Amtrak dining and cafe service

[zephyr17]

I like the Grounded Life videos as a rule, however they said their arrival inspection "took about 15 minutes". Having done this trip many times, that seems pretty optimistic - perhaps "spun" to improve the experience? Perhaps things have improved since the resumption of the service. They did comment that they waited on the train until their car was summoned, which would be a new experience for me. Previously it was "everybody off" and line up on the platform with your luggage regardless of the weather. Some real world confirmation of changes by anyone having done the trip recently would be helpful.

Entering the US it was still everybody off and line up. But the US side now has adequate facilities for any conceivable passenger load, with a long indoor ramp/hallway leading to inspection and a large seating area just in front of the inspection entrance. Plus a covered platform. We had quite a big load, probably between 50-100 people crossing (largest by far of any time I've been on the Leaf) and the end of line up was nowhere near the door out to the platform. I was close to the end of the line, BTW.

Sorry, didn't ride it northbound, so can't speak to Canada where facilities are older and much more limited.

Car by car is how they've always done it in Vancouver. There the line up is outside and part of it is not under any sort of cover.

 

[joelkfla]

Some of the flex meals, are, indeed of poor quality, but people should keep in mind that for years the "traditional dining" (except for the grilled steaks) has been reheated food. I also suspect that traditional dining, like almost all commercially prepared food, is also full of "sodium bombs." Not to mention fats and sugar, too.

Why, then, was (and I presume is) the traditional Railroad French Toast infinitely better than than either the Flex French Toast or Pancakes?

 

[zetharion]

Why, then, was (and I presume is) the traditional Railroad French Toast infinitely better than than either the Flex French Toast or Pancakes?

The French Toast I had on the Eagle/Sunset Limited the first week of November a huge letdown? The Flex pancakes I agree are not good. The ones I got on the Eaglette to Chicago were overcooked and had very hard edges and were inedible.

 

[NYP2NFL01]

I rode the Maple Leaf in September this year in Business Class. When the train crossed the border both ways, everyone had to get off, line up and go into the station for customs clearance. Since Niagara Falls, Ontario was our destination, we were free to go. Those continuing on to Toronto had to wait in the station until summoned back onboard by the train crew. I may add it was raining on our northbound trip when we crossed the border.

 

[Sidney]

The French Toast I had on the Eagle/Sunset Limited the first week of November a huge letdown? The Flex pancakes I agree are not good. The ones I got on the Eaglette to Chicago were overcooked and had very hard edges and were inedible.

I have broken many a fork trying to eat flex french toast,omelettes and pancakes.

 

[MARC Rider]

Why, then, was (and I presume is) the traditional Railroad French Toast infinitely better than than either the Flex French Toast or Pancakes?

Many people seem to be under the impression that precooked food can never be as good as food "cooked to order." Having had lots of horrible stuff cooked to order, that isn't necessarily true. I don't know about the traditional dining French toast (and maybe the eggs, too.) I mean, the "railroad French toast" I've had in traditional dining on Amtrak was OK, but not the culinary masterpieces that some people think it is. If it was cooked to order and overcooked, it would be as bad as the overcooked flex meal French toast. Anyway, the big deal about eating in the dining car isn't the food, it's the ambience of sitting down at a table and watching the world go by as you eat. I've had that experience, by the way, sitting in the cafe car in the Northeast Regional and eating a microwaved Hebrew National hot dog, too.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Precooked food is generally not as good as fresh cooked food, and the best of precooked food is not a stitch on the best scratch cooked (and I really mean scratch cooked- bisquick is not scratch cooking) food.

However, to answer your question on the French toast- like scratch cooked food, precooked food is variable in quality. Actually, take three bags of popcorn, pop them following the bag instructions, and note how different the end timers can be for following those instructions. There’s such a thing as decent precooked food; there is such a thing as inedible scratch cooked food, some of which came out of my very own kitchen in my college Appartement before I met my wife.

I thought some of the precooked items before Flex appeared were entirely decent; I distinctly remember a duck l’orange on the SWC that was honestly delicious and simply reheated. They don’t touch the food my wife cooks at home, but they are nothing to complain about.

 

[joelkfla]

Many people seem to be under the impression that precooked food can never be as good as food "cooked to order." Having had lots of horrible stuff cooked to order, that isn't necessarily true. I don't know about the traditional dining French toast (and maybe the eggs, too.) I mean, the "railroad French toast" I've had in traditional dining on Amtrak was OK, but not the culinary masterpieces that some people think it is. If it was cooked to order and overcooked, it would be as bad as the overcooked flex meal French toast. Anyway, the big deal about eating in the dining car isn't the food, it's the ambience of sitting down at a table and watching the world go by as you eat. I've had that experience, by the way, sitting in the cafe car in the Northeast Regional and eating a microwaved Hebrew National hot dog, too.

