Went in after flying home and ordered the lobster Mac and Cheese. The portions were small and the price was expected since it is in the airport. The flavor was good but the lobster meat was slightly over cooked. Maybe I just had Maine lobster and compared it to that which there is no competition.
Review Source:I never thought food at an airport would be this good. Â This is hands down the best cobb salad I ever had. Â I added the steak option and it was cooked perfectly medium rare. Â The dressing they had was simply amazing along with the grilled avocado. Â A+++ for Cat Cora and her staff!!! Even the rum and coke they made tasted so good.
I would definitely look forward to going to another of her places just for the Cobb Salad.
Semi-decent food option in Terminal 2. Cat Cora's name is a big draw (let's be honest) -- but this is an airport eatery, so scale down any expectations of Iron-Chef-like greatness. The lobster Mac n cheese was somewhere from OK enough (neither greasy nor heavy, not like a sledgehammer to the gut) to Fairly Good (if you're lucky enough to find more then 3-4 pieces of lobster in your bowl).
Review Source:A gazillion power outlets. Views of airplanes taking off OR your nearby gate if you're pressed for time. Laid-back and friendly staff. Delicious food that tends to be on the lighter (read: non-greasy) side. Kickass cocktails. Located in the ultra-gorgeous T2.
It doesn't get better than this.
Who knew airport food could taste so good!
From the looks of the menu, everything is amazing! but these are the ones I can vouch for. Â
1. Tomato soup with grilled cheese - Such a classic and simple combination but it was made perfectly.
2. Lobster mac and cheese - This is about as rich as you can make a dish yet it is surprisingly light. Yes, it had all the cheesy richness that a good mac and cheese is supposed to have, but it did not make me feel greasy and weight down
Best of all, a bar full of outlets to charge your electronics before getting on a plane. Every traveler's best friend.
Definitely beats your average airport on the go fare. Food was great, service was average at best. I loved the house salad. they steak tacos were good, slightly under seasoned. lamb meatballs were great. a bit earthy but I like that sort of thing. :)
of anywhere to eat in the airport, this would be my first choice.
I came to the airport with my own packed lunch made lovingly by my non-professional-cooking boyfriend. I ate his bruschetta sandwich while waiting for the first leg of my flight and wanted to get a little more to accompany a cous cous salad and cup of strawberries.
Cat Cora's Lamb Meatballs to-go seemed like a good choice.
They were overpriced at $9, but everything in airports is overpriced. I stepped in, made my order clearly to the bar tender and sat myself down amongst 10 or so other people in the fishbowl restaurant that could probably seat 40. A few minutes later, a confused waitress approached me before I told her the bar tender already had my order. Five minutes later she asked me if I'd like some water. The bar tender protested to the waitress that I already had my order made to-go. Thankfully, I still received a fancy glass of ice water with a lemon. I pulled out a book and starting sipping my water. Soon after my order arrived without a check. I easily could've just WALKED OUT with my meatballs! Instead, I walked around the bar give my credit card to the waitress. I ended up tipping $1 more for the fact she gave me water at all. Now, I was finally able to eat my lamb meatballs I ordered almost half an hour ago.
THEY WERE SO BURNT. It's pretty gross. The delicious yogurt sauce, crostini, and little pea sprouts did help, but just a little. And there were only 4 of them, so believe me they were pretty burnt. I was going to give them a 3-star, but after learning about the Cat Cora's fame here on Yelp, I think I need to be a bit harsher.
I feel like I could've provided better service even with just my few months of experience as a hostess for at a family restaurant. A few things they could've done:
-- Have me sit by the bar after I ordered and serve me water right away. (This would probably have reduced the confusion of the waitress.)
-- Ask me if my flight is soon and if I need this order rushed. (They would've realize no, I don't. And hopefully, have taken better care of my food.)
-- Tell me my meatballs got burnt and if I'd like to wait for a new order at no charge or have something else they could additionally provide easily.
All-in-all. Disappointed.
Just finished lunch. Â Have eaten here many times before an enjoyed it. Â Today, I had to ask someone to help me after waiting 10 minutes. Â Ordered the tacos. Â The meat was tough and fatty. Â The pineapple was dry and flavorless. Â The tortillas were chalky. Â Asked for salsa so that I could attempt to get it down-tabasco only(no thanks). Â Oh and the ice tea, just the one glass. Â Food underwhelming and service a damn shame.
