Menu Changes (October 2017)

[Chey]

Are any of the menus available with Amtrak's new and improved website? I can't seem to find them.

If you're still looking for them:

home page > Destinations > See All Routes > (Select the route you're interested in) > scroll down to Features & Amenities

Menu will be in the list on the left

 

[Ryan]

I know this has been debated back and forth a few times here, but are the number of means included now the typical number of occupants, or the max number of occupants? For example, is a Roomette meals for 2, or meals for 3? Bedroom meals for 4?

For max, I would take that to mean seating capacity, not sleeping, and for younger people, not full size grown up people. That's because regardless of age, they are offered an adult meal in the dinning car.

It is now and always has been up to the max occupancy of the room.

 

[SarahZ]

I was on the Southwest Chief a few days ago and tried a couple of different things.

The steak comes with a Bearnaise sauce now, which I prefer to the mushroom sauce they used to serve. I wanted to put that Bearnaise sauce on everything. It was so good I had it both nights, even though I was tempted to try the salmon.

They ran out of chilaquiles, so I had the veggie burger for lunch. While that isn't a new item, it was new to me. I added cheddar cheese to it, and it was delicious! It's become one of my favorite Amtrak food items. The black beans, corn, and seasoning made it taste sort of like I was eating a burrito, but with a bun instead of a tortilla. It was also quite filling. I could hardly finish the entire thing, and I felt full for several hours. (I'm glad I picked the last dinner reservation slot.)

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

I know this has been debated back and forth a few times here, but are the number of means included now the typical number of occupants, or the max number of occupants? For example, is a Roomette meals for 2, or meals for 3? Bedroom meals for 4?

For max, I would take that to mean seating capacity, not sleeping, and for younger people, not full size grown up people. That's because regardless of age, they are offered an adult meal in the dinning car.

It is now and always has been up to the max occupancy of the room.

Screen Shot 2017-10-17 at 10.19.39 PM.png

My point though being, is on the issue mentioned of paying for meals that aren't being used. Though, it could be worse than was first given as an example.

If a roomette can get a max of 3 sets of meals, then when only one person books a roomette, they aren't "wasting" just one set of meals, they are "wasting" two sets of meals. If only two people book a roomette (the typical occupancy?), they are still "wasting" one set of meals.

Same for a bedroom. Unless you are using up the max of four sets of meals, you are paying for some meals you aren't using.

 

[PVD]

you can't extrapolate directly, since each added person pays a rail fare that contributes to the revenue for that space, even though they are not occupying additional space.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

I honestly dont understand people that search for every possible excuse in the world to try and label something a bad value. It is absolutely infuriating. If you want to travel from NY to Chicago as one person in a Roomette, and the price is $350 one way, (I am pulling the price out of my bum, I havent kept track) it is your job to figure out whether it is worth it to you. Kvetching that in some strange way you are wasting a meal is annoying and Quixotic. If it is, it is, if it is not, it is not. If Amtrak is running their sleeping cars at close to capacity most of the time, and they certainly are on most trains- especially factoring in seasonal variation- than there is absolutely nothing wrong with their pricing on their end.

I remember a long debate with a friend of mine some years ago- a guy with a legitimate tax ID, corporate information, and a willingness to take a appropriately Pay to the order check came into my store and offered me a container (20 ft, standard shipping style) of high quality, cotton feel (hi-Viz shirts have to be poly) class 2 hi-viz t-shirts in normal sizes made for 3M, certainly genuine. The item sells in Home Depot for $19.95-24.95 depending, wholesales for between $10 and $15 depending on order size. I was offered it for $3 a unit, minimum 3 gross. I took the whole container, naturally.

And then I put it up for sale in my store for $9.99 S-XL, $12.99 2XL-4XL. And offered bulk discounts I dont actually remember, but with that much RTM, and that much supply, I am sure I was generous. Is me selling it for half price a rip off because I got them for $3? Or charging an extra $3 for larger sizes a rip off because I didnt pay the premium most stores do?

 

[PVD]

Well said.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

I know this has been debated back and forth a few times here, but are the number of means included now the typical number of occupants, or the max number of occupants? For example, is a Roomette meals for 2, or meals for 3? Bedroom meals for 4?

For max, I would take that to mean seating capacity, not sleeping, and for younger people, not full size grown up people. That's because regardless of age, they are offered an adult meal in the dinning car.

It is now and always has been up to the max occupancy of the room.

Screen Shot 2017-10-17 at 10.19.39 PM.png

My point though being, is on the issue mentioned of paying for meals that aren't being used. Though, it could be worse than was first given as an example.
If a roomette can get a max of 3 sets of meals, then when only one person books a roomette, they aren't "wasting" just one set of meals, they are "wasting" two sets of meals. If only two people book a roomette (the typical occupancy?), they are still "wasting" one set of meals.

Same for a bedroom. Unless you are using up the max of four sets of meals, you are paying for some meals you aren't using.

Maybe the room charge “includes” the cost of ONE meal and if there are 2 or more people in the room, theirs are bonuses/free?

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

 

[Ryan]

Or, there is no connection between room prices and food costs. You’re not “paying for” anything other than a room that also will give you meals for whoever is in there with you. The cost of that room is based on what the market will bear.

The fact that money in between internal Amtrak accounts is transferred behind the scenes is completely irrelevant to what the customer pays and not germane to this discussion.

 

[PVD]

Does that mean if I travel alone at high bucket I should get Dom Perignon but if 2 travel at low bucket they get Andre?

(These days everyone is a "victim")

 

[tommylicious]

Re: miscellaneous shellfish cake (shrimp eyes and tails?), there is a post on to from a seasoned member saying it, and the steak, were the worst he's ever had on Trak. This was from the CZ.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Im pleased we are dealing with such a large sample size here.

