Amtrak dining and cafe service

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A C-minus is better than an F, which is where the flex meals rank from my perspective. Plus the problems described seem like they could be remedied easily once the crews gather a bit more actual, over-the-rails experience with the new setup. It was only the first day.

Of course, this being Amtrak, it's hard to know how much attention anyone managerial is paying to how individual crews are carrying out the new service. But just having an onboard chef seems like a big step forward.
 
Funny that the Silver Star of all trains is the first Eastern LD train to get traditional dining, given its recent history as the “Silver Starvation” with no meals at all aside from the cafe car. Hoping that this eventually extends to all eastern LD trains - would be nice to have it on the Capitol/Lake Shore this fall for the Gathering…
 
thully said:
Funny that the Silver Star of all trains is the first Eastern LD train to get traditional dining, given its recent history as the “Silver Starvation” with no meals at all aside from the cafe car. Hoping that this eventually extends to all eastern LD trains - would be nice to have it on the Capitol/Lake Shore this fall for the Gathering…
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We will learn much more details on next Sunday 3/26) and Monday after that at the RPA Meeting. There is a meeting with the RPA F&B Committee reps bringing us upto date in an Ale House session including a self-serve Chili Bar for dinner (Register for $20) and then there is a presentation by Larry Chestler. So stay tuned. We might get some hints on the possible timelines and such.
 
Not sure if anyone has seen this, but according to RPA's weekly hotline, over 1,300 coach passengers were served in the diner within the first ten days. For what it's worth, that's at least $26,000 to Amtrak assuming that all passengers paid at least 20 dollars to be served. Not sure how much that actually covers of running the diner, probably not a lot.
 
lordsigma said:
Yes - they had a “special” flex dining menu for the CONO that featured TV dinner meals from a different vendor that could be nuked in the microwave when it only had a Sightseer (and breakfast and lunch were selections from the cafe car menu). It appears it got the diner back with the March consist shift along with a transition sleeper. With the return of the diner I’m guessing the CONO is back to the normal flex menu.
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My only experience with Flex was on the Texas Eagle a year ago 👅 (having done all the western LD trains in the sleeper car recently), but I think that the CONO Flex menu looks a little better -- not so heavy and different menus for lunch and dinner. I'm doing Chicago - New Orleans - DC -- Chicago at the end of April I'm not looking forward to the lunch+dinner gut bomb attacks. I'm hoping the CONO menu stays.
 
ljclark said:
My only experience with Flex was on the Texas Eagle a year ago 👅 (having done all the western LD trains in the sleeper car recently), but I think that the CONO Flex menu looks a little better -- not so heavy and different menus for lunch and dinner. I'm doing Chicago - New Orleans - DC -- Chicago at the end of April I'm not looking forward to the lunch+dinner gut bomb attacks. I'm hoping the CONO menu stays.
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With the diner back I wouldn’t be surprised if they went back to the normal menu. But don’t know for sure.
 
MARC Rider said:
I mean the dinner menu is the same as the Auto Train. The Auto Train Brakfast is a flex-like Continental with a choice of breakfast sandwich. And, of course, there's no lunch served on the Auto Train.
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The dinner entrees are the same on the Auto Train. The prep and presentation is usually a bit simpler assuming because they have a lot more patrons to serve. One other quirk is the auto train also has ice cream and sugar free jell-o for dessert.
 
Looks promising. Too bad our next two trips will be in April and early June. Too soon for the real stuff. I guess it’s back to carrying on my own sandwiches. Sigh
 
TEREB said:
Looks promising. Too bad our next two trips will be in April and early June. Too soon for the real stuff. I guess it’s back to carrying on my own sandwiches. Sigh
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I wouldn’t expect anything more besides the Meteor before the end of FY23. Even if these rumors are true it’s likely plans for FY24. Around this time last year the hiring and rumors began around traditional dining on the Silvers and only now is it actually happening.
 
lordsigma said:
With the diner back I wouldn’t be surprised if they went back to the normal menu. But don’t know for sure.
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Normal Flex menu, or normal (traditional) diner menu? Shifting to the normal Flex menu would involve one or two contract mods. Going to the tradional dining menu would involve personnel changes as well as contract mods.
 
The CONO for some years has always had an off-beat menu which was quite limited and offered items which were not found on other trains. This was true when we rode it in May of 2019. Did the CONO subsequently ever go full flex and had the same offerings as other flex trains or has it continued to have its special menu? Thanks.
 
ljclark said:
My only experience with Flex was on the Texas Eagle a year ago 👅 (having done all the western LD trains in the sleeper car recently), but I think that the CONO Flex menu looks a little better -- not so heavy and different menus for lunch and dinner. I'm doing Chicago - New Orleans - DC -- Chicago at the end of April I'm not looking forward to the lunch+dinner gut bomb attacks. I'm hoping the CONO menu stays.
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A friend of mine told me a friend of his had likened flex meals to MREs. I took the Cresecent TRE->NOL, the CONO NOL->CHI, and the Cardinal CHI->TRE. The Crescent and Cardinal was the same food and it was passable; I’m not writing a gushing review of it but having eaten quite a few genuine MREs in my life, they are remarkably better than that.

I concede the menu on the CONO then looked good. However, the actual food served was actually similar in nature, but with considerably less flavor, than an MRE. It wasn’t even passable- I was too hungry to not eat it but my wife refrained from doing so. I was very glad i had followed Dave Alan’s advice to pick up a Central Grocery muffeletta for lunch before departure.
 
Rasputin said:
The CONO for some years has always had an off-beat menu which was quite limited and offered items which were not found on other trains. This was true when we rode it in May of 2019. Did the CONO subsequently ever go full flex and had the same offerings as other flex trains or has it continued to have its special menu? Thanks.
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Went full flex like the other trains by fall 2019. And I was happy to see that it did because the previous menu did not have anything I was interested in (though I can't remember what was on that menu). I preferred the flex meals offerings
 
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