Review Source:Certainly the best airport food, and quite possibly one of the best grilled cheese and tomato soup combos I've ever had. Quick service and very friendly staff, perfect for a quality bite while waiting for your flight! Conveniently located in the Virgin America terminal where I frequent quite regularly, THANK YOU!
Review Source:What a fresh and delicious place in the middle of the American Airlines/Virgin America terminal (T2) at SFO. Â After "quite a night" the night before, I was in the mood for something fresh and healthy. Â I landed it at Cat Cora.
First of all, the bloody mary was spicy the way I like it, and absolutely fresh and wonderful, like a garden in a glass. Â
Ordered a half dozen oysters that came with a beautiful mignonette, and I wished I had ordered a dozen. Â
Finally, the Grilled Avocado salad was perfection. Â Everything about it, from the perfect avo, to the nice bleu cheese, and fresh sherry vinaigrette dressing. Â
Definitely walk the length of the terminal to CC. Â Definitely better than Lark Creek in my opinion.
The Setting: Â My weekly stop while I wait to fly home to Dallas, every Thursday.
The Food: Â 3.5 Stars
The Service: 3 Stars
Get the Lobster Mac and the Sweet potato fries. Â Everything else I have tried here is so-so. Â But both of the above are consistently awesome. Â And a note to those expecting bountiful amounts of lobster in the mac (there are usually about 5-6 chunks)....the dish is $14, not $40.
For drinks, I recommend the Big-O for anyone who likes Moscow Mules. Â It's a bit expensive but the taste delivers.
The service staff are extremely nice and friendly, but most of the time they are quite slow. Â My tip is to get there, set your stuff down, and flag them down if they are close or even get up from the chair and alert them...
is airport food where the next revolution is? if so Im all for it. It seems the day of bad counters, and chain restaurants, especially in the metro area airports are getting way better. It used to be you looked for the local place where the pilots, and local staff were. That was the key to the good local food. Let me say  i was surprised by this place. I dont know much about where Cat Cora comes from but she took Food TV by surprise and is an Iron Chef? ok so curiousity got the best of me and it was good. Slider trio plus mac and cheese hit the spot. Whether you're traveling out or getting back into town, it's always welcome to have an on premise solid food option.
Review Source:Talk about bad feng shui. Â The "restaurant" has a sign that asks you to seat yourself, but then again you are confused as to where to sit. Â Do you sit at the bar with the women trying to get free drinks from the married men at 2 PM on a Thursday afternoon? Â Do you sit at the tables that you really can't see from the entrance? Â Or do you plop down at the first empty spot you find that can fit your luggage? Â I went with option #3. Â
I thought service would be slow, but it wasn't. The waiter was stealth like an iron ninja. He was the bright spot of the restaurant. Â My seat was clean, but since it was positioned looking out, Â I had to stare at the people walking by who were staring back at the restaurant. Â I've sat at cafes in Paris, but even then there's a feeling of separation between passers by and your dining area. Â Here not so much, you feel like you are in a fishbowl.
Figuring all the iron chef hype and and thinking when am I going to fly into this terminal again, I decided to try a couple of dishes:
1) Chili Lime Flank Steak Tacos - the tortilla was very dry and the steak was too chewy. Â If it was chewy, then it could have been cut up smaller so when you took a bite, you wouldn't take all of the steak with you and leave an empty tortilla. Â There wasn't much flavor either. Â You try to make the taco edible by squeezing more lime into the taco, only now to leave a limey mess when eating. Â The pineapple salsa wasn't great either. Â Looks like they chopped up mostly unripened pineapple core - a culinary nono. Â Technically, pineapple should produce enzymes which make the meat tender, but realistically pineapple core contains a lot of bromelain, which eaten in large does would probably, well, tenderize your customers too... Â Any chef worth their salt would never serve pineapple core, just like chefs should know that if not prepared right, yucca is a little poisonous - it's just the right thing to do.
