Haven't visited in awhile and wow...

[MyJourneys]

I had no idea the menu for the CONO has changed so much. I'm taking a trip (southbound) in February and am wondering now if it's worth it. Is there a chance it will revert back by then?

So disappointed.

Journey

 

[zepherdude]

Do not know how long it has been since your last trip, but I thought the Jambalaya and Short Ribs were pretty creative. Even breakfast was a bit out of the ordinary. The Filet du Boeuf Wellington and Shrimp in Sherry Sauce have been gone for a while along with the china,glass and silverware. Table cloths and flowers are gone too. This is SDS (simplified dining service) as dictated by congress. The way it used to be is not coming back. It is what is is and all it is.

I enjoy the dining car and the experience of dining on the train. I like the food served as my days of pan fried chicken, skillet gravy and fresh rolls went out a while back. Can honestly say, I have never had a bad meal on Amtrak. Crappy dinner salads, yes, but thats just bag-o-salad.

I really hope you take the train as I frankly feel the menu is satisfactory. Maybe you can explain what is lacking in the menu. I have posted a copy below.

http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/148/959/City-of-New-Orleans-Dining-Car-Menu-0715.pdf

 

[SteveSFL]

When I rode it during the first weeks of the change, the staff urged us to contact Amtrak to comment on the food offerings (they had to be diplomatic). They said it had been tried once before but was reversed when there were many complaints.

For lack of a better option, I'm riding the CONO again in two weeks and will be happy to call and complain again.

Zephyrdude, that "short rib" entree is about as good as a can of chunky vegetable beef soup. And it looks about the same. This is a totally different experience than eating in a dining car with a chef.

 

[greatcats]

The selection on the menu don't look bad, but a recent comment on this forum seemed to indicate the rib dish was something akin to dog food out of a can.. ( my paraphrase. ) This makes me crazy. I don't expect to be riding that train soon to sample the cuisine. On my next trip east in November, the mode of transport will be United.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

This is SDS (simplified dining service) as dictated by congress. The way it used to be is not coming back. It is what is is and all it is.

Actually SDS came and went already once before. I'm not sure why it can't be reversed again, but perhaps you'll enlighten us?

I have never had a bad meal on Amtrak.

I'm always amazed at how casually apologists will drop a bombshell like this. How seriously would you take someone who said they'd never had a good meal? Seems like you might want to keep a history of 100% bias to yourself, but what do I know.

 

[Manny T]

CONO departs CHI at 8:05 PM. Simple solution would be to eat dinner in the first class, top quality restaurant of your choice in the City of Broad Shoulders (if that is where you are departing from). If departing from points further south, of course you will board even later and have more time to dine before boarding.

 

[rrdude]

Do not know how long it has been since your last trip, but I thought the Jambalaya and Short Ribs were pretty creative. Even breakfast was a bit out of the ordinary. The Filet du Boeuf Wellington and Shrimp in Sherry Sauce have been gone for a while along with the china,glass and silverware. Table cloths and flowers are gone too. This is SDS (simplified dining service) as dictated by congress. The way it used to be is not coming back. It is what is is and all it is.

I enjoy the dining car and the experience of dining on the train. I like the food served as my days of pan fried chicken, skillet gravy and fresh rolls went out a while back. Can honestly say, I have never had a bad meal on Amtrak. Crappy dinner salads, yes, but thats just bag-o-salad.

I really hope you take the train as I frankly feel the menu is satisfactory. Maybe you can explain what is lacking in the menu. I have posted a copy below.

http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/148/959/City-of-New-Orleans-Dining-Car-Menu-0715.pdf

Then you are one of the luckiest Amtrak-LD-Traveling dudes I know!

The menu on the CONO, ADMIT, I HAVE NOT SAMPLED IT, is another disaster for service. I worked on board as a waiter/LSA when the "first" Modified Meal Service / Simplified Dining Service" was instituted, It was a DISASTER, but the "adjustment" that came afterwards, while a HUGE improvement, in no way went back to what it was before. I imagine a similar scenario will happen here.

Things will improve from what they are now, but only ever so marginally. The "Suits" don't get that part of the LD experience is (was) having to look forward to dinner in the diner. (I'm honestly considering bringing my own linen and flowers on my next trip, getting my meals "to go", and setting up in the SSL. I know, that's a little over-the-top isn't it?)

What will the marginal improvements look like? Basically, the staff and mgmt will be learning by their mistakes. Better "preparation" of the pre-cooked meals, dumping of some meals that don't work, and other very minor adjustments.

Having been an employee in the diner when the Superliner Diners were first introduced, and seen what they were designed for, and capable of, it borders on a capital-offense on HOW the Superliner Diners are being under-utilized, from cooking, plating, and preparing downstairs, to the way the "Staff" (ha, how can you call just 2 or 3 employees "Staff"?) Upstairs.

Nope, Amtrak's pendulum on service for so-called "First Class" (ie. Sleeper Service) has swung way to far to one side. I honestly don't think it will swing back the other way, absent a new CEO of Graham Claytor's gravitas, or at least a CEO who understands WHY some people would gladly pay several thousand dollars for a bedroom X country, IF, if, the service, meals, and amenities were commensurate with the price.

 

[willem]

Things will improve from what they are now, but only ever so marginally. The "Suits" don't get that part of the LD experience is (was) having to look forward to dinner in the diner. (I'm honestly considering bringing my own linen and flowers on my next trip, getting my meals "to go", and setting up in the SSL. I know, that's a little over-the-top isn't it?)

Why set up in the Sightseer Lounge? It shouldn't take long to put the tablecloth and flowers on the table in the diner, and it would be a treat for your table companions. I would certainly enjoy joining you for such a dinner.

 

[keelhauled]

Things will improve from what they are now, but only ever so marginally. The "Suits" don't get that part of the LD experience is (was) having to look forward to dinner in the diner. (I'm honestly considering bringing my own linen and flowers on my next trip, getting my meals "to go", and setting up in the SSL. I know, that's a little over-the-top isn't it?)

Why set up in the Sightseer Lounge? It shouldn't take long to put the tablecloth and flowers on the table in the diner, and it would be a treat for your table companions. I would certainly enjoy joining you for such a dinner.

Because the crew would think you're a jackass for disrupting their diner in order to make a petty point about how you think things should be run?

 

[rrdude]

Yeah, Keelhaul is right, I did bring along an Amtrak-like Bud Vase that I bought online. Brought my own fresh carnation, and did that on the Cap earlier this year. Waiter didn't even notice it at first. I explained that I just liked dining with the "small stuff".

I talked at length with them after the meal service was over, and agreed with him tht doing tht might make them, or others, a bit uncomfortable, and put the spotlight unfairly on the OBS, which as we all know, has NO SAY on the changes, and are suffering as much as the passengers are.

The SSL however, is fair game. There is no expected table service, and we've all seen many customers "camp out" in the SSL (card games, kids games, electronics, laptops, etc., etc.) take over a 4-top for hours on end. ....................Can even enjoy an Amtrak-purchased adult beverage with my meal.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

A CONO Dining Experience, or Only On Amtrak​

​

################################################​

I had a sleeper SB out of CHI, and after dropping my bag off in my room, I was one of the very first in to the CCC for dinner, so I was seated at the first table to be seated. The LSA came to our table first, and took our orders. She then proceeded to take the entire car's orders, neatly placing each order on top of the previous, before sending them down to the galley. This took awhile. The 'chef' then proceeded to cook the orders by starting with the order that was on top of the pile, so that the last person to order was the first person served. :help: :wacko:

Between the time my table ordered and the time we got our meals it was in the 1 1/2 to 2 hour range. :help: :help: :help:

It was such a long time waiting that I don't even remember what I had for dinner, only that I downed it and went off to bed ASAP. Even so, my table finished up about 11:00. :blink: :angry2: :angry2: :blink:

It is the only time I haven't left a tip for meal service, and I've had some pretty bad service on other trips on Amtrak.

First Class service? :blink: For how much $$$$$$$?

Pullman Rail Journeys sounds pretty darn appealing the next time I'm going CHI-NOL.

 

[Bob Dylan]

You're lucky that you even had a Chef Scott!

Now the CONO is run like the Cardinal ( Diner-Lite), Heat and try to eat, with the CCC serving as the Diner and the Cafe with a Limited ( Very!) Menu!

The Marketing Wizards are meeting as we speak trying to put Lipstick on this pig! .

 

[Devil's Advocate]

The LSA came to our table first, and took our orders. She then proceeded to take the entire car's orders, neatly placing each order on top of the previous, before sending them down to the galley. This took awhile. The 'chef' then proceeded to cook the orders by starting with the order that was on top of the pile, so that the last person to order was the first person served. Between the time my table ordered and the time we got our meals it was in the 1 1/2 to 2 hour range.

Oh yeah?

Well let's just see what the Apologist's Cookbook has to say about that.

1. Congress made her do it that way.

2. You didn't pay for faster service.

3. It was the freight railroad's fault.

4. Stop trying to game the system.

5. Nobody else noticed or cared.

6. Your opinion doesn't matter.

7. Why can't you take a joke?

There we go. Problem solved.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Yum yum, Jim! l will be riding NOL-MEM coach, and MEM-CHI roomette in December. Sounds like I'll be

packing food. Or is that 'gaming' the system? :lol:

##########################################​

DA: If this is multiple choice, Ill go with #8. :huh:

All of the above.

 

[Bob Dylan]

I hear they have some joints in NOL that might have some pretty decent chow and drinks, but it probably can't hold a candle to the New and Improved Diner- Lite on the City of New Orleans!

 

[hessjm]

Yum yum, Jim! l will be riding NOL-MEM coach, and MEM-CHI roomette in December. Sounds like I'll be

packing food. Or is that 'gaming' the system? :lol:

##########################################

DA: If this is multiple choice, Ill go with #8. :huh:

All of the above.

Seriously take a look at www.travelpullman.com sometimes the rates are fairly reasonable. Leaving NOL you get lunch (unlike Amtrak), additionally from the time you board until you detrain, all beverages (alcoholic) are included. Yes, that means the club/dome car is open around the clock.Oh, they have flowers and table clothes too!

 

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

Do not know how long it has been since your last trip, but I thought the Jambalaya and Short Ribs were pretty creative. Even breakfast was a bit out of the ordinary. The Filet du Boeuf Wellington and Shrimp in Sherry Sauce have been gone for a while along with the china,glass and silverware. Table cloths and flowers are gone too. This is SDS (simplified dining service) as dictated by congress. The way it used to be is not coming back. It is what is is and all it is.

I enjoy the dining car and the experience of dining on the train. I like the food served as my days of pan fried chicken, skillet gravy and fresh rolls went out a while back. Can honestly say, I have never had a bad meal on Amtrak. Crappy dinner salads, yes, but thats just bag-o-salad.

I really hope you take the train as I frankly feel the menu is satisfactory. Maybe you can explain what is lacking in the menu. I have posted a copy below.

http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/148/959/City-of-New-Orleans-Dining-Car-Menu-0715.pdf

Then you are one of the luckiest Amtrak-LD-Traveling dudes I know!

The menu on the CONO, ADMIT, I HAVE NOT SAMPLED IT, is another disaster for service. I worked on board as a waiter/LSA when the "first" Modified Meal Service / Simplified Dining Service" was instituted, It was a DISASTER, but the "adjustment" that came afterwards, while a HUGE improvement, in no way went back to what it was before. I imagine a similar scenario will happen here.

Things will improve from what they are now, but only ever so marginally. The "Suits" don't get that part of the LD experience is (was) having to look forward to dinner in the diner. (I'm honestly considering bringing my own linen and flowers on my next trip, getting my meals "to go", and setting up in the SSL. I know, that's a little over-the-top isn't it?)

What will the marginal improvements look like? Basically, the staff and mgmt will be learning by their mistakes. Better "preparation" of the pre-cooked meals, dumping of some meals that don't work, and other very minor adjustments.

Having been an employee in the diner when the Superliner Diners were first introduced, and seen what they were designed for, and capable of, it borders on a capital-offense on HOW the Superliner Diners are being under-utilized, from cooking, plating, and preparing downstairs, to the way the "Staff" (ha, how can you call just 2 or 3 employees "Staff"?) Upstairs.

