Amtrak dining and cafe service

[Railspike]

About to take a LD trip in a few weeks. What's the latest status of dining in the dining car vs dining in your room. Passenger choice?

 

[pennyk]

About to take a LD trip in a few weeks. What's the latest status of dining in the dining car vs dining in your room. Passenger choice?

I am on the Silver Meteor right now and we are given the option for dining car or room. It may vary with crew and train. I believe many crews on the Cardinal are strongly suggesting that passengers dine in their rooms.

 

[Amtrakfflyer]

On the SWC in late December it was your choice. Diner was never more than a few tables full. Found the food to be slighter better than prior edition of traditional dining. Entrees were about the same but appetizers and desserts definitely an improvement (and of course the free drinks). Is it worth what in our case was a $900 increase in price over same trips previous years? No, but time will tell if fares come back down to what common folk, who aren’t first time train riders are willing to pay.

 

[jruff001]

Seriously? I'd rather they simply not serve anything than wake up to a 6AM last call message four hours before arrival.

That was about # 3, which is scheduled to arrive LA at 0800.

 

[Oaxacajo]

Again...if flexible dining is here to stay,and I'm afraid it is,why can't there be an improvement in what is being offered?

I recently rode the Texas Eagle from San Antonio to Chicago and was served Flex Meals. I really can not understand what all the fuss is about. The meals I had, while not on a par with traditional dining that I also experienced San Antonio to Los Angeles, were fine. I don't know where everyone complaining about them usually eats...in five star restaurants? My Flex Meals were warm, tasty, and filling. Would I rather have traditional dining on all trains? Of course, I would. However, in my opinion, Flex Meals are nowhere near as horrible as people make them sound.

 

[neroden]

I don't know where everyone complaining about them usually eats...in five star restaurants?

I live in a city which was determined at one point to have the highest number of restaurants per capita in the US. They nearly all make food from scratch with fresh local ingredients and they're all cheap by big city standards.

Yes, I may be a bit spoiled.

My actual issue with Flex Meals is that they have a hell of a lot of additives and as a result, I'm allergic to every one I've seen the ingredients lists for. There are higher grades of prepackaged meal (with *fewer* ingredients -- simpler but better) which I am fine with.

 

[Oaxacajo]

I live in a city which was determined at one point to have the highest number of restaurants per capita in the US. They nearly all make food from scratch with fresh local ingredients and they're all cheap by big city standards.

Yes, I may be a bit spoiled.

My actual issue with Flex Meals is that they have a hell of a lot of additives and as a result, I'm allergic to every one I've seen the ingredients lists for. There are higher grades of prepackaged meal (with *fewer* ingredients -- simpler but better) which I am fine with.

Your issue (allergic) is a legitimate concern. I wasn't referring to allergy issues. I was refering to descriptions such as "garbage, cardboard, vomit, etc."

 

[crescent-zephyr]

I recently rode the Texas Eagle from San Antonio to Chicago and was served Flex Meals. I really can not understand what all the fuss is about. The meals I had, while not on a par with traditional dining that I also experienced San Antonio to Los Angeles, were fine. I don't know where everyone complaining about them usually eats...in five star restaurants? My Flex Meals were warm, tasty, and filling. Would I rather have traditional dining on all trains? Of course, I would. However, in my opinion, Flex Meals are nowhere near as horrible as people make them sound.

What would you compare flex meals to if you were describing them to someone who’s never ridden a train?

 

[Oaxacajo]

What would you compare flex meals to if you were describing them to someone who’s never ridden a train?

Perhaps I'd describe them as a very limited menu but basic food such as served in a diner. I do realize that the food experience also depends a lot on the cafe person getting it ready and serving it.

 

[tricia]

Perhaps I'd describe them as a very limited menu but basic food such as served in a diner. I do realize that the food experience also depends a lot on the cafe person getting it ready and serving it.

I've never had food like that in a diner, and if I did I'd never go back.

Flex food is most like frozen dinners at the cheap end of that aisle in a supermarket.

 

[me_little_me]

Perhaps I'd describe them as a very limited menu but basic food such as served in a diner. I do realize that the food experience also depends a lot on the cafe person getting it ready and serving it.

Not my kind of diner and I accept almost any diner food.

I don't know any diners that pull out a ready-made low quality TV dinner from the freezer and microwave it.

I stand by the garbage, cardboard and vomit except recently where some of it has been upgraded to low quality TV dinners. I have yet to finish a single one of them, even recent ones and it's not because I'm full.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

Perhaps I'd describe them as a very limited menu but basic food such as served in a diner. I do realize that the food experience also depends a lot on the cafe person getting it ready and serving it.

That’s what I would call Amtrak’s standard menu.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I don't know where everyone complaining about them usually eats...in five star restaurants?

I don't expect five star dining unless I'm paying five star prices and at the time Amtrak switched to Flex meals they were charging the highest fares I had ever seen up to that point.

Perhaps I'd describe them as a very limited menu but basic food such as served in a diner.

Even a basic diner can add or remove items and adjust cooking times by request. Flexible dining is more like those vending machine meals you find in some office break rooms.

 

[Sidney]

A few of the item like the ribs are OK. Most of the flex meals are sub par. For the cost of a sleeper you expect and deserve better food. I don't understand why they can't serve sandwiches.

Worst is breakfast. Last couple of times I had the french toast I broke a fork trying to cut it. The omelette looks awful. Again if we are stuck with flex on the Eastern trains how about some improvement?