 

[Railroad Bill]

We just returned from ABQ on the SW Chief and found the food was excellent. I had the surf and turf meal twice and both the seafood cake and steak were very good. Amburgers at lunch are consistently good. Cheesecake dessert is a little better than the former one. Wife had the pecan dessert and also high praise. The best thing was Merrill who was a great and funny guy server, steward who kept the train in stitches. "Here's your milk..from a real cow" He loves his job and it shows.

 

[keelhauled]

Re: miscellaneous shellfish cake (shrimp eyes and tails?), there is a post on to from a seasoned member saying it, and the steak, were the worst he's ever had on Trak. This was from the CZ.

I can't help but notice how you omitted the part from the same post where he said that the same meal on a different train was "very tasty for Amtrak."

 

[Devil's Advocate]

No need to bash eyes and tails. The very best soup in the world, ต้มยำกุ้ง (tom-yum-goong), contains the eyes and tails (and head) of the giant tiger prawn. Simply put, it's beyond amazing.

 

[SarahZ]

It's not a "miscellaneous shellfish cake" packed with mystery ingredients. The menu calls it a "premium crab, shrimp, and scallop cake".

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Honestly the difference is semantic.

 

[SarahZ]

Honestly the difference is semantic.

Perhaps, in the case of "miscellaneous", but it's not quite the "tails and eyes" other people have been ranting about.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

People are stupid, ranted doubly so. Its like lunchtime, an illusion. You shouldve ignore them.

 

[IndyLions]

Food Report...LSL Eastbound Thu Nov 2 departure.

I’ll admit I had low expectations, and I’ve had much better food before (many moons ago when it was freshly prepared) on Amtrak - but the food was pretty good. I definitely didn’t go hungry - that’s for sure.

Breakfast -

French Toast (B+). Not fresh made, but prepared properly and very tasty. Chicken/Apple sausage was a nice option. Bacon was just ok.

Continental (B). A lot of food and a decent value. Oatmeal with raisins & brown sugar, a croissant, yogurt and fresh fruit.

Lunch -

Cheeseburger (B-). I enjoyed it, but it was missing something. I should have been more adventurous.

Romaine/Feta/Walnut Salad (B). Assembled onboard, greens were good and fresh. They fumbled the dressing choices - they only had ranch.

Dinner (Boston Section) - these were the only two choices

Beef with Mashed Potatoes and green beans (B+). My wife raved about the flavor of the beef dish.

Pasta Vegetarian option (B+). The flavor was really good! Not a mild choice at all. I could have sworn the vegetarian sausage was meat. The bread was properly warmed.

Desserts - lunch & dinner

Chocolate tart with strawberries (B+).

Yogurt Cheesecake with strawberries (B+). A good lower cal (<400) choice.

Chocolate Chunk Cookie (B+).

All the desserts were worth the calories, in my opinion. The crew even got creative and offered the cheesecake as the “a la mode” on top of the cookie at dinner!

One other note: the crew was outstanding on this trip - my best experience in several years. Especially the Boston Section crew - Mary (sleeper) and Rachael (lounge) absolutely went the extra mile and deserve an A+! As a whole - the entire LSL crew showed that even without a diner - if you do your job well you can deliver enjoyable food and a really nice onboard experience.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Sounds like that Crew really made the Dinerless LSL a great trip like it should be every trip considering the popularity of this,train and the prices charged!

Hopefully you tipped accordingly and let Amtrak know about the great OBS staff, they dont get lots of compliments, just lots of complaints. ( sadly most are justified)

 

[abcnews]

We really enjoyed the new menu on our recent Silver Meteor trip. I had the Land & Sea, and my wife had the Salmon. It was really good. And we dined in style in a sparkling new Viewliner diner. What an amazing dinning car. Especially at dinner - just before sunset.

 

[IndyLions]

Sounds like that Crew really made the Dinerless LSL a great trip like it should be every trip considering the popularity of this,train and the prices charged!

Hopefully you tipped accordingly and let Amtrak know about the great OBS staff, they dont get lots of compliments, just lots of complaints. ( sadly most are justified[emoji21])

We definitely tipped appropriately...they deserved it.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

 

[Shortline]

Was glad to see new menu items. Who's had them? Almost went with the Shrimp Biryani on the Zephyr last week but server advised avajnst it. Thankfully he did, table across had it, and it looked terrible, watery goup. Guy didn't eat it.,,,,I assume it's a "add boiling water to cook" dish and too much water was thrown in.

Especially interested in the new lunch, was never a fan of the burgers day after day. Anyone had the Chiliquilea or steamed mussels? Would have thought the mussels would have been a better dinner offering.

I did have the seafood cake with steak last week, and it wasn't too bad. I was not a fan of their take on a bernaise sauce, it was just salt and fat in a cup, and didn't really resemble its namesake sauce at all. The lemon was a nice touch for the seafood, would have been lacking that acid without it.

 

[PaulM]

Was glad to see new menu items. Who's had them? Almost went with the Shrimp Biryani on the Zephyr last week but server advised avajnst it. Thankfully he did, table across had it, and it looked terrible, watery goup. Guy didn't eat it.,,,,I assume it's a "add boiling water to cook" dish and too much water was thrown in.

Especially interested in the new lunch, was never a fan of the burgers day after day. Anyone had the Chiliquilea or steamed mussels? Would have thought the mussels would have been a better dinner offering.

Just goes to show you; I had the Biryani on the SWC at Thanksgiving and I thought it too dry (not that I know what it's supposed to be). On the return trip I had it again and it was moister. The real issue is whether or not you like things very hot, as in spicy.

I've had the mussels twice and thought they were great, the only problem being that no sides come with it. We solved it by my ordering the mussels and my wife ordering the lunch salad and sharing. That solved the problem.