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crescent-zephyr said:
Not to me, someone who regularly travels first class domestic and used to travel regularly in Amtrak sleeper.

Let me know who these “a lot of people” are.
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I've had a couple of friends try out the Amtrak sleeping car experience for the first time during the Flexible Dining era, so they don't know any differently. They told me they enjoyed the meals. 🤷‍♂️
 
20th Century Rider said:
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/life/...cle_5179c3c8-962b-5ced-bc38-f5903858b436.html
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You continue to shadow box. I have not said that Flex Dining is the same as or better than what was there previously. It certainly is worse. All that I have said is it is not as bad as you shrilly and offensively proclaim. If you had traveled by the Silver Star in its"no dining" days, you'd know what I mean. And there is literally nothing that you can post that would conclusively modify that opinion.
 
jruff001 said:
Yes. No.

(BTW, am Amtrak roomette compares very favorably to first class lie-flat seats on an airplane, IME.)
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Yeah... my theory is that older people are happy to take a train ride and don’t care about the quality of the food. My fellow millennials that I work with and regularly travel with would not touch the flex dining entrees.
 
jis said:
You continue to shadow box. I have not said that Flex Dining is the same as or better than what was there previously. It certainly is worse. All that I have said is it is not as bad as you shrilly and offensively proclaim. If you had traveled by the Silver Star in its"no dining" days, you'd know what I mean. And there is literally nothing that you can post that would conclusively modify that opinion.
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"Bad' is a subjective adjective. When the meal needs to be discarded because it smells rancid, or is lacking in taste and texture, that becomes more specific. Using humor to elaborate on one's point of view is done all the time. Ingredient components have also been an issue.

Flex dining has been an issue of concern for many AU'ers.

The right to express one's point of view seems to be an issue here. Some tolerate the flex concept better than others. And some just don't like it. It has been my experience that the AU forum allows individuals to express their point of views on Amtrak issues. Also on this forum members are encouraged to respect each other's point of view.

Amtrak food quality is certainly something we have been discussing on this forum. Again... we need to respect the right of free speech within the parameters of this forum.
 
20th Century Rider said:
"Bad' is a subjective adjective. When the meal needs to be discarded because it smells rancid, or is lacking in taste and texture, that becomes more specific. Using humor to elaborate on one's point of view is done all the time. Ingredient components have also been an issue.

Flex dining has been an issue of concern for many AU'ers.

The right to express one's point of view seems to be an issue here. Some tolerate the flex concept better than others. And some just don't like it. It has been my experience that the AU forum allows individuals to express their point of views on Amtrak issues. Also on this forum members are encouraged to respect each other's point of view.

Amtrak food quality is certainly something we have been discussing on this forum. Again... we need to respect the right of free speech within the parameters of this forum.
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I agree about respecting the right of free speech, it is just when you hear the same individual post the same opinion over and over and over and over and over, it becomes a little tiring. Not to mention the over the top graphics....JMHO....
 
crescent-zephyr said:
I did. I preferred cafe only to flex dining.
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That is not the only thing that makes us very different :D
20th Century Rider said:
"Bad' is a subjective adjective. When the meal needs to be discarded because it smells rancid, or is lacking in taste and texture, that becomes more specific. Using humor to elaborate on one's point of view is done all the time. Ingredient components have also been an issue.

Flex dining has been an issue of concern for many AU'ers.

The right to express one's point of view seems to be an issue here. Some tolerate the flex concept better than others. And some just don't like it. It has been my experience that the AU forum allows individuals to express their point of views on Amtrak issues. Also on this forum members are encouraged to respect each other's point of view.

Amtrak food quality is certainly something we have been discussing on this forum. Again... we need to respect the right of free speech within the parameters of this forum.
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Straw man setup and knocked down! Bravo! No one is stopping you from being as offensive as you want to be. But the same freedom of expression let others criticize you for being offensive. So stop complaining about freedom of expression or lack thereof ;)

At least now you have come down from your high horse of "Everyone hates" to "some tolerate", and then tried to say that it is their old brains that cause them to tolerate. I bet you have not taken a poll of even the Millennial;s to back up your apparent claim of "all Millennials do something", somewhat like Amtrak's equally specious claims.
 
