Dining Car Reservations

We are taking the EB, scheduled to leave Seattle at 4:45 p.m. What's the procedure for taking dining car reservations and when is the first seating for dinner? Also, can you request specific tables in dining car? If we get one of early reservations, I'd like to sit on side on train with Puget Sound view. (of course, a frequent train traveler has a better suggestion!). Is the dining car generally absolutely full? What are the hours of meal service?

wintersummer said:

We are taking the EB, scheduled to leave Seattle at 4:45 p.m. What's the procedure for taking dining car reservations and when is the first seating for dinner? Also, can you request specific tables in dining car? If we get one of early reservations, I'd like to sit on side on train with Puget Sound view. (of course, a frequent train traveler has a better suggestion!). Is the dining car generally absolutely full? What are the hours of meal service?

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Someone who has ridden the Seattle section of the EB will probably be a bit more help to you, as I am always on the Portland section of that train, and going Eastbound we do not get the dining car until the trains "merge" in Spokane. And you will not have the sightseer/lounge car until the Spokane "Merge" as that car is on the Portland section of the train.

As far as how dinner works on the Builder, if you are a sleeping car passenger, you will get first dibs on the reservations. I would imagine the first seating for dinner on that section would be between 6 and 7 o'clock. Usually at dinner, dining car is completely full and you would have to sit wherever there was room. However, since the dining car will only be serving two coach cars and the sleeper car on that first night, your chances of getting a choice in seating would probably be pretty good. Especially if you took a later dinner reservation.

The second night, that same dining car will be serving the two Portland Coaches and the Portland sleeper as well, and it will be much busier. If you are traveling alone, or have less than 4 people in your party, then you will have the chance to meet new people, as the Dining Car utilizes community seating.

Best you don't have a tour group on board with a coniving leader, Who takes all the early reservations. Demand your rights. Jim

I don't think dinner was served until we had gone past Puget Sound. But it's been two years since I was on the EB, so I could be wrong.

We took the EB last September. Seems to me we had already passed Puget when it was time for dinner. We had the early seating which I believe was around 5:30. The dining car is usually full. Regardless, the windows are big and you can see no matter where you sit.

I recently took the EB and it would be highly unlikely for you to get a designated table. It just doesn't work like that and often times such requests irritate the crew. You will still be able to see plenty even if you are sitting on the other side of the dining car. Dinner dining during my trip was as early as 6:00 p.m. and as late as 8:00 p.m. There was a nice variety of times available. Since you will be getting on in the early evening in Seattle, have a late lunch there and then watch the scenery in the lounge car and make a bit later reservation. The food in Seattle does not even compare to Amtrak's.

Guest - thanks! Do you remember about where you were at 6 p.m.? I really wanted to eat as early as possible, get to bed as early as possible, and get up very early the next morning to see as much of Glacier as possible.

wintersummer said:

Guest - thanks! Do you remember about where you were at 6 p.m.? I really wanted to eat as early as possible, get to bed as early as possible, and get up very early the next morning to see as much of Glacier as possible.

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By 6 PM you should be past Everett and will have already turned east and left the coast and the Sound.

Guest said:

Since you will be getting on in the early evening in Seattle, have a late lunch there and then watch the scenery in the lounge car and make a bit later reservation. The food in Seattle does not even compare to Amtrak's.

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Unfortunately (unless something has changed) the lounge/sightseer car will not be available until the Portland section is merged with the Seattle section in Spokane. The Portland section of the Empire Builder has the lounge/sightseer car, while the Seattle section has the dining car. On the Westbound trip, the train will be split once again in Spokane and the Seattle section/dining car will go back to Seattle and the Portland section/lounge/sightseer car will go back to Portland.

EmpireBuilderFan - Thanks for the reminder that there won't be a lounge car on the first segment of the trip! All the more reason to attempt to get the earliest possible dinner reservation.

It was only last month so I hope my memory isn't that bad, but I do remember having the lounge/dome car prior to Spokane. As Alan B said, scheduled arrival in Everett is 5:44 p.m. and it is at that point that the train heads eastbound. Trust me, the view from the dining car is very good, better than if you were in your room or in coach. You will not be disappointed. In the end, it is those little glimpses of scenery that you alone catch that make you smile and wonder about the beauty of this country. You can't see it all at one time, and that is the reason you want to do it more than once. So relax and enjoy your journey.