Yes, I was in coach from Charlottesville to Lafayette, Indiana and I had dinner in the dining car. The only difference is that the meal isn't included in the charge for coach - you have to pay for it just like you would in a restaurant.A question on a sort of related note...On the Cardinal, what with the limited capacity of the dinette/lounge, are coach passengers even offered a seating for the "diner" part of that car? My best friend and I are traveling from Ashland, KY to Washington and back in January. I'd like to maybe at least have one meal in the sit down part of the dinette, but is that even offered to coach passengers, or exclusively for the sleeper folks on the Card?
You are usually seated with other people - but since there are two of you, you may not be. I enjoyed the meal I had. The company was quite nice and the food was good. (I had the pasta) There were three choices for dinner that night - a pasta dish, a chicken dish and a steak dish. They offer dessert too but I didn't get it, I was too full