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I thought United had reached a level of disgusting that I had not seen in a while with its Esquites Salad (review here). That was nothing compared to the horror that is the Sirloin Steak that I was served while flying from Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to Las Vegas Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) today. It looked nasty and tasted even worse. When attempting to saw through it, the pool of grease below it splashed all over me. The flight attendant saw how grossed out I was and commented that she was not sure it was even real meat and was probably lab grown (that’s a ringing endorsement).
United pictures its Sirloin Steak looking like the photo above and describes it as “Sirloin steak with gruyere mashed potatoes, broccolini, charred sweet onions, and french onion demi glace.”
The meal started with a choice of beverage and warmed mixed nuts. I ordered a ginger ale.
The tray arrived with a room temperature bread roll, the “steak”, some white glop that was mashed potatoes, some green glop that was broccolini, as well as a pitiful salad and United’s latest disappointing dessert (which the claim is Key Lime Pie).
The steak tasted rancid and was incredibly tough to cut through. The knife given was not adequate and honestly a table saw would have struggled.
United needs to get rid of its Key Lime Pie immediately. It looks nothing like the photo and after tasting it last week, I was not subjecting myself to that again. I’m also not sure if United could find a more pitiful mint sprig or put less whipped cream on the plate.
Anthony’s Take: Just when I think United has hit bottom with its catering, the carrier always manages to say “hold my beer.” This is one of the worst airline meals I have ever had and proof that United really does not give a crap about what it’s serving First Class passengers.
(Pre-order Image Credit: United Airlines.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
6 comments
The easiest way to get quality food – at least up front – on flights is to force (excluding religious or ethical exemptions) all the executives to eat the same stuff for lunch at least once a week. If Kirby had to eat that every week I’d bet big money that the quality would improve in a hurry.
Sad to see this. Had a decent catering experience with this dish on my transatlantic flight; while not exceptional, it made the impression that UA’s catering was going the other direction, inching closer to premium carriers. Seems like there are more quality control challenges that United will need to figure out.
Again, I come here almost solely for your UA food reviews! I flew LHR to ORD on AA in J today. I chose the beef filet. It was medium rare, had an au jus that helped it taste extra tender and rich, and has some of the best potatoes I have ever had. The Caesar salad was incredibly flavorful. I couldn’t even eat it all.
The “light” arrival meal was an Aberdeen steak sandwich. AA has its flaws but it’s J food is not usually one of them.
That sounds so much better. Thank you for continuing to read. I’ll keep the meal reviews coming…the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Disagree, I had this on pit to den yesterday and it was much better presented and quite good. Of course mass production tends to lead to mediocrity with outliers like mine.
Steak has been my go-to meal on United for years and 8 out of 10 times it’s pretty good. Every once in a while you get a bad piece of meat or it’s been heated for too long… But thelat has happened to me on the ground as well…
No matter what, it’s difficult to serve restaurant level meals at 30k ft…