New Capital One Lounge: Denver
Worth the Wait
On November 6, 2023, I had the opportunity to visit the newest lounge addition to my home airport, the Capital One Lounge. Like many others, I have been anxiously awaiting the opening of this lounge and I’m happy to report it was worth the wait. I arrived to the lounge just after 10am, an hour after the lounge opened for the day with their reduced soft-opening hours. I was greeted and promptly checked-in. The process is quick with a required boarding pass scan and credit card check to ensure qualifying access.
I soon found an empty table near the bar and food and got to work trying the raved-about food options.
For breakfast, I tried the Coconut-Chia Parfait, butter croissant, and Mini Dutch Pancakes. All were excellent with the standout being the chia parfait, the tastiest one I’ve had. As I am a firm believer that it is never too early for a cocktail at the airport, I had the enhanced mimosa and was delighted. I’m usually a skip-the-juice in my mimosa type of person but really enjoyed this balanced version.
After enjoying that I went on to try another cocktail – Ground Control to Major Tom. I like a strong drink with my go-to being a martini, but I did find this one a bit strong at first but also unsurprising with a stiff drink, it grew on me as I drank it down.
Just after 11 lunch food was swapped and I grabbed my selection. The Cucumber Salad was surprisingly bright and refreshing. So often we have heavy food when traveling that having such a hydrating salad was a treat. Nex time I will skip the Citrus Soba Noodle Salad as it was not very exciting and instead head right to the Mac & Cheese Cocotte. It’s hard to beat mac and cheese and thankfully they offer a vegetarian version that I can enjoy. As a vegetarian, there are often few filling food options at a lounge and I’m happy to say I left pleasantly full.
The true highlight was the service. I don’t know if it will always be so well staffed since some were in training, but I simply could not have expected better or more attentive service. Tables were constantly being cleaned to accommodate an active influx of more people. I also appreciated the design of the kitchen directly behind food service so there were few moments of major movement to replenish food. As other blogs have noted, there is fear this lounge will become overcrowded and/or create limits to bringing in guests. We can’t control that but right now, we can enjoy the experience.
I took a brief tour around the club before leaving for my flight. I had read that the restrooms were fully stocked. Unfortunately, the one I visited did not stock feminine products. Hopefully, this is something that can be addressed before more busy travelers pass through.
To access this lounge, you need to have the Capital One Venture X Card. This premium card has a $395 annual fee with an easy-to-use $300 hotel credit and very redeemable points. As of this posting, there is an elevated offer of 90,000 reward points when new cardholders spend at least $4000 in the first 3 months. I love using these points to erase travel purchases like tours and cash flights. When you’re ready to apply, please click this referral link HERE which does support our work.