The difference may be a matter of the definitions of "precooked" and "reheated." I don't know how traditional dining items were supplied and prepared, but I suspect any items that were precooked were supplied and reheated separately, as opposed to flex meals being supplied in a single individual container. I also suspect some traditional dining items were not fully precooked, but partially cooked and finished, not reheated, on board.

I agree about the dining car experience. I always take my Flex meals in the dining car on the Silvers. It also makes it easier to get any extra condiments I might want, or drink refills or a forgotten bun. But it doesn't make the Flex meals taste any better.

 

[JayPea]

My one experience with flex dining was during a 2020 trip when all of Amtrak dining was flex. This was an Empire Builder-Texas Eagle-Coast Starlight trip. I was expecting awful, bland, and totally unpalatable meals. At that time, there were eight entrees for lunch and dinner, and I had all eight of them at one time or another. I found seven of the eight not bad. The only one I didn't like was a chicken dish. I think the chicken in it died of some terrible disease. Of course it wasn't on the same order as the steak, seafood, and other items that traditional dining offered. But it wasn't too bad. One of them was a pasta and meatball dish I really liked. The grocery store I work at carries a similar item, and I make sure it's well stocked. I make the order for our frozen food department so I make sure it's well stocked. Lots of power in the hands of the guy with the order gun!!!!

Bottom line was the flex food wasn't even in the same ball park as traditional dining for me. But it wasn't as horrible in my opinion as it was made out to be. It was what it was.

 

[fillyjonk]

The French Toast I had on the Eagle/Sunset Limited the first week of November a huge letdown? The Flex pancakes I agree are not good. The ones I got on the Eaglette to Chicago were overcooked and had very hard edges and were inedible.

Yes, that was my experience - the edges of BOTH the pancakes and the sausage were hard and dry. I guess in the future it's oatmeal and yogurt for me, at least they can't ruin that (except if they were to leave the yogurt out and it spoiled....)

I wonder if some of it is low staffing - one person to take the orders and hand out the food, one person (I assume) down below heating it however it's to be heated, and at busy times stuff either sits after heating (and hardens) or gets heated too long or too unevenly.

That said, I don't think having more staff would make the flex stuff GOOD, it would just make it BETTER

My one experience with flex dining was during a 2020 trip when all of Amtrak dining was flex. This was an Empire Builder-Texas Eagle-Coast Starlight trip. I was expecting awful, bland, and totally unpalatable meals. At that time, there were eight entrees for lunch and dinner, and I had all eight of them at one time or another. I found seven of the eight not bad. The only one I didn't like was a chicken dish. I think the chicken in it died of some terrible disease. Of course it wasn't on the same order as the steak, seafood, and other items that traditional dining offered. But it wasn't too bad. One of them was a pasta and meatball dish I really liked. The grocery store I work at carries a similar item, and I make sure it's well stocked. I make the order for our frozen food department so I make sure it's well stocked. Lots of power in the hands of the guy with the order gun!!!!

Bottom line was the flex food wasn't even in the same ball park as traditional dining for me. But it wasn't as horrible in my opinion as it was made out to be. It was what it was.

The pasta and meatballs are not bad. That's usually what I get. They had cod on once when I traveled, like the fish in fish and chips, and that really was pretty decent. I got some kind of a shrimp dish one time when they were out of nearly everything and it was nearly inedible.

I might try the chicken alla rosa my next trip if it's on offer, getting a little tired of pasta and meatballs. I have some dietary limitations (celery and carrots make me ill and I can't eat peanuts) so I have to be a little careful

 

[railiner]

I don't know how traditional dining items were supplied and prepared,

 

[Rasputin]

Thanks for posting that ad showing Louis Price. I remember the ad when it first came out and I recall chatting with Mr. Price in his kitchen on the Southern Crescent on one of my trips on that train in the early 1970s. He was a nice person and enjoyed his work very much. It was distressing and rather infuriating to learn of his death at the hands of an incompetent engine crew on December 3, 1978.

https://www.nytimes.com/1978/12/26/...,Southern used Louis Price to sell its train.

 

[joelkfla]

Back in the 1970's I rode the thru sleeper from L.A. onto the Southern Crescent (I can't remember exactly where I was headed.) I remember waking up on the train in New Orleans, looking out the window of my Roomette, and watching the crew load fresh provisions onto the diner. Quite possibly Mr. Price was the chef. I remember thinking how delicious was breakfast.

