Capital One Landing DCA is the first fine dining airport restaurant that’s free with the right credit card. The food is spectacular, and you can even make reservations.

It’s been two years since Capital One unveiled plans for a new airport concept of a restaurant instead of a lounge, and we’ll finally get to see the first one. Capital One Landing is open as of Tuesday, November 19th at Washington’s Reagan National airport, with the José Andrés partnership coming to New York LaGuardia as well.

I had a chance to try it prior to opening. When it wasn’t busy, it was phenomenal. We’ll have to see how this scales, but the facility that is free to Venture X cardmembers is well-staffed with a large kitchen and offers reservations. The idea is to offer a ‘restaurant quality’ meal or snack before you’re flight that you’d be happy with even if it wasn’t in the airport, but with power outlets at each seat, wifi, and places to stash your luggage. Pre-opening it succeeded and I can’t wait to go back under normal travel conditions.

Capital One Landing DCA Location

The space is located at the entrance to the terminal 2 D concourse.

Since all concourses of terminal 2 are now inside security (National Hall), you can easily access Capital One Landing no matter whom you’re flying – as long as it’s not Air Canada, Frontier, or Southwest which operate out of the old banjo terminal 1 which lacks amenities. (That terminal used to have a Northwest World Club outside of security, but even that is long gone. They had just gotten budget approval to repaint when they were acquired by Delta.)

Whether you’re departing from a United or Delta flight on the B concourse, or an American Airlines regional jet out of E, you can easily access this lounge. There are even moving walkways between D and E.

Accessing the Capital One Landing DCA

Complimentary access to Capital One Landing DCA comes with the Venture X and Venture X Business cards, starting three hours prior to scheduled departure. Boarding pass with seat assignment required. This allows one guest, with additional guests $45 each.

My wife has a complimentary additional user card on my account which will give her access on her own, and traveling together we have a total of two guests. Children under two don’t count against the guest total.

Purchased access is available for $90 per visit, though Venture and Spark Miles cardholders can purchase access for $45.

There’s also a separate grab ‘n go market beside the restaurant space that is open to anyone, offering items for sale (that honestly look pretty good) for which Venture X and Venture X Business cardholders receive a 50% discount on purchased items.

Hours for Capital One Landing DCA are 6 a.m. – 9 p.m. daily. (The grab ‘n go is open 5 a.m. – 10 p.m.)

Making Reservations To Ensure A Spot At Capital One Landing DCA

This is a 5,500 square foot space – perhaps half the size of a standard lounge. And while this isn’t an international airport where people tend to arrive extra early, or have long connections (though it is a hub for American Airlines), people are going to show up for this.

When you offer free food, people come early. When it’s good food, more people come still. They stay longer, too. People come at the end of lunch for Las Vegas buffets to stay through the changeover into dinner! And there’s a reason these buffets set time limits for guests, too.

So how are they going to manage crowds? They are doing several things that are quite innovative.

• Already, they offer a digital waitlist in their mobile app. This has worked quite well at their airport lounges. You don’t have to show up and wait in line – go somewhere else, and only come over when it’s your turn. Plus, you can join the waitlist before you’re actually ready to enter. We’ll figure out soon enough how far in advance it’s necessary to add yourself in order to just show up when you make it to the airport (e.g. when you get in your Uber, or when you make it to the curb).

• They’re introducing reservations for this space so you can enter the dining room at a pre-arranged time. Reservations are available between 6 months and 1 day prior to travel. There is no penalty for missing your reservation, and there’s a 15 minute grade period for making your reserved time. Try to make a reservation immediately on booking your flight and of course if you have a schedule change, you may want to adjust your reservation if possible.

Initially the quantity of reservations offered are going to be limited, since they want to ensure plenty of availability for walk-ins, but they anticipate expanding the reservations pool as they work to manage this.

Another thing they’re doing is showing you to a table when you enter the space. It’s like a restaurant. While there will be people coming up to the tapas bar for items you don’t order via QR code, they don’t want people milling about looking for a table. This also helps them control seating so that party sizes are matched to available space. This way when you enter you will have a place to sit, in fact you will be seated right away.

The Capital One Landing Space

The space is really attractive, and there are airport views on two sides which also means plenty of natural light.

There’s a dining room and a bar, as well as tables out on the patio that sits ‘in the terminal’. You’ll notice that the flooring is different for seats inside and outside the lounge.

The airport insisted that Capital One could only change the flooring inside. The space was still walled off while I was there, but you can see this is the area that extends into the terminal.

