Railroad Forums 

  • Amtrak Diner and Food Service Discussion

  • Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.
Discussion related to Amtrak also known as the National Railroad Passenger Corp.

Moderators: GirlOnTheTrain, mtuandrew, Tadman

 #1581538  by markhb
 
electricron wrote: Thu Sep 23, 2021 11:26 am Before New Englander’s cry out why just us, a very similar things occurs with Superliners on the Empire Builder west of Spokane, with the dining car and sightseer lounge-cafe car splitting between the sections of the trains heading to or coming from the west.
While I remain adamant that Boston is every bit as worthy of its direct rail connection to the national LD network (i.e., 448 & 449) as any other major coastal city, I am not so unreasonable as to think that the LSL ought to carry two full dining cars for the sake of 1 sleeper car's lunch service. :grinning:
 #1581540  by STrRedWolf
 
lordsigma12345 wrote: Wed Sep 29, 2021 6:24 pm At a recent RPA meeting Mr. Harris of Amtrak mentioned they are working with a new food vendor to make changes to the meal setup on the trains currently utilizing flexible dining. This same vendor was used for the new Acela first class meals.
This is interesting. Depending on the cafe setup on the Acela (ie: can you grill a steak in there, or is it just nuke-and-arrange) we may see better food all around.
 #1581554  by bostontrainguy
 
markhb wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 6:52 pm
electricron wrote: Thu Sep 23, 2021 11:26 am Before New Englander’s cry out why just us, a very similar things occurs with Superliners on the Empire Builder west of Spokane, with the dining car and sightseer lounge-cafe car splitting between the sections of the trains heading to or coming from the west.
While I remain adamant that Boston is every bit as worthy of its direct rail connection to the national LD network (i.e., 448 & 449) as any other major coastal city, I am not so unreasonable as to think that the LSL ought to carry two full dining cars for the sake of 1 sleeper car's lunch service. :grinning:
Yes but then the other side of that coin is you now have a diner running closed between Albany and New York City. So swapping the food service cars and running the diner to Boston not only adds two meal services to the LSL overall but also adds cafe service to the New York section that now offers no food service at all.
 #1581729  by John_Perkowski
 
lordsigma12345 wrote: Sun Oct 03, 2021 11:48 am I think the two first class attendants just have a couple microwaves and maybe a convection oven near the vestibule to the next car on the opposite end of the first class car from the power car.
In other words, lower quality than SYSCO contracted form food at our universities.

At least there, cooking happens.

Amtrak want a significant premium for sleeper or parlor accommodations. They can damn well cook the food from scratch onboard if they want my money; at the very least, they can draw freshly cooked plates from LSG and the other air providers for their front cabin customers. They can also ply us with liquor.
 #1581731  by Gilbert B Norman
 
Colonel, Business Class in-flight service to Munich this past August was reminiscent of "regulated era" Coach. There was no Attendant passing through the cabin with bottles in hand; just a Coach 187.5ml "split" on your tray. No more "plating" of meals. To me if airlines think they can charge four times the Economy Class fare to fly overseas "forward of the curtain", they had best deliver that pre-COVID levels of in-flight service.

Same applies to Amtrak sleeper, which after my Jan '20 "meh" experience on Auto Train (leaving SFA day Kobe Bryant was killed), "I'm done".
Last edited by Gilbert B Norman on Mon Oct 04, 2021 7:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
 #1581737  by lordsigma12345
 
John_Perkowski wrote: Sun Oct 03, 2021 9:22 pm
lordsigma12345 wrote: Sun Oct 03, 2021 11:48 am I think the two first class attendants just have a couple microwaves and maybe a convection oven near the vestibule to the next car on the opposite end of the first class car from the power car.
In other words, lower quality than SYSCO contracted form food at our universities.

At least there, cooking happens.

Amtrak want a significant premium for sleeper or parlor accommodations. They can damn well cook the food from scratch onboard if they want my money; at the very least, they can draw freshly cooked plates from LSG and the other air providers for their front cabin customers. They can also ply us with liquor.
I thought it was actually pretty good. It's not the chef prepared meals in the long distance diners out west but for the short Acela trips its pretty decent.
  • 1
  • 125
  • 126
  • 127
  • 128
  • 129
  • 137