I don't eat much steak, and definitely not well done, so I didn't eat much of it, but I admit it was better than expected. **+.
I appreciated that the sauce was served on the side. It was flavorful, rich demi-glace. It went well with the steak (even though honestly the meat was flavorful enough to not need it), and was nice to dunk bread in too. Not really the kind of sauce I'm excited for (I'm more of a cream sauce person), but it was good for what it was. **+.
The green beans I was really looking forward to. I really like green beans. These however were ... quite thin, and way overcooked. No snappy fresh vibrant green beans here. They were soft, soft, soft. Little flavor. I kept trying to like them, but really, they were not enjoyable. *.
And finally, the element I was most looking forward to, sweet potato gratin! I had to laugh at the same portion size, although, with the rest of the feast, I really didn't need it to be bigger.
It was ok. Soft sweet potato slices, cream/cheese binding it together, lots of "Thanksgiving" style herbs. The spicing from the herbs was a bit too aggressive for me, much like pumpkin spice can be. It lacked a crispy top, and anything really compelling to keep drawing me back in. Low ***.
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| Custom Ice Cream Sundae. |
Tillamook® vanilla bean ice cream sundae
"Tillamook® vanilla bean ice cream sundae with assorted toppings."
Tillamook® chocolate ice cream holiday sundae
"Tillamook® chocolate ice cream holiday sundae with peppermint bark, mini marshmallows topped with fresh whipped cream."
I was pretty excited by the expanded ice cream sundae options. Because of the special holiday sundae, the regular lineup of vanilla ice cream, hot fudge/caramel, nuts/choc chips, whipped cream, and cherry was joined by a second base ice cream flavor (chocolate), along with peppermint bark and mini marshmallows as toppings.
I was also excited because this was my first semi-daytime flight with a United sundae (they are always evening for me!), so I was going to get to try the hot fudge. I'm always stuck with caramel since I avoid caffeine later in the day. I love good thick rich hot fudge.
When it arrived, my excitement continued. It looked great! Until I looked more closely. What I asked for vanilla ice cream, "just a little hot fudge", almonds, whipped cream, and peppermint bark. What I got was ... chocolate ice cream, tons of chocolate sauce, chocolate chips, almonds, whipped cream, and peppermint bark. Sigh. I don't like chocolate ice cream, and I realized that error before I took a single bite, so I asked for it to be remade. I again said, "just a little hot fudge, almonds, whipped cream, and peppermint bark".
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| Custom Ice Cream #2. |
The second version at least had vanilla ice cream, but, it too had an extreme amount of chocolate sauce (not the "little" I had requested, and definitely not "hot fudge" as advertised), and was covered in chocolate chips I didn't order. The sliced almonds, peppermint bark, and whipped cream were correct.
This was ... ok. The ice cream was served hard, not a rock, but definitely not nicely soft. This was fine, I was stuffed from the feast, and waiting a little for it to melt was not a bad thing. Tillamook is decent enough ice cream, not great, but decent (I preferred hagen-datz!). Pretty basic vanilla. *** ice cream.
The chocolate sauce I hated. It seemed to be just Hershey syrup (or something similar). Definitely not hot fudge. Hot fudge should be, firstly, hot. And thick. And rich. This was thin watery cold syrup. And zomg, so much of it. Pools of syrup I disliked. BOOO. This whole time I've thought I was missing out by never getting to have hot fudge, but, turns out, I wasn't missing out at all. *.
The almonds were fine, sliced, great for crunch, but also tons of them. Chocolate chips were mini size, dark chocolate (or at least semi-sweet), and were tasty, but I didn't actually want that much chocolate at this point, hence why I hadn't ordered them. Whipped cream was fine. All pretty average toppings. ***.
The peppermint bark was a single piece perched on top. It was good, perhaps Ghirardelli? Creamy chocolate, nice mint, yup. A fun seasonal touch.
Overall, well, some highlights, some lowlights, mostly because I didn't get what I ordered, and because the hot fudge was indeed not that. In the future, I'd go back to caramel I guess (or, verify that they have real hot fudge, I really think I've seen it on some flights ...).
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| Triple Chocolate Cheesecake |
The other dessert option, advertised by the FA as 'chocolate cake', was a triple chocolate cheesecake (per the actual menu). I think the triple was the chocolate cheesecake base itself (1), the chocolate fudge-like topping (2), and chocolate studding it (3)?
It was pretty decent cheesecake, very smooth, creamy, rich. Incredibly chocolate forward. The fairly small slice was appropriate. It ate a bit more like a very firm thick chocolate mousse than a cheesecake necessary, as I didn't taste super strong cream cheese, but this didn't bother me.
It was good, and definitely best served with some whipped cream on the side (which wasn't offered, but you could certainly as for, as they have it for the sundaes). ***+.
Arrival Meal
And then, just 2 hours later, when we were about 1.5 hours outside of Newark, it was time to eat again. In this direction (the faster direction), in winter (with the tailwinds), yeah, second meal is really not needed (although I'd love just a little togo option, as I do tend to get hungry for just a little something more once I reach an east coast destination). But a real meal? Yeah ... The total flight time is less than 5 hours!
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| Menu. |
I was actually quite excited for the fritters, or, at least I was before my flight, but I was still so stuffed I couldn't really imagine eating them at this point. Most other passengers skipped this meal service; of the 16 seats, I think 3 of us opted for something (one other person got the same dish as me, and my seat mate got the salad). I of course partook "for research" (and yes, I had a container with me to stash them in, on ice). The meals were served near instantly after ordering, clearly already heated and ready to go, and I suspect mostly tossed in the trash.
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| Cod Fritters. |
"Cod fritter with minted smashed peas and grilled lemon slices."
The dish was a lighter portion, two small size cod cakes (really cakes, not fritters ... fritters I think of as more fried, and potentially a different shape?), and just two spoonfuls of the smashed peas.
The peas honestly didn't taste like peas, nor mint, they just tasted like ... uh .. green soft warm mashed ... something herby? Definitely strange, and not particularly good. *.
Also herby was the sauce that came in a little plastic condiment container. Mayo and herbs. It wasn't listed on the menu, but I'd call it an herb aioli probably? It was fine, and it did go well enough with the cakes.
The cakes were decent. Certainly not crispy, just rather soft, so not the quality you'd get actually in a restaurant obviously. But the flavor was fine, a bit fishy but not in an off-putting way. Seemingly a fair amount of filler. A strange pre-arrival snack, but I didn't dislike them. ***.
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