Riding this past week the only offer was the breakfast box as indicated on the sheet. The drink menu was included inside the box.

The enchiladas sound the same (or at least very similar) to the Flexible Dining version on long distance trains. Similar to a TV Dinner but tasted alright in my opinion. Might be different but ingredients sound similar.

I have another trip coming up to use up more coupons so if anything has changed ill update.

Thanks for the update. I have a WAS-BOS roundtrip after March 1 so I will either hold on to my upgrade if its still box meal service or will use an upgrade if hot meals are indeed back.

My source (an Acela FC attendant) told me he saw a memo this would be available on or about March 1. The Jimmy Dean / cheeseburger / hot dog option has been available for the past two months, but this is a nice improvement on selection.

Pre-Covid they are mixed on board, well made, and quite generous. Post-Covid I can't say but hope it's the same!

The hot meal menu is being offered in Acela First now.

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Thanks - how was the short rib dish? Were enough options stocked for everyone to get their first choice?

Looks the same as the Flexible Dining on the Long Distance trains (with a few different options). I'd assume the same vendor as the presentation is fairly similar to the Eastern Long Distance Trains with the Brownie/Blondie placed in the salad bowl holder. Hopefully the nutritional values aren't nearly as bad. Nice to have a variety of hot food options back though.

It was fine; on par with pre-pandemic meals. Note the plastic serving all-in-one tray. Still plastic utensils and no roll/butter. Desert was teh 360 calorie toffee square. There were 11 in FC as I recall; I heard a few say they would not be dining but just wanted drinks :) So everyone got what they wanted. Also -- the "gourmet steakburger" a.k.a. kid's meal option was still on the menu!

Here's the current menu...


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The mixed drinks on Acela are fantastic--particularly the Old Fashioneds. Amtrak long distance trains ought to have them.

Acela First class - 3/19 NYP to PHL
 

First off, I grabbed this fare because it was only $88 for Acela first class. I don't know why the fare was so low; I've never seen it so cheap. As far as I could tell, with the COVID distancing, the first class car was close to 100% booked by the day of departure. For reference, the same train in two weeks (next time I might take Amtrak) is over $200 for first class. It was good to sample the first class product since hot meals were restored and this was also my first time in the new Metropolitan Lounge.
Service was good with proactive drink refills and the lounge is gorgeous, but will be much better once they open up the bar area.


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Entrance to lounge from the station
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Check in area at the top of the escalator
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Lounge view
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"outside" Balcony
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Lounge view
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work station
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storage lockers
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Beef short ribs

Yeah, I grabbed a $126 one-way First Class fare on WAS-BOS next month. I have NEVER seen pricing that like ever. It is usually four times that. Business Class was going for $69 but I felt the price differential was so low that it was worth the difference, especially with hot meals back. How were the short ribs? The Metropolitan Lounge looks fantastic. I am going to try it once they have alcohol available.

In late June, I’m planning to meet my wife and son in NYC. I booked myself Acela First WAS-NYP for $122 at 3pm on a Thursday, in the old days that would have been around $350. Their BOS-NYP tickets were $76 per person (my son may have gotten a slight child discount, not sure, all I know is it was $152 total). I’d never seen prices anywhere near that low, couldn’t pass it up and really looking forward to checking out the NYP club.

That’s $57 for a TV dinner which may or may not be fully warmed through. I hope you enjoy. :D

But you may get a hand-written thank you note in the mail a couple weeks later!

A little more seriously, with 50% blocking in Acela business there’s really no reason to spend extra for FC now. Not sure when that goes away.

For WAS-BOS at those price points, I could easily spend the price difference on booze! :-)

Now you are talking! :D

As of next week, the Acela First Class seatmaps are being changed to allow up to 20 window seats to be selected/occupied, vs. the current 16. This includes the dreaded Row 16, which is right against the galley and do not recline at all. One of the FC attendants told me that their rules allow one attendant to serve up to 20 passengers; above that, Amtrak must staff two attendants.

