Amtrak returned dining car service to the "Crescent" last week. Don't plan on using it though, if you only buy a coach ticket. Earl G.
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When they added it back on Silver Service it was sleeping car passengers only for about a year. Now its open to all (but the price is pretty steep).
If you’re taking Amtrak pack your own food.
I recently took the River Runner out to Kansas City and the turkey sandwich I got from the café car was good. I can't say I've had a bad experience dining with Amtrak.
@J 611 posted:If you’re taking Amtrak pack your own food.
J,
It would be helpful if you mentioned why.
IMHO there is a very good reason, and it applies wholeheartedly if you're travelling coach -- the food can be pricey. And, this is true not only with the dining car but also the drinks, snacks and lunch items you can buy from the little on-board convenience store often found in the 'basement' of the Sightseer lounge car on many long-distance Superliner trains.
Having said this, and unless something has changed in the last few years, if you're travelling in a sleeping car your dinner in the dining car is free -- no charge. So why pay for, and haul with you, extra food when you don't need to?
In your case however you may feel that Amtrak has lousy food. If so, I'd be happy to hear about your personal experiences with the food service.
In my case I've travelled Amtrak many, many times and never had truly bad food. Is it of high caliber like that from a finer restaurant, or like the dining cars of old? No. But, is it better than airline food? Most definitely, and in fact so very much of has been quite tasty. I've nearly always been pleasantly surprised at how good it really is.
What's your experience?
Mike
Not that I've traveled a whole lot on Amtrak, given the limited service where I am, but when I have my wife and I have found the experience of dining in the dining car to be one of the highlights of the trip. The food has been very good, and the overall experience of sitting at a nice table and dining as you watch the countryside roll by is a joy, at least to me.
My wife and I rode the California Zephyr last Sep. We had a sleeper so we ate in the dining car, and thought the food was decent.
I typically travel on the NEC when I use Amtrak, but I HIGHLY enjoyed the few times I had full dining service on the Auto Train (pre-pandemic). I always travel alone, so they threw me into random four-top tables with strangers. In all cases, we were people from diverse age groups and different geographic, political, and racial backgrounds forced to eat together. We had some of my most memorable conversations -all positive! I met a game warden, a motorcycle club, salespeople in all sorts of peculiar industries, tradesmen, and people who remember events I've only read about in history class.
The food was decent too. It obviously wasn't Nobu, but it tasted and presented better than anything I've ever had on a plane. It was about as good as a $40 meal... a step above a diner. I've never met a bad waiter on an Amtrak train either.
Now on the NEC, I usually just buy a mule and take a nap. The hot food is really for emergency use only. Any item that's not meant to be heated is no different on Amtrak than anywhere else, but the menu is mostly sweets and snacks.
Some shots from our Silver Star trip about 7 weeks ago. Traditional dinning is an upgrade over the previous version. Metal silver ware, glasses for wine and real roses. On our trip back to Newark NJ we had the best crew. My wife asked what the wine was (she liked it). Our waiter brought over the bottle and poured several glasses "on the house". Is it "haute cuisine"? of course not but with friendly staff it makes the trip go by pleasantly.
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@Mellow Hudson Mike posted:J,
It would be helpful if you mentioned why.
IMHO there is a very good reason, and it applies wholeheartedly if you're travelling coach -- the food can be pricey. And, this is true not only with the dining car but also the drinks, snacks and lunch items you can buy from the little on-board convenience store often found in the 'basement' of the Sightseer lounge car on many long-distance Superliner trains.
Having said this, and unless something has changed in the last few years, if you're travelling in a sleeping car your dinner in the dining car is free -- no charge. So why pay for, and haul with you, extra food when you don't need to?
In your case however you may feel that Amtrak has lousy food. If so, I'd be happy to hear about your personal experiences with the food service.
In my case I've travelled Amtrak many, many times and never had truly bad food. Is it of high caliber like that from a finer restaurant, or like the dining cars of old? No. But, is it better than airline food? Most definitely, and in fact so very much of has been quite tasty. I've nearly always been pleasantly surprised at how good it really is.
What's your experience?
Mike
When I travel on Amtrak it’s always in coach. And the food that’s available in the cafe car is overpriced, microwaved, and gross. So I usually just bring a cooler with snacks and drinks.
@Scotie posted:Some shots from our Silver Star trip about 7 weeks ago. Traditional dinning is an upgrade over the previous version. Metal silver ware, glasses for wine and real roses. On our trip back to Newark NJ we had the best crew. My wife asked what the wine was (she liked it). Our waiter brought over the bottle and poured several glasses "on the house". Is it "haute cuisine"? of course not but with friendly staff it makes the trip go by pleasantly.
Fancy! The closest I've ever been to a viewliner is the GGD version. Lots of sunlight shining in there!
I think most who have contributed are right on the mark. I do remember traditional dining car service when Amtrak did not exist and each railroad took pride in its hotel class dining car service. However, it was expensive. I recall a trip as a 10-year-old, where a hamburger was $1.00 in a Rock Island dining car in December, 1956. According to my inflation calculator, that is $11.50 in today's money, probably comparable in price to today's Amtrak microwave cheeseburger, but at least 1/3-lb. of very good grilled meat on a bakery bun, and served with skill and professionalism. (I ate one on my return trip, too.) But that was just a burger and a small bag of potato chips. Drinks were extra. After I got to be older and ordered entrees, I always found the food to be delicious. But it was never included in the price of a sleeping car ticket. Everybody paid. In today's money, two fixe-price meals for a couple traveling together would be around $50, probably more if ordering a la carte.
Amtrak serves tasty food in the diner for all three meals, and there is always something vegetarian or vegan for those who don't eat meat. The servers are often friendly and chatty, and the experience of eating at a table with strangers almost always results in interesting conversations.
Forgot to mention in my last post that because the Silver Star was running over 2 hours late they kept the dinning car open later so all the passengers boarding who would have been on for diner could get their meal. The crew was really trying to give good service.
