American Airlines Just Refreshed Lounge Food Again — Pho Bars, Cocoa Bars, And A New Admirals Club Bagel Play

American Airlines just did a lounge food update for November and December. And already they’ve announced another refresh.

To be sure, I won’t miss the Korean barbecue pork. It was flavorful, standard buffet fare, though the fried brown rice didn’t quite hit. If you’re going to do fried rice, just lean into that, don’t pretend it’s healthy.

Flagship lounges get new dishes on the buffets, like coconut lemongrass salmon in Chicago, apricot and ginger pork in Los Angeles; beef bulgogi in Dallas; and a Pho bar in Philadelphia. This Miami dessert could be dangerous:

Ghirardelli cocoa bar with butterscotch sticks, white and dark chocolate chips, marshmallows, Andes Mints, whipped topping and caramel and chocolate sauce

American’s business class Flagship lounges are a step above their base clubs in food, but honestly they don’t come close to the offerings in United’s Polaris lounges or Delta’s dedicated business class lounges. Honestly they lag Capital One and Chase lounges, too. Of course American’s business class lounges are open to far more passengers – from premium cabin customers flying cross-country in certain markets, to coach passengers with mid-tier status flying internationally (and international oneworld partner mid-tier passengers flying domestic).

I’m actually most interested in the changes in Admirals Clubs. It seems like they’re taking the existing avocado toast option and substituting bagels for the toast, more or less. Still, depending on the execution this could be excellent. I bet the tomatoes and onions will be sliced too thinly!

Ultimately it comes down to the quality of the bagels. It’s possible to do bagels right in a lounge.

When the Capital One lounge at New York JFK opened, they were par baking Ess-a-Bagels. They were 70% done prior to arrival in the lounge, and then freshly finished off throughout the day. I haven’ tbeen back to that lounge since July, and some readers have told me that the high quality I experienced in June and in July hasn’t held up. But it can be done!

I’m a little less enthused by the waffle bars, personally – I’d rather have a bagel and lox than a waffle with chocolate sauce, whipped cream and sprinkles. (Though an ice cream bar with some of these toppings could be amazing.)

Whether or not these hit once they debut, I appreciate that American seems to be trying again, even if within a budget (in the past it’s been ‘whatever Mastercard would pay for’). They’re not letting the offerings get stale, and promise that “In February, Flagship® lounges will transition to a spring lineup, followed by Admirals Club® lounge locations in March.” So these are just winter offerings – not intended to be here year-round.