downgraded place settings?

[crescent2]

Re El Tovar: Our visit was some years ago, and the best I can recall the bill was higher than average for us, but we loved the setting and building. I don't remember what we had. What stands out more for me was trying to decide if hubby could physically manage it--a big factor in everything we tried to do because of his mobility limitations. We only spent one night and parts of two days at the GC, stayed in Las Vegas the rest of the week.

VF: Re food quality, I'm not very hard to please, but I think mainly I always consider that they have a minuscule kitchen and limited storage space, and just cut them some slack. With only one exception, service has always been satisfactory to excellent and friendly IME, and the food OK to pretty good. Related to my earlier comments, I think the few special touches that have been eliminated partially compensated for the just average food quality. For the menu prices, I would expect better in a land based restaurant, but they are working in a kitchen on wheels. I haven't traveled on Amtrak since 2011 so the food quality may have also changed since then. I hope to see about that very soon!

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I really don't think those thin plastic plates were intended to be used with metal utensils. When I'm careful I can usually get by without damaging the plate but some plastic dishes still crack open on occasion. Maybe those plates had a defect or something. The knife doesn't bother me as much as the fork. In the case of the salad bowl I have to leave some of the salad behind or risk puncturing through the bottom. I'm also dismayed at all the extra landfill trash these plastic plates are creating.

It's OK that the dishes break - so they throw them away. Cut through your NY Strip and the plate beneath? Paper to catch it.

Frankly, I don't get that people in this thread are so OK with the FOOD quality! For $20-$30 per entree, I typically get a decent entree', and cold sides. They really don't have the microconvectionating down very well. As for the plastics, I get a weird chill down my arms when I cut through to the plate - it's sort of like running fingernails down a chalkboard (reference for you young 'uns).

And, since this topic has come up yet again, I will repeat yet again - let Waffle House work the diner!

Today's young'uns probably don't understand that. They use ?smartboards? now instead of chalkboards.

 

[crew]

You will have a paper place mat for breakfast and lunch. Not a single flower on the table. Sometimes a tablecloth for dinner. Its all part of the assinine Amtrak plan to give the highest paying customers less. There will be less alright. Less trips from this end.

The plan to use placemats was instituted - and then promptly cancelled - 5 years ago. All Western trains have tablecloths and metal cutlery, and the CS has porcelain dinnerware.

 

[vickinish]

As of this week's trip the CS has Melamine dinnerware. There were cloth table cloths in the PPC, no paper coverings. Real coffee cups. Didn't run out of various desserts until the last dinner. And as has been reported the wine tasting was resumed on day 1 for $7.50.

 

[neroden]

Honestly, I don't think of myself as picky, but since both I and my fiancee have annoying and complicated dietary restrictions, it's really important to have some *choices* on the menu. The cut in selections really upset me.

 

[gmushial]

Re El Tovar: Our visit was some years ago, and the best I can recall the bill was higher than average for us, but we loved the setting and building. I don't remember what we had. What stands out more for me was trying to decide if hubby could physically manage it--a big factor in everything we tried to do because of his mobility limitations. We only spent one night and parts of two days at the GC, stayed in Las Vegas the rest of the week.

VF: Re food quality, I'm not very hard to please, but I think mainly I always consider that they have a minuscule kitchen and limited storage space, and just cut them some slack. With only one exception, service has always been satisfactory to excellent and friendly IME, and the food OK to pretty good. Related to my earlier comments, I think the few special touches that have been eliminated partially compensated for the just average food quality. For the menu prices, I would expect better in a land based restaurant, but they are working in a kitchen on wheels. I haven't traveled on Amtrak since 2011 so the food quality may have also changed since then. I hope to see about that very soon!

Per chance you remember the syrup for the pancakes...

... brought a couple large bottles home for using (all gone :-( ), and one to remember... it's a 13 hour drive to GC from here, but will have to do the drive again come Christmas time .definitely good memories of the place. ... and back on topic: the fact that excellence comes before bean counting, long long before, or at least in this one small piece of railroad history.