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crescent-zephyr said:
Yeah... my theory is that older people are happy to take a train ride and don’t care about the quality of the food. My fellow millennials that I work with and regularly travel with would not touch the flex dining entrees.
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Disagree. Older people have probably experienced traditional dining and decent food is essential on a long distance train. Flex dining is not decent food. At the price point for many sleepers,people expect and should receive better food.
 
jis said:
That is not the only thing that makes us very different :D

Straw man setup and knocked down! Bravo! No one is stopping you from being as offensive as you want to be. But the same freedom of expression let others criticize you for being offensive. So stop complaining about freedom of expression or lack thereof ;)
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Acknowledging your offensive banter and complaining... inappropriate indeed.;)
 
crescent-zephyr said:
Why do you think flex is better? It certainly isn’t better quality or better presentation.
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I like some of the Flex items. Is that such a crime? I liked the Shrimp and Sausage, the Pasta and the much maligned Beef dish, and now the Breakfast Omelette on my recent trip on the Silver Meteor.

When Flex started there were no hot items. After much complaining hot items were added and they were an improvement over what was before that, all blamed on the hapless Millennials of course. Cafe does not have any real hot items either other than the Burger which BTW I like (though some tomatoes and onions would have been a nice add on), the Hot Dog, the Pizza and the Jimmy Deans (which I also like). But there is only so many Burgers, Pizzas and Jimmy Deans you can eat.

Again, does that mean I think they are better than the traditional dining that was available pre-Flex? Of course not. Was that traditional dining better than the Culinary Institute Menu that was served previously? Of course not. But it was adequate. Even traditional dining had been progressively heading down hill for the last three decades. I guess many do not remember the Diner food from the 80s any more. I remember the amount of bellyaching that we did when the Cheese Cake Wedge was replace by a circular thing and Haagen-Dasz was replaced by what appeared to be some other brand.

Hopefully things will turn around, but especially on the Eastern trains it is not clear how much they will turn. I would certainly be happier if they can turn it around to something like international business class on airlines, which does not require an on board chef and yet serves some fine dishes. I believe DB uses similar setup for most of their rather large and delicious menu in their Bordrestaurant.
 
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crescent-zephyr said:
Not to me, someone who regularly travels first class domestic and used to travel regularly in Amtrak sleeper.

Let me know who these “a lot of people” are. View attachment 22616View attachment 22617
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I doubt there would be much in the way of complaints if Flex Dining looked like the meal on the bottom. Everything I've heard about VIA's Ocean indicates they've managed to pull of First Class airline catering on the rails so it can ve done.
 
Mailliw said:
I doubt there would be much in the way of complaints if Flex Dining looked like the meal on the bottom. Everything I've heard about VIA's Ocean indicates they've managed to pull of First Class airline catering on the rails so it can ve done.
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Exactly! I would love to see them achieve that in the Eastern LD trains if they wish to improve things without adding a Chef.
 
jis said:
Cafe does not have any real hot items either other than the Burger which BTW I like (though some tomatoes and onions would have been a nice add on), and the Hot Dog and the Jimmy Deans (which I also like). But there is only so many Burgers and Jimmy Deans you can eat.
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The cafe on the Star did have hot items when there was no diner. At least when I traveled. I never tried one as I kept to the salads, cheese and cracker tray, hummus, etc. (and maybe a few peanut m&m’s for dessert :) )
 
crescent-zephyr said:
The cafe on the Star did have hot items when there was no diner. At least when I traveled. I never tried one as I kept to the salads, cheese and cracker tray, hummus, etc. (and maybe a few peanut m&m’s for dessert :) )
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Weren't the hot items added when Flex on Meteor got hot items. I thought they were a subset of the hot items in Flex Diner/Lounge. So if the Flex stuff is not acceptable in Diner/Lounges, I don't see how they'd be more acceptable in Cafe where you actually have to pay for them *shudder*.
 
jis said:
At least now you have come down from your high horse of "Everyone hates" to "some tolerate", and then tried to say that it is their old brains that cause them to do so. I bet you have not taken a poll of even the Millennial;s to back up your apparent claim of "all Millennials do something, somewhat like Amtrak's equally specious claims.
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Don't know where you are grabbing this quotes from ... seems like some very confusing verbiage... are you quoting others on from the forum???

