Amtrak Dining and Cafe Service discussion 2024 H2

toddinde · Sep 8, 2024

I am convinced that hot pots and the like are not allowed. It might seem like a reasonable option, but it’s not for a variety of reasons including tripping breakers, etc. Amtrak could have a hot water kettle, but they don’t. The cafe car will support reasonable requests. I have considered a hot pot for coach travel and quickly decided against it. I can’t conceive of a rational reason to do it in sleeper. In any event, the cafe car fare is much improved. Oatmeal for breakfast, salad for lunch, and vegan blue corn tamales for dinner, and I feel pretty good. Watching the world pass by from the Sightseer while enjoying those is great. As for flex meals, they’re passable when they’re well prepared.

John Santos · Sep 8, 2024

They often have hot water and tea available at the coffee station in the sleepers, though I have never used it. Many times I've seen people order tea in the dining or cafe cars. Usually they provide a cup of hot water and a choice of tea flavors. I've been told you can ask, either in the cafe or the dinning car, for a cup of hot water if you have your own tea or cocoa mix, or for any other purpose, I assume. (Cup-a-soup or ramen noodles?) If the water is hot enough to make a decent cup of tea, it should be plenty hot for a backpacking meal.

Eric in East County · Sep 8, 2024

The sleepers have a center area with coffee and juice but no hot water for tea drinkers and those who want to make their own cup of soup. (Perhaps they did have hot water pre-COVID. I don't recall.) It shouldn't be too hard to set up a second urn with hot water.

pennyk · Sep 8, 2024

Eric in East County said:
The sleepers have a center area with coffee and juice but no hot water for tea drinkers and those who want to make their own cup of soup. (Perhaps they did have hot water pre-COVID. I don't recall.) It shouldn't be too hard to set up a second urn with hot water.

Years ago, the Viewliner sleepers had hot water spigots, but no longer. I believe the Auto Train may have hot water available in some of the sleepers. I am a tea drinker and I bring my own tea. I have never had a problem getting hot water in the dining car. However, I do not know the cafe policy for providing hot water to coach passengers. I am pretty sure they will not provide hot water in a cup provided by the passenger.

zephyr17 · Sep 8, 2024

Eric in East County said:
The sleepers have a center area with coffee and juice but no hot water for tea drinkers and those who want to make their own cup of soup. (Perhaps they did have hot water pre-COVID. I don't recall.) It shouldn't be too hard to set up a second urn with hot water.

They never had hot water in Superliners, just coffee. Cannot speak to Viewliners and hot water.

Railspike · Sep 9, 2024

pennyk said:
Years ago, the Viewliner sleepers had hot water spigots, but no longer. I believe the Auto Train may have hot water available in some of the sleepers. I am a tea drinker and I bring my own tea. I have never had a problem getting hot water in the dining car. However, I do not know the cafe policy for providing hot water to coach passengers. I am pretty sure they will not provide hot water in a cup provided by the passenger.

You are correct. My experience has been that neither the dining car nor the cafe car will fill your cup/yeti with hot water.
They draw hot water in their coffee cups, and hand it to you to pour into your container.

railiner · Sep 9, 2024

Railspike said:
You are correct. My experience has been that neither the dining car nor the cafe car will fill your cup/yeti with hot water.
They draw hot water in their coffee cups, and hand it to you to pour into your container.

I believe that’s a basic FDA requirement. They do not want anything but clean supplier supplied cups or utensils to physically contact dispensers…

JermyZP · Sep 10, 2024

Does anyone know if Amtrak is using ceramic and glass dinnerware? I saw in an article from mid 2021 that ceramic and glass dinnerware were to come back to traditional dining by the end of that year. Has there been any updates?

MARC Rider · Sep 10, 2024

JermyZP said:
I saw in an article from mid 2021 that ceramic and glass dinnerware were to come back to traditional dining by the end of that year.

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!
If you believe that, I have a nice bridge connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn to sell you.

I rode the Empire Builder last year (November 2023), we were still served on "fancy" disposable plastic.

The only ceramic and glass dinnerware I've seen on Amtrak is found in Acela First Class.

Herb · Sep 10, 2024

MARC Rider said:
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!
If you believe that, I have a nice bridge connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn to sell you.

I rode the Empire Builder last year (November 2023), we were still served on "fancy" disposable plastic.

The only ceramic and glass dinnerware I've seen on Amtrak is found in Acela First Class.

JermyZP said:
Does anyone know if Amtrak is using ceramic and glass dinnerware? I saw in an article from mid 2021 that ceramic and glass dinnerware were to come back to traditional dining by the end of that year. Has there been any updates?

Amtrak should and could have real China on their LD routes. It would take a little bit of investment but I’ve been served food on real China and glass ware on trains in Switzerland and Germany. They have a dishwasher !! So you’d need a tank for fresh water and one for gray water. There are fresh water hoses in Sacramento Vally station which is half way on the Coast Starlight. This better than the amount of waste that is produced on each trip. Go Sustainable!!

zephyr17 · Sep 10, 2024

Herb said:
They have a dishwasher !! So you’d need a tank for fresh water and one for gray water. There are fresh water hoses in Sacramento Vally station which is half way on the Coast Starlight. This better than the amount of waste that is produced on each trip. Go Sustainable!!

