Amtrak dining and cafe service

[drdumont]

Unfortunately, with Amtrak you kind of have to know your own benefits (like Dining Car access).

They have a lot of great employees, but management’s record on employee training is not great and a small minority of employees will conveniently “forget” duties or customer benefits if it makes their life easier.

Truer words have never been said. I remember some years ago when the normally excellent dining car service (on a Northbound Crescent) set out paper plates and plasticware including cups, saying that "AMTRAK" had changed from the other "for SAFETY reasons". This lasted a couple of trips. I asked the AMTRAK folks in Phila, and they said "not only no, but HELL no!". Took the info about my trip and the pictures I had taken. I returned three days later and things were back to normal. One DCA attendant said "there were repercussions". It was one particular crew that didn't want to deal with dirty dishes.

 

[Cal]

Has anyone been on the Cardinal recently? I'm curious to know if they allow eating in the dining car/cafe or have you take it back to your room.

Might depend on the crew so..

 

[IndyLions]

Anyone been on the Eastbound Cardinal into DC lately? It gets into DC at 7:44pm. That makes me think that certainly they'll be serving dinner for passengers disembarking in Washington. But - with Amtrak you never know. Anyone with any recent experience?

 

[BalmyZephyr]

Anyone been on the Eastbound Cardinal into DC lately? It gets into DC at 7:44pm. That makes me think that certainly they'll be serving dinner for passengers disembarking in Washington. But - with Amtrak you never know. Anyone with any recent experience?

We did that in December and were on an early dinner schedule, like 5 PM, so we did get dinner. Then we had a second dinner at the Au Bon Pain in the station before getting on our NE Regional sleeper. Very nice people work there! But, make sure to check with your SCA in advance.

 

[Mailliw]

Well, I finally got a chance to try flex dining for myself on the westbound Lakeshore Limited this weekend. It was pretty much as expected; long haul economy airline food. It wasn't bad per se, but it was such a waste of a real dining car. And so much disposable plastic. Traditional Dining should be reinstated on Eastern LDs, or at least aim for airline Business/First standards. The dining car attendant was fantastic though. Oh, and only five Railroad French Toasts got loaded in NYC.

 

[Steve4031]

Flexible dining on east coast trains needs to disappear ASAP. The menus on the west coast trains are so much better.

 

[Sidney]

Flexible dining on east coast trains needs to disappear ASAP. The menus on the west coast trains are so much better.

We have been saying that here since flex dining was introduced.

 

[jis]

Flexible dining on east coast trains needs to disappear ASAP. The menus on the west coast trains are so much better.

Don't just say "disappear" to give them ideas about removing all food service! Remember they did do that on the Silver Star for a while! Be more specific and say "needs to be replaced by traditional dining like on the Western LD trains".

 

[Steve4031]

Don't just say "disappear" to give them ideas about removing all food service! Remember they did do that on the Silver Star for a while! Be more specific and say "needs to be replaced by traditional dining like on the Western LD trains".

Agreed.

 

[TheCrescent]

Try the Crescent: no dining car, Flexible Dining.

 

[jis]

Try the Crescent: no dining car, Flexible Dining.

Did anyone tell them to "disappear" the Dining Car?

 

[Cal]

long haul economy airline food.

In my experience long haul airline economy food is better. Heck, even the meal Vietnam Airlines gave me on a three hour flight was pretty good.

 

[Burns651]

Don't just say "disappear" to give them ideas about removing all food service!...

I don't think Amtrak's food decisions are influenced much by message board comments. Declining food sales would get its attention-- and actually would probably feel like a relief to Amtrak, giving it cover to ditch anything beyond a cafe car.

 

[jis]

I don't think Amtrak's food decisions are influenced much by message board comments. Declining food sales would get its attention-- and actually would probably feel like a relief to Amtrak, giving it cover to ditch anything beyond a cafe car.

I guess I should have placed a smiley in that post. Sorry for giving the impression that I was actually serious about that comment.

 

[MARC Rider]

In my experience long haul airline economy food is better.

You haven't flown United Airlines in coach between Washington and Beijing. Amtrak Flex food beats what they serve hands-down. The stuff coming out of the Beijing commissary was pretty close to inedible. The only saving grace was free wine and beer, so I was able to sleep, at lest.

 

[IndyLions]

There have been multiple assertions here that First class food on US airlines is a standard that Amtrak should try to meet on the East Coast.

I have been on a dozen or more First Class flights in the past 24 months or so, and for the most part there is very little real food being served in First Class.

In the interest of fairness, I thought I should post a halfway decent experience I had on AA between DFW and San Diego (the dessert looks better than it tasted, by the way). The only other meal I had been served of any kind was a “just OK” packaged sandwich between LAX and MInneapolis on Delta.

