Amtrak Half Roasted Chicken Replaced

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PPC items have FINALLY changed as well.
Stale bread, dried out turkey loaf, wilted veggies, and disgusting unavoidable mayonnaise based spread on a plastic plate.
So, I take it the chips were OK?
They tasted no different than any other bag of kettle chips. I just failed to see how they were expected to reflect the supposedly premium experience of the "Parlor Car" when they'd be equally at home in any random vending machine.
 
I will never take the Cardinal based on that menu. Overnight trains should have proper diners. Period.
 
I will never take the Cardinal based on that menu. Overnight trains should have proper diners. Period.
Perhaps in your opinion. In reality there is no reason this has to be the case. Trains operating over meal periods should have basic food options available. Cafe car provides that.

When a diner is available, I will use it. But it is not mandatory
 
The Cardinal's menus have been updated on both the main Amtrak site, and the Food Facts site, and not for the better.
Wow. $22 for pulled pork and mac & cheese. That's one of the cheaper cuts of meat on the pig. Also $22 for tilapia, which is pretty low cost farmed imported fish. There's a good BBQ place near me that has pulled pork with 2 sides for $13. Even Red Lobster has tilapia for $16, and they prepare it better than just steamed..

I know there's the expenses of a rolling dining room, and union labor, but this is looking like major league stadium price gauging.

Here's some competition for the sleeper service. Hopefully it will drive Amtrak prices down if it spreads to more markets.
 
I find it frustrating because two of the "special" items on the new menu - the chicken sliders and the salisbury steak - are things I'd like to try. I strongly suspect that they won't be available, but I'm curious to know whether anyone has seen either of them yet.
On my recent trip both the chicken sliders and the salisbury steak were available. They also had a breakfast special with both scrambled eggs and french toast. The lamb shanks were tasty. The chocolate mousse thingy was outstanding. The cheesecake in a cup was good. I had the pre-scooped ice cream ball of whatever brand once. It was OK....not Blue Bell or Hagen Daaz that's for sure. I had the steak a couple of times - they seemed considerably smaller than prior experience, and tougher. They called them flank steaks, perhaps that is the reason. I enjoyed all my meals and company in the diner.

This trip included the Coast Starlight 14 and Empire Builder 28 [oh, the cold dinner [which was Asian themed] served on 28 tasted OK but was not enough to stave off hunger til breakfast for me. Fortunately I had other options. I ate in the parlor car once and I can't remember what I had. She, Lisa, did not have much business. It was a SSL, after all, not a legit PPC (/snark). The wine tasting was a rip off: $7.50 for about 3 tablespoons each of 3 wines. No cheese -actually there was cheese but you had to buy packets from her where she was selling stuff downstairs. Count me very disappointed. About a dozen people participated and it was not social at all.
 
Personally, I always enjoyed getting the half chicken. I'm not a big guy. (Pretty skinny actually) I appreciated and needed the extra calories that dish provided. Now they chopped 500 calories off the dish. Was this the reason for them getting rid of it? To bring the calorie count down?
 
No one has mentioned the price of the chicken breast. The half roasted chicken was considered generally.good value in cost for portion. So, is the.breast a smaller portion at the same cost for the diner?
 
trimmed chicken breasts cost quite a bit more than whole or half chickens. Even composite breasts having some rib meat are more. less chicken yes, but the processing labor for breasts is much greater, and they are considered more desirable (in the food business) a commodity and are priced accordingly. If cars were priced by adding up what the parts sell for, very few people could afford them.
 
This trip included the Coast Starlight 14 and Empire Builder 28 [oh, the cold dinner [which was Asian themed] served on 28 tasted OK but was not enough to stave off hunger til breakfast for me.
Do you know if all the cold dinners on your trip were Asian themed? I'm curious because sometimes it appears that each dish has a different theme to it - the beef dish is Asian themed, the Chicken is Mexican, etc.

I always assumed that passengers ate these cold meals in their rooms. However, on another thread here I just read that sometimes a section of the best seats in the SSL are blocked off so sleeper passengers can eat their meals while going through the Columbia River Gorge - but also that might be for breakfast only, & many reports indicate that they tried to eat in the lounge and it was full. Has anyone else experienced this?
 
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I don't know, DP. My SCA came by with a big bag like Santa Claus and simply said 'beef, chicken, fish?', I said 'fish' expecting salmon for some reason, and he handed me shrimp. I sat there and ate it in my roomette and I don't know about the SSL. The attendant, Jesse, was pretty non-communicative - he was present and did his job...he just wasn't very personable - quite stand-offish. The Gorge was magnificent though - my first time!

I found the SSL quite unpleasant because of the diesel fumes from the engine immediately forward.
 
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I always assumed that passengers ate these cold meals in their rooms. However, on another thread here I just read that sometimes a section of the best seats in the SSL are blocked off so sleeper passengers can eat their meals while going through the Columbia River Gorge. Is that true? Has anyone else experienced this?
When I rode the Builder eastbound about 3 years ago, the attendant served the meals in the room. He did a nice job of making it as classy as he could. Back then the Empire Builder still served champagne or the sparkling cider as a "Welcome Aboard" gift. He made that apart of the dinner to class it up. I must admit... it worked! I had the shrimp entree' that the above poster mentioned, and I thought it was very good. I enjoyed eating dinner in my roomette and watching the gorge.

Last fall I rode the Builder west bound and had a pretty average attendant. He didn't do anything wrong, just didn't go out of his way to be friendly. He told everyone to go the cafe car when they woke up to get their breakfast. The cafe car attendant offered to heat up my croisaint sandwich which was nice. Since I was already in the car, I sat in the SSL for breakfast.

Something to remember... the Empire Builder is a very short train at this point. Couple coaches and 1 sleeper. There would be no reason to block off seats in the SSL... should be plenty of room.
 
