Chicago metropolitan lounge Oatmeal

This is available in the lounge early in the morning. I've never noticed this before. It was a life saver this morning before boarding 301 to stl. Lou Mitchell's was closed.

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Yup! I noticed more food is available too. This change happened about 3-4 months ago. Oatmeal gives way to the cheese and vegetables/snack mixes/fruit/small desserts till about 3pm and ends with the snack mixes toward closing. Free wine tastes mid-day. In the afternoon, there is some sort of cash-bar service as advertised on the tables, but I never noticed or took part in it.

A server walks around with a tablet to take drink orders, but they aren't loud or pushy , they are sort of in the background.

penguinflies said:

Yup! I noticed more food is available too. This change happened about 3-4 months ago. Oatmeal gives way to the cheese and vegetables/snack mixes/fruit/small desserts till about 3pm and ends with the snack mixes toward closing. Free wine tastes mid-day. In the afternoon, there is some sort of cash-bar service as advertised on the tables, but I never noticed or took part in it.

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If only the trains offered this!

This isn't Amtrak doing this, it is the Lounge operator I was told by one Amtrak Employee.

Sounds like that company ought to have their contract renewed!

The company is doing what they are contracted to do,,,,,,

Can the lounge company be contracted to take over OBS operations as well? That would be a sight for sore eyes and a sound for tired ears. Imagine a calm and friendly service host quietly taking orders instead of an abrasive PA speaker repeatedly interrupting your conversation to bark commands at everyone on the train. Almost makes me giddy with excitement just to contemplate such an outcome. Oh well.

Unfortunately, lots of John Q. Public members in a close quarters public setting need to have commands barked at them.

Lowest common denominator kind of thing?

You could get your own railroad passenger car. Say a sleeper/dome/dining car?

You would get to hire/train staff, choose what food is available, etc.

Rail travel nirvana.

Rail travel nirvana costs lots more than an Amtrak sleeper berth ticket though.

Oh well.

PVD said:

The company is doing what they are contracted to do,,,,,,

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They weren't before?

I'm pretty sure that the outside food service maintaining the snacks and drink station at the lounge started when the new lounge opened, so the current arrangement with a cleaning contractor, and a food service contractor did not exist before.

KmH said:

Unfortunately, lots of John Q. Public members in a close quarters public setting need to have commands barked at them.

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If that were even remotely true then every passenger rail network in the world would be following Amtrak's lead. Except they aren't. In fact I cannot think of a single other passenger rail network anywhere in the developed world that does this.

KmH said:

Rail travel nirvana costs lots more than an Amtrak sleeper berth ticket though.

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Why do people keep linking Amtrak's lousy customer service to the cost of the tickets? In many cases Amtrak sleeper bedrooms already cost more than domestic first class airfare. In some cases you can charter a private jet on your schedule for less than it costs to charter an extra sleeper on Amtrak's schedule. People have even hired a taxi from one end of the country to the other for less than a high bucket Amtrak bedroom ticket. If cost were the issue then this should have been resolved years ago as Amtrak became both the slowest and most expensive option for many city pairs.

While not the answer to the whole catering issue, I took a couple of sachets of porridge oats aboard my last Amtrak trains, and simply asked for a cup of hot water in the mornings to make them up. With a small "tip" to the staff, it was still cheaper than the cheapest Amtrak breakfast options.

Ed.

Devil's Advocate said:

Can the lounge company be contracted to take over OBS operations as well? That would be a sight for sore eyes and a sound for tired ears. Imagine a calm and friendly service host quietly taking orders instead of an abrasive PA speaker repeatedly interrupting your conversation to bark commands at everyone on the train. Almost makes me giddy with excitement just to contemplate such an outcome. Oh well.

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Slick,DA. Take a thread devoted to Chicago lounge food service and pivot it to your bete noir, the PA announcements onboard.

Kudos!