Newark: CBGB LAB (July 2016)



My spouse and I dined at CBGB LAB (Lounge and Bar) at the Newark Airport on a Friday evening in early July 2016. CBGB is located in Terminal C (in the concourse for gates 120 through 139) in the space previously occupied by a wine bar and across from the food court area.

The CBGB venue offers three different spaces. One area features a record album and souvenir shop, where you can purchase vinyl LPs and CBGB swag. The tiny store boasts a miniature replica of CBGB's iconic awning; the real canopy resides at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. The main dining space features a grand piano/stage, a sort of “al fresco” dining area, a faux-brick façade, stained glass windows, and a support beam covered in graffiti-print wallpaper. Small speakers play New Wave and punk rock music. Never having visited the original 20th-century rock venue on the Bowery in NYC, CBGB LAB is a clever homage, in our opinion. The third portion of the CBGB space is an enclosed bar area that contains a large bar and comfortable furniture groupings that include sofas and coffee tables.

Every restaurant seat in Newark’s revamped Terminal C is equipped with an iPad to order food and drinks. You locate the menu app at the bottom of the screen, and then choose from different categories (appetizers, main dishes, cocktails, and so on), scrolling through photos and descriptions, and clicking on your final choices. You swipe your credit card after you order, and you can choose to either close out your bill or run a tab, so if you are in a hurry at the end of your meal, you can leave without finding a server to pay your bill. (This format also means that you indicate the percentage of your gratuity early in the process.) If you are a United frequent flyer, you can remit frequent flyer miles to pay for your food and drink. On the iPad, you can also scan your boarding pass for updates on your flight, play video games, and order products from the terminal’s shops to your table.

CBGB LAB offers upscale international cuisine, including disco fries (with cheese and gravy), a Kobe chicken hot dog, crispy chicken paillard, meatball parmigian sandwich, and matzo ball soup. We did not order anything from the food menu, having eaten elsewhere in the airport, but we enjoyed a few rounds of drinks at CBGB while waiting for our delayed flight.

We liked the unique theming at CBGB LAB, and we will return to try the food the next time that we fly from Terminal C.





No comments: