I recently had the pleasure of a special family trip which involved my first-ever trip on British Airways first class. This included access to the Concorde Room at Washington Dulles, which is British Airways’ fine dining option. Although I knew going in the British Airways Gallery was a fairly straightforward business class lounge, I was excited to not only review the lounge, but also the Concorde Room. Here’s my take with my Washington Dulles British Airways Galleries review.
As a reminder, for internal “house” reviews, we score on the same 1-3 scale we use elsewhere. A 3 indicates that a given category exceeded reviewer expectations, a 2 indicates it met expectations, and a 1 failed to meet expectations. We evaluate the categories we believe are most relevant to the flight, hotel, or lounge experience.
Details
Name of Lounge: British Airways Galleries
Location: Washington Dulles Terminal B
Time/Length of Visit: 3:00 PM – 5:30 PM
Date of Visit: October 17, 2019
Seating – 2/3
There were several different types of seats throughout the lounge, ranging from seats along the windows to a few small lounge rooms, benches, and bar seating. The lounge was quite crowded throughout our visit; we were able to secure seating in the general area near the bar, but it was among the last seats available when we arrived.
Drink – 2/3
The lounge had a nice bar setup and was serving a variety of mixed drinks as well as wine and beer. Of note, the coffee – although it was from a standard espresso machine – was quite good.
Food – 1/3
The buffet food offerings were definitely on the sad side, with a few light sandwiches and soup options available. There were also some displays of bar snacks such as pretzels, wasabi peas, etc. I can’t speak to the Club World dining options as we were dining at the Concorde Room, reviewed below.
Cleanliness – 2/3
The overall cleanliness of the lounge was acceptable, particularly given the crowd of people.
Bathrooms – 1/3
The bathrooms, on the other hand, were appalling. They were in poor cleanliness and in general dark and kind of dingy. I ended up using the general airport bathrooms instead, and those aren’t exactly what I’d call ideal either.
Views – 2/3
Washington Dulles isn’t exactly the greatest plane-spotting environment, but the bar area of the lounge had a nice view of the runway and we got to see some interesting planes taxi by. However, the area where you can view the runway is comparatively limited. There are also views of the terminal, which are nice and make the lounge feel a bit airier.
WiFi – 2/3
The WiFi was an acceptable speed throughout my stay. I did not run a speed test.
Concorde Room – 3/3
The Concorde Room, which really was a small seating area with a full bar and several dining tables, was the true highlight of this visit. The dining room was quite nice both in terms of appearance and service. Unlike the lounge, the Concorde Room had plenty of space, with only a few other diners, and it never got more than half full.
The menu, above, had multiple delicious looking options. Not wanting to spoil our appetites for the plane, we went with light snacks. I went with the scallops and the apple and beet salad, while my father got the cheese plate. The food was restaurant quality and quite enjoyable, as were the drinks. I was particularly impressed with my scallops – scallops can be finicky both in terms of getting quality seafood and cooking them properly. They tasted great and had the perfect texture. As a preview to my upcoming review, I would recommend that flyers dine in the Concorde Room and then sleep on the fast transatlantic flight. Based on the dishes I had both on the ground and in the air, the Concorde Room was far superior.
Given how crowded the business lounge area was, I kind of disappointed that the lounge receptionist did not suggest we just camp out in there as opposed to the common area. We would have had much more space to spread out and it would have been more of a first class experience – which we had paid for.
Washington Dulles British Airways Galleries Review Bottom Line – 2/3
At the expense of reinventing the wheel, the Washington Dulles British Airways Galleries – excluding the Concorde Room – is a fairly middle of the road lounge. It’s not a bad place to spend time – if you can get seats – but not worth a special trip in any way. The Concorde Room, on the other hand, is quite good and worth the stop and a few drinks for sure. Just cozy up to a nook and get to eating and drinking!