More Dining Car changes coming soon?

[DevalDragon]

I'm on the Northbound Eagle (22-30) and the dining car is offering the burger, veggie burger or hot dogs for lunch. The entree salad, mussels or Chilaquiles are missing as are the garden salads for lunch or dinner.

I asked the dining car what happened to lunch and she told me they did not have those items leaving Chicago and they are having "vendor problems" in the commissary. Is Amtrak just not paying the bills or is there something else going on?

 

[Bob Dylan]

Keep in mind that the Eagle must carry all of its food on the round trip between Chicago and San Antonio for the 4 day/3 night turnaround.

I've boarded the Eagle many times in Chicago and been told by the Diner Crew @ Dinner between Chicago and St Louis on the first night, that the Commusary didnt load

Lots of items ( or enough) that are on the Menu.

On the return trip out of San Antonio, most of the Meals are "short" of items, especially popular items such as Steaks and deserts.

The last Lunch served out of St Louis on the way to Chicago is always a Limited time/item service with the choices you mentioned usually being what's on offer in the CCC Diner.

 

[DevalDragon]

Keep in mind that the Eagle must carry all of its food on the round trip between Chicago and San Antonio for the 4 day/3 night turnaround.

I've boarded the Eagle many times in Chicago and been told by the Diner Crew @ Dinner between Chicago and St Louis on the first night, that the Commusary didnt load

Lots of items ( or enough) that are on the Menu.

On the return trip out of San Antonio, most of the Meals are "short" of items, especially popular items such as Steaks and deserts.

The last Lunch served out of St Louis on the way to Chicago is always a Limited time/item service with the choices you mentioned usually being what's on offer in the CCC Diner.

The crew said the food wasn't loaded out of Chicago. It's not a matter of them running out - it's a matter of them never having it to begin with. Keep in mind this issue came up between Temple and Cleburne; not during the abbreviated Illinois lunch service as you are suggesting.

They said they have everything on the dinner and breakfast menus which leads me to believe it is genuinely a supplier / contract issue as the staff said.

I have been a regular on the Texas Eagle since 1992 and am somewhat familiar with its operations.

 

[DevalDragon]

Found the answer to my own question - Amtrak will be converting the Texas Eagle to "Contemporary Dining" in September.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Found the answer to my own question - Amtrak will be converting the Texas Eagle to "Contemporary Dining" in September.

And the Hits just keep on coming!5 Boxed Meals Northbound on #22 and 4 Southbound on #21!!

Waiting to see if the Fares are Lowered for the Sleepers!( Sure!!)

 

[Triley]

Found the answer to my own question - Amtrak will be converting the Texas Eagle to "Contemporary Dining" in September.

Anything is possible, but where has this been mentioned publicly?

 

[JRR]

We are on 97 headed home having just left Winter Haven haven taken the Silver Meteor, Crescent, CONO, Capital Limited and now back on the southbound Meteor.

I will give a full report when I get back but on each train the food service left much to be desired. The overall theme was lack of items on the menu.

Both north and southbound there were no mussels and we were advised that they were never put onboard. Coming home, nothing my wife ordered was available, including, believe it or not,Chardonnay! That’s a first!

 

[Bob Dylan]

Found the answer to my own question - Amtrak will be converting the Texas Eagle to "Contemporary Dining" in September.

Anything is possible, but where has this been mentioned publicly?

I've been told by Amtrak staff that this is in the works for the Eagle and Other LD Trains too! Pathetic if true, guess I'll be Flying to NYC for the Gathering if this comes to pass!

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

It'll be too late once they realize that it was a mistake to remove dining service.

 

[bretton88]

I have trouble seeing this change occurring in September. When they did the LSL changes, there was 2 months notice from press releases to changes. Nothing has been said or made official, but rumors are everyone's favorite thing right now. What I could see occurring is Amtrak finally moving away from Aramark. The real question is, are we going to the boxed meals, or just changing catering companies?

 

[tommylicious]

Dining service is being allowed to die on the vine systemwide.

 

[keelhauled]

If one looks at OP's thread on Trainorders, he says that "staff told me that the jobs of the cook and service attendant for the diner have been abolished in September." Nothing specifically about "contemporary dining." While I suppose it's possible that means they will switch to LSL/CL style service, it seems just as likely that it could be a Cardinal/CONO type of operation wherein there is one person heating and serving food. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if some form of change is coming, but a nebulous quote from a secondhand source doesn't seem like solid ground to leap to conclusions from.

 

[Dakota 400]

Will any of this dining car service change affect the Silver Meteor in December and January?

 

[MikeM]

If one looks at OP's thread on Trainorders, he says that "staff told me that the jobs of the cook and service attendant for the diner have been abolished in September." Nothing specifically about "contemporary dining." While I suppose it's possible that means they will switch to LSL/CL style service, it seems just as likely that it could be a Cardinal/CONO type of operation wherein there is one person heating and serving food. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if some form of change is coming, but a nebulous quote from a secondhand source doesn't seem like solid ground to leap to conclusions from.

Lovely. After much debate, I decided to book one more trip on the Eagle at the end of September to a meeting in Milwaukee. Assumed incorrectly that there was so much blowback to box meals and with no new announcements, that maybe food service would be spared on the train. Crud. Main question now is if I should persevere and just suck it up, or cancel and potentially take a hit. I should have been suspicious, the fare for economy sleeper service has been dropping over the two month period I had been looking, wondering if I was late in figuring out what was coming...

 

[niemi24s]

I should have been suspicious, the fare for economy sleeper service has been dropping over the two month period I had been looking, wondering if I was late in figuring out what was coming...

This fare drop you've seen over the last two months probably has nothing directly to do with any upcoming change in onboard food service - if there is any upcoming change.