Nope, Amtrak's pendulum on service for so-called "First Class" (ie. Sleeper Service) has swung way to far to one side. I honestly don't think it will swing back the other way, absent a new CEO of Graham Claytor's gravitas, or at least a CEO who understands WHY some people would gladly pay several thousand dollars for a bedroom X country, IF, if, the service, meals, and amenities were commensurate with the price.

The one issue I see is that there certainly is a cost to having a regular chef. To pay for one on board, three possibilities exist. Either Amtrak splits that cost onto all of their passengers (coach and sleeper) whether they order diner service or not, passes the cost onto only the sleeper car passengers (and they become much more expensive), or passes that cost on to only the diner meals and then they could be twice what you are paying now if you are on coach.

I have never bought a sleeper on Amtrak and I rarely eat in the diner car (I went from the East Coast to California and back this year and only ate cafe car food). I would be happier without the chef since I'm not paying for him/her. Of course there are some who prefer having the diner and the chef but then Amtrak has to figure out where (or to whom) to pass the costs to. I'm not saying what the solution is or even if there even is one.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Philly: your analysis is true as far as cutting the Chef 'cause its expensive to have one aboard, but it has NOT resulted in lower fares for Sleeping Car passengers( like on the Star) or Coach on the City, just crummy heat and heat food in the Diner and Cafe @ High Prices!

They could cut 100 Suits in WAS and it would pay for the Chefs but then the Executives might have to actually do some real work instead of rubber stamping idiotic nickel and dime cuts and making Moronic promises to mica-managers on the Hill!

 

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

Philly: your analysis is true as far as cutting the Chef 'cause its expensive to have one aboard, but it has NOT resulted in lower fares for Sleeping Car passengers( like on the Star) or Coach on the City, just crummy heat and heat food in the Diner and Cafe @ High Prices!

They could cut 100 Suits in WAS and it would pay for the Chefs but then the Executives might have to actually do some real work instead of rubber stamping idiotic nickel and dime cuts and making Moronic promises to mica-managers on the Hill!

But maybe if they kept the chefs the prices would have gone up. So either cut costs or raise prices. You can tell neither is a good option.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Joe,

I saw your trip report with the above photo. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Looks like the opposite of my CONO experience, and that was before the new 'improved' service. Thanks for the advice. :hi: The prices are not bad, and a berth would not be a bad option.

I'd even remove my hat :hi: for dining in that grand style!

 

[Devil's Advocate]

In my view these and other routes could be substantially improved by replacing Amtrak's microwave dining service with a chain diner or rolling fast food joint. Not because I find those options terribly appealing but rather because Amtrak's own food service has deteriorated to the point that even a generic chain menu would likely be fresher, tastier, and more varied than today's AmChow.

 

[SteveSFL]

I hear they have some joints in NOL that might have some pretty decent chow and drinks, but it probably can't hold a candle to the New and Improved Diner- Lite on the City of New Orleans!

I had beignets from Cafe du Monde in the SSL as we were departing NOL on my last trip. That powdered sugar is probably still all over the floor (sorry!).

 

[SteveSFL]

Philly: your analysis is true as far as cutting the Chef 'cause its expensive to have one aboard, but it has NOT resulted in lower fares for Sleeping Car passengers( like on the Star) or Coach on the City, just crummy heat and heat food in the Diner and Cafe @ High Prices!

They could cut 100 Suits in WAS and it would pay for the Chefs but then the Executives might have to actually do some real work instead of rubber stamping idiotic nickel and dime cuts and making Moronic promises to mica-managers on the Hill!

But maybe if they kept the chefs the prices would have gone up. So either cut costs or raise prices. You can tell neither is a good option.

OK, so fares must have gone up on all of the trains except for the CONO, since that's the only one that got rid of the chef. Oh wait, they got rid of the whole diner on the Star and coach fares didn't go down (sleeper fares only went down because the passengers aren't getting ANY food at all).

 

[The Davy Crockett]

You can ALWAYS tell the folks who have been eating beignets from Café du Monde by the powdered sugar all down their shirts.

At least I hope its powdered sugar!

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Maybe the fares have not gone up on the CONO because of the 'competition' on the end of the train?