Dining Car: are you an early or late seating person?

[Garethe7]

I always go with early, that way I don't have to worry about them running out of anything. I do the same thing on cruise ships. But when I'm at home I'm a "whenever" guy.

Do you have a preference and why?

 

[SarahZ]

Breakfast: as late as possible. I don't mind if I miss it. I'd rather sleep.

Lunch: 12:00 or 12:30, since we usually skip breakfast or just have fruit.

Dinner: 6:00 or 7:00, depending on how stuffed we are from lunch. We both work until 7:00, so we're used to eating between 7:00 and 8:00. 6:00 is right on the money when you figure in the time change going west.

 

[Railroad Bill]

Like the earliest seating for the reasons you mentioned as well as my need to keep a schedule of food consumption for health reasons.

Find that dining car personnel are fresher, still in a good mood and as mentioned, the choices are many.

 

[SarahZ]

I will add that we usually go for a later lunch on the EB SWC when heading into the Chicago area. They're always trying to get rid of everything, so that means I get to order mac & cheese off the kids' menu.

 

[pennyk]

Like the earliest seating for the reasons you mentioned as well as my need to keep a schedule of food consumption for health reasons.

Find that dining car personnel are fresher, still in a good mood and as mentioned, the choices are many.

Ditto.

 

[MiRider]

I love breakfast as soon as possible because I get get up with the sun.

Preferably before they make the announcement if they'll let us in.

Dinner late because it's not as crowded/hectic and I don't really care if they run out of something - hasn't happened to me yet though.

It's all pretty good, imo, and I'm sure I'd be able to find something.

 

[VT Hokie]

I tend to be earlier for breakfast, later for lunch and dinner. At least that's what I found on my recent cross country excursion (Capitol Ltd, Southwest Chief, Coast Starlight, Empire Builder, and Capitol again). Things I noted: try to avoid making reservations for when the train is in scenic areas, as you can't easily get up and move around when seated, and might miss some great photos. Also, if I get breakfast, I tend not to be hungry for lunch until later, which in turn means I tend not to want dinner until later. If I skip breakfast, all bets are off.

 

[Garethe7]

These are all great ideas with stuff I never would have thought about. I don't sleep too well on trains, so I don't miss too many meals, despite being in the sleeping car, I'm too excited and there's too many distractions, but in a good way. I'm curious about my fellow passengers, or I'm reading, or looking out the window....besides I can sleep at home, how often do I get to ride a train? I mainly get the roomette for the privacy and the extra space and the meals.

 

[Garethe7]

I will add that we usually go for a later lunch on the EB SWC when heading into the Chicago area. They're always trying to get rid of everything, so that means I get to order mac & cheese off the kids' menu.

They let me do that too on the last lunch, I wanted the grilled cheese, lol.

 

[Big Iron]

I'm an earlier riser and a coffee hound so I'm generally the first in the diner in the morning. I primarily ride the Capitol Limited so lunch is generally not an option. I opt for the late dinner seating as I like some pre-dinner cocktails in the Sightseer lounge.

 

[Nathanael]

I always go with early, that way I don't have to worry about them running out of anything. I do the same thing on cruise ships. But when I'm at home I'm a "whenever" guy.

Do you have a preference and why?

First seating generally, because we eat early at home and I need to maintain a steady meal schedule for medical reasons. I get slightly annoyed if the first six seatings are already filled by the time they get to me, which has actually happened to me *in a sleeper*.

 

[chrsjrcj]

Early, early, early. I get hungry quickly.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

I'm usually very early for Breakfast, sometimes leaving scratch marks on the door waiting for the Diner to open. And when I'm not traveling I never eat Breakfast! For Lunch and Supper I usually try to get a "medium" time and if that is not available, I go for a later time.

 

[amtkstn]

I have done all the times. Most of the time I do one of the early settings. The only thing great thing about the last setting is you can stay later in the dinner.

 

[tim49424]

I've only been in the dining car once. It was for dinner and the reservation was 7:30. The only reason was the times offered us (me and my mom) seemed on the early side or extremely late.

 

[Anderson]

I'm generally early, if just because the late seatings tend to get caught in delay cascades when they happen. The obvious exception is the Meteor out of WAS, where I'm always in the 1930/2000 seating.

 

[shelzp]

My preference is to eat in my roomette and I don't mind when they bring me the meal although it usually seems to be about in the middle of dining car reservation times. Sometimes I eat a late breakfast and an early dinner and forget about breakfast.