Q: If you had noticed steadily increasing sleeper fares on, say, the Silver Star - would you be suspicious that full dining service was soon to be restored?

 

[MikeM]

I just talked to a rep at Amtrak Reservations, who checked with her supervisor, looked at service bulletins, etc, and could not find out any news about this change. Was very sympathetic about the situation, and assured me if they did make the change, they could get a full refund due to change in service. Of course, the next question is that my rail fare to Milwaukee is around $300, and I could fly into ORD for $117 and just round trip my rental car, vs train to MKE, rental to my destination, then drive back ORD to catch a flight home.

Any bets out there how likely there's going to be a change. The thought of subsisting on muffins and coldcuts really does not make me happy. A major part of any train trip is relaxing in the diner and visiting with random travelers. Eating out of a box does not seem very appealing.

 

[tommylicious]

If they do make the service change, cancel your ticket. We cancelled all our fall/winter rail plans which involved deprecated dining service.

I just talked to a rep at Amtrak Reservations, who checked with her supervisor, looked at service bulletins, etc, and could not find out any news about this change. Was very sympathetic about the situation, and assured me if they did make the change, they could get a full refund due to change in service. Of course, the next question is that my rail fare to Milwaukee is around $300, and I could fly into ORD for $117 and just round trip my rental car, vs train to MKE, rental to my destination, then drive back ORD to catch a flight home.

Any bets out there how likely there's going to be a change. The thought of subsisting on muffins and coldcuts really does not make me happy. A major part of any train trip is relaxing in the diner and visiting with random travelers. Eating out of a box does not seem very appealing.

 

[DevalDragon]

If one looks at OP's thread on Trainorders, he says that "staff told me that the jobs of the cook and service attendant for the diner have been abolished in September." Nothing specifically about "contemporary dining." While I suppose it's possible that means they will switch to LSL/CL style service, it seems just as likely that it could be a Cardinal/CONO type of operation wherein there is one person heating and serving food. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if some form of change is coming, but a nebulous quote from a secondhand source doesn't seem like solid ground to leap to conclusions from.

You can have all the optimism and doubts you want, but if saw the look of despair and hopelessness the dining car staff had on them last night when they told their jobs were being eliminated because the Eagle is going to "Contemporary Dining" you would believe them.

 

[JRR]

Talked tithe LSA on the Meteor yesterday and there was a lot of depression there also. On the run from Wash DC to Miami yesterday there was a shortage of a lot of menu items. Some like the mussels were never put onboard and others like the pasta, were just inexplicably just short. Even the desserts were short stocked with some like the pecan tart just aren’t onboard anymore though still on the menu.

The LSA begged us to write it up.

 

[MikeM]

So, you were just on the Eagle and that's what they told you? Thanks for the info, I'm flying then.

 

[Manny T]

I just talked to a rep at Amtrak Reservations, who checked with her supervisor, looked at service bulletins, etc, and could not find out any news about this change. Was very sympathetic about the situation, and assured me if they did make the change, they could get a full refund due to change in service. Of course, the next question is that my rail fare to Milwaukee is around $300, and I could fly into ORD for $117 and just round trip my rental car, vs train to MKE, rental to my destination, then drive back ORD to catch a flight home.

Any bets out there how likely there's going to be a change. The thought of subsisting on muffins and coldcuts really does not make me happy. A major part of any train trip is relaxing in the diner and visiting with random travelers. Eating out of a box does not seem very appealing.

I think MikeM sums up the reaction of many to "contemporary dining" perfectly in these few words:

"The thought of subsisting on muffins and coldcuts really does not make me happy."

 

[niemi24s]

So here we see one AU member cancels a train trip and elects to fly, all based on unsubstantiated rumors retold by others here on the interweb (hearsay). Wonderful! It's clear to me than none of them have ever worked in a "rumor mill" or have not heard the old wheeze "Rumors are like a--holes. Everybody's got one!"

Am I saying we won't soon be eating out of a box on the TE? Of course not! All I'm saying is. . . . .uh. . . .never mind.

.

 

[tommylicious]

Photographic evidence and direct reviews from riders on CL and LSL. I don't want to eat a processed granola bar and cold cuts out of a box either for the duration of a long trip, and I certainly won't subject my family to it either. What's really despicable is Amtrak cloaking it all as "sustainability".

So here we see one AU member cancels a train trip and elects to fly, all based on unsubstantiated rumors retold by others here on the interweb (hearsay). Wonderful! It's clear to me than none of them have ever worked in a "rumor mill" or have not heard the old wheeze "Rumors are like a--holes. Everybody's got one!"

Am I saying we won't soon be eating out of a box on the TE? Of course not! All I'm saying is. . . . .uh. . . .never mind.

.

 

[niemi24s]

Photographic evidence and direct reviews from riders on CL and LSL. I don't want to eat a processed granola bar and cold cuts out of a box either for the duration of a long trip, and I certainly won't subject my family to it either. What's really despicable is Amtrak cloaking it all as "sustainability".

So here we see one AU member cancels a train trip and elects to fly, all based on unsubstantiated rumors retold by others here on the interweb (hearsay). Wonderful! It's clear to me than none of them have ever worked in a "rumor mill" or have not heard the old wheeze "Rumors are like a--holes. Everybody's got one!"

Am I saying we won't soon be eating out of a box on the TE? Of course not! All I'm saying is. . . . .uh. . . .never mind.

.

I'm fully aware that boxed meals are the cuisine du jour on the CL and LSL, having had a few in June. And, FWIW, I'm no more interested in your food foibles than you are in mine.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

And I'll say again... You really thought frozen burgers out of a box and frozen French toast out of a box was that much better?

Everyone who has actually tried them seems to think the quality is the same or better as before. It's the lack of options that is the complaint... Which I agree with.