Amtrak Dining and Cafe Service discussion 2024 H1

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Palmland said:
The comments on the Texas Eagle thread about poor customer service made me think that Amtrak should adopt some of Chick-fil-A hiring and training techniques.

Always friendly and efficient. And the LSA should have more responsibility (and money) to act as a manager to insure consistency of service.
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Ime my very limited experience in the dinning car, service is generally good, better than some of the First/Business class UNITED and American Airlines flight attendants who I have compared to fire breathing dragons.

Heck, it was a number of years ago now, I was flying United Airlines in their First Class from LAX-NRT (Tokyo Narita Airport), they forgot to load the menus, so the Flight Attendant who I think shared DNA with a dragon, came around asking "whad you want to eat, we got beef, chicken, fish or pasta, whad you want?"

I made the mistake of asking how the entrees were prepared and the Flight Dragon, replied, "they are cooked, whad you want?"

Granted I have taken AMTRAK only a handful of times, but I have never had an Amtrak employee be that rude.

My last Amtrak trip the dinning car server was really good, plus he had a good sense of humor.

Added to that, for the fourth time the steak I ordered in the dinning car was cooked to my desired temperature without issue.

The following week, I went to a highly recommended and reviewed steakhouse where the first attempt at rare was more medium than rare, the second attempt was basically raw.
 
Just returned from a trip on the westbound Empire Builder with the new menu. Overall, there are fewer options, not a good thing. And no indication that you are allowed to ask for a lunch item at dinner, especially unfortunate with options being reduced. But here is my review of the good, the bad and the what's-up-with-that.

On the positive side, the chicken caesar salad was really excellent. The chicken is warm and grilled, rather than the cold deli meat that so many restaurant chicken caesar salads include. It's also nice to have a light menu option; at my age, eating too much three meals a day is not part of the current game plan for me. The salad comes pre-dressed, but lightly so, and our dining attendant told me that if I wanted more dressing, I could ask for it. (I didn't think it needed more, though.) And, for those who enjoy an adult beverage with dinner, it is now free for every dinner scheduled on the trip, instead of just one. I suspect that this was most appreciated by staff; given that people come and go throughout the run, it was a pain to remember who had gotten their free drink with Dinner One, and who might have skipped it or gotten on board after the first night and was entitled to a free drink on night two.

Bad news in the appetizer listing, besides the loss of the caprese skewers, is that the Pearl Tempura shrimp is a downgrade on the earlier shrimp with sweet chili sauce appetizer. The shrimp are coated with a thick coating of what appears to be Israeli couscous, or possibly puffed rice, in some kind of marinade. It was neither crunchy nor delicious, instead being a chewy and bland coating on overcooked and rubbery shrimp. Good news is that I think the salad with baby brie has fresher and slightly more plentiful greens than before.

Having only four entrees to pick from at dinner is a downgrade, but losing the too-sweet tomato sauce on the chicken and its replacement with a savory mystery gravy was an upgrade to me. It ostensibly is a Morel mushroom sauce, though no visible mushrooms accompanied my husband's chicken dish. In another nod to those trying not to stuff ourselves, one of the kids options is the same chicken breast, mashed potatoes and veggies entree but in a smaller portion. I ordered that and it was plenty for me. I had previously really enjoyed the rigatoni bolognese, but its replacement with a pasta and mixed vegetables dish was disappointingly bland and the veggies were seriously soggy and overcooked. Sorry, vegetarians...that's your only choice!

Bad news for wine drinkers is that they have eliminated the Chateau Ste. Michelle Rose in favor of a generic sauvignon blanc and have also downgraded their red wine choice to Ryder cabernet sauvignon. Also they no longer allow the purchase of a bottle, which makes me think that the new, low-end wines are probably box wines. At least they are serving the drinks in glass rather than plastic.

Bad news for dessert lovers is that the Meyer lemon cake got 86ed. Good news for those who liked the last menu's chocolate dessert is that the Chocolate Spoon Cake appears to be the same thing. I was expecting something like the chocolate pudding cake of my youth and was pleasantly surprised that the 'old' chocolate dessert just got a new name.
 
flitcraft said:
Just returned from a trip on the westbound Empire Builder with the new menu. Overall, there are fewer options, not a good thing. And no indication that you are allowed to ask for a lunch item at dinner, especially unfortunate with options being reduced. But here is my review of the good, the bad and the what's-up-with-that.

