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Dining with Amtrak’s Diner-Lounge (Cross-Country Café)
Friday, January 18, 2008
Yesterday we showed you an objective downgrade in food service on the Lake Shore Limited. Today I arrived into New Orleans on City of New Orleans train 59, featuring the new Cross-Country Café (CCC), which Amtrak is touting as a model improvement in long-distance food service. Amtrak has converted eight Superliner dining cars into Diner-Lounges, the latter seven representing an improvement over the original prototype. These cars are now being evaluated as the sole food service car on the City, which used to have both full diner and sightseer lounge cars.
Amtrak claims that one car is sufficient for lower-volume trains; the City now has a consist of just two coaches and one sleeper, plus additional rooms sold in the crew dormitory car. I found that the load on my train probably represents the upper limit that the CCC can comfortably service, especially with only three employees in the entire car: The Lead Service Attendant (at the service counter), the Dining Room Attendant, and the Chef downstairs (who is empowered with an improved kitchen that far exceeds the pitiful facilities of the Amfleet II Diner-Lite).
Amtrak advertises early boarding in Chicago for dinner service before departure. However, boarding last night did not start until 7:30 PM (30 minutes ahead of departure), and the Diner-Lounge was not open for dinner service until ten minutes after departure.
When I finally did get to eat dinner in the CCC, it exceeded my expectations. While the Attendant had sole responsibility for the entire “dining room” half of the car, she was friendly and attentive. The Vegetable Lasagna was by far the best pasta dish I ever had on Amtrak. The large portion was clearly was prepared in a proper manner, with just the right amount of time in the oven, a generous topping of parmesan cheese and cilantro, and a bountiful bed of fresh mixed greens underneath. The latter aspect nearly made up for the fact that there were no complimentary salads or rolls included with dinner. The Riesling by the glass was a welcome feature, and the Red Velvet Cake was a wonderful dessert.
Breakfast was also excellent. The Scrambled Eggs were fluffy, the potatoes were richly seasoned, and the croissant was warm but not gummy. The casing of the chicken apple sausage was a bit hard, but the inside was still juicy.
Lunch was a major disappointment. I had the Memphis BBQ Pizza, which looked good at another table. But mine came out with the outer crust as hard as a rock, literally inedible (I felt like I was going to injure my teeth as I tried to bite into it). Yet, despite the apparent overzealous preparation, the pizza was not even hot. With a butter knife, I worked hard to cut around the crust to eat the rest. The ingredients were tasty, but the preparation was lousy.
I did greatly enjoy the Bread Pudding, which was served at a warmer temperature than the pizza and had a soft filling of spiced apple, bread, and raisins, and a brandy sauce topping.
Also, the Attendant is to be lauded for serving me Canada Dry club soda when virtually no Amtrak LSAs or attendants have been willing to serve me my favorite beverage without requiring me to purchase liquor as well.
Despite my relative approval of the food served in the CCC, it is clear that the Superliner Diner-Lounge does not provide sufficient capacity during peak meal periods, in that the dining room section consumes far more than half of the seating capacity. This leaves just four few booths near the service counter for coach and non-meal passengers to mingle and enjoy lounge facilities (see above photo). I observed such a “crunch” even on this off-peak, midweek train, it seems clear that a second lounge car is needed during heavy travel days. For lunch I was seated with two brothers who were traveling for one of their birthdays and were disappointed that the Sightseer Lounge experience is no more.
There also remain design flaws in both types of seating in the Diner-Lounges; the more traditional booths seem to have too much room between the seats and the tables. While this solves the problem for customers of size who don’t enjoy the tight squeeze in regular dining cars, I think that this design represents overcompensation. I literally had to strain my back or be rude and put my elbows on the table in order to reach my food. The half-moon tables can also be awkward for parties of more than two and detract from sightseeing. Indeed, I observed pax in those seats turning sideways to look out the windows.
Display case in front of the café counter.
I noticed other bugs that need to be corrected. While traveling at track speed north of Hazelhurst, MS, the train hit a rough spot that caused several beverages and at least one plate to fly off the tables in the Diner-Lounge and onto the floor, with many more saved by pax with quick reflexes. I noted that the table surfaces have no traction and that tablecloths are not used in the Diner-Lounges. Tablecloths might very well have prevented this incident.
I also observed a crew member knock over the vase of fake flowers in the middle centerpiece of the half-moon tables; the “flowers” protrude into the aisle from most of these tables. The employee said, “This happens all the time. They should remove these!”
Amtrak is probably making a good-faith effort to improve service along this route without harming the short-term bottom line, but there are major glitches that must be addressed before the concept of a combined food service car can be expanded to other routes. Click here for more photos of the interior of a Diner-Lounge.
--Matthew Melzer
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