I thought you were joking about the handwritten letter, but I got one in the mail today. Actually kinda nice. :-)


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I've been on Acela F twice a week for the last few months (NYP-30th route). Salmon is absolutely excellent. Restaurant level good (I actually crave it at 5p when in Moynihan). Unfortunately, they run out of Salmon 90% of the time on the Sunday night train from PHL. As an aside, I don't understand why domestic airlines can serve food this good in J... Surely it has to be a somewhat similar setup.

Moynihan lounge at is the exact opposite of the NYP lounge. As you can see from the pictures, it has an Asian airport feel to it (reminds me of the new terminal at ICN). They just started serving non-alcoholic drinks and snacks at the Moynihan lounge last week (although they may be hiding the booze from the only millennial in there... I kid). Just had a sparkling water as I only had about 5min before the train left. Offering seemed to be much better than the usual stuff at 30th, although no hot food. The food/drink is staffed by a lounge attendant. Pro tip is to hang out on the balcony overlooking the train hall as you are sort of outside and you can see when boarding actually begins plus its more difficult to shame you for not having a mask covering nose, face, and chin.

They spent so much time and money on Moynihan, but overlooked the ability to board right from the lounge via elevator like you do at 30th. Sort of a head scratcher.

Also, Im sure this has been brought up on here, but am I the only one that tips the train staff? I give between $5 and $10 depending on how much of a pita im being.

Are they now selling two of the four seats at the table? I assume they're still blocking one of the seats at the two person table.

For the NYP to PHL route, I tip $5

I continue the custom as well (also generally $5). However, I see few others tipping these days.

Just one of the F seats on a four-seater may be pre-reserved. They tell pax traveling together that on-board, they may move to be together at a table.

Thank you for the heads up! Yesterday I got a random seat change, for a trip coming up in 2 weeks, and then an email from Amtrak telling me that the seat map has changed. Your post explains why in more detail. Since they auto-re-booked me to a two-person table seat, I moved myself to a quad table seat, hopefully have the table all by myself BOS-WAS.

As of now, you are guaranteed to have a two- or four-person table to yourself if you can snag it.

I had the Teriyaki Salmon with Forbidden rice on Saturday. I would agree it came up to restaurant quality, although the veggies I ate had little taste as they were drenched in Teriyaki sauce, which was not a bad thing as the sauce was decent. I never thad this rice before, but I found better than white race, especially with the sauce. I would recommend ordering this if you like fish, although salmon is far below my preference. I was traveling on the Saturday morning Acela WAS-BOS and asked for the meal just east of New London, so the food was well stocked. I did have a good share of prosecco and white wine and got my money's worth there! The train was virtually sold out in all cars. I used a 12 hour upgrade as my table seat in the Quiet Car had another passenger and I took the last open seat in First. Next time I travel in First, if the menu does not change by then, I will try to the short ribs as a comparison.

I was traveling in FC this past weekend. (Need to use some of these upgrades I have been building up.) Anyway, he said that the current meal service is still temporary and better FC meal service will be coming but did not have a date as to when. But I imagine it will be late summer/early fall. I already booked a ticket for Labour Day, and it showed all seats available for sale.

So someone on Amtrak's Facebook page posted of picture an Acela meal that was described as "shrimp in lobster sauce." That seems to be a new dish - when I asked, the poster stated that the salmon dish was not on the menu (but the short ribs still were). I last traveled in first class two weeks ago and the menu was the same as it had been.
So it seems the menu has been refreshed very recently. I'll included the photo that was posted over on Facebook.


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I was in First recently. Short round trip so I didn't eat anything, but the menu looked the same to me.

I finally tried the Amtrak Old Fashioned and it was as good as you could expect on a train.

6/24 - Acela #2163 NYP - PHL
 

Train was 100% full in First class. This was my first time on a train since Amtrak ended the capacity controls. Wow, what a change! There was one attendant in the galley and one taking orders and delivering food and beverage. On my last trip, back in May, I had my drink served within minutes of sitting down and my meal served by the time we were departing Newark. This time my meal didn't arrive until we were approaching Trenton. They really need a second person helping with the service. Also, I recall prior to COVID, the attendant would ask, as we were departing NYP who was only going as far as Philly and then would make sure those people got their meal first.
The menus are bigger now and the salmon dish (which I didn't like) has been replaced with the shrimp with lobster sauce that I posted about previously. I thought it tasted pretty good. I'm glad to see the loads coming back and all the business travelers, but the relaxed atmosphere of the previous months is gone!


