Amtrak dining and cafe service

[TEREB]

We got off the southbound Meteor the day before the new flex meals were added. My main complaint about these meals is that they are WAY OVER SALTED and way overcooked. Ruins the texture, and in the case of the broccoli, a mushy stench.
There was no cod but Chicken Rosa was offered. My husband had that and said it was not bad. Wish the salad was larger. The Jimmy Dean breakfast was not bad either. We also ordered cold cereal, muffin and yogurt and chose to have those items for lunch.
If traditional dining is not offered the next time we make this trip, I’ll fill my lunch bag with the wonderful offerings from the Metropolitan Lounge to carry onboard. Northbound I’ll get sandwiched from Publix.

 

[20th Century Rider]

We got off the southbound Meteor the day before the new flex meals were added. My main complaint about these meals is that they are WAY OVER SALTED and way overcooked. Ruins the texture, and in the case of the broccoli, a mushy stench.
There was no cod but Chicken Rosa was offered. My husband had that and said it was not bad. Wish the salad was larger. The Jimmy Dean breakfast was not bad either. We also ordered cold cereal, muffin and yogurt and chose to have those items for lunch.
If traditional dining is not offered the next time we make this trip, I’ll fill my lunch bag with the wonderful offerings from the Metropolitan Lounge to carry onboard. Northbound I’ll get sandwiched from Publix.

The new flex meals taste much better but are tapas sized... do note that all these processed meals are high in sodium and fat. The Chicken Rosa that I had was very tasty and the pasta was not overcooked. They did make an effort to improve... but have a long way to go.

 

[JoshP]

Correction: The Cardinal and the CONO don't have menus yet. A prompt to download the menu results in the following error message:
"Failed - No file". I'll assume Amtrak's IT Department will fix that some year!

I guess Amtrak made the cut at IT department to save money by contract someone to run the site?

Rest assured, menu PDF are available: Onboard Dining | Amtrak Time Tables

 

[MARC Rider]

I just had my kosher meal on the LSL. It was pretty good. The main dish is heated separately and covered, and they give you a sealed box with all the cold stuff. You can have fun googling all the technical religious terms on the packaging, like "glatt kosher" and "mezonos," etc. I had the baked salmon on a bed of cannolini beans with some sweet potatoes and sugar snap peas. In the cold box they had a "mezonos" roll, a small and a bit dry chocolate cake, a tasty cabbage and carrot salad, and one of those airline-pack drink cups with natural spring water from a source outside of Istanbul, Turkey, of all places. I thought the salmon was a bit overcooked, but it wasn't dry, and it was pretty tasty. In particular, it wasn't too salty, which can be a problem with kosher meat dishes, as the kosher preparation involves salting raw meat, and sometimes people don't rinse off the salt adequately. But that wouldn't apply to fish.

I ordered the kosher beef entree (a pot roast) for my return trip on the Capitol Limited. I'll report on that, too, and also include pictures once I have them online.

 

[niemi24s]

Rest assured, menu PDF are available: Onboard Dining | Amtrak Time Tables

This listing does not include any of the Western LD trains and the menus it does list are dated 0221. More recent menus for all of the trains can be found here: Amtrak Onboard Dining

 

[JoshP]

This listing does not include any of the Western LD trains and the menus it does list are dated 0221. More recent menus for all of the trains can be found here: Amtrak Onboard Dining

Have you realized that PDF on Amtrak is same on my site? Read it carefully

 

[niemi24s]

Have you realized that PDF on Amtrak is same on my site? Read it carefully

I thought I was fairly literate, but:

• please show me on your site where the menus for the CS, EB, CZ and SWC appear?
• are both Traditional and Flexible Dining being offered on most of the Eastern LD trains?

 

[dwebarts]

I guess Amtrak made the cut at IT department to save money by contract someone to run the site?

They have a number of open IT jobs (though none that focus on UI/UX, which shows). I used to work with a Web Designer that left for a job with Amtrak. I think she only stayed a couple of years and moved on. I don't have her current info or I'd ask why (likely frustration).

 

[Sidney]

I thought I was fairly literate, but:

• please show me on your site where the menus for the CS, EB, CZ and SWC appear?
• are both Traditional and Flexible Dining being offered on most of the Eastern LD trains?

Just flex dining on the Eastern trains and Texas Eagle. As far as I know it's either Traditional or Flex dining.

 

[jis]

Fortunately, FDA appears to be on the verge of setting some "salt" standards, so the over-salting issue might get handled if that effort works out.

 

[user 14106]

Traditional Dining - California Zephyr, Coast Starlight, Empire Builder, Southwest Chief, Sunset Limited
Traditional Dining Dinner and Continental Breakfast - Auto Train
Flexible Dining: Capitol Limited, Cardinal, City of New Orleans, Crescent, Lake Shore Limited, Silver Meteor, Silver Star, Texas Eagle

 

[MARC Rider]

I just had my kosher meal on the LSL. It was pretty good. The main dish is heated separately and covered, and they give you a sealed box with all the cold stuff. You can have fun googling all the technical religious terms on the packaging, like "glatt kosher" and "mezonos," etc. I had the baked salmon on a bed of cannolini beans with some sweet potatoes and sugar snap peas. In the cold box they had a "mezonos" roll, a small and a bit dry chocolate cake, a tasty cabbage and carrot salad, and one of those airline-pack drink cups with natural spring water from a source outside of Istanbul, Turkey, of all places. I thought the salmon was a bit overcooked, but it wasn't dry, and it was pretty tasty. In particular, it wasn't too salty, which can be a problem with kosher meat dishes, as the kosher preparation involves salting raw meat, and sometimes people don't rinse off the salt adequately. But that wouldn't apply to fish.

