Dreading California Zephyr dining car

[zepherdude]

I have been in many Amtrak dining cars, both as a sleeper pax and coach pax. I have never had a bad meal or a sour employee. I consider the food and service adequate. Never would I consider it 5 star. I know from the start it is what it is. Its not a restaurant, it is a moving public vehicle and the food is not cooked from scratch on site. Vegges are sometimes lacking in flavor, but they are frozen. I get what I pay for. No more and no less. I know some have bad experiences on a train. If staff are abrasive, it has not happened to me. I don't like or expect waitstaff to suck up to me or swap cozy banter. Tips are always standard, 3 bucks for breakfast/lunch and 5 bucks for dinner. If an Amtrak waitperson goes above and beyond, they get 10 bucks. That has happened once. I am a food service guy and understand operations, pros and cons, understand people and if i had a really bad attendant, I would write a letter or advise customer service and would not blame the entire system or think my problem was standard. Amtrak does not want to provide bad service.

Have eaten in the Parlor car once and it was good for what it was. The attendant did OK and service was as I expected. Prompt and food was steamy.

I can't make it any better or worse than it is. Service and food is average overall. Maybe others have higher standards, just a average dude here. Do not expect anymore than I pay for.

 

[A.J.]

In my limited experience the kids menu is generally off limits for adults, sleeper or not, unless they staff specifically allows. Which usually means they've simply run out of everything else.

I have ordered off the children's menu in the past, usually at lunchtime if I don't want something too heavy. I always ask if I may order from that menu out of courtesy and I have never been turned down. This has not just been on the CZ but on other trains as well. I understand that many places, including Amtrak, don't want to encourage that due to revenue, but it does not seem to be a hard and fast rule. That said, I'm sure there have been instances of people trying and not being allowed. All part of the Amtrak charm!

 

[pebbleworm]

OK, I was on the eastbound Zephyr leaving Emeryville Monday April 29 and the diner was just fine- actually it was one of the smoothest running crew-wise trains I've been on. No need to dread the diner, even after last summer's problems.

 

[Chuckles]

Children's menus are off-limits in restaurants where they want adult customers to pay for adult meals. But if your meal is included in the fare, there is no logical reason for Amtrak to discourage you from opting for a microwave pizza instead of the full meal.

 

[cirdan]

.
It was explained at the time that Amtrak had forgotten to check the manifest and add a second cook.

I cannot judge what really happened, and second hand explanations may often be incorrect (even first hand expalnations by Amtrak staff are often somewhat lacking)

But remember you can't compare this to a normal restaurant. If a chef falls ill or oversleeps or is stuck in congestion on his way to work, good staff can manage and humor the guests until he does turn up and if you do it well, most won't even know you had a problem in the first place. If he can't come in at all, you can maybe call up the off-duty chef and have in come in specially. On a train you can't do that. You can't have a backup chef in every town where a train stops. If he wasn't on the train as it left Chicago you're probably going to have to manage without him all the way.

 

[NW cannonball]

I have been in many Amtrak dining cars, both as a sleeper pax and coach pax. I have never had a bad meal or a sour employee. I consider the food and service adequate. Never would I consider it 5 star. I know from the start it is what it is. Its not a restaurant, it is a moving public vehicle and the food is not cooked from scratch on site. Vegges are sometimes lacking in flavor, but they are frozen. I get what I pay for. No more and no less. I know some have bad experiences on a train. If staff are abrasive, it has not happened to me. I don't like or expect waitstaff to suck up to me or swap cozy banter. Tips are always standard, 3 bucks for breakfast/lunch and 5 bucks for dinner. If an Amtrak waitperson goes above and beyond, they get 10 bucks. That has happened once. I am a food service guy and understand operations, pros and cons, understand people and if i had a really bad attendant, I would write a letter or advise customer service and would not blame the entire system or think my problem was standard. Amtrak does not want to provide bad service.
Have eaten in the Parlor car once and it was good for what it was. The attendant did OK and service was as I expected. Prompt and food was steamy.

I can't make it any better or worse than it is. Service and food is average overall. Maybe others have higher standards, just a average dude here. Do not expect anymore than I pay for.

You sound like the voice of sweet reason to my ears. Thanks.

 

[pebbleworm]

Probably flogging a dead horse, but my trip back was again one of the more problem free long distance Amtrak trips I have taken. No diner problems, arrived 2 hours early into Richmond so I jumped off the train there and took BART home. A nice trip, overall and I have to apologize for obsessing over the trip last summer.

 

[SarahZ]

Children's menus are off-limits in restaurants where they want adult customers to pay for adult meals. But if your meal is included in the fare, there is no logical reason for Amtrak to discourage you from opting for a microwave pizza instead of the full meal.

Unless they only stock a certain number of kids' meals. I imagine they don't want to run out of chicken nuggets or mac & cheese because all of the adults have ordered them.

Don't get me wrong - I wish I could order from the kids' menu too. I just figure that's the big reason why we can't.

 

[JayPea]

Children's menus are off-limits in restaurants where they want adult customers to pay for adult meals. But if your meal is included in the fare, there is no logical reason for Amtrak to discourage you from opting for a microwave pizza instead of the full meal.

Unless they only stock a certain number of kids' meals. I imagine they don't want to run out of chicken nuggets or mac & cheese because all of the adults have ordered them.

Don't get me wrong - I wish I could order from the kids' menu too. I just figure that's the big reason why we can't.

I have been on trains where the announcement has been made that adults were not allowed to order from children's menu for that reason--there was only a limited number of children's meals available.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

If it is final meal service for that run they will often let you order off the Children's Menu depending on how much is left in inventory. By then they just want to clear the decks. I do enjoy the Grilled Cheese Sandwich especially if I can get them to throw some Onion onto it

 

[SarahZ]

If it is final meal service for that run they will often let you order off the Children's Menu depending on how much is left in inventory. By then they just want to clear the decks. I do enjoy the Grilled Cheese Sandwich especially if I can get them to throw some Onion onto it

Yup. I was stoked that I got to order mac & cheese during lunch on the SWC last November. ^_^ We were coming into Chicago, and they were trying to get rid of everything.