There’s a difference between free inexpensive snacks and drinks found in many airport lounges and a nice steak dinner for the entire family. Priorty Pass has added Timberline Steaks & Grill in Denver to its broadening definition of airport lounges. I welcome the addition while questioning its sustainability.
The menu looks good — you can view it here (sans prices). Yelp claims the prices are between $11-30 each. Breakfast is available as well as lunch and dinner.
Here’s how Priority Pass characterizes the restaurant–
An American steakhouse, featuring hot-off-the-grill items including organically raised natural beef, buffalo burgers, all-natural chicken, USDA prime steaks, sandwiches, salads and a full bar with more than 30 wines and 50 beers, with a smoking lounge located adjacent to the restaurant. Members and guests will receive complimentary access to the smoking lounge only after visit has been processed. Enter restaurant through main entrance.
Priority Pass will give you $28/person in credit at the restaurant. Traveling with others? A family of four receives $112 toward food and drink (just not gratuity) if you have a Chase Sapphire Reserve card. That won’t be enough for drinks, appetizers, main courses, and dessert for everyone, but it should be more than enough for a decent meal.
Is this Sustainable?
We don’t know how much Priority Pass pays for $28 in credit. We also also do not know how much American Express or Chase pay Priority Pass for their cardholders. I just question how this benefit makes financial sense when a few dinners can potentially outset the full year’s membership fee.
Then again, Timberline Steaks & Grill is located in Terminal C at DEN, not the most convenient. Most travelers will have to make a deliberate effort to eat here, though it will be ideal if you fly Southwest. Service is allegedly slow.
Perhaps I overestimate how many will take advantage of it, but Priority Pass doesn’t, providing the following disclaimer–
Please note that the restaurant may exceed their seating limit at certain times of the day & access to the restaurant is at their sole discretion.
We will see how that turns out…I’d say take advantage of it sooner rather than later if flying from DEN.
CONCLUSION
Priority Pass seemingly becomes more valuable each day. For my next trip, I’ll try to schedule a Denver connection to check this out.
Let’s say you have one accompanying guest and thus receive $56 off the check. However, you have to pay Priority Pass the fee for bringing a guest. How much is it? Is it $27? I think it’s 24 euros for us.
And if you go alone you get those $28 off the bill. And if you visit a lounge instead? You don’t need to pay either. And I guess if you could pay for your entry to a lounge, you wouldn’t pay a handful of bucks for some inexpensive snacks. It would be more or less something in the range of those $28.
So I don’t think it’s much of a difference for Priority Pass if they pay the lounge for your visit or pay the restaurant for your dine.
So if it is sustainable to pay for one’s lounge visits then it should still be sustainable with the addition of a few restaurants.
If you have a chase card that gives you free priority pass, namely the sapphire reserve or the Ritz Carlton card, you get free unlimited guests, so if I had 4 people in my group, ai would get 112 of free food and not have to pay anything extra
“steve_ss” gave a link in the comments section over at OMAAT for the menu with prices.
http://dia-food.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/timberline_spot2.pdf
The really are pretty reasonable. It’s a great deal in a PITA location for me connecting with Denver. But I might schedule an extra long layover to try it out. I hope it’s only the start for US airports.
Thanks for posting this!
I get their buffalo burger every time I fly to Denver. It’s actually quite good.
Don’t get too excited about their steaks. I ate there Friday with the PP. The food is nothing to write home about and isn’t a stellar steakhouse. Much lower on my list then Elway’s in B. Granted I’ll likely take the hike over to C before or after flights for a free burger and beer. DEN isn’t exactly home to many awesome restaurants.
I don’t know how they do it but my wife and I were there yesterday in Denver. We received a $28 credit each while there. And yes the service was slow.
Just enjoyed a buffalo burger, salad, and glass of reisling at Timberline with only 84 cents, plus tip, on my credit card. The place is hopping at 2 pm. My waitress said they’ve had 200-300 Priority Pass customers today. I arrived at my ultimate destination and decided used to have lunch before taking an Uber home. Thanks to the travel bloggers for alerting me to this opportunity!