This was basically on the level of what I had on Acela pre-Covid, and it was a little better than OK. Every Amtrak meal I had on the CZ and the CL back in OCT blew it away however.

 

[BBoy]

My brother put together a trip coming in June over from NYP to LAX via CHI and NOL and then to SEA. On AMTK #1 from NOL-LAX, will passegers traveling in coach be allowed to have dinner in the dining car (much less flex dining) as are sleeping car passengers ; or are they stuck in getting food on the lower level of the SSL?

 

[Cal]

will passegers traveling in coach be allowed to have dinner in the dining car (much less flex dining)

No, you must get it from the cafe unfortunately.

 

[user 30354]

My brother put together a trip coming in June over from NYP to LAX via CHI and NOL and then to SEA. On AMTK #1 from NOL-LAX, will passegers traveling in coach be allowed to have dinner in the dining car (much less flex dining) as are sleeping car passengers ; or are they stuck in getting food on the lower level of the SSL?

Amtrak has said before that the ability to purchase meals in the Dining Car as Coach will be returning at some point (probably when a lot of the pandemic area physical distancing protocols are no longer in place) and Dining Car access (for purchase) has already returned for Business Class passengers on the Coast Starlight, so there is a possibility you may be able to eat in the Dining Car in June, but I would expect no access and if you do get access, treat that as your expectations being exceeded.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

You haven't flown United Airlines in coach between Washington and Beijing. Amtrak Flex food beats what they serve hands-down. The stuff coming out of the Beijing commissary was pretty close to inedible.

UA's coach meals were the worst I've seen. Out of fifteen airlines that served me food in coach they were dead last. Even the special request meals were surprisingly bad. I did enjoy their snack packs but the last time I flew them they said none were catered on long hauls anymore.

 

[Amtrakfflyer]

Again, I ask why can’t we have Acela first class meals on the Eastern trains? Why is the previous BOD still in charge along with Gardner? As the months go by we are going to reach a time and place of no return. The new Board members need to be appointed and confirmed now.

 

[AmtrakMaineiac]

Again, I ask why can’t we have Acela first class meals on the Eastern trains? Why is the previous BOD still in charge along with Gardner? As the months go by we are going to reach a time and place of no return. The new Board members need to be appointed and confirmed now.

Sounds good. I would love to try the Tandoori Chicken.

 

[MARC Rider]

Sounds good. I would love to try the Tandoori Chicken.

Too late, they switched the menu. Now the choices are: Spanish style pork stew, vegetable puff pastry, cobb salad, and the fruit and cheese plate.

 

[lordsigma]

I just got off a trip on the lake shore and zephyr. Yes traditional dining on the zephyr blew away flex not surprisingly - but the short ribs meal on the lake shore was quite edible and tasty. I also found the French toast flex meal better than I expected - though it seems like the diner attendant on the lake shore was taking the time to ensure the flex meals were heated properly and not overdone or underdone. Additionally the Lake shore has been running with an extra LSA at times who helps out in the diner - so it gives the diner LSA more time to properly heat the flex meals.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the flex meals are significantly worse on routes with the split am cafe as the sole attendant probably doesn’t have time to do anything other than nuke the meals. In my opinion the biggest problem with flex is the presentation - if they took the time to plate the meals I think it would help a lot. The initial presentation is always worse than how the meal actually tastes in my experience. I think if properly heated they can be fine - but clearly sometimes they are not being prepped properly.

As far as the meals on the Zephyr - both my dinner and breakfast were great. Steak dinner was one of my best tasting Amtrak meals yet.

 

[Dakota 400]

I just got off a trip on the lake shore and zephyr. Yes traditional dining on the zephyr blew away flex not surprisingly - but the short ribs meal on the lake shore was quite edible and tasty. I also found the French toast flex meal better than I expected - though it seems like the diner attendant on the lake shore was taking the time to ensure the flex meals were heated properly and not overdone or underdone. Additionally the Lake shore has been running with an extra LSA at times who helps out in the diner - so it gives the diner LSA more time to properly heat the flex meals.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the flex meals are significantly worse on routes with the split am cafe as the sole attendant probably doesn’t have time to do anything other than nuke the meals. In my opinion the biggest problem with flex is the presentation - if they took the time to plate the meals I think it would help a lot. The initial presentation is always worse than how the meal actually tastes in my experience. I think if properly heated they can be fine - but clearly sometimes they are not being prepped properly.

As far as the meals on the Zephyr - both my dinner and breakfast were great. Steak dinner was one of my best tasting Amtrak meals yet.

Good to see flowers on the tables again, but, the one shown in your photo is really a bit too large and bushy to be really appropriate, in my opinion.