Amtrak dining and cafe service

[stevie]

On my trip on the Star yesterday, the SCA offered us a choice of eating in the dining car or in the room, and he had the menu with him for us to look at.

I chose the room because me trying to walk to the dining car on a moving train while using a cane is just an accident waiting to happen.

I like eating in the room for lunch but would probably enjoy breakfast and dinner more in the dining car.

I saw the SCA delivering quite a few bags at lunch, and only saw one couple going to the dining car when lunchtime was called.

Interesting. While I appreciate having the choice to dine in the privacy of my room, I have never availed myself of that opportunity. I seem to be in the minority here, in that I almost always travel solo and enjoy the communal dining experience.

 

[zephyr17]

Interesting. While I appreciate having the choice to dine in the privacy of my room, I have never availed myself of that opportunity. I seem to be in the minority here, in that I almost always travel solo and enjoy the communal dining experience.

I've only eaten in my room one time and that was because I wasn't feeling well.

 

[jis]

I've only eaten in my room one time and that was because I wasn't feeling well.

I do about half and half, but generally tend to eat in my room when I am traveling alone.

 

[stevie]

I've only eaten in my room one time and that was because I wasn't feeling well.

Actually, I recall now that there was one time where I wasn't feeling top-notch physically and definitely not in the mood to be social. On that occasion, after a nap, I went to the dining car at the time of my seating and asked for my lunch to be delivered. The diner attendant and my SCA arranged this very quickly and I went back to my room. I enjoyed lunch and spent the rest of the day reading and enjoying the scenery on my own.

 

[Rasputin]

Interesting. While I appreciate having the choice to dine in the privacy of my room, I have never availed myself of that opportunity. I seem to be in the minority here, in that I almost always travel solo and enjoy the communal dining experience.

I don't believe most passengers prefer to eat in their room. I certainly don't.

 

[stevie]

I don't believe most passengers prefer to eat in their room. I certainly don't.

Yep. To me, part of the experience (especially travelling solo) is the opportunity to meet interesting people.

Just saying that to have the option in a sleeper is valuable.

 

[NYP2NFL01]

Your SCA is wrong about dessert, unless he or she meant they don’t offer the dinner desserts at lunch.

They are offering a brownie or butter cake as dessert at lunch—same as the flex menu, and my guess is they’ve got a warehouse full of them to get rid of and are happily offering them.

Keep us posted on the rest of your trip—it will be interesting to see if you got stuck with one of those SCAs that makes up rules as they go, although I sincerely hope not.

I was very lucky on my trip yesterday—the SCA was an extremely helpful man who is a longtime SCA —I remember him being on another trip I took years ago.

It could be they didn’t load up the brownies and butter cakes because of the mishap at the commissary. The SCA’s name is Sharon. She seems sincere and friendly. At any rate we didn’t get any lunch for dessert. By any chance was your SCA’s name Kumar?

 

[NYP2NFL01]

At any rate we didn’t get any lunch for dessert.

I mean we we didn’t get any dessert with lunch!

 

[jis]

It could be they didn’t load up the brownies and butter cakes because of the mishap at the commissary. The SCA’s name is Sharon. She seems sincere and friendly. At any rate we didn’t get any lunch for dessert. By any chance was your SCA’s name Kumar?

Kumar is one of the best in my experience.

 

[Rasputin]

Yep. To me, part of the experience (especially travelling solo) is the opportunity to meet interesting people.

Just saying that to have the option in a sleeper is valuable.

I realize that everyone has their preferences. I usually enjoy dining with other passengers in the dining car but I also enjoy the fact that the dining car is more spacious. I do not enjoy dining in the cramped quarters of a roomette, esp. if I am sharing the roomette. I have never eaten in a bedroom so I don't know what that setup is like.

Viewing the scenery on both sides of the train is also better in the dining car than in a sleeping car.

