gsupstate

Posted this in its own thread before I saw this one:
"We're booked in a bedroom on the WB Empire Builder in April, and just realized that we'll be traveling over the Easter weekend. Does Amtrak do anything different or special on holidays in the dining cars (assuming our train even has a full consist)?"

Maglev

Amtrak doesn't serve anything special in the Dining Car for holidays. Bring some candy to share with others if you'd like.

truncated

It seems like despite there being two sets of menus on Amtrak's website the Acela menu either doesn't rotate or I'm particularly unlucky and only ever get one of the menus, but here are pictures from two trips this month:

Train: Acela 2254, NYP - BBY
Class: First
Where: Seat
When: March 12, 2022


Spanish Pork Stew
Slow-braised pork with tomatoes, carrots, peppers, sweet onions and leeks, served with Anna potatoes

I think the leeks got replaced by green beans (my eternal foe), but overall tasted much better than it looked, although this is the fourth time in a row I've had this meal already

Train: Acela 2254, NYP - BBY
Class: First
Where: Seat
When: March 19, 2022


Cobb Salad
Arcadian lettuce with quinoa, chicken, roasted corn, tomatoes, red onion, chickpeas, and balsamic vinaigrette

Couldn't bear another round of pork stew so decided to give the Cobb salad a shot — have usually been put off by the description (since I think Cobb salads should have egg and bacon and avocado, and not sure why this one has quinoa) but a friend told me it was decent, and indeed it was.

Excellent service on both trips, and given the 4pm departure from NYP the crew had zero issues waiting until a later / more reasonable hour to serve dinner as well (the LSA on the first trip did ask after departure from NYP for our choices even if we wanted to eat later, just to make sure there was enough of each entree).

WeekendTraveler

Flexible Dining on the Crescent now has a good dessert: buttercakes from Frank & Louie’s in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. They are very good.

honest_abe

My four experiences since Amtrak went back to Traditional dining on the Western trains was that the food was very good and both the chocolate torte and the carrot cake were outstanding. Everything was tasty, hot, well cooked and well presented, none of which were true on the connecting Eastern train with flex "dining".

And as a reminder to others, there is no connection between Acela food and that served on the long distance trains.

DFWFairy

It's mind-boggling that the Texas Eagle between Chicago and San Antonio is still serving the flexible dining menu, while most long-distance trains have switched back to the traditional one.

WeekendTraveler

Try the Crescent:

1. Flexible Dining, even when rooms can cost $1,000 for an overnight trip.
2. No food service at all for coach passengers from about 5pm to 7pm.

I saw an ad for Union Pacific's "City of Los Angeles" in the 1950s, described as a "luxury train", with white tablecloths, real silverware, gourmet meals on the top level of a dome car, a chic-looking lounge car and, after recent trips on the Crescent, wanted to just give up.

Long Train Runnin

You could say the same thing about the Pan Am ads from the 1950s on a route like Atlanta to New York.

North American rail travel will never be like it was during the streamliner era. Even if some of those very cars are still running in passenger service on VIA Rail.

Let's keep this thread focused on the current state of Amtrak LD dining.

honest_abe

Too bad the rest of the meal is pretty bad. Especially when compared to the Western trains with their real meals.

Maglev

A new menu has appeared for Traditional Dining:

Altaflyer

This thread makes me sad as I was so looking forward to this experience! Instead, for lunch I was provided a 6 inch veggie Subway, a cookie and a bag of chips with a Diet Coke. For dinner a cold el Pollo loco chicken dinner - 2pce w Amtrak cheesecake and a beer. Also turfed out of diner at 5:45 as apparently they need almost 3 hrs to clean! This was the Coast Starlight to Los Angeles on July 2 where there was a fire in the kitchen putting in out of commission. So, be happy to enjoy the Traditional dining and not Improvised Feeding 😂

KDCAflyer

Took the Crescent from NYP-WAS in a roomette since the price was pretty cheap vs a last minute Acela ticket. Had the short rib for dinner.

I set "is this better than business class food on Delta or Virgin Atlantic" as the baseline, and I'm not sure that this meal was better than Delta domestic first.

I'm not taking an eastern LD train for real until they restore full dining car service. It's a real shame that they wasted millions on new dining cars that are more microwave service areas with seats at this point.

dhammer53

When there were kitchen issues on the Zephyr (5) last week, Amtrak catered KFC for the sleeping car passengers. We weren't happy. I was looking forward to my 2nd steak dinner.
The dining car staff made an announcement. What a wonderful dinner in Grand Junction on this 3 hour late train. Oh well. I hope my compensation is more than the value of our steaks.

Lemons > lemonade.

dh

dhammer53

The Zephyr (5) had kitchen issues on June 30 for dinner. It was 105 F (40.5 C), and the dining car was 95F (35C). At Grand Junction Amtrak catered for all sleeping car passengers KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken). I was upset because it meant no steak for me. My wife was looking forward to the salmon, and my 8 year old grandson tasted the chicken and said eich. When asked about dessert I was told there was none. When I asked about a drink, I was told to go buy one in the Cafe car. Heck, they could have handed out chits. At lunch the following day, they were still having issues, but served a limited menu. When I asked for the beer I didn't have last night, I was told No.

Other than that we had a good trip, albeit 3 hours late on arrival in Emeryville. Photos posted on the Friends of the California Zephyr page on FB.

dh

MartijnH

We are planning a national park holiday (part road trip/part trains) for next year. Wondering, if you board the Southwest Chief (to LA) at Flagstaff around 20:30 (after a long day Grand Canyon NP) and book a roomette. Is it possible to still get dinner? I know it is way too far out to worry about this, but I am just curious . Amtrak website says: "Dinner available 5 - 9 pm, final seatings at 9 pm. A ‘last call’ is made 15 minutes before period ends.". So that 'last call' is around 20:45. A few minutes after the train is scheduled to leave Flagstaff. Will be pretty tight (even if the train is on-time), but is it possible? Or should we just count on having dinner in Flagstaff?