ANA Airlines Business Class Tokyo Lounge
The ANA lounge in Satellite 4 is much nastier than the bigger lounge in Satellite 5, although it has pretty much the same facilities. For a start it is much smaller, and it is also stuck in a basement, so there is no natural light. It also seems to be much busier - so altogether, it is loose, loose. If you have time, it makes sense to take the underground walkway to the Sat 5 lounge by gate 56.
To get to the lounge, descend the escalator in the middle of the Satellite, and pass through the glass doors, then to the right of the desk where your boarding pass is checked.
The ANA Tokyo Narita lounge S4 is basically one long thin underground rectangle, where you enter in the middle. There are seats opposite the door, and all the way along one wall - but everyone tends to sit here, leaving the further ends of the lounge deserted. Initially as you enter, the food area is on the left, while to the right is a Sake bar, up a small ramp. This is good, but seating options around this bar are poor, and in general it is a much poorer version of the S5 one. Carry further on around the corner, and there is the business centre.
Alternately from the entrance of the Gate 40 Tokyo Lounge, turn left, and pass the big island food area. On the counter opposite this there are some food trays, with sandwiches. Then there is another conservatory type space, with high up windows, large squasy sofas, and TVs on the wall. To the left of this is a Noodle bar, and the hot noodles here are pretty good.
Finally, at the far end, behind the big wall of curtains, is a sleeping area. There are recliners in here, and this area at the far end of the lounge is - generally - lovely and quiet, so long as people turn down the TVs in the conservatory area. The ANA Lounge Narita really isn't very big, and at peak times it can get packed: really rammed to the gills, particularly in the early morning when a lot of the European flights leave. Beware that although there are two screens at either end of the lounge with depatures, these are only updated with the scheduled time of departure, and the scheduled boarding time, so you may find that your flight is shown as boarding at exactly 30 minutes before it's scheduled time of departure, only to trek upstairs to the gate to find that it isn't and you've got some time to wait. Equally, ANA occasionally bring forward the boarding times: thankfully in the lounge announcements are made, but it can be very hard to hear them.
Food
The general consensus is that food in the ANA Lounge Narita S4 is not as good as in Satellite 5, unless you are into noodles. In the morning breakfast is OK, with a basic continental selection - forget having a hot breakfast however. Danish pastries and toast are the limit. All day there are just basic sandwiches - tightly wrapped in cling film. At lunch time and in the evening, there is an OK selection of suchi, on cold platters in the main dining areas. Finally - there is a hot udon noodle and ramen soup station in the lounge, and the noodles here are great. This is up the small ramp on the left hand side of the lounge. Go to the small serving hatch, and you will see a list (in Japanese only) of the six types available today - thankfully there are pictures, but it is a true 'Lost in Translation' moment - as six pictures are identical. Ask for one of the options from the little man behind the hatch, he'll give you a numbered keyfob, and 5 minutes later he will call out the number (in Japanese) and your noodles are ready. They are really refreshing after a long flight - rather filling before. Don't forget a towel to mop up the drips from the soup.
Bar
The bar in the Tokyo Narita ANA Sat 4 lounge isn't particularly bad - it's just not that good either. Other than the sake bar, there is the delight of the rack of beer pouring machines. These dispense Ashai, and it is a great comedy moment watching the machine get the beer head just right. Wine is very basic, with just one type of red, and one of white. However ANA always go for obscure French vineyards - you may have to taste the wine to see if this week's variant is any good. Spirits are very poor, with just a basic whisky, gin and vodka, plus Campari. That's really it.Bathrooms
In lounge, no showers.
Business Facilities
There is a vast business centre at the far right of the lounge, in the dingy underground gloom. Alas, most of the computers (which were old and slow) have been removed, just leaving 40 work cubicals, and a grand total of 3 laptops for use. These have Japanese keyboards (press the function and lang key to switch languages) and a riddled with viruses. There is a good - very good - colour photocopier and printer at the lounge entrance. There is of course free wifi in the lounge. One curiosity of the business centre are the three round pods on stilts by the entrance. These are mobile phone booths - and the idea is that you walk in and use your phone in there to avoid disturbing other people. Few people do.Tokyo Narita Business Class Lounge access
There are actually two sets of lounges that seem identical, one is in Satellite 4 (around gate 40) and the other in Satellite 5 around gate 56. The two are actually quite different, with the Satellite 5 one being much nicer with more space - if you end up here in Sat 4, it is worth taking a walk. There is an underground walkway to save the trek between the two. United Airlines also have their own lounge complex which is actually larger than ANAs, and is one of the rare cases where United offer better facilities, but of course worse food.
Video: ANA Business Class Lounge Satellite 4
