Lounge Review: United Polaris Lounge SFO

In June, I departed for a crazy trip throughout 6 European countries, the first being Turkey. We booked one way tickets to IST in Turkish Airlines Business class (flight review coming soon), giving us access to the United Polaris Lounge SFO. In this post, I’ll review the various aspects of the lounge, including the a la carte dining.

United Polaris Lounge SFO Access & Location

The United Polaris Lounge SFO can be accessed in two ways: on departure, arrival, or while connecting if you are flying same day United longhaul business class, or on departure if you are flying Star Alliance business or first class out of SFO.

The lounge is located in the International Terminal, to the right after clearing security.

United Polaris Lounge SFO Layout

The lounge consists of two floors, and you enter on the ground floor. After scanning your boarding pass at the front desk, continue forward to access either the escalators/lifts to the first floor, or the ground floor seating area, which is significantly smaller and less crowded than the first floor.

The ground floor mainly consists of seating – a mix of individual pods, dining tables, and seats by the windows.

In one corner is a small snack setup with some drinks, cookies, and fruits. Obviously it’s not as good as the a la carte dining upstairs, but it’s nice that there are a few refreshments easily accessible.

Also located on the ground floor are the shower suites and sleep suites, which I didn’t use because I had no particular reason to do so, but they are definitely a welcome amenity for connecting passengers.

Upstairs, you will find plenty of additional seating, along with the bar, buffet, and a la carte dining.

If you turn right after exiting the escalator, you’ll be heading in the direction of the bar and buffet. While there are various seating options in this direction, including individual “pods”, I would recommend choosing a seat on the left (after exiting the escalator) side. I found this area to be the quietest section of the lounge by far, and that seems to be consistent.

Here are some pictures of the seating on the right side of the lounge (taken after a majority of people departed the lounge):

And the left:

If you continue all the way to the left and around the corner, you’ll find another small room which was completely deserted during my recent visit. There was also a small snack setup with some oranges and apples, bananas, cookies, and granola slices, plus strawberry-infused water. If you want a quiet place to work or spread out, this is the section of the lounge I would recommend. The one disadvantage is its distance from the buffet, making it annoying to bring food back and forth.

Right next to the escalator is the customer service desk (which was unattended the entire time I was there), as well as 3 private phone/work rooms.

There are also two sets of restrooms upstairs, both single stall and, from my experience, kept incredibly clean. And I really like the sparkling ceilings in the hallways.

I want to point out two other things I liked about the lounge – the variety of colourful artwork that didn’t distract from the relaxing ambience, and (of course) the tarmac views.

United Polaris Lounge SFO Food/Dining

What I would consider to be the highlight of the Polaris lounge, and what sets it apart from other US airline lounges, are the food and dining options.

United Polaris Lounge SFO Buffet

To start with, there is a relatively extensive buffet consisting of both hot and cold items, a salad bar, charcuterie, fruits, and a few dessert options. My only critique is that there could be more desserts to choose from, but you’ll find more of those inside the restaurant.

In addition there was a selection of non-alcoholic drinks such as herbal iced tea, infused water, and coffee.

As a vegetarian, I was able to create a perfectly sufficient meal, and had plenty of selection, unlike in other lounge buffets where I’ve been limited to just bread and salad. Everything tasted good and fresh – I especially enjoyed the pasta and marinated rainbow carrots.

United Polaris Lounge SFO The Dining Room

The other main dining option at the SFO Polaris Lounge is The Dining Room, an a la carte sit down restaurant inside the lounge. It’s completely free, and is open to all lounge guests for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Breakfast is served until 11am, and lunch/dinner the rest of the day.

Here is The Dining Room menu as of my recent visit (late June 2022):

To be honest, although the experience of eating at a sit down restaurant may be more enjoyable for most people than a buffet, the food quality is exactly the same. I also found that there were far fewer options for vegetarians, at least on the lunch/dinner menu.

I just ordered dessert from restaurant, as I love buffets and wanted to eat the majority of my meal from there. However, my dad had both an appetizer and main course, the Pork Bao Bun and Signature Polaris Burger. He liked both of them, although the fries that came with the burger were lacking salt.

For dessert I had the Olive Oil Chocolate Cake, which had a good flavour, although when the server first brought it out, I thought they’d forgot to put the cake on the plate – it was that tiny! I really wish the portion size had been bigger, as there was more fruit than cake, and the cake wasn’t particularly rich. It was a little dry on its own, but when combined with the vanilla sauce, that wasn’t a problem.

I also sampled a bite of my dad’s Thai Lime Budino, which had a strong lime flavour, although I wasn’t a huge fan of the texture.

Overall, the food was high quality compared to what you find in most US airline lounges, and I was quite impressed.

United Polaris Lounge SFO Bar

Of course, if you want an alcoholic drink, there’s also the bar. Obviously I did not have anything to drink, but it’s there as an option for those who want it.

United Polaris Lounge SFO Service

Overall I found the service at the SFO Polaris Lounge to be rather friendly. They were very attentive and always cleaning the restrooms and maintaining the buffet. My one frustration is that I received a lot of weird stares from while photographing the food, which turned out to be a common theme throughout this trip. However, I can’t really complain about that as I’m the one doing the “weird” thing.

Final Thoughts

This was my first time being in the United Polaris Lounge SFO since the start of the pandemic, and thankfully the experience was relatively normal. I do remember it being quieter the last time I visited, but that was a late night departure around when it first opened. Even now, with the surge in summer travel, it wasn’t horribly overcrowded, and I was able to find a quiet area to sit. The food selection was more than adequate, and I appreciated how clean they kept the tables and bathrooms.

Is it the best business class lounge in the world, as claimed on the bright purple sign by the escalators? I’m not sure about that, but it’s definitely great for a US airline business class lounge.