In addition, I find that roomettes are not cleaned very well. (Take a flashlight and look under the seats sometime.) Since Covid began and Amtrak started to encourage or insist that passengers eat in their rooms I suspect that incidents of vermin in sleeping cars have been on the rise.

 

[pennyk]

It could be they didn’t load up the brownies and butter cakes because of the mishap at the commissary. The SCA’s name is Sharon. She seems sincere and friendly. At any rate we didn’t get any lunch for dessert. By any chance was your SCA’s name Kumar?

Sharon is one of my favorites. She is experienced and extremely competent. If you are still on the train, please tell Sharon that Penny says hi.

 

[pennyk]

I've only eaten in my room one time and that was because I wasn't feeling well.

I only eat in my room if I have no choice (which happened on 91 last month when a special dinner was served because the train was very late, with no alcohol). I prefer not to have "food smell" where I sleep.

 

[stevie]

I realize that everyone has their preferences. I usually enjoy dining with other passengers in the dining car but I also enjoy the fact that the dining car is more spacious. I do not enjoy dining in the cramped quarters of a roomette, esp. if I am sharing the roomette. I have never eaten in a bedroom so I don't know what that setup is like.

Viewing the scenery on both sides of the train is also better in the dining car than in a sleeping car.

In addition, I find that roomettes are not cleaned very well. (Take a flashlight and look under the seats sometime.) Since Covid began and Amtrak started to encourage or insist that passengers eat in their rooms I suspect that incidents of vermin in sleeping cars have been on the rise.

Good points here @Rasputin. The Superliner Roomettes and Bedrooms have the same pull-out table, so I can totally see how it would be crowded for two to dine in the room.

The dining car is my preference. I love the table service, the views, the camaraderie with fellow passengers. As I stated elsewhere, the only time I have opted for in-room dining was when I wasn't feeling well one day and not in the mood to be social.

I have never experienced a problem with cleanliness -- let alone vermin! -- in the rooms I've stayed in. My next trip is in a couple of weeks (Roomette outbound; Bedroom return). I'll check it out and report my findings here.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

It could be they didn’t load up the brownies and butter cakes because of the mishap at the commissary. The SCA’s name is Sharon. She seems sincere and friendly. At any rate we didn’t get any lunch for dessert. By any chance was your SCA’s name Kumar?

Oh that makes perfect sense—the brownies and butter cakes having the same fate as the lettuce and tomatoes.

Have to remind myself not to jump to conclusions.

My SCA was Cameron. I’ve heard about Kumar but have not met him and hope I get to at some point.

After reading a few posts above, it occurred to me I have only been in a roomette on day trips recently.

Now that I’ve thought more about it, I do think I probably would eat in the dining car for all meals if I was sleeping in the roomette.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Interesting. While I appreciate having the choice to dine in the privacy of my room, I have never availed myself of that opportunity. I seem to be in the minority here, in that I almost always travel solo and enjoy the communal dining experience.

Ditto!

 

[allanorn]

Interesting. While I appreciate having the choice to dine in the privacy of my room, I have never availed myself of that opportunity. I seem to be in the minority here, in that I almost always travel solo and enjoy the communal dining experience.

Same. Dining car for me, except for the first cup of coffee of the day or if I'm not feeling well. Like @pennyk I'm not really thrilled about smelling food post-meal for several hours in my room.

I might reconsider my stance if I walk in to the dining car and the tables are full of families with kids, but I'm fortunate that hasn't happened yet.

 

[danasgoodstuff]

I like to have the option re dining in room or not, usually I go to the dining car for all meals, but not always.

 

[stevie]

I like to have the option re dining in room or not, usually I go to the dining car for all meals, but not always.

I appreciate having this choice in a sleeper. In my experience, Amtrak has always been helpful in accommodating any requests.

 

[NYP2NFL01]

Still on 91, currently in Raleigh, NC. Dinner was delish! Had the steak and it did not disappoint. My Lemon Meyer cake was preferred by my wife over her chocolate mousse. So, we switched desserts!

