Capital One Landing, Capital One’s innovation in taking a restaurant space in an airport and using that instead of a lounge to deliver a dining-first experience to Venture X cardmembers, opened at Washington’s National Airport back in November. Another one is planned for New York LaGuardia.

Teaming up with José Andrés Group, they deliver a Spanish tapas experience. I’m my several visits over the past several months, I’ve found it to be truly excellent across the board – not just a ‘free restaurant in an airport’ but a meal I’d be happy to enjoy any time. I’d definitely see myself suggesting heading there to my wife as part of the repertoire if they were a neighborhood restaurant (charging normal prices).

I covered meals there back in December and in March and maybe other times, too. I travel to D.C. frequently because I lived there for 18 years, my office is there, and as regular readers know I don’t just write this blog (with no employees and no contributors) but I have a job in D.C. too.

So while there’s no bank lounge (yet) in my home airport, Washington National is my ‘home away from home’ airport and I’m fortunate to have the American Airlines Admirals Club on the E concourse, which was the first one in their new style, and still my favorite.

There are several things that I love about this ‘lounge’ that make it special.

• They take reservations. When I book a D.C. trip I immediately head to the Capital One app to make a reservation here. There generally hasn’t been a line to get in when I’ve flown from here, though the space was quite full when I visited this week. But it’s nice to know I won’t have a wait when I get there, considering how packed other premium lounges can be.

  They take you to your table. You’re not wandering the space looking for a seat. This is run like a real upscale restaurant.

• Food is made-to-order. I’ll take this over a buffet every time. Even if they’re preparing things en masse, or just finishing things off to order, food comes out hot and fresh and right when it should be eaten and that’s going to mean a better experience than even plated dishes sitting under a heat lamp.

  I’d rate the food here above any Chase or American Express lounge and as better than at the Capital One lounges at Washington Dulles, Dallas and Las Vegas. It’s better than what you’ll find in any United Club or Delta Sky Club. It’s better than American’s Flagship lounges and I’d rate is better than Polaris lounges, but I suppose personal taste in genre of food will come into play here.

• Service is excellent. Everyone is exceptionally friendly and helpful.

View of American Airlines jets from an earlier visit

I had an espresso and their non-alcoholic ‘Flamingo Shuttle’ (guava, lime, soda water – fantastic).

This is the current lunch/dinner menu:

Once you place your order – and food usually takes just a few minutes to come out but certainly less than 10 – it’s a great opportunity to wash up in the restroom or visit the counter for salads or a plate of meat and cheeses. These photos from an earlier visit:

Ordering is via QR code, and you can select as much as you wish, and as many of each item as you wish.

Here’s the new taco:

And the new salmon. Salmon is often on buffets, prepared en masse and lukewarm. Here, fresh and hot, the dish was fantastic.

I’ve usually been in the lounge in the evening and missed the ‘ritual carts’. This time a couple of them came by while I was dining. There’s a full bar in the Landing in addition to drinks that can be delivered via QR code, but here a staff member comes by to offer customized gin and tonics tableside – select your preferred gin (they’ll explain the flavor profiles), your tonic, and accompaniments.

I watched as a traveler’s eyes lit up at the table across from me when they came by. He had a beer (and it sounded like under local rules that they had to take his beer in order to make him a G&T). He was happy to part with it. This was such a surprise and delight moment and experience for him.

Then the caviar cart came by a little bit later (caviar dolloped on top of labneh cream cheese cones).

I’ve been in a couple of times where the ice cream machine was broken. I learned a few weeks ago that they were replacing the machine with a different model. The machine was working while I was there this past week. Dessert is available behind a counter – they’ll get it for you from a case, or make your ice cream (with chocolate sauce and nuts if you wish). The flan is excellent.

I love that they’re refreshing the menu, and I understand they’ll be turning it over further for fall. Some of the plates do seem to be showing wear from use, scratches and design scuffed around the edges. But it’s a really nice restaurant in an airport and Capital One is doing a fantastic job with it – which makes me excited to see the LaGuardia location when it opens. I’d gladly spend time here over just about any lounge in the United States.

Even aside from the strong initial bonus offer, use of these lounges makes Capital One Venture X a no-brainer for me. The $300 travel portal credit and 10,000 bonus points at card renewal ‘cover’ the annual fee in my view, it’s the value option among premium travel credit cards, and while it will stop providing free guest access to lounges next year that just means a spouse or travel partner should get the card too (and its bonus)…