On the positive side, the chicken caesar salad was really excellent. The chicken is warm and grilled, rather than the cold deli meat that so many restaurant chicken caesar salads include. It's also nice to have a light menu option; at my age, eating too much three meals a day is not part of the current game plan for me. The salad comes pre-dressed, but lightly so, and our dining attendant told me that if I wanted more dressing, I could ask for it. (I didn't think it needed more, though.) And, for those who enjoy an adult beverage with dinner, it is now free for every dinner scheduled on the trip, instead of just one. I suspect that this was most appreciated by staff; given that people come and go throughout the run, it was a pain to remember who had gotten their free drink with Dinner One, and who might have skipped it or gotten on board after the first night and was entitled to a free drink on night two.

Bad news in the appetizer listing, besides the loss of the caprese skewers, is that the Pearl Tempura shrimp is a downgrade on the earlier shrimp with sweet chili sauce appetizer. The shrimp are coated with a thick coating of what appears to be Israeli couscous, or possibly puffed rice, in some kind of marinade. It was neither crunchy nor delicious, instead being a chewy and bland coating on overcooked and rubbery shrimp. Good news is that I think the salad with baby brie has fresher and slightly more plentiful greens than before.

Having only four entrees to pick from at dinner is a downgrade, but losing the too-sweet tomato sauce on the chicken and its replacement with a savory mystery gravy was an upgrade to me. It ostensibly is a Morel mushroom sauce, though no visible mushrooms accompanied my husband's chicken dish. In another nod to those trying not to stuff ourselves, one of the kids options is the same chicken breast, mashed potatoes and veggies entree but in a smaller portion. I ordered that and it was plenty for me. I had previously really enjoyed the rigatoni bolognese, but its replacement with a pasta and mixed vegetables dish was disappointingly bland and the veggies were seriously soggy and overcooked. Sorry, vegetarians...that's your only choice!

Bad news for wine drinkers is that they have eliminated the Chateau Ste. Michelle Rose in favor of a generic sauvignon blanc and have also downgraded their red wine choice to Ryder cabernet sauvignon. Also they no longer allow the purchase of a bottle, which makes me think that the new, low-end wines are probably box wines. At least they are serving the drinks in glass rather than plastic.

Bad news for dessert lovers is that the Meyer lemon cake got 86ed. Good news for those who liked the last menu's chocolate dessert is that the Chocolate Spoon Cake appears to be the same thing. I was expecting something like the chocolate pudding cake of my youth and was pleasantly surprised that the 'old' chocolate dessert just got a new name.
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Thank you for taking the time to provide this rather detailed review of items on the new menu which we’d found posted online at https://www.amtrak.com/content/dam/...routes/Long-Distance-Dining-Car-Menu-0424.pdf. We’d printed out a copy so that we could look it over and consider in advance which items we’d like to order on our upcoming trip on the Southwest Chief. Based on your comments, we now have a much better understanding of what exactly is being offered. (Having this information will help us to avoid ordering items that might prove a disappointment.) Thank you again!
 
Rasputin said:
Pre-Covid, Grits were available and included in most breakfast selections but they are now available only with the continental breakfast. They should be included with all breakfast selections as before. I miss them.
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You can always ask - each crew runs things a little differently. You can't technically order a side of potatoes for example but sometimes I can get them as a side to my french toast or pancakes.
 
Rasputin said:
Pre-Covid, Grits were available and included in most breakfast selections but they are now available only with the continental breakfast. They should be included with all breakfast selections as before. I miss them.
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Grits being served with breakfast used to let you know you were in the South!( see "My Cousin Vinny" with Joe Pesci for a good discussion about Grits.)

