Is lunch served on 91/Silver Star departing NYP at 11AM?

[fhussain44]

My 6 year old and I have a roomette booked. I assume it is flex dining. If so, what would be the menu options for us?

The ticket says,

Hungry? On the Silver Star you can buy hot and cold sandwiches, snacks and other items in the Cafe/Lounge car. No Dining car is available

 

[AmtrakBlue]

My 6 year old and I have a roomette booked. I assume it is flex dining. If so, what would be the menu options for us?

The ticket says,

Hungry? On the Silver Star you can buy hot and cold sandwiches, snacks and other items in the Cafe/Lounge car. No Dining car is available

The dining car is currently being used as a “sleeper lounge” (aka diner/lounge for only sleeper passengers)
You can find the flex meal menu on Amtraks website.

 

[joelkfla]

My 6 year old and I have a roomette booked. I assume it is flex dining. If so, what would be the menu options for us?

The ticket says,

Hungry? On the Silver Star you can buy hot and cold sandwiches, snacks and other items in the Cafe/Lounge car. No Dining car is available

Amtrak says passengers boarding before 2:30 pm will receive lunch, so yes, you should.

But if you arrive at Penn Station an hour to 90 minutes before departure, you can enjoy much better food than what they serve on the train at the Moynihan Train Hall Metropolitan Lounge, which is included with your sleeper ticket. Selection is limited, but much better than what they serve on the train, and unlimited. I'm not sure what time the lounge transitions from breakfast to lunch food.

You can see the onboard Flex menu and mealtimes here:
https://www.amtrak.com/onboard/meals-dining/flexible-dining.html
I suspect that thing about no dining car is left over from an experiment a few years ago when they eliminated all sleeper passenger meals on the Star.

 

[NYP2NFL01]

Hi. The ticket verbiage has not been updated since the Silver Star re-acquired a dining car. As joelkfla posted, lunch will be served. You have the option of eating in the dining car (open to sleeper car passengers only), or in your roomette. Hope you have a pleasant trip, with as few delays as possible!

 

[fhussain44]

Ok great. So it's flex dining. Didn't know Metropolitan Lounge had food too. I am guessing mostly pastry/donuts kind of stuff before 11AM?

 

[MARC Rider]

Ok great. So it's flex dining. Didn't know Metropolitan Lounge had food too. I am guessing mostly pastry/donuts kind of stuff before 11AM?

I think they would also have the little mini-sandwiches and salads out, too. By the way, even if you're partaking of flex meals, taking a salad from the lounge on to the train would improve the meal greatly.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Here's a thread about the lounge in NYP. It's from last year, so obviously there may be changes to the food offered.

https://www.amtraktrains.com/threads/amtrak-metropolitan-lounges.79939/#post-921968

 

[fhussain44]

Had our trip and can confirm we did get lunch. However, they did things differently than I was used to. You had to pre-order the food and pick time of eating with the sleeping car attendant. Then when you go to the dining car they give you the food at exactly that time.

The dining car attendant was rather surly and giving people attitude for asking for their meals before their chosen time.

 

[joelkfla]

The dining car attendant was rather surly and giving people attitude for asking for their meals before their chosen time.

He's probably not too happy about being downgraded from running a lively dining car to being a food-heater-upper stuck in the galley.

But it appears that the way they handle 5 sleepers-full of eaters is to put the food into the oven so it's timed to come out at the designated time. Asking for your meal early would put a kink into that procedure.

 

[MARC Rider]

Had our trip and can confirm we did get lunch. However, they did things differently than I was used to. You had to pre-order the food and pick time of eating with the sleeping car attendant. Then when you go to the dining car they give you the food at exactly that time.

The dining car attendant was rather surly and giving people attitude for asking for their meals before their chosen time.

The sleeping cars must have been full. Same thing happened to me when I rode the Capitol in 2019, except I don't think the attendant was particularly surly, even if he had to remind people that he had to serve people in order. They really needed to be hardcore about serving times, because when the sleepers are full, they need to space out the customers, or you'll be standing in a line stretching back into the coaches and standing there for an hour while they get to you. There's a reason why they schedule dinner reservations, even for flex food.

The bottom line for me is that if I'm taking a long-distance train ride, I'm going to try to travel in the off season when the train isn't as full -- the fares are lower, and the service is more relaxed.

 

[KarmicPopcorn]

He's probably not too happy about being downgraded from running a lively dining car to being a food-heater-upper stuck in the galley.

But it appears that the way they handle 5 sleepers-full of eaters is to put the food into the oven so it's timed to come out at the designated time. Asking for your meal early would put a kink into that procedure.

They do more than just heat food. The meals on the empire builder were amazing, the meals on the Coast starlight looked like canned cat food with meat plopped on top. Same exact menu. Chefs matter.

 

[joelkfla]

They do more than just heat food. The meals on the empire builder were amazing, the meals on the Coast starlight looked like canned cat food with meat plopped on top. Same exact menu. Chefs matter.

You misunderstood. I was talking about the Silver Service being downgraded from Traditional Dining to Flex, where the single LSA in the Diner just heats up meals and hands out drinks, mini-salads, and, on a good night, dinner rolls.

 

[Dakota 400]

Chefs matter.

On an Amtrak trip from NYC to New Orleans; New Orleans to Los Angeles; Los Angeles to Chicago--- when full traditional dining service on all trains, two of the 3 trains had very good chefs; one, the Southwest Chef didn't. Almost everything that that I tried was either overcooked and/or dried out. The chicken breast was so dry that is was nearly inedible. I don't like to waste food, but, I left over half the breast. Just couldn't choke down any more of it. Yes, the chefs do matter!

 

[Amtrak709]

Hi. The ticket verbiage has not been updated since the Silver Star re-acquired a dining car. As joelkfla posted, lunch will be served. You have the option of eating in the dining car (open to sleeper car passengers only), or in your roomette. Hope you have a pleasant trip, with as few delays as possible!

Amtrak says passengers boarding before 2:30 pm will receive lunch, so yes, you should.

But if you arrive at Penn Station an hour to 90 minutes before departure, you can enjoy much better food than what they serve on the train at the Moynihan Train Hall Metropolitan Lounge, which is included with your sleeper ticket. Selection is limited, but much better than what they serve on the train, and unlimited. I'm not sure what time the lounge transitions from breakfast to lunch food.

You can see the onboard Flex menu and mealtimes here:
https://www.amtrak.com/onboard/meals-dining/flexible-dining.html
I suspect that thing about no dining car is left over from an experiment a few years ago when they eliminated all sleeper passenger meals on the Star.

With all the current hullabaloo about traditional dining and flex dining, these posts remind me of a "just to ride the trains" trip I made back in October 2018 SAV-WAS-SAV when 91/92 Silver Star did, in fact, NOT have a diner but lower sleeping car fares. Easy to plan since boarding in SAV was about 1AM and arrival WAS was about 3PM that afternoon: a couple of fresh bagels and some other odd snack foods did the trick. That trip I got a Bedroom on 91 SAV-WAS for the same price (less actually) as the returning Roomette WAS-SAV on 97 Silver Meteor (I came back the same day and had a great "traditional dining" dinner on 97 and was back in SAV by about 700AM). I think a got a good deal???!!!