2) Surf Slider Trio - this was even worse than the steak tacos. Â The shrimp slider was fishy, the crab cake was a processed mess that didn't resemble any texture of real crab meat, but the oyster slider was very good. Â Two out of three? Â That's not good enough for me. Â To top it off, even the chips were bad - some were salted, some were not; some were greasy like the Daytona 500 after race day, and some were cooked well; some also had evidence of freezer burn - and this was all on the same plate.
I'm not a fatty McFatterson, but you really need at least at least two plates to be completely full. Â For lunch, I had about a 40$ bill with a cup of juice.
It's just about average for airport food. Â I don't think I would have been as harsh, let's say if this was Taco bell, or the TGI Friday's; but for representing America as the Iron Chef, I would really lose face if this was my restaurant. Â Then again, it probably just lives off of "one-time" customers like myself, who hear the hype and are curious.
I love Terminal 2 at SFO. Â It's refreshing, bright and there's a lot of great places to eat (really...). Â Cat Cora is one of them. For a place in between gates it's pretty good. I had the burger that had delicious meaty patty. Â The service was attentive and friendly without being overbearing.
Cat Cora is a great place to have a bite to eat while you're waiting for your flight.
1) Grilled cheese sandwich tasted rubbery. At first I thought it was the feta but boyfriend said the cheddar tasted funny. Soup was okay.
2) Lobster mac and cheese had 5 tiny little pieces of lobster in it. I was wondering if I was having hermit crab mac and cheese. Was there feta in this?? Cat Cora must love feta.
3) Sweet potato fries - ooh, Cat Cora's you are lucky you make very good sweet potato fries - this saved you from being "meh"!
Service also saved you. They have a good selection of hot teas and my server was kind enough to hold the box out for me while I chose.
OK Cat. Â I love watching you cook on TV; let's see watcha got, eh?
What's this mac n cheese craze about? Â I've made it at home but figured I should indulge before I get written up. Â Bartender was attentive and since it was 11:45 on a Friday... can you say "how about a bloody?" Â Bloody was OK but I wasn't a big fan of the cilantro. Â
So my m&c arrives and it's nicely toasty on top and I can smell the Gruyere. Â Did I mention it had lobster? Â "I'm coming for whoever's in here, he owe me lobstah money!". Â Couldn't resist reverting to a 13 years old with the Ted quote. Â It was quite tasty but I would have preferred a bit more lobster for $14 but who am I ordering it on the west coast? Â
All in all a good feed. Â One thing to watch out for though... Â If you order a bloody, realize that they are going to hit you up for $14. Â Yikes. Â Bad Kitty!
3 stars for airport food, 2 for an actual restaurant.
I'd highly suggest NOT going here at the end of the day, no oysters left for yelp check in (no real surprise there), but really that's the best part of going here. Â
With my particular order, I was really disappointed they didn't have the normal slider trio. As a concession I went with the seafood sliders. The rolls completely dwarf the seafood and were cold and hard, despite the obvious yet unsuccessful attempt at toasting it.
I did have the benefit of trying my friend's chicken sandwich, which was quite good. Had just the right amount of char broiled flavor, and though a tad dry was balanced by an appropriate amount of spread.
3.86 Stars. Â You really shouldn't expect much from airport food but if you know where to go while you're there, it really isn't too bad. Â Cat Cora (CC) is very much the case here. Â CC is located in Terminal 2 @ the SFO airport and since I was on a United flight and not an international flight, I had to travel through TSA security again. Â The TSA folks gave me a difficult time at first but eventually let me in (since I am a freakin' traveler with an airline ticket, dammit ;)). Â Lucky for me, I had a 3 hour layover to work with on my way back to Soggy Seattle.
Lobster Mac & Cheese: Â Nice cheesy layer on the very top portion but desperately needs salt for flavor. Â Also, the rest of the mac was a watery mess and not the thick, cheesy sauce I expected. Â Third, where is the lobster, man? Â I saw about two slivers while hunting (think needles in a haystack). Â Pfft.
Seafood sliders and chips: Â 3 sliders. Â One with shrimp, one with a crabcake and one with oyster. Â The shrimp - too small (2 shrimp would work here). Â A good choice and much better than the mac & cheese.