 

[NorthCoastHiawatha]

I usually go to breakfast not to long after it opens, usually around 7:00. I'll take lunch at noon if I can get it. I will take dinner as close to 6 as I can. I usually avoid the later seatings, especially on the last night out, as to reduce the likely hood of them running out of stuff.

 

[rickycourtney]

I guess I'm in the minority here... I usually prefer the last two dinner times.

I like to not feel rushed out of the diner... Especially if you meet some new friends.

My best example of this: traveling solo on the CZ about a year ago I ate with a really nice couple from London at the second to last seating. I enjoyed a glass of wine as I sat down to dinner... as we wrapped the meal, the couple was nice enough to buy two half bottles for the table. We ended up staying at the table, drinking wine and chatting for quite a while after dessert was finished.

Eventually, the LSA stopped by to settle our bill, but she had no problem letting us stay there as long as we liked.

That's why I enjoy the last seatings (and it's why I'm such a huge fan of communal seating.)

 

[NW cannonball]

Me, don't worry the time so much, just plan for the scenery on the specific route, Communal seating - like it - even when seatmates don't seem to - do best to make them comfortable with me the stranger --

As long as I get fed, I'm happy.

And if get best dining car scenery views -- double plus good.

 

[Notelvis]

Depends on the circumstance but I generally try to do breakfast as soon as they open before the place is crowded and the servers start to wear down. Making first call for breakfast is not difficult for me as I typically am up at 5:30am eastern on weekdays. Besides, my 'norm' for riding an LD (make that 'Amtrak America') train is flying to either Chicago, Denver, or Albuquerque. My body is still on eastern time when that first Amtrak breakfast comes!

Lunch........ normally try to go about noon or shortly after.

Dinner - depends. I've learned to gravitate towards the 5pm, 5:30pm seatings to insure servers better on their game and better menu selection. If I've flown in and boarded the train that day I may push dinner back until 6:00pm or 6:30pm. I used to go even later than that on the first night but got burned once with an 8:00pm seating on the Capitol Limited when they were down to only 3 dinner selections remaining by that time. I had a good meal but I didn't like having to drop down to choice 'C'.

 

[FriskyFL]

Early and often.

 

[Garethe7]

I'm usually very early for Breakfast, sometimes leaving scratch marks on the door waiting for the Diner to open. And when I'm not traveling I never eat Breakfast! For Lunch and Supper I usually try to get a "medium" time and if that is not available, I go for a later time.

I always look to make sure there are already people in there, learned my lesson after one particularly snippy dining car attendant on the EB back in the late 90s; seen a huge improvement nowadays though. In fact this guy and a couple others were so rude that it left a bad taste in my mouth re: Amtrak for years, I think I went through a 4 year dry spell. Must have been a bad time period because all through the 80s and from about 2008 on I've had great service.

 

[Garethe7]

My preference is to eat in my roomette and I don't mind when they bring me the meal although it usually seems to be about in the middle of dining car reservation times. Sometimes I eat a late breakfast and an early dinner and forget about breakfast.

I think I might try this sometime, especially for breakfast, do you just ask your car attendant at some point?

I guess I'm in the minority here... I usually prefer the last two dinner times.

I like to not feel rushed out of the diner... Especially if you meet some new friends.

My best example of this: traveling solo on the CZ about a year ago I ate with a really nice couple from London at the second to last seating. I enjoyed a glass of wine as I sat down to dinner... as we wrapped the meal, the couple was nice enough to buy two half bottles for the table. We ended up staying at the table, drinking wine and chatting for quite a while after dessert was finished.

Eventually, the LSA stopped by to settle our bill, but she had no problem letting us stay there as long as we liked.

That's why I enjoy the last seatings (and it's why I'm such a huge fan of communal seating.)

I love the communal seating, usually I meet great people, but every once in a while I have a bad experience. I met one couple that wouldn't talk, barely said hello and frowned much of the time (they did speak English because they gave their order in English) but it was a very uncomfortable dinner and I ate quickly and left, skipped dessert even. I saw them later getting off the train in Chicago and the woman still had the same scowl on her face.

 

[The Journalist]

Breakfast is whenever I get up, which varies wildly, and sometimes means skipping it and taking an early lunch. Lunch is based on when breakfast was. But dinner, I like the latest setting possible. On my last trip I stayed in the diner a good hour and a half, having gotten an especially talkative seatmate. I can see how running out of things might be a problem, though.