I always assumed that passengers ate these cold meals in their rooms. However, on another thread here I just read that sometimes a section of the best seats in the SSL are blocked off so sleeper passengers can eat their meals while going through the Columbia River Gorge. Is that true? Has anyone else experienced this?
When I rode the Builder eastbound about 3 years ago, the attendant served the meals in the room. He did a nice job of making it as classy as he could. Back then the Empire Builder still served champagne or the sparkling cider as a "Welcome Aboard" gift. He made that apart of the dinner to class it up. I must admit... it worked! I had the shrimp entree' that the above poster mentioned, and I thought it was very good. I enjoyed eating dinner in my roomette and watching the gorge.

Last fall I rode the Builder west bound and had a pretty average attendant. He didn't do anything wrong, just didn't go out of his way to be friendly. He told everyone to go the cafe car when they woke up to get their breakfast. The cafe car attendant offered to heat up my croisaint sandwich which was nice. Since I was already in the car, I sat in the SSL for breakfast.

Something to remember... the Empire Builder is a very short train at this point. Couple coaches and 1 sleeper. There would be no reason to block off seats in the SSL... should be plenty of room.
That's exactly what they did for us in the Portland sleeper, and that was back around 1990.
 
This trip included the Coast Starlight 14 and Empire Builder 28 [oh, the cold dinner [which was Asian themed] served on 28 tasted OK but was not enough to stave off hunger til breakfast for me.
Do you know if all the cold dinners on your trip were Asian themed? I'm curious because sometimes it appears that each dish has a different theme to it - the beef dish is Asian themed, the Chicken is Mexican, etc.
I always assumed that passengers ate these cold meals in their rooms. However, on another thread here I just read that sometimes a section of the best seats in the SSL are blocked off so sleeper passengers can eat their meals while going through the Columbia River Gorge - but also that might be for breakfast only, & many reports indicate that they tried to eat in the lounge and it was full. Has anyone else experienced this?
There was one occasion in which I was a sleeper passenger on the Portland section and the choice seats in the SSL were reserved for sleeper passengers and their meals at breakfast. There weren't a whole lot of seats blocked off.....just enough to irritate the coach passengers who were treated to a spectacular view of rocks and dirt while the sleeper passengers got the view of the Gorge. :lol:
 
I found the SSL quite unpleasant because of the diesel fumes from the engine immediately forward.
Something to remember... the Empire Builder is a very short train at this point. Couple coaches and 1 sleeper. There would be no reason to block off seats in the SSL... should be plenty of room.
I forgot about those two points - we've ridden the EB west into PDX, but never east. Since we travel during the busy summer months the LSL is usually packed full, but the one time there was plenty of room was westbound from SPK. There were a lot of diesel fumes, though. I guess we'll see how it goes.
 
Me, I like the "half-chicken with the bones in" roasted, grilled, however. Even if not "perfectly cooked" which it won't be on the train or elsewhere.

Small slab of "boneless breast meat" isn't only Amtrak -- it's everywhere. GGrrgh.

Why pay more for less nutrition? Who knows.

So - save the bones for Henry Jones (Cause Henry don't eat no meat) :)
 
I really miss the half-chicken! I'm not really a fan of white meat, and I would eat that mostly at ever dinner. Me and my coworkers always bring hot sauce just for that reason. I tried the new breast and it was OK I guess.
 
I know there are a million rules that pertain to food and beverage service on Amtrak Trains, but in the old days the Chefs used to cook up " Special" meals for the Crew.

Do y'all still bring your own food aboard during your trips and have the chef prepare it for you?

When the Diner Crews on the Texas Eagle used to layover in Austin, they would shop @ HEB, Whole Foods etc and the chef would whip up great meals for them on the way back to Chicago!

They still order Bar-B-Q and have it delivered to the train during the Station stop in Taylor!

I never cared for the half chicken myself, I thought it was too much food but since it was the cheapest Dinner on the Menu was a big Seller to Coach Passengers.
 
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I know there are a million rules that pertain to food and beverage service on Amtrak Trains, but in the old days the Chefs used to cook up " Special" meals for the Crew.

Do y'all still bring your own food aboard during your trips and have the chef prepare it for you?

When the Diner Crews on the Texas Eagle used to layover in Austin, they would shop @ HEB, Whole Foods etc and the chef would whip up great meals for them on the way back to Chicago!

They still order Bar-B-Q and have it delivered to the train during the Station stop in Taylor!

I never cared for the half chicken myself, I thought it was too much food but since it was the cheapest Dinner on the Menu was a big Seller to Coach Passengers.
Yes, we have an awesome Chef on our crew ^_^ . And we do indeed order food from Taylor and also at Pontiac, IL. The place we get food from at Pontiac has the best Parmesan garlic chicken wings!
 
The half roasted chicken was being served on Crescent 19/20 this week. I think it's usually pretty good, but a lot of trouble to eat and a lot of food when you finally get it dismantles, so I only rarely have it. 0

Now, if they could come up with an alternative to the microwaved mixed veggies.

BTW, the chocolate mousse dessert is pretty good for those who are really into chocolate.
 
Thanks for the "boots on the train" reports on the New menu items!

I never cared much for the half chicken, but the new offering sounds good ( if Penny likes it it has to be good! ) and the new cheese cake sounds much better than the sorry mystery in a cup one that was being served!
Anything has to be better than the "strawberry" cheesecake they were serving for a while. Was a total disappointment when they replaced the plain with fruit topping with the pre mixed garbage.
I miss having the whipped cream. I'm ask the diner for one to use for hot chocolate in the cafe.
 
I had the "new" chicken entree (chicken breast) on the Zephyr 2 weeks ago; no complaints here...though I don't have the half chicken to compare it to.
 
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