EB diner service fading

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Mark

Mark

Lead Service Attendant
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Apr 12, 2006
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I rode #7 from Chicago to Tomah WI on Thursday the 11th. This gives me barely enough time to get a meal in the diner, of course I always have the steak. It was good as always but the sides have shrunk since my last trip in March and it was served on the logo plastic-ware now being used system wide, (which looks like the original make-over EB china). Gone are nice plates unique to the EB and the ceramic logo mugs for coffee, (the new style paper cups were used). They still had a full crew but I'm concerned by these subtle changes.
 
Mark said:
I rode #7 from Chicago to Tomah WI on Thursday the 11th. This gives me barely enough time to get a meal in the diner, of course I always have the steak. It was good as always but the sides have shrunk since my last trip in March and it was served on the logo plastic-ware now being used system wide, (which looks like the original make-over EB china). Gone are nice plates unique to the EB and the ceramic logo mugs for coffee, (the new style paper cups were used). They still had a full crew but I'm concerned by these subtle changes.
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Did you notice the capacity of the paper coffee cups? less than before . Who got promoted for that move? Jim
 
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Then that must have been a very recent change, as that was not the case when I rode the Empire Builder last month.

Could it have been a case of a last-minute swap of dining cars, and they weren't able to get all of the supplies transferred and still depart on time?
 
rmadisonwi said:
Then that must have been a very recent change, as that was not the case when I rode the Empire Builder last month.
Could it have been a case of a last-minute swap of dining cars, and they weren't able to get all of the supplies transferred and still depart on time?
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Or perhaps a dishwasher that failed?
 
I rode from Chicago to Minneapolis on last Wednesday, the 10th, and the china and ceramic mugs were used. It must have been a dishwasher problem.
 
Guest said:
I rode from Chicago to Minneapolis on last Wednesday, the 10th, and the china and ceramic mugs were used. It must have been a dishwasher problem.
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That's a relief. It did seem like the portions were smaller than when I rode in last March. The salad was tiny. The steak was about the same but there were less veggies and the scoop of potatoes was smaller but of course this is really hard to actually measure. It all was still very good and a decent experience.
 
When we rode it in may, one way had china, the other plastic.. The dishwasher was indeed broke.. Maybe it still is the way amtrak takes care of things.. The steaks were cold on the way out because I think they have them made way in advance as we received them within 90 seconds of ordering our meal..

I had dinner on the City again a few weeks ago, and I am still impressed with the quality of the new premade food. It still seems nearly and in some cases better than the full service diners.
 
As far as I know... and like the other posters said... that day was probably just a fluke.

I personally know 2 of the head managers of the EB line (in fact, I'm having dinner with them on Friday 10/19) and I do Trails & Rails on that line --- and the china is there to stay. In fact, it looks like they will be putting it back on the Coast Starlight in the coming months!! :)

RT
 
The CS and EB share some of the same upper-management at Amtrak... and from what I hear... they want to turn the CS into a more first-class train like the EB is now. Especially since they decided to keep the parlour cars! :)

RT
 
gswager said:
Is Auto Train still serve the same thing as on Empire Builder?-gs
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Well yes and no. The AT still has glass dishes, full service, full staff, cloth tablecloths, and such. However the AT uses a very different menu, both coach pax and sleeper pax get dinner included at no charge, wine is served to all adults for free during dinner, and breakfast is continental only (nothing is cooked).
 
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We rode the EB in late August. Plastic was used the entire trip. The food was less-than-memorable, maybe even bad. I think my expectations might have been too high; however, we were not the only ones who were less than satisfied. We heard a number of people complaining about the food. I thought service was absolutely great! Have any of you ever had "Jeannette, the dining car attendant". She was a riot! I still can hear that voice over the address system.
 
Larry H. said:
I had dinner on the City again a few weeks ago, and I am still impressed with the quality of the new premade food. It still seems nearly and in some cases better than the full service diners.
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I ordered the lamb shank last week on the way to the Chicago Forum on the City and thought it had been cooked in a fancy New Orleans restaurant. The vegetables were even excellent. Only damper, no pun intended, was the sleeper ran out of water and the car attendant would not tell anyone that they had a shower in the transition car. I watched everyone de-train in Chicago and he was not well tipped after the dining car LSA told every one in the sleeper about the availability of a shower in the other sleeper.
 
wintersummer said:
We rode the EB in late August. Plastic was used the entire trip. The food was less-than-memorable, maybe even bad. I think my expectations might have been too high; however, we were not the only ones who were less than satisfied. We heard a number of people complaining about the food. I thought service was absolutely great! Have any of you ever had "Jeannette, the dining car attendant". She was a riot! I still can hear that voice over the address system.
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we go spk-chi the first of november and hope for silver and china. i could always find something about the food i might wish different but the experience of eating in a dining car much more than makes up for it. we too like the raspy "this is jeanette in the diner" coming over the pa. she was a riot during the wine and cheese tasting. a real what you see is what you get, which is my favorite kind of person. we heard one diner complaining into his cellphone about here. he said she was "surly". if anyone ever deserved surly service it was he.
 
we too like the raspy "this is jeanette in the diner" coming over the pa. she was a riot during the wine and cheese tasting. a real what you see is what you get, which is my favorite kind of person. we heard one diner complaining into his cellphone about here. he said she was "surly". if anyone ever deserved surly service it was he.
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Yarrow - I found Jeanette to be "surly" during our first encounter. However, I quickly came to see that her approach was absolutely needed in order to maintain a certain degree of order. It's a thrill for me to mention her and have someone know exactly who I'm talking about!
 
I rode the EB twice in the past week and they used the plastice plates both ways. The food was great though.
 
I just returned from a Spokane-Seattle-Chicago EB trip (yes, I went from Spokane to Seattle and back to Chicago) and had china and silver the whole way, both segments. Jeanette and her dining car crew were just great the entire time. Jeannette is indeed very funny, as were servers Reggie and Joyce. I enjoyed the trip the whole way. Al, the sleeping car attendant wasn't much, though he was a very nice man. I am ready to go again!
 
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