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Just rode WAS-NYP earlier this week, the menu was identical to what rittenhousesq posted above. The car was nearly full; galley attendant was a bit grumpy but the aisle attendant was excellent. The omelet was just fine, a bit better than I expected. It was my first time in the new NYP lounge and it is night and day compared to the old club… beautiful space, lots of food options, friendly employees.


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Veggie omelet
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NYP metropolitan lounge terrace

Just booked my first trip in Acela First Class in 3-4 years, any single forward facing seats better than others?

It probably goes without saying to avoid the table seats (2F/3F, 8F/9F, 10A/11A, 14A/15A) unless traveling with a partner. Personally I like 10F if forward-facing. Many of the seats that switch directions have some "wobble" to them. Plus 10F feels a little more private (at least to me) due to configuration of tables, and you don't have to feel guilty about reclining into a person behind you. Just be careful because 10F is rear facing half the time.

thanks! 10F is rear facing so I grabbed 7F

Riding WAS-NYP this morning and the menu remains the same as it was earlier this month. Only change I noticed was the presentation was slightly different.

Also, regarding the seat question above I personally prefer the single side table seats the best, even if it means I end up across from a random person. I find the regular seat back tables too wobbly, these tables are larger and firmer and make it easier to work from.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...0ad19c5e5.jpeg

"Hebrew National Hot Dog" is an actual selection from a First Class menu? I'm not sure if that says more about Amtrak or its First Class passengers...

Disclaimer: I upfared to Acela First exactly once several years ago. After spending 2+ hours listening to a bunch of self important people blabbing on about themselves, and having to chase down an attendant since they "forgot" to offer me a meal, I decided Business was more than adequate.

I wish it were all the time. Believe it or not the hot dog is one of my Amtrak traditions in any class. You may not like the option, but don't disparage the passengers who enjoy it. Your post has no class when you talk about the passenger compared to criticizing the actual meal.

At least for me, the food is the last reason motivating me to choose Acela First class. I'm not a picky eater, but one of my last hot meals on Acela pre-COVID was literally inedible, i.e I could not physically chew it (it was a Short Rib, the toughest piece of meat I have ever encountered in my life). I've had some great meals on various forms of transportation (LX, LH, NH, JL First, etc., and even "pretty good" meals on some less aspirational products) but Acela is not one of them. I think their best effort was the old "light bites" hummus plate.

For my rides from WAS-NYP, for typically a roughly $125 premium to have:

• The privacy of a single seat with no one sitting next to me
• A quiet place to wait for the train, and stress-free boarding
• A couple of DFH 90 minute IPAs en route
• Sometimes, very friendly and professional service (and sometimes not)

I find it very worthwhile and pretty much the nicest way to travel between DC and NY. I've also had a lot of great conversations with random strangers in Acela First and if I don't feel like it, my noise-cancelling headphone solve that problem.

I choose it for the single seat plus the meal plus free alcohol, probably in equal parts. Luckily I've never had a dud, although the old style meals cannot come back soon enough for me.

Hot dogs are fine for what they are, and if you're going to eat one Hebrew National is probably the way to go, but for a First Class menu I would expect it to maybe be in the category of "alternate snacks available outside of meal service". A "hot dog with kettle chips" is not in the same culinary category as most of the other items on the menu.

On the Amtrak side, it seems like only recently is the food service catching up to where the country has been moving over the past twenty years (higher quality ingredients, less processed foods, etc). On the passenger side, it's akin to passenger expectations when being served a plastic wrapped sandwich in a cardboard box on a domestic F flight.

I agree with this point in general. I never book premium air travel because of the food -- I want the space at the seat as the primary consideration. That said, for the relative price of the ticket I don't expect a plastic wrapped sandwich in a cardboard box with my airline F ticket. (And for the record, I think most of the other items on the Acela menu would exceed that expectation.)