Lamb shank: Â Super soft and tender lamb meat. Â The rest of the dish, not as impressive due to oversalted sauce and lackluster mashed potatoes. Â
Summary: Â Don't let my review scare you off as it is in my nature to give you exactly my thoughts. Â The visit here beats going to the fast food court anytime, if you can spare the travel time and additional security screenings.
I saw the spate of bad reviews from August and was a little leery of trying Cat Cora's, but there were enough good reviews to make me want to give it a try. I'm here now, just had a lovely Cobb Salad with avocado and chicken, and it was really good. Chicken not dry, just the right amount of dressing, good portion size.
Clearly this is not a world-class restaurant, but the grading curve for airport food shouldn't be the same as places in the real world. The place is clean, spacious, has a nice outlook onto the tarmac, a friendly and efficient staff. It's calmer than most of the other places on the concourse and there was somebody playing the piano for us.
I've eaten at the Lark Creek Grill just across the way and it was fine, but this was a better experience all around. I'd go back.
For an airport restaurant, this place is not bad at all!
We got drinks here one morning (don't judge me) and it was perfectly mixed & chilled. We also ordered the "chips & dip" (kettle chips with blue cheese) and they hit the spot... I wish the chips had been a bit crispier. The blue cheese dip was especially great, on the other hand.
Our server was gracious, attentive and VERY polite (without being condescending.)
A very nice place in the airport! Was surprised!
Sat at the bar area in front of open kitchen, ordered a bottle of Champagne, we had some time to kill.... house made chips looked good to us, yes they were so good! Great with Champagne! It was fun to watch the chef made those with real potatoes, also tried seafood sliders, crab cake, shrimp and scallop, with more chips, yummy!
Our waiter was so nice, poured every glass of Champagne for us, and my sparkling water too. He tried to talk to me in Japanese, too bad I am not Japanese...;p
This is a great place to have snacks and drinks before getting on a plane. Loved it!
YUMMMMMMMMM!
Best food I've ever had in an airport, thats for sure!
Lamb meatballs
Bleu Cheese and Chips
Edemame Hummus
The bleu cheese dip and homemade chips were to dieeee for. oh man. I even used some of the leftover cheese for my meatballs. :)
We had a layover, and a delay so we decided to kill some time here. Delicious food, friendly staff, stiff drinks, and comfortable atmosphere. Cant really ask for more at an airport, can you? I will definitely be going back here next time I have some time to spare in SFO.
Saw four stars + iron chef's name, so came here for dinner with my hubby. I ordered lobster mac'n cheese and he ordered chicken sandwich.
Mac'n cheese: very underwhelming. A lonely portion ( just a bowl), very bland, and the noodles were not drained properly, $14.
Chicken sandwich: burnt, dry, bland.
Service was fine.
$14 cocktails.
Ordered lemonade instead, but it tasted...diluted and plastic... Never coming back.
I'd read other Yelpers' reviews of the fancy remodeled Terminal 2 and Cat Cora Kitchen, so when I had to catch a red-eye flight, I figured I'd give it a shot myself. Â Sadly, as we sat down at the bar, the barkeep told us he's trying to close down, and couldn't serve us, not even one beer.
So we walked off, and sat at our gate, which was just next door. Â While waiting for the flight to board, I noticed other travelers walking in and ordering drinks from the bar. Â At first, I just wrote it off, but after the third group of newcomers were served, we had to see what the deal was, and we re-tried to order a single round of beers. Â Again, the bartender denied us; we called BS since there were clearly new customers that were served after our first try, and he stuck with his story that he was closing down and wouldn't serve us.
I would have been grateful for a drink; it was a long day, with a delayed flight and missed connections, and a beer would've hit the spot. Â Even if I couldn't have a beer, I didn't need this guy's snobby attitude. Â It's been a while since I've had to dole out a one-star review, but unfortunately, this place pissed me off enough to earn it. Â (just double-checked; until now, I haven't given out a one-star review all year!).
Best food I ever had in an airport. Â THE BEST!!!!
I was looking for some food and had time to kill before my plane. Â So when I saw a restaurant with an IRON CHEF's name on it, I could not resist. Â I am glad I didn't try. Â
Chips and dip are outrageously good and a MUST HAVE. Â If I wasn't hungry I could have just eaten this while waiting for my flight. Â Very satisfying starter.