I ordered the kosher beef entree (a pot roast) for my return trip on the Capitol Limited. I'll report on that, too, and also include pictures once I have them online.

Now I had the kosher breakfast. Omelet with ratatouille and roast potatoes, plus a cold box with a small fruit salad, a sorry excuse for a bagel, and a dried out pastry and orange juice. The ratatouille and potatoes were good, the omelet was disgusting, orders of magnitude worse than the old flex omelet. I didn't even eat it. But now looks like I'm stuck with it on the return trip.

 

[Barb Stout]

Hi! Just between trains and no to tobacco... tabasco! I did get the omelet breakfast and it was small but very good!
View attachment 24916

Wow, I had totally fallen for the tobacco infusion. However, for some reason I was thinking you were talking about sausage which I could see might be smoke-flavored.

 

[20th Century Rider]

Wow, I had totally fallen for the tobacco infusion. However, for some reason I was thinking you were talking about sausage which I could see might be smoke-flavored.

Not a bad idea! But those little sausages packed a lot of flavor… yum!

 

[Exvalley]

I'd love to hear a first hand report on the enchiladas. I am hoping that it is a lower sodium option compared to the beef short ribs. (Wishful thinking, I know.)

 

[20th Century Rider]

I'd love to hear a first hand report on the enchiladas. I am hoping that it is a lower sodium option compared to the beef short ribs. (Wishful thinking, I know.)

Won’t get real food again until going back out of CHI in a few… meanwhile am enjoying the kosher meals on cardinal, crescent, and the CONO.

But for a really good taco take the TE throu El Paso where the famous Taco lady has really good Mexican for pax to buy.

Oh my you got me watering for Tex mex but will be in NYC tonight where everything’s good!

 

[Triley]

I'd love to hear a first hand report on the enchiladas. I am hoping that it is a lower sodium option compared to the beef short ribs. (Wishful thinking, I know.)

Beef short ribs - 630 calories, 41g total ft (20g saturated), 95mg cholesterol, 680mg sodium, 45g carbs (9 dietary fiber, 4 total sugars), 21g protein.

Enchiladas - 540 calories, 11g fat (4g saturated), 0mg cholesterol, 690mg sodium, 80g carbs (13g dietary fiber, 5g total sugars), 15g protein.

 

[Exvalley]

Beef short ribs - 630 calories, 41g total ft (20g saturated), 95mg cholesterol, 680mg sodium, 45g carbs (9 dietary fiber, 4 total sugars), 21g protein.

Enchiladas - 540 calories, 11g fat (4g saturated), 0mg cholesterol, 690mg sodium, 80g carbs (13g dietary fiber, 5g total sugars), 15g protein.

That is a lot less sodium! The prior beef dish (with polenta) had 2,340mg of sodium. (source: http://amtrakfoodfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/AMTRAK-FALL-100119-02.pdf )

Less than 700mg is actually not bad.

 

[JoshP]

I thought I was fairly literate, but:

• please show me on your site where the menus for the CS, EB, CZ and SWC appear?
• are both Traditional and Flexible Dining being offered on most of the Eastern LD trains?

I went in and checked, didn't realize that it was edited/corrected but it wasn't updated so I forced to update it and now it shows correctly.

All Eastern LD trains are doing Flexible dining expect Auto Train. Silver Meteor will start Traditional dining starting in 2022, then all others will follow afterwards.

 

[flitcraft]

I have also heard there is going to be a new breakfast sandwich to replace the Jimmy Dean - a bialy with sausage egg and cheese

Hmmm...bialy sounds very good, but who ever heard of a non-kosher bialy, so what's with the (probably) pork sausage along with cheese?? Tref city!

 

[zephyr17]

I went in and checked, didn't realize that it was edited/corrected but it wasn't updated so I forced to update it and now it shows correctly.

All Eastern LD trains are doing Flexible dining expect Auto Train. Silver Meteor will start Traditional dining starting in 2022, then all others will follow afterwards.

Source?

 

[20th Century Rider]

Hmmm...bialy sounds very good, but who ever heard of a non-kosher bialy, so what's with the (probably) pork sausage along with cheese?? Tref city!

Yup... and alot of food shops demoralize the beloved bagel by creating bagel and bacon... or bagel and ham...also trefa.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

What I find comical is the same menu is posted for each of the Traditional trains, as well as the flex trains. No more regional variety.

 

[Cal]

What I find comical is the same menu is posted for each of the Traditional trains, as well as the flex trains. No more regional variety.

AFAIK Amtrak hasn't had regional variety in many years.

 

[me_little_me]

But for a really good taco take the TE throu El Paso where the famous Taco lady has really good Mexican for pax to buy.

Oh my you got me watering for Tex mex but will be in NYC tonight where everything’s good!

TACO LADY? I am insultipated [sic] by your imposterably incorrectably [sic] answer. She is the famous BURRITO LADY. Please don't get them mixed up. The last thing we need is a justifiable invasion from our friends to the south for such a blunderbuss [sic].