Capital One opened their first restaurant instead of a lounge last month, and my takeaway was that it was shockingly excellent. I was there pre-opening, saw the space, tried the food and was excited. Everything was delicious – in an airport!

I had the opportunity to test the Capital One Landing at Washington’s Reagan National airport again, and this time under ‘real world’ conditions over the past week.

I am always skeptical that execution of food will be as good when the executives aren’t there, and under pressure to turn out dishes at the type of volume necessary for a full house of travelers.

Since I’d be in the airport, I made a reservation in the Capital One app. A couple of weeks out, I had no difficulty making a booking and there were plenty of times available. As I write this, there are bookings available only one day in December, and 27 of 31 days in January.

• Capital One said they’d be making only a limited number of reservations available initially, to leave plenty of space for walk-ins.

• There’s also no penalty for missing a reservation, so I wonder what their no show rate is?

• Make a booking if you can, once you know your travel plans out of the airport. But don’t assume you won’t be able to enjoy it if you can’t.

I walked in at 5:30 p.m. and the place was mostly empty. I didn’t need a reservation. Everyone was friendly, the food was great, and service was quick.

Would you believe that hot items were delivered to my table within the time it took to wash my hands in the restroom and stop for one to two minutes at the tapas bar? Four minute delivery of food is outstanding.

Have a drink.

Visit the tapas bar. Ask for as much of everything as you’d like. Go back.

Plates and portions are small. You can have as many of anything as you’d like. Order from your table by QR code – since the steak is just three slices, order two (or three!). I enjoy all of it, but give the steak, shrimp, and croquettes a try.

Surely peak departure times will be more challenging, but I’ve heard plenty of reports of walking in without difficulty for now. As with all such things, as word spreads these spaces become busier.

If there was one disappointment, though, it’s that the ice cream machine was already broken while I was there. I did enjoy the flan, but I would have loved an ice cream. Does Plaza Premium Group, which runs the space, know that they can now repair ice cream machines themselves?

I don’t know that the Capital One Landing will stay this accessible. And once it gets busy, perhaps they’ll exceed all budgets in food cost. Amex doesn’t seem to invest as much in food as they did a decade ago. But for now at least, you should go. Capital One Landing is such a win for travelers out of National airport, and soon coming to LaGuardia.