I choose not to pursue this line of conversation any longer.
 
jis said:
Weren't the hot items added when Flex on Meteor got hot items. I thought they were a subset of the hot items in Flex Diner/Lounge. So if the Flex stuff is not acceptable in Diner/Lounges, I don't see how they'd be more acceptable in Cafe where you actually have to pay for them *shudder*.
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No. Flex didn’t come to meteor until October of 2019. These were not the flex meals. I doubt they were better but you could also choose entree salads, hot sandwiches, healthy items etc.

Honestly I think the cafe burger is better than the flex meals I’ve had but not much.
 
20th Century Rider said:
I do respect your point of view and I hope you respect mine as well. How many AU'er are in anyway positive about flex dining???
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I do respect your POV. I think forums and boards would be boring if we all agreed on everything. If my post came off as harsh or uncivil I apologize it wasn't meant to. I agree with you and others to a point on flex dining - there is certainly room for improvement on flex dining. I think preprepared meals can work on one night trains - but they should address some of the common complaints - better breakfast, lunch, and bump up the meal quality and presentation. Where I disagree is the idea that it's universal trash can and "never again" universally among riders. I'm sure among railfans (and on this board) it's pretty universally despised. But I think among people that don't know any better and didn't experience train dining when it was grand - they've got nothing to compare to. I will confess my upcoming June trip is my first time on a two night train - maybe on the two nighters the mood is more along the lines of what you're saying. But on the eastern trains people seemed to be tolerating it(at least on my recent tirps.) Now I'm not going to say I didn't prefer my steak on the Auto Train to my flex meals on the silvers.. but people seemed to be ok with it...again on my trips at least.
 
20th Century Rider said:
I also feel that food becomes important when one is on the train for three days and two nights as with the CZ... and even longer on the TE.
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I also agree with you on this. I think food is more important on the two nighters and that traditional dining should at minimum return on those four trains. It sounds like that is what is occuring (plus the Coast Starlight.) On the TE it sounds like you'll get a traditional meal on the San antonio - Los Angeles part of the trip.
 
lordsigma said:
I do respect your POV. I think forums and boards would be boring if we all agreed on everything. If my post came off as harsh or uncivil I apologize it wasn't meant to. I agree with you and others to a point on flex dining - there is certainly room for improvement on flex dining. I think preprepared meals can work on one night trains - but they should address some of the common complaints - better breakfast, lunch, and bump up the meal quality and presentation. Where I disagree is the idea that it's universal trash can and "never again" universally among riders. I'm sure among railfans (and on this board) it's pretty universally despised. But I think among people that don't know any better and didn't experience train dining when it was grand - they've got nothing to compare to. I will confess my upcoming June trip is my first time on a two night train - maybe on the two nighters the mood is more along the lines of what you're saying. But on the eastern trains people seemed to be tolerating it(at least on my recent tirps.) Now I'm not going to say I didn't prefer my steak on the Auto Train to my flex meals on the silvers.. but people seemed to be ok with it...again on my trips at least.
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Thank you for your response... and perhaps my 'tongue and cheek' focus / humor was a little strong... but we all want the same thing... a better quality cuisine experience aboard the trains.

Here is a good read from Conde Naste Traveler on train food around the world. As was discussed on this forum; pre prepared food can be done up with much more quality than what we have now.

https://www.cntraveler.com/galleries/2015-03-11/the-best-train-food-around-the-world-eurostar-thalys
 
At the same time though....I wouldn't say preferring the steak would necessarily be my deciding factor in choosing the Silver vs. Auto Train. Auto Train is great but it makes me have to drove 6 hours to Lorton from Massachusetts. There are trips where I'll take the flex meals if it means not having to make the DC Drive when I don't feel like the drive. When I do Silvers I can get dropped off and depart 10 minutes from my house and get a Regional connection to the Silvers at NYP. For me the deciding factor is whether I want my vehicle down there enough to do the 6 hour drive both ways or just rent down there and instead have that leg on the train.
 

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