 

[user 14106]

have seen a trip report or two that the Starlight is allowing coach passengers into the diner.

 

[Trollopian]

Precooked food is generally not as good as fresh cooked food, and the best of precooked food is not a stitch on the best scratch cooked (and I really mean scratch cooked- bisquick is not scratch cooking) food...

My stepmum finally got a fridge with a built-in icemaker and raved about no longer having to make ice cubes "from scratch." For the rest of her life we badgered her about how we missed her homemade ice cubes.

 

[MccfamschoolMom]

My stepmum finally got a fridge with a built-in icemaker and raved about no longer having to make ice cubes "from scratch." For the rest of her life we badgered her about how we missed her homemade ice cubes.

We used to have a fridge with a built-in icemaker, and switched to having a separate fridge and countertop ice maker, which eliminated the need to have a plumber set up a water softener in the basement just so we could have filtered water going to the icemaker. More space required in the kitchen, but lower set-up and maintenance costs, since our current arrangement is more end-user serviceable.
Relating this back to Amtrak dining cars, there's a limited amount of space within which all the food preparation/refrigeration/storage/etc. equipment needs to fit, while still allowing Amtrak service attendants to work inside that space. So efficient use of space might outweigh minimizing maintenance costs; however, having food prep equipment for which at least minor maintenance can be done by the on-board staff would minimize dining service disruptions during a train journey.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I mean, the "railroad French toast" I've had in traditional dining on Amtrak was OK, but not the culinary masterpieces that some people think it is.

Can you quote any posts that imply that Amtrak's french toast is a "culinary masterpiece?"

Anyway, the big deal about eating in the dining car isn't the food, it's the ambience of sitting down at a table and watching the world go by as you eat. I've had that experience, by the way, sitting in the cafe car in the Northeast Regional and eating a microwaved Hebrew National hot dog, too.

How does someone's negative opinion of flex meals impact your ability to enjoy a hotdog?

 

[crescent-zephyr]

Some of the flex meals, are, indeed of poor quality, but people should keep in mind that for years the "traditional dining" (except for the grilled steaks) has been reheated food.

Well, for a start there are entrees that have been on the traditional dining menu that weren't "reheated food" other than steaks. Eggs at breakfast, baked potatoes, etc.

But that's not even the point. An Amtrak Food Specialist (aka chef) reheating and then plating a high-quality entree like the Lamb Shank is a completely different product than an Amtrak LSA placing a container in a convection oven and pulling it out when the timer goes off. Add to that the fact that the Flex meals are very low quality in my opinion, and then end product is very low quality.

 

[RRrich]

Well, for a start there are entrees that have been on the traditional dining menu that weren't "reheated food" other than steaks. Eggs at breakfast, baked potatoes, etc.

But that's not even the point. An Amtrak Food Specialist (aka chef) reheating and then plating a high-quality entree like the Lamb Shank is a completely different product than an Amtrak LSA placing a container in a convection oven and pulling it out when the timer goes off. Add to that the fact that the Flex meals are very low quality in my opinion, and then end product is very low quality.

As the computer folk say GIGO

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

As the computer folk say GIGO

Not being in the computer folk crowd, I had to look this up. But now I know what it means, I agree—that’s exactly right.

 

[01piglet_patinas]

VIA also does not charge extra fare for traveling in the Business Class on the Maple Leaf in Canada, well it charges $1 additional IICR. This has always been the case. Nothing new there. In Canada it is a VIA train, so they have no reason to honor anything from Amtrak. Even the food served in the Cafe is different from Amtrak.

Hi. What is IICR? not familiar with that acronym.

 

[jis]

Hi. What is IICR? not familiar with that acronym.

It was intended to be IIRC (If I Recall Correctly). Fixed in the original post.

 

[TheCrescent]

If I understand correctly, Amtrak’s new Airo trains (what a bad choice of names for a railroad) will have cafe cars that will include self-service options. Hallelujah!

 

[trimetbusfan]

If I understand correctly, Amtrak’s new Airo trains (what a bad choice of names for a railroad) will have cafe cars that will include self-service options. Hallelujah!

Hopefully they don’t use that as an excuse to get rid of the cafe attendant… like they are doing on the San Joaquin’s.

 

[TheCrescent]

Hopefully they don’t use that as an excuse to get rid of the cafe attendant… like they are doing on the San Joaquin’s.

I believe that there will still be an attendant.