There are various kinds of tables, in addition to the main dining area.

It’s the airport’s requirements, also, that lead to the paid grab ‘n go. The space in the entryway to the D concourse is slated for providing food service to passengers, so needs to be open to everyone. And the airport takes a slice of revenue. But that food looks good and at 50% off is a good option to pick up a charcuterie plate for instance.

Inside there are power outlets at every seat, and high top tables have charging pads built in. There are purse and coat hooks beneath tables, and luggage storage spots beneath bench seating.

The space has two private bathrooms, that feature changing tables.

At tables, you order food (whatever items you wish, in whatever quantities) via QR code. You can also approach the tapas bar, and the dessert bar.

Staff bring around carts delivering surprise and delight items, from alcohol (mimosa carts, construct your own gin and tonic) to food items like labneh cream cheese cones with caviar and burnt cheesecake.

Food Is Really Good

The center of the experience here of course is food. It’s a tapas offering – small plates that’s Spanish-influenced, though not exclusively so since it’s trying to cater to a wide variety of travelers.

And everything from the hot dishes to the cocktails are geared towards quick service. Though they weren’t at full capacity, so I’m reserving judgment on their speed of execution, I timed my order at 8 minutes from submitting on my smartphone to food delivery.

Spanish breads and olive oils come from José Andrés Group purveyors that are used outside the airport. There’s jamon sourced from Spain (probably the most expensive food item in the lounge – it’s not the caviar garnish).

In addition to ordering hot items tableside via QR code, and walking up to the tapas bar and the dessert bar, trolleys circulate throughout the day with various items as well.

Here’s a selection from the tapas bar. This was really quite simple but amazing. You must try the anchovies in olive oil and salt.

The dessert bar, by the way, also features soft serve ice cream which is amazing with olive oil.

All of this is possible from a large kitchen considering that airport space comes at a premium and the lounge is so small. There are restaurants outside the airport where chefs would be jealous of this much space dedicated to their craft.

Here’s the breakfast menu and the lunch/dinner menu.

Here are the foods that I tried. Overall, everything was excellent. While I had my favorites (again, the anchovies), I didn’t hear disappointment in any dish from anyone in attendance. This is – of course – a pre-opening so may or may not reflect delivery at scale. But it gives you a sense of what to expect.

Gambas al Ajillo

Caesar salad, flan, and burnt basque cheesecake

Croquetas

Tableside Labneh Cone with caviar and lemon being prepared:

And the cone, served:

Carne Asada con Mojo Verde

Anchovies and Jamon

Beverage Program Seems Excellent

The beverage program features Spanish and local D.C. and Northern Virginia-area wines and beers, as well as sangria (which is on tap).

Here’s the beverage menu:

While Capital One lounges do have premium drinks available at an upcharge, there are no upcharge items here and the spirits are reasonably premium.

There are also sodas and bottles of water in a small refrigerator available for takeaway as well as by the tapas bar – no need to visit the paid grab ‘n go.

Grab ‘n Go Offering Here Is Paid – Not Free

At Capital One’s lounges in Dallas, Denver, and at Washington Dulles there is a grab ‘n go section near the entrance where passengers can take food and beverages with them. It’s complimentary.

Here there’s a grab and go market that is more separated from the restaurant space, and open to anyone passing through the terminal. It is not free. There’s limited nice seating, open to everyone also, on departure or arrival.

Food options include sandwiches and salads as well as charcuterie plates that come from José Andrés Group which are packaged alongside gourmet snacks and beverages. It’s all for purchase – with Venture X and Venture X Business receiving a 50% discount.

Here’s a close-up of offerings from the case:

DCA Is Now One Of The Best Lounge Airports In The Country

Washington’s National airport features 3 American Airlines clubs, a United Club (the old formal dining room at the airport), a Delta Sky Club and an American Express Centurion lounge. Now there’s also a Capital One dining concept which will have by far the best food at the airport (even among paid restaurants).

I would eat here over the Centurion lounge at the airport, and of course over the airline lounges in the airport. I just wish it was larger, since I want to see it easily accessible by cardmembers. The systems they have in place for managing capacity seem promising but we’ll have to see it in action. Fortunately, the upcoming Capital One Landing at New York LaGuardia is nearly twice the size of this one.

If I were spending a lot of time at this airport, I’d probably come here for a meal, but then feel guilty about staying and might head over to the American Airlines Admirals Club on the E Concourse to work? I suspect others will just plug in and graze leisurely, making the most of three hours’ prior to scheduled departure.