I moved on to the Blue Cheese and Bacon Burger which was excellent. Â I was looking for a big and tasty piece of beef. Â Boy did this deliver. Â VERY VERY enjoyable. Â
Was this expensive, heck yes. Â But how often do you find really delicious food a few steps from your gate? Â This was delicious and a real treat. Â If you are looking to save a buck, have an ice water and the chips and dip. Â They are really worth the trip.
{Bows to the Iron Chef} Thank you Chef Cora!
Cat Cora Kitchen was literally, in my gate. It's like, a sign right?
I check the drink menu, because like a smart traveller, I ate before I came to the airport... so why is it as I see this menu, I'm rethinking the smart part of that?!
I settle on the Bloody Mary, my server says it will not disappoint. She was right, and for $14, I was hoping she wasn't just selling me on the drink. That was right up there in the top 3 Bloody Marys I've ever had. Spicy, strong and fresh, nothing like your typical airport drink fare.
I can't wait to get back to SFO (and will remember to book Virgin or AA to get here)!
Expensive- yes. Â Cocktails $14.. woah! Â
However, what a delightful place to have a meal before your flight. You can sit against the window (a bar style seating) and watch the planes come in..
Eating here doesn't HAVE to be expensive. Â I ordered the perfect cobb salad ($11) and a cup o' coffee. Â The salad was delicious-- with a whole half avocado in the center. Â A little too much honey drizzled over the top, but the dressing was light, which helped balance the taste out. Â Comes with turkey bacon (a plus for me) and standard cobb ingredients. Â Service was surprisingly kind and gracious (surprise for airport?).
**The live piano music also added a touch of class to the place.. Was I at SFO or Nordstroms? Â I was impressed.
I would totally eat here again if boarding American Airlines or Virgin America. YUM!
As I was waiting for my flight I decided to get lunch at Cat Cora Kitchen. My original choice was Tyler Florence's Rotisserie but there was something wrong with the kitchen so they told us they weren't going to be open until someone comes and fixes the problem.
I decided to order the slider trio which came with wagyu beef, lamb and spicy pork. The only one I enjoyed was the lamb burger. The wagyu lacked flavor and the spicy pork looked and tasted like sloppy joes.
My brother told me this place was a rip off but I didn't believe him. Came here and found out he was telling the truth. I've never seen such tiny sliders in my life. 3 of them don't even equal half a burger. Next time I come to this airport I hope Tyler Florence's Rotisserie is open cause I won't be coming back here for seconds.
On our way to JFK and running too late to have picked up some food before the airport, my cohort and I sampled Cat Cora's Kitchen out of all the other places because we are fans of this awesome Iron Chef. The live music from the very talented classical/jazz pianist also drew us in. What made us stay was the supreme cuisine. If you're flying with Virgin America, you HAVE TO try the edamame-avocado hummus + pita. OMG. Eat it slowly. Savor it. Save half for the plane. You won't regret it. OHHHHH ::faint::.
Ahem. Also, the burger + sriracha aioli definitely hit the spot. Wow. Excellent food, wonder ambiance, very talented musician, impeccable customer service. This will definitely be my go-to food spot when I fly Virgin America. For sure.
We stopped by before our 8:45 flight, at around 7:45, hoping to get a quick bite. I know, I know, should've just grabbed something to go at one of the other places, but we just wanted sit down and have a drink.
It would have been fine if they didn't forget about us when we needed a moment to decide what to eat. The restaurant was almost empty when we went there, and a couple people sat down after us. They all got their orders in before us -- and the waitstaff didn't even ask us when our flight was leaving.
So we ended up packing all our food to go last minute. There was even a further delay because they ran out of some food, and I ended up just getting a substitute.
To their credit, the food was really good. It was probably worth waiting for if I didn't have a freakin' plane to catch. Yes, maybe a half hour is a bit tight...but this is an airport restaurant. They are supposed to be able to serve you food quickly (and let you know if they can't do it). Total fail there.
On a layover from ORD to LAX I found this place empty (along with the terminal it sits in). Some better-late-than-never comfort food was in order after getting hailed on in the Windy City.
Lobster Mac, a Gordon Biersch Marzen, and sweet potato fries were my weapons of choice.
