FDA rules in cafe?

[Barb Stout]

Was there a microwave in your hotel room, so you could warm it up yourself? (Although granted microwave-reheated food can suffer in texture & taste.)

No, there wasn't. I added to my response that since then I try not to visit hotels unless they have both a refrigerator and microwave in their rooms due to my small stomach.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

I like it when people say "gas station food" like it's some sort of a bad thing. Clearly you people need to find yourselves in a Wawa/RoFo/Sheetz or your local equivalent. Some high quality food to be procured at those evil gas stations.

I’ve never dined at Royal, but Wawa and Sheetz, while certainly borderline edible, are blown out of the water by local convienence stores. Many of which, in my area, are located in former non-gas-station Wawas, offer decent quality deli meats (Boars Head, Thumans, Dietz & Watson), excellent wide selections of coffees, and give you context for how laughably overpriced Wawa, in particular, is. You can usually get excellent cheesesteaks, although to be honest I can swing a cat in my neighborhood and hit five such places.

That being said, my memory of AmCafe food is that it like Wawa et al, is borderline edible and provides a reasonable alternative to ancient packed food or risking missing the train by rushing to shop off of it.

I think the real argument is what defines “good” to someone, which is highly subjective and individual. I’ve been asked by some food vendors what I think constitutes good coffee when I tell my wife I think theirs is passable and my response is the truth: you make coffee of the strength and flavor profile I consider good, and I will likely be your only customer.

A train cafe has to cater to a large swath of the American public who has different ideas of what good is; you try serving what the average New Jerseyan, all of whom are honorary Italian-Americans, think of as good pizza to somebody from rural central PA, and they will very likely find it way too spicy and practically inedible. (Real life test, btw.) pizza from that area is almost flavorless to me; once I got used to what you get at farmers markets in Berks/Lancaster, meats from where I grew up started tasting distinctly like paper.

Amtrak sort of has to provide a National menu that suits (or is at least tolerable to) the tastes of all of us. And we want them to meet dietary restrictions, too. I mean really, why do you think garbage pablum vendors like Applebees and Olive Garden have a foot hold?

 

[TheCrescent]

I’ve never dined at Royal, but Wawa and Sheetz, while certainly borderline edible, are blown out of the water by local convienence stores. Many of which, in my area, are located in former non-gas-station Wawas, offer decent quality deli meats (Boars Head, Thumans, Dietz & Watson), excellent wide selections of coffees, and give you context for how laughably overpriced Wawa, in particular, is. You can usually get excellent cheesesteaks, although to be honest I can swing a cat in my neighborhood and hit five such places.

That being said, my memory of AmCafe food is that it like Wawa et al, is borderline edible and provides a reasonable alternative to ancient packed food or risking missing the train by rushing to shop off of it.

I think the real argument is what defines “good” to someone, which is highly subjective and individual. I’ve been asked by some food vendors what I think constitutes good coffee when I tell my wife I think theirs is passable and my response is the truth: you make coffee of the strength and flavor profile I consider good, and I will likely be your only customer.

A train cafe has to cater to a large swath of the American public who has different ideas of what good is; you try serving what the average New Jerseyan, all of whom are honorary Italian-Americans, think of as good pizza to somebody from rural central PA, and they will very likely find it way too spicy and practically inedible. (Real life test, btw.) pizza from that area is almost flavorless to me; once I got used to what you get at farmers markets in Berks/Lancaster, meats from where I grew up started tasting distinctly like paper.

Amtrak sort of has to provide a National menu that suits (or is at least tolerable to) the tastes of all of us. And we want them to meet dietary restrictions, too. I mean really, why do you think garbage pablum vendors like Applebees and Olive Garden have a foot hold?

Amtrak cafe cars put pizza and hamburgers in the microwave.

That’s all anyone needs to know about the quality of Amtrak cafe cars.

 

[Trollopian]

A train cafe has to cater to a large swath of the American public who has different ideas of what good is; you try serving what the average New Jerseyan, all of whom are honorary Italian-Americans, think of as good pizza to somebody from rural central PA...

Yeah, well I know one guy from Jersey who's a Turkish-American ...

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

In my experience, this seems to vary a lot by route.

Except during the early stages of the pandemic when all seating was closed, I have never been stopped from eating personal food in the cafe on the Silvers or Crescent. I have also been able to do so on various state-supported trains. However, I was not permitted to even sit in the cafe without making a purchase on the LSL, CL, and TE, all of which were operating with only a single food service car. On the Cardinal, I was able to sit in the cafe, but it closed entirely overnight, unlike on the Silvers and Crescent. I have never had any issue sitting in or eating outside food in the upper level of an SSL (except for the very beginning and end of the trip), but I have heard announcements about no personal food downstairs.

It may seem like a small thing, but not being able to sit in the cafe makes a big difference in the trip. Not being able to do so essentially results in being confined to a seat for the entire trip, which may or may not have a clear view out the window. Even if there is a window, I like going to the lounge when the best scenery is on the other side or to just move around in the middle of a long trip.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

Exactly. On a full train, a lounge car allows an escape if you end up with a seat mate that makes you uncomfortable.

 

[01piglet_patinas]

Lake Shore is not an "Empire Service" train


. Personal Food and Beverage (Non-Amtrak)
a) May be consumed by customers in the following locations.
• Any Coach seat.
• Any Sleeping Car accommodation (both alcohol and non-alcohol beverages permitted).
• Upper level of Superliner Lounge Cars.
• Acela equipment.
• Empire Service equipment.
• Northeast Regional Cafe Cars.
• Auto Train lower level of Sleeper Lounge Car only when the service area is in the upper level.
• Auto Train upper level of Sleeper Lounge Car only when the service area is on the lower level.
• Sleeper Lounge Car (Sleeping Car Customers only) single level included.
b) All other Food Service Cars are intended for the consumption of only Amtrak provided
meals, snacks and beverages, with the following exceptions.
• When a customer makes a purchase from the long distance Lounge Car, only then may the customer
consume personal food and beverages in the lower level of a Superliner Lounge Car.
• Customers are prohibited from consuming personal food and beverage items in all single level Long
Distance Lounge and all Dining Cars.
c) Amtrak is prohibited from providing any refrigeration, thawing, heating, cooking, or storage
of any food or beverage items brought on board by customers or employees.

This is quite an expanded article. I cannot find this thorough info on the Amtrak food pages. Where exactly is this info stored on the Amtrak website?

 

[PVD]

That was a few months back, I believe that was cut/pasted from the Service Standards Manual not the website.

 

[joelkfla]

That was a few months back, I believe that was cut/pasted from the Service Standards Manual not the website.

Yes -- the current version can be found at:
https://www.amtrak.com/foia

 

[zephyr17]

Just an FYI since the thread has been resurrected. I am on 7(13) right now and the downstairs tables in the Sightseer cafe are barricaded off by those attractive brown paper trash bags like they were on the Starlight in August. The practice appears to be more than just a Starlight foible.