Cafe menus now posted

Cafe menus for all routes are now on the Amtrak site. They can be found under each route page in the Routes section.

There are several versions of the menu:

-Northeast Menu, used for Amfleet I cafes in eastern service including Northeast Regional, Adirondack, Maple Leaf, Pennsylvanian, Vermonter, Ethan Allen, Carolinian, Palmetto.
-National Cafe Menu, on Amfleet II and Superliner long distance service
-Chicago Hub menu (Midwest service)

Acela Express, Hiawatha, Heartland Flyer, Downeaster, Cascade and the California Routes have their own menus.

There are some differences between the menus, but prices are similar.

Thanks for the info! I talked to some Amtrak people about putting up the dining menus a while ago, and they actually put all of them up! Now they have these.

New January 2011 Northeast and National (Long Distance) cafe menus are now online. Minor price increases to some items (around 25 cents).

The cafe menu items are standard on most trains (except for the routes with their own menus mentioned above). The following brands and products are served on all trains: Pepsi beverages, Green Mountain Coffee, Lipton Tea, Crystal Geyser water, Hebrew National beef hot dogs, DiGiorno Pizza, Lay's snacks.

On the Northeast Menu, Samuel Adams is offered as a regional beer selection. White Castle cheeseburgers are exclusive on the Chicago/Midwest menu.

Thanks for the heads up, it is nice to get an idea of what to expect to pay for an upcoming trip and/or what to pack up on. Oklahoma must support a good subsidy, a deck of playing cards on the Heartland Flyer are half price.

just rode the northeast regional yesterday and have to say the new teryaki chicken rice bowl dinner is pretty good, however the breakfast items still need a bit of work.

andre wrote:just rode the northeast regional yesterday and have to say the new teryaki chicken rice bowl dinner is pretty good, however the breakfast items still need a bit of work.

I always found the bagel with cream cheese to be a feasible (economical) breakfast... with that said, they need larger coffee cups and/or different sizes!

It's hard to go wrong with a good bowl of Frosted Flakes...Glad they have brought back cereal on the NE menus...

The Downeaster used to have a slightly different cafe menu (i.e. offering Coke instead of Pepsi products). I think the Downeaster was some how able to get out of the national cafe food offering due to either its funding structure or being created on an entirely new route where predecessor railroads weren't necessarily part of Amtrak on A-Day. I have heard lots of reasons, but not sure what really to believe.

$ 1.75 for a coffee seems very reasonable , how does that compare to elsewhere ?

The Downeaster used to have a slightly different cafe menu (i.e. offering Coke instead of Pepsi products). I think the Downeaster was some how able to get out of the national cafe food offering due to either its funding structure or being created on an entirely new route where predecessor railroads weren't necessarily part of Amtrak on A-Day. I have heard lots of reasons, but not sure what really to believe.

Cafe service on the Downeaster has always been provided by a private contractor who in my opinion does an excellent job (and whose prices are lower than what Amtrak charges for comparable fare). This was possible because it was a startup service rather than a situation where Amtrak union jobs were being replaced by a contractor... starting from scratch, NNEPRA (the funding authority) was able to negotiate a different deal.

TomNelligan wrote:

The Downeaster used to have a slightly different cafe menu (i.e. offering Coke instead of Pepsi products). I think the Downeaster was some how able to get out of the national cafe food offering due to either its funding structure or being created on an entirely new route where predecessor railroads