 

[Amtrakfflyer]

They could put Acela first meals including breakfasts on the trains if they wanted. They don’t want to and that speaks volumes.

https://wtop.com/business-finance/2...ns in D.C., Philadelphia, Boston and New York.

 

[Cal]

About to take a LD trip in a few weeks. What's the latest status of dining in the dining car vs dining in your room. Passenger choice?

on the SWC in mid December you could do either. Diner was packed, although it was around Christmas

 

[fillyjonk]

the problem I've had lately with the flex meals is that it seems like they over-microwave them. So the pasta in the pasta and meatballs has hardened up at the edges and is gluey elsewhere. On one trip the French toast was so hard I couldn't easily cut it (wound up breaking it with my hands). When it's heated properly it's OK but...there seems to be a really narrow sweet spot between "dangerously underdone" and "dried out and overcooked.

This most recent trip I ate dinner in my room (the diner had already filled up) and breakfast alone in the diner.

 

[fdaley]

I don't know any diners that pull out a ready-made low quality TV dinner from the freezer and microwave it.

And to top it off, they serve in its freezer tub with plastic cutlery. The food quality is poor, and the presentation is horrible. And this is for premium-fare customers.

 

[user 14106]

Seems like Sometimes they put it in the oven and sometimes nuke it. On the flex trains running with a Viewliner II dining car I have seen them use the convection oven for the flex meals - not sure if all LSAs do it or if they do it differently in the split amcafe setup that’s on the crescent and cardinal (or CCC car on cap, CONO, and TE.)

 

[user 14106]

I recently rode the Texas Eagle from San Antonio to Chicago and was served Flex Meals. I really can not understand what all the fuss is about. The meals I had, while not on a par with traditional dining that I also experienced San Antonio to Los Angeles, were fine. I don't know where everyone complaining about them usually eats...in five star restaurants? My Flex Meals were warm, tasty, and filling. Would I rather have traditional dining on all trains? Of course, I would. However, in my opinion, Flex Meals are nowhere near as horrible as people make them sound.

I personally don’t find them horrible - but then again I do like salt. I didn’t think the breakfast omelette one was that great though. Most of the dinner ones I’ve had have been fine with a couple I actually legitimately liked. I had one weird once off deal on the Coast Starlight (just before they went back to traditional) where they had a meat and veggie lasagna as a “special” in addition to the normal flex items and the FSS also had some AmCafe burgers and dogs down in the diner kitchen as an alternative. The lasagna was not in the typical container that the flex meals come in from that new horizons place so this must have been some special deal the commissary whipped up - the lasagna was quite good. Of course then a week later on my trip home on the Chief I got traditional dining and ate like a king - also was that crew’s first trip with the chef back and they were just thrilled to be doing it again.

 

[MARC Rider]

Seems like Sometimes they put it in the oven and sometimes nuke it. On the flex trains running with a Viewliner II dining car I have seen them use the convection oven for the flex meals - not sure if all LSAs do it or if they do it differently in the split amcafe setup that’s on the crescent and cardinal (or CCC car on cap, CONO, and TE.)

It might also depend on the passenger load. If the sleepers are full and they have a lot of meals to serve, they may resort to microwaving the meals to save time. This is especially true if there's only one person serving meals. I think it doesn't matter whether they're using the diner or the Amfleet diner-lite cafe car, as the cafe cars have convection ovens/toasters, too. On the other hand, the diners may have overns with larger capacities than the cafe cars. But the real issue is probably the staffing level, which is also why they're served in the freezer dishes with plastic cutlery.

 

[me_little_me]

It might also depend on the passenger load. If the sleepers are full and they have a lot of meals to serve, they may resort to microwaving the meals to save time. This is especially true if there's only one person serving meals. I think it doesn't matter whether they're using the diner or the Amfleet diner-lite cafe car, as the cafe cars have convection ovens/toasters, too. On the other hand, the diners may have overns with larger capacities than the cafe cars. But the real issue is probably the staffing level, which is also why they're served in the freezer dishes with plastic cutlery.

You forget that these "meals" preceded Covid so that argument doesn't hold unless you are agreeing that Amtrak cut the staff too much to provide sufficient service to customers then decided not to restore enough people to do it right. That was deliberate on their part.

 

[fillyjonk]

Seems like Sometimes they put it in the oven and sometimes nuke it. On the flex trains running with a Viewliner II dining car I have seen them use the convection oven for the flex meals - not sure if all LSAs do it or if they do it differently in the split amcafe setup that’s on the crescent and cardinal (or CCC car on cap, CONO, and TE.)

You know - that might explain why the first pasta meal I had when I started traveling again (May?) was pretty good - it was served in a foil container and I bet they did it in a convection oven. But more recently, they've been in plastic plates and are pretty clearly microwaved.

It would be - seemingly - a simple thing to just do convection oven for stuff, and serve it in convection oven safe things. I find microwaves are really spotty about how they heat things (sometimes at home I eat frozen dinners when I'm in a hurry and one of my complaints is how part of them gets overdone and part is undercooked. Am planning a kitchen renovation in the coming months and am NOT lookingforward to microwaved everything for the however-long it takes the renovation)

 

[greg1956a]

I'm planing a trip on the Zepjyr sometime this year I'm going coach can I there meals in the dining room.or do I have to cafe car

 

[zephyr17]

At this time the dining car is restricted to sleeping car passengers on the Zephyr. Coach passengers are limited to the cafe.