I used to have them on the Sunset,Eagle,CONO and Crescent when eating Breakfast in the Diner.
 
crescent-zephyr said:
You can always ask - each crew runs things a little differently. You can't technically order a side of potatoes for example but sometimes I can get them as a side to my french toast or pancakes.
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That is very true but it would be nice to know that you can obtain things because they are on the menu and not at the whim (or non-whim) of the particular crew.
 
flitcraft said:
Bad news in the appetizer listing, besides the loss of the caprese skewers, is that the Pearl Tempura shrimp is a downgrade on the earlier shrimp with sweet chili sauce appetizer. The shrimp are coated with a thick coating of what appears to be Israeli couscous, or possibly puffed rice, in some kind of marinade. It was neither crunchy nor delicious, instead being a chewy and bland coating on overcooked and rubbery shrimp. Good news is that I think the salad with baby brie has fresher and slightly more plentiful greens than before.

Having only four entrees to pick from at dinner is a downgrade, but losing the too-sweet tomato sauce on the chicken and its replacement with a savory mystery gravy was an upgrade to me. It ostensibly is a Morel mushroom sauce, though no visible mushrooms accompanied my husband's chicken dish. In another nod to those trying not to stuff ourselves, one of the kids options is the same chicken breast, mashed potatoes and veggies entree but in a smaller portion. I ordered that and it was plenty for me. I had previously really enjoyed the rigatoni bolognese, but its replacement with a pasta and mixed vegetables dish was disappointingly bland and the veggies were seriously soggy and overcooked. Sorry, vegetarians...that's your only choice!

Bad news for wine drinkers is that they have eliminated the Chateau Ste. Michelle Rose in favor of a generic sauvignon blanc and have also downgraded their red wine choice to Ryder cabernet sauvignon. Also they no longer allow the purchase of a bottle, which makes me think that the new, low-end wines are probably box wines. At least they are serving the drinks in glass rather than plastic.

Bad news for dessert lovers is that the Meyer lemon cake got 86ed.
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Definitely provide direct feedback to Amtrak on what you liked and didn’t like. They have been receptive to feedback lately and switched up unpopular items in previous iterations of the menu. As an example a cycle or two ago they went to a Panko crusted chicken entree that did not get good feedback and they fairly quickly switched back to the more popular oven roasted chicken based on customer feedback. So it’s not a waste of time to send back your thoughts.

I think Amtrak recently did a fairly large change up to its alcoholic beverage menu system wide. I also noticed that pretty much all the beer and wine options on the NEC cafe car have changed.
 
flitcraft said:
Bad news for wine drinkers is that they have eliminated the Chateau Ste. Michelle Rose in favor of a generic sauvignon blanc and have also downgraded their red wine choice to Ryder cabernet sauvignon. Also they no longer allow the purchase of a bottle, which makes me think that the new, low-end wines are probably box wines. At least they are serving the drinks in glass rather than plastic.
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And bad news for us beer drinkers is that it looks like they dropped the Moondust IPA. The Stone IPA still remains, but the other beer choices are Coors Light, Stella Artois, Corona Extra, and Heineken
 
Palmland said:
Instead of one of those too rich chocolate deserts, they should just offer passengers a Guinness! 🍺
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Since the hubby & I don't consume "adult beverages," perhaps we should just share one of those too-rich chocolate desserts between the two of us. (Although that won't truly be a concern until at least next year, as the portion of the Texas Eagle we'll be riding in the fall has only the flex dining desserts.)
 
Bob Dylan said:
I used to have them on the Sunset,Eagle,CONO and Crescent when eating Breakfast in the Diner.
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In traditional dining, pre-Covid, grits appeared to be a standard item on all long distance Amtrak trains and I have also had them on the Empire Builder and the Lake Shore, probably on the Coast Starlight as well. I am not sure when they became a standard item on the Amtrak breakfast menu.

I recall being a bit surprised to find grits on the menu for the Lake Shore and the Empire Builder as those were northern trains where one would not expect grits to be in demand but there they were. I don't think the New York Central or Great Northern offered grits on these same routes years ago.
 
Bob Dylan said:
My all time favorite Breakfast on the Southern run Crescent back in the Golden Age of Passenger Trains!🥰
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I recall EM Frimbo (Rogers Whitaker) "worlds greatest railway buff" when traveling between Washington and New York would eschew Penn Central and instead ride the Crescent so he could breakfast on Turkey Hash with Orange Muffins.
 
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