 

[Bob Dylan]

The only time I've eaten in my Seat with Food from the Diner on a LD Amtrak Train, was when they served the Chicken Dinners to Coach Passengers on the Sunset Ltd.

I've never eaten in my Room with Food from the Diner aboard an Amtrak Train whether in a Roomette or Bedroom.

Of course I've been served @ my Seat while riding FC Acela, but there is no option aboard that Car since there isn't a Diner in the Acela Consist, just the Cafe Car.

 

[NYP2NFL01]

We ate in our room. I’m not anti-social. But, having contracted COVID in March as a result of attendance at a large conference left me none too eager to dine with new acquaintances at this time.

 

[stevie]

Still on 91, currently in Raleigh, NC. Dinner was delish! Had the steak and it did not disappoint. My Lemon Meyer cake was preferred by my wife over her chocolate mousse. So, we switched desserts!

Amtrak's signature steak is delicious and, in my experience, always prepared perfectly to order. The lemon cake is usually my dessert of choice. The blueberry cheesecake and the mousse are also excellent, but a bit rich for my taste.

We ate in our room. I’m not anti-social. But, having contracted COVID in March as a result of attendance at a large conference left me none too eager to dine with new acquaintances at this time.

I hope you had a quick and painless recovery!

 

[MARC Rider]

I ate in my room one time. I had ordered kosher meals, and despite the fact that a run on the Capitol Limited includes only a dinner and a breakfast, for some reason, they loaded an extra dinner for me. I probably wouldn't have eaten it, but the train was running 6 hours late after Pittsburgh, and I appreciated having the extra lunch. However, I didn't want to eat it in the CCC in full view of other, possibly envious passengers who were getting by on a snack pack and the leftovers from the cafe car, so I had it delivered to my room and ate it in private.

 

[NYP2NFL01]

Amtrak's signature steak is delicious and, in my experience, always prepared perfectly to order. The lemon cake is usually my dessert of choice. The blueberry cheesecake and the mousse are also excellent, but a bit rich for my taste.


I hope you had a quick and painless recovery!

Yes I did and thank you much!

 

[desertflyer]

On Starlight 14 out of LAX yesterday, despite a very full train, it seemed like anyone who wanted to eat in the diner was able to get a reservation. $45/person for dinner is quite steep in my opinion, especially for the quality of the food, but there were quite a few coach passengers we saw take up Amtrak on the offer. The crew were very nice and were pleasant. Having said that, we had two problems with our meal:

• There were three of us dining, two steaks and one salmon. The steaks came out quickly but my wife's salmon took a solid 15 minutes longer to come out. They made an announcement shortly after that salmon and chicken were going to take an extra 20 minutes. It was a bummer to not be able to eat our mains together.
• Since the salmon took so long to come out, they ran out of the chocolate cake my wife ordered. They were literally carrying the last piece by while letting us know there wasn't any more. I know this happens, but we had ordered all three courses at the start of the meal. The cheesecake she got as a replacement came frozen inside. Issues like this don't bug me when I'm traveling in the sleeper, but when I'm paying $45/person+tip for the meal, it feels different.

Anyways, here's the food pics.


Soft, warm rolls were brought out shortly after we ordered. Maybe I'm simple, but this was one of the best parts of the meal!


The shrimp appetizer with a Thai chili sauce. It was okay.


The capresse skew appetizer. I liked this. The vinegar sauce was a little on the sweet side, but I'd get it again.


The steak. Vegetables were flavorless, and I wish you could still get a baked potato with it, but I overall enjoyed it.


The salmon. It's always a little dry, but was overall decent. Again, it'd be nice to be able to pick your sides.


The cheesecake. It was frozen inside. This is something that seems to happen a lot on Amtrak. The flavor was good though.


The lemon cake. I really liked this. It was light and fluffy, and not frozen inside! Not everyone loves lemon, but I do. Wish we could have tried the current chocolate option to compare.