 

[gmushial]

Honestly, I don't think of myself as picky, but since both I and my fiancee have annoying and complicated dietary restrictions, it's really important to have some *choices* on the menu. The cut in selections really upset me.

All the more the reason to be able to pick and choose and have it delivered to you at a train (smoke) stop. ;-) Given the further digging around, the biggest (intellectual) problem I've found with using the delivery services and the restaurants they serve (still no personal experience - that has to wait a couple more weeks): is the plethora, the overwhelming set of choices, ie, zero chance of not being able to find what your diet allows and your palette desires.

 

[montana mike]

Unless the plates and bowls have changed in the past few months they are adequate provided you don't go on a Sword Swinging Melee with the knife. Of course I still haven't figured the economics behind the original decision to use them considering what I've heard from some of the LSAs on what they cost.

On BOTH of my last trips on the EB someone at our table put a knife thru a salad bowl and one person put a fork thru one of the bowls. This stuff is definitely on the very edge of being acceptable. Even our LSA stated that they have complained to HQ about the "junk" they have been given to work with (the plastic cups are so thin we had several crack at the table when picked up), but to no avail. The irony of this change has meant an increase in trash. Oh, well.......

 

[Silver Star rider]

On 2/20 last week, I found that the downgrades in "amenities" didn't really bother me - the plates seemed the same as always, the paper ABOVE A TABLECLOTH seemed to work just fine, and I didn't miss the flower on the table. I brought my own "Private Stock" of Cranberry Juice for the sleeper, which worked just fine.

What DID bother me is the cutbacks in the menu... especially the kids menu. Only two choices (Hot Dog & Macs and Cheese), for both Lunch AND DINNER, gets a bit problematic with kids. Even worse, on 2, they were out of Hot Dogs, meaning my son had that choice of having "Or Macs and Cheese"... which of course they ALSO ran out of while we were ordering. So now what?

On 19/1 heading back, we'll have a dinner, lunch, dinner and lunch to get through... can only imagine how it is for kids on a big long western trip!

I understand needing to show the partisan warriors in Congress that you're not being wasteful... but going from 5 choices down to 2 seems to be to be a bit much. Won't someone PLEASE, PLEASE think of the children?!?!?!?!?!

It not a nice explanation, but probably what happened. They cant bring replacement food like they do for ice along the route. They estimate how much food they will need for kids. Problem is, they probably had more people ask for hot dogs then they expected. One of the complaints about the Walt Disney World dining plan is the restrictive menu for kids. Everyplace they go, their choice are chicken nuggets, mac and cheese or hot dogs. Imagine the possibility of going for over a week, and eating this twice a day.

Bruce-SSR

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

With all the recent reports on the Diner Chow dipping in quality I may just have to toss a bottle of this in my grip on my run later this month; it makes Black Mamba Venom tame!

http://www.hotsauceworld.com/357maddoghot.html

 

[JoeBas]

There's restrictive, then there's ridiculous.

Two choices is extremely prone to failure, with one (or zero) choices an order away.

Disney may have 3 choices, how often do they tell someone two are "out"?

 

[gmushial]

With all the recent reports on the Diner Chow dipping in quality I may just have to toss a bottle of this in my grip on my run later this month; it makes Black Mamba Venom tame!

http://www.hotsauceworld.com/357maddoghot.html

357,000 scoville... dang - will have to grow another whole layer of tissue wherever it touches.... if waterboarding isn't torture, this surely is.

Though question: yes it's hot, but does it have any flavor? ... that's the thing I find missing in most of the hot hot hot-scauces. Tibetan piro will melt your brain and leave it slowly dripping out your ears, but at least it has a compelling flavor.

 

[yarrow]

can kids traveling in sleeper with adults order from the "adult" menu?

 

[printman2000]

can kids traveling in sleeper with adults order from the "adult" menu?

Yes they can.

