Best Airport Restaurants
What is the deal with airport food? If only some standup comedian would tackle this vexing and universal subject: Airport food is stereotypically lackluster and sold for jacked-up prices by vendors capitalizing on a cranky and imprisoned audience.
Still, that perception is beginning to change as eateries pop up in airports considered destinations unto themselves.
To find some of the most praised restaurants, TripAdvisor looked at the busiest U.S. airports, according to the most recent information from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. They then ran down the airports’ most recently available list of eateries to determine the eateries with the highest Popularity Index rating based on user-generated reviews on TripAdvisor.com.
The resulting list of 10 airport restaurants is not exhaustive, but it does reflect the tastes and preferences of the general flying public. This is especially handy knowledge now that food service on flights is rare.
By Colleen KanePosted April 16, 2012
Los Angeles
Eatery: Encounter Restaurant
Serves: Contemporary Asian Californian
Popular menu item: Mushroom Ravioli
Encounter is that vintage-futuristic space-pod on arch legs (built in 1961) you see when exiting LAX terminals 6 and 7. Most reviewers say it is pricey — the signature Cobb salad is $18.75 — but the kitschy space-age atmosphere makes it an experience with 360-degree views. And appropriately for the city, one TripAdvisor review says, “You feel like [you’re] in a movie.”
Dallas - Fort Worth
Eatery: Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen
Serves: Seafood, American, Cajun & Creole
Popular menu item: Oysters
Terminal A’s Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen is part of a chain from the Pappas family of restaurants headquartered in Houston. Although it’s a chain, the seafood is fresh, not frozen.
“You won’t even know you are in an airport,” said one reviewer, and 100 percent of TripAdvisor reviewers recommend it. They also praise the quiet location, downstairs from the main bustle of the terminal.
Atlanta
Eatery: One Flew South
Serves: Sushi, New American
Popular menu item: Pulled duck sandwich
One Flew South, located in Terminal E at Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport, is actually the #1 rated restaurant in Atlanta on TripAdvisor and is recommended by 100 percent of the reviewers. “Wow — airport food isn’t supposed to be this good,” reads the headline of one recent review, and many others echo that sentiment. The wine selection also earns a lot of praise.
Chicago
Eatery: Tortas Frontera
Serves: Mexican
Popular menu item: Chipotle chicken torta, prickly pear agua fresca
Mexican food chef Rick Bayless has four other Chicago restaurants, but Tortas Frontera at Chicago’s O’Hare International holds its own among non-airport locations. Most reviewers mention that the food takes a little longer to prepare than typical airport fast food, but this is not typical airport food — and 100 percent recommend this restaurant.
Houston
Eatery: Pappadeux Seafood Kitchen
Serves: Seafood, American, Cajun & Creole
Popular menu item: Crab cake, oysters
The number 10 restaurant in all of Houston on TripAdvisor is also the second entry in this list of the Gulf-style seafood restaurant from the Pappas family of restaurants. This eatery at George Bush Intercontinental prompted one reviewer to mention a friend who routes his business travel through Houston just to eat there.
Denver
Eatery: Chef Jimmy’s Bistro & Spirits
Serves: Italian, Wine & Spirits
Popular menu item: Marinated skirt steak, green beans
Chef Jimmy’s is a popular stop on Concourse A at the Denver International Airport. People who reviewed Chef Jimmy’s seem to enjoy the variety and quality of “chef-inspired” breakfast, salads, sandwiches, dinner, cocktails and beer beyond the fare expected of a food court, and the affordable prices — though some couldn’t help but tack on, “for an airport.”
Minneapolis – St. Paul
Eatery: Surdyk’s Flights
Serves: New American, Wine & Spirits
Popular menu item: Roast turkey and manchego sandwich
Surdyk’s Liquor & Cheese shop has been a Minneapolis institution since 1934; more recently, the shop branched out with this wine market and eatery on the main concourse of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. In addition to sandwiches and small plates, it sells sandwiches and cheeses to bring on the plane and beyond.
“Seek it out — don’t eat anywhere else at MSP” advises one reviewer on TripAdvisor, who praised the selection of microbrews.
New Jersey
Eatery: Garden State Diner
Serves: Comfort Food
Popular menu item: Fries
Diners are practically the state restaurant of New Jersey, so it’s fitting that the most popular eatery at Newark Liberty International Airport is the Garden State Diner in Terminal C. Its burger recently drew positive coverage on the Serious Eats blog.
One reviewer called this diner “the closest thing to a ‘destination restaurant’ that an airport terminal can have.”
Seattle-Tacoma
Eatery: Anthony’s Fish Bar
Serves: Seafood
Popular menu item: Clam chowder, salmon taco
Anthony’s is a chain of locally owned restaurants in the Pacific Northwest that also operates a wholesale seafood company to ensure use of the freshest fish.
Its outpost, Anthony’s Fish Bar at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, is quite popular with travelers entering or departing the seafoodie city of Seattle. One TripAdvisor reviewer who travels more than 45 weeks a year declared Anthony’s the best airport food ever.
Boston
Eatery: Legal Sea Foods, Terminal C
Serves: Seafood
Popular menu item: Clam Chowder
Legal Sea Foods is part of a family of fresh fish restaurants dating to 1950, with 19 in the home state of Massachusetts alone. Two of those are in the Boston Logan Airport, in terminals B and C.
While reviewers note this is sit-down food, not fast food, that’s a good thing. A review of this “Boston classic at the airport” says, "When given the choice between a lobster roll and a hamburger at another airport vendor…who's complaining?”