DFWFairy

So for almost 3 years now, the Texas Eagle between CHI and SAS is still without a traditional meal service, while most LD sleeper service trains had resumed the service. What's really going on? Logistic? Laziness?

ChurnieEls

Did the exact same route this Satruday just gone and my overriding thought was: anyone paying out of their own pocket for Acela F needs their head checked.

I booked a $97 fare mostly using credits from a canceled trip and then bid to upgrade at the lowest ($71),

Got the short rib - it wasn't awful itself, but it absolutely needed liberal doses of gravy, the potatoes were bad and whatever green vegetable was on the side was nuked to the extent of it being unrecognizable.

Service was abysmal, had to chase down the attendant for a beer (served straight up from the can, not even the courtesy of giving me a plastic glass).

Just astoundingly poor, and you're expected to tip them on top of that? Glad I did it because I will not be doing it again save for burning one of the credit card upgrade coupons.

danib62

Service on Acela first has definitely gone downhill lately. A recent trip WAS-NYP they forgot to stock my special meal I requested with plenty of notice and they only came around for one round of drinks the entire trip. Pretty crummy for the price. Thankfully I booked with points.

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Train: Acela 2172, NYP-BBY
Class: First
Where: Seat
When: January 24, 2023


BONELESS SHORT RIB
Slow braised boneless short rib with Wild Turkey bourbon sauce, potatoes au gratin and asparagus

As you can see in the picture above everything was pretty overcooked. Sauce was a little odd but needed to use it to make the beef somewhat edible. That strawberry cheesecake thing has got to go — way too sweet. Service was pretty lackluster overall, but for a $75 fare + upgrade coupon can't really complain that much.

ChurnieEls

To be honest I think you can complain, they're serving up sub standard cafeteria food that looks absolutely nothing like what they have in their promotional materials.

It doesn't matter how you got your F fare (by points, upgrade or outright), that serving isn't good enough.

Amtrak is a glorified jobs program and the (lack of) attention to detail we all seem to have experienced here bears that out imo.

YVR Cockroach

Travelling the Coast Starlight R/T in "1st" in the next few weeks. With the departure of just after 0900 from SEA and LAX, and getting into SEA and LAX around 1950 and 2100 respectively the next day, would the meals be L & D the 1st day, and B, L & D the 2nd as scheduled?

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Fair enough, but considering what the airlines are serving on NYC-BOS (either nothing or snack basket) this really isn't too bad (and I ate most of it, but that may have been due to not having any other dinner options more than anything else). And we all know that Amtrak won't do anything about their crews (and this crew wasn't bad, just not as attentive or proactive in terms of offering drinks/refills/service as previous ones I've had on the same route).

So maybe if I'm bored this weekend I could write in, but I'm also an accidental Select Plus due to a few long-distance trips in 2021 (and double TQPs) and where possible (i.e., weather permitting) I prefer to fly anyway, especially since given where I live in Boston + where my NY office is flying actually saves an hour or so over the train.

WeekendTraveler

By comparison to Flexible Dining, that looks like it was made by Alain Ducasse himself.

My view of Amtrak crews is if they don't bark at me for something I did wrong, then it's one of the better crews.

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Train: Acela 2170, NYP-BBY
Class: First
Where: Seat
When: January 30, 2023


BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND SWISS CHARD LASAGNA
Lasagna noodles baked with butternut squash and Swiss chard in a truffle, sage and parmesan fondue

Same menu as a week ago so figured I'd try something different and not risk the short rib again — this was reasonably tasty (although the roll wasn't heated this time around, and dessert is still awful) but honestly I should just have grabbed a sandwich from the Moynihan food court (which is what I would have done if I didn't have upgrade coupons to use before they expire next month). Crew was on the better side this trip and F was very lightly loaded.

dhammer53

You will get dinner on the CS before arriving in LAX. Sending you a PM.

dhammer53

Last time I enjoyed the steak was on the Zephyr about 6 years ago. Earlier this week I rode the Coast Starlight EMY/LAX. I was really looking forward to the steak. From what I remember on my Zephyr ride, the steak was a step below steakhouse level, but really delicious. This week I felt the steak was a little above supermarket level. A major downgrade as far as I'm concerned.

FYI on the large shrimp. While certainly NOT large, it was really tasty.

Also, the cakes were major steps above 2017.

dh

YVR Cockroach

Seems that AmTrak has reopened dining cars to all in the west (or at least on the Coast Starlight) within the past couple of weeks. B,L, D are priced at $20, 25 and 45 respectively.

Will post pictures eventually.

FWIW my meat-loving partner thought the meatless rigatoni and baked potatoes were actually very good in taste and texture. I just stuck with burger and hanger steaks for the 4 lunches and 4 dinners onboard.

As some Japanese YT rail reviewer said, the desserts do taste like diabetes (though I'll admit to eating 8 such).

cmn.jcs

Train: Acela 2255, BOS-WAS
Class: First
Where: Seat
When: May 2023
Took Acela to finish off a long weekend in Boston and use up an expiring voucher. Departed just after 1 PM, so got lunch and dinner. For lunch, I had the salmon, which for some reason I thought was going to be smoked salmon. Still tasty enough, though I didn't get any horseradish taste. Wife's cheese and fruit plate was good. For dinner we both had the chicken breast, which was very tasty. Rolls warmed for both meals, and nuts were served before both meals. Service was pretty good; sometimes had to ask for drinks. On the other hand, the attendant noticed me filling a water bottle at the tap across from the bathroom and gave us a case of the small water bottles to fill up from; he wasn't sure the last time tank had been cleaned.


Chilled poached salmon over a cucumber salad, with tomato dill coulis and horseradish mousseline

Cheese and fruit plate

Panko breaded chicken breast, stuffed with prosciutto, basil, oven dried tomatoes and fontina cheese. Served with natural gravy and alfredo pasta.

3544quebec

Ask any chicken and I'm sure they will tell you that there is nothing natural about being covered in gravy.

Maglev

It's been almost a year since there have been any posts in this thread! I guess Amtrak's dining isn't very exciting.

Not to detract from the dullness, there is a new Amtrak Long-Distance menu, with very few and minor changes. Burger patties are now served two different ways at lunch. They've taken the meat out of the lunch sandwich (the former Monte Cristo is now a Grilled Cheese). There are only two choices of dinner appetizer-shrimp or salad, and the dessert options have dwindled from three to two as well.

I was going to post a .pdf, but the file is too big. Here's a link: https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/p...-Menu-0424.pdf