Now, let's pro/con list this baby to see how many stars it should get:
PROS:
-The Marzen is an excellent darker beer that's not too hoppy and had a nice malt finish.
-The sweet potato fries were perfectly fried and well-seasoned with sea salt.
-The Gruyere perfectly complimented the sweet, delicate flavor of the lobster.
-Watched UNC ruin Duke's Senior Night :)
-Best airport food I've ever had (My reason for 5 stars! Everything is relative!)
-Cat Cora! Yay PR!
CONS:
-The sweet potato fries came from a factory-sealed frozen plastic bag.
-Lobster mac sauce was gritty. Poor execution on the chef's part. (The place was empty...?)
-I wanted more lobster :(
-I wanted more mac :(
-$35 for one person
-Airport food.
-Cat Cora brand. Boo marketing gimmick...
Pros outnumber the Cons, but the gritty sauce and frozen fries carry more weight than many of the Pros in my opinion...
Next time, I'd rather save $30, grab a Clif bar, and wait til I get my destination for some real good eats. For that I have to give this place a 2.
Yet another reason why I heart Terminal 2 in San Francisco's international airport: Cat Cora!
Just when you thought it was the most awesome thing ever that celeb chef Tyler Florence had an outpost in the airport, along comes another Food Network power player in the form of Cat Cora offering up haute cuisine before engaging in a nap some 30,000+ feet above sea level. Gone are the days of crappy cafeteria slop -- this is the way to indulge, my friends!
Cat Cora specializes in fresh seafood like oysters, Â and small plates ranging from salads, gourmet mac 'n' cheese, steak tacos, etc.... And to calm any of your fears, everything on the menu is of the farm-to-table variety, so your conscious can feel just as good as your taste buds will after diving into their extensively exquisite menu of food stuffs.
One of their small strikes for me is the outrageous prices for mixed drinks. Most will run you about $16, and while I know it's the airport and all, the best cocktail I've ever had in my life came from Milk + Honey in NYC and carried the same exact price tag... but something tells me a mad men elixir from Cat Cora won't be able to hold a candle to the goods in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
Other than that, I make it a point to stop here before every Virgin America flight I jump on. It's that good!
Bf & I are big Food Network fans so of course we had to check out Cat Cora's restaurant when we were waiting to board our flight to Vegas! Â We decided to share the lobster mac n cheese & the steak tacos. Â
The mac n cheese felt light but had a decent amount of lobster in it and wasn't overly cheesy. Â It wasn't one of my top mac n cheese choices, but wasn't bad at all. Â The steak tacos had a good amount of tender steak with a citrusy marinade and mango salsa. Â Pretty tasty! Â Our little tapas lunch ran about $30, but it's expected as it's in the airport. Â I'm not gonna lie, I knew it wouldn't happen but I was secretly wishing that by some miracle Cat Cora would be there...Cat wanted to meet Miss Iron Chef Cat! Â Anyways, if you're craving a little snack or want to share a few tapas with a buddy when in T2, Cat Cora Kitchen may be what you're looking for!
Granted, Cat Cora might not win Iron Chef America often, but she's definitely a winner in my mind. You can only imagine how excited I was when I exited the plane at SFO and saw the Cat Cora restaurant. I was disappointed that I couldn't stop right then and there and try it out!
Fortunately, the bar at the Cat Cora restaurant was open in the 11:00 PM hour while I was waiting for my flight back home. The bar tender had a fun (albeit typical) bar tender personality and said that she would stay later than usual to serve her patrons. What a saint as our flight was delayed over an hour! Every seat at her bar was taken and people were spilling over into other seating areas.
I had an Airmail Specialty Cocktail (a martini). It was mature and tasted kinda like a Manhattan/Old Fashioned. It was good. The bar tender was uncertain about it and offered to make any adjustments as necessary (none were needed).
Although I can't speak of the food at Cat Cora (the kitchen was long closed when I arrived), I feel compelled to assign a favorable rating because of the commitment of the bar tender and the satisfactory drink. Because of her, we were given an alternative to Subway (the ONLY other place open at that hour at SFO). Thank God because I'd choose a $12 martini over a $5 foot-long any day.