 

[Silver Star rider]

There's restrictive, then there's ridiculous.

Two choices is extremely prone to failure, with one (or zero) choices an order away.

Disney may have 3 choices, how often do they tell someone two are "out"?

Easier to get replacement food when a) you aren't moving, b) more storage then a moving train

Bruce-SSR

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

With all the recent reports on the Diner Chow dipping in quality I may just have to toss a bottle of this in my grip on my run later this month; it makes Black Mamba Venom tame!

http://www.hotsauceworld.com/357maddoghot.html

357,000 scoville... dang - will have to grow another whole layer of tissue wherever it touches.... if waterboarding isn't torture, this surely is.

Though question: yes it's hot, but does it have any flavor? ... that's the thing I find missing in most of the hot hot hot-scauces. Tibetan piro will melt your brain and leave it slowly dripping out your ears, but at least it has a compelling flavor.

I came to appreciate this Sauce at Firehouse Subs, a franchise with a location near my Keep. Like I said, treat this with more respect than the venom of the deadliest snakes (it is rumored some of the local Fraternities use this in their hazing rituals) and you will learn to appreciate the fire it adds to enhance the flavor of the sandwich.

 

[JoeBas]

There's restrictive, then there's ridiculous.

Two choices is extremely prone to failure, with one (or zero) choices an order away.

Disney may have 3 choices, how often do they tell someone two are "out"?

Easier to get replacement food when a) you aren't moving, b) more storage then a moving train
Bruce-SSR

Agreed... which is why the model comparison doesn't work.

Amtrak FREQUENTLY runs out. Combine that with limited options and...

 

[Silver Star rider]

There's restrictive, then there's ridiculous.

Two choices is extremely prone to failure, with one (or zero) choices an order away.

Disney may have 3 choices, how often do they tell someone two are "out"?

Easier to get replacement food when a) you aren't moving, b) more storage then a moving train
Bruce-SSR

Agreed... which is why the model comparison doesn't work.

Amtrak FREQUENTLY runs out. Combine that with limited options and...

Just pointing out that children's menus are frequently restrictive.

Bruce-SSR

 

[Ryan]

Not as restricted as Amtrak's have become.

 

[MSP_Train_Hopper]

I know it's been shared before, but it amazing to see how the dining car has changed in not that long of a time span. Just compare this menu from 2001 to the current one.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

I can't believe Amtrak wasted taxpayer dollars like that. I'm glad they have become more financially responsible- it sure hasn't hurt their ridership one iota.

 

[neroden]

Far as I can tell, cutting the menu hasn't changed dining car costs one iota. The costs are mostly in the employees, not in the food.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

I was being semi sarcastic. Is it a comment on the insane misunderstanding of money in this country that you took me seriously, Nathaniel?

 

[gmushial]

Far as I can tell, cutting the menu hasn't changed dining car costs one iota. The costs are mostly in the employees, not in the food.

Maybe management understands such, but the only way they see to reduce said costs is to have nobody use the dinning car, thereby allowing them to discontinue the service, and the associated costs (clearly said tongue in cheek). ... but in my book what's where it's headed... especially if the food from outside experiments work, become commonplace or "worse" the norm.

 

[gmushial]

I can't believe Amtrak wasted taxpayer dollars like that. I'm glad they have become more financially responsible- it sure hasn't hurt their ridership one iota.

;-) understood... but maybe what's not appreciated is that behavior typically has inertia, ie, one's longtime favorite restaurant has to deliver a succession of bad meals before one looks elsewhere (but having done such are hugely unlikely to ever return)... I suspect ridership is likewise: many of us will put up with a fair amount of unpleasantness or diminution of the experience before we give up and abandon Amtrak... but to see such happen over dimes and nickels, especially just as the ridership is increasing and reaching or heading for levels that could justify expansion of the routes... all because of these partisan rhetorical pin-heads like Mica etc. ... if there is karma in the world, I sure hope he enjoys his. :-(