Superliner Diners were equipped with dishwashers and sufficient water tanks to support them. Amtrak used china during much of the 1980s and 1990s at the very least.

The dishwashers, though, may well be no longer usable due to long term disuse. They may well need repair, or, more likely given their age, replacement before china could be reintroduced.

MARC Rider · Sep 10, 2024

zephyr17 said:
Superliner Diners were equipped with dishwashers and sufficient water tanks to support them. Amtrak used china during much of the 1980s and 1990s at the very least.

The dishwashers, though, may well be no longer usable due to long term disuse. They may well need repair, or, more likely given their age, replacement before china could be reintroduced.

They would also need to commit to hiring one extra person in the kitchen per dining car in operation to actually wash the dishes. That's why they went to disposables in the first place -- to be able to reduce staffing.

crescent-zephyr · Sep 10, 2024

zephyr17 said:
Amtrak used china during much of the 1980s and 1990s at the very least.

Well into the 2000's on some trains - The Starlight, Empire Builder and Capitol Limited most notably.
Parlour Cars ran until 2018 and as far as I know, they kept using China until the end.

What is the staffing like for the Superliner Diners these days? Just 1 cook or do some of them operate with 2 again?

Harmon Shay · Sep 11, 2024

Last I checked it was five on the Empire Builder, at least during summer season.

crescent-zephyr · Sep 11, 2024

Harmon Shay said:
Last I checked it was five on the Empire Builder, at least during summer season.

If there are 2 in the kitchen then staffing is not a reason to not use China on the Builder. I would guess the Starlight has 2 in the kitchen as well. Sadly, I haven't ridden many LD trains recently so I'm not sure what it's like right now.

PVD · Sep 11, 2024

Vitrelle Glass (Corelle) might be a much better choice than actual china since it takes dishwashing much better, and is way less prone to chipping, which in commercial use, is an automatic disposal.

crescent-zephyr · Sep 11, 2024

PVD said:
Vitrelle Glass (Corelle) might be a much better choice than actual china since it takes dishwashing much better, and is way less prone to chipping, which in commercial use, is an automatic disposal.

Isn't that what Amtrak uses? "China" refers to "real" plates just like "Silverware" isn't actually silver. I guess the correct term might be "non-disposable" when referring to napkins, flatware, plates, glasses, tablecloths, etc.

jiml · Sep 11, 2024

PVD said:
Vitrelle Glass (Corelle) might be a much better choice than actual china since it takes dishwashing much better, and is way less prone to chipping, which in commercial use, is an automatic disposal.

They had it!

PVD · Sep 11, 2024

jiml said:
They had it!
View attachment 37707

It is probably what some people remember as "china plates" I remember reading about the fire sale of surplus when they stopped using it. Real china would be a terrible choice.

Eric in East County · Sep 11, 2024

We’ve never had a problem eating off plastic Amtrak plates or drinking hot liquids in paper cups. On our trip last May, the dining car was using stainless steel Amtrak flat wear and cloth napkins. We even had stainless steel Amtrak flat wear and cloth napkins delivered along with the evening meals that were served to us in our Southwest Chief No. 3 bedroom. (Usually this is plastic ware wrapped in a paper napkin.)

JWM · Sep 11, 2024

They'll never go back to heavy hotel plate and bespoke china, thank you Santa Fe and others, but the plastic junk should be retired.

zephyr17 · Sep 11, 2024

JWM said:
They'll never go back to heavy hotel plate and bespoke china, thank you Santa Fe and others, but the plastic junk should be retired.

Corel is fine by me.

JermyZP · Sep 11, 2024

They have enough staffing and they have the equipment, because they are using silverware, so what's holding them back on buying new china? In the specifications document for the replacement of bi-level long distance cars it calls for two standard size dishwashers. There is even wording for a rinse sink, "Sink basin with manual faucet that is used for dumping partially
consumed beverages before washing the beverage glass in the
dishwasher." (Page 16-69) I think it's either they don't have the money now or Amtrak is probably going to go through a new branding when the new bi-level cars are placed in service. They don't want to buy china with the current logo and then do it all again in ~6 years for the new logo.

TaseMeBro · Sep 12, 2024

On the Starlight just a few days ago, I had metal flatware, and a glass wineglass (stemless). Other drinkware (for soft drinks) was plastic. The plates (small and dinner size) were the heavier weight Amtrak branded plastic.

On an EB trip a bit less than a year ago, the silverware was metal and wine glasses were glass. The dinner plates were heavy plastic, but the smaller dessert and apptizer plates were china (meaning, a washable, non disposable dishware - I don't recall if ceramic, corelle, etc).

railiner · Sep 12, 2024

JWM said:
They'll never go back to heavy hotel plate and bespoke china, thank you Santa Fe and others, but the plastic junk should be retired.

IIRC, Amtrak’s earliest, blue and white ones were of the heavy hotel variety. A fully loaded tray of food for four required a strong waiter/waitress…

https://rwcn-idwiki-2.restaurantwarecollectors.com/content/amtrak-national/

Amtrak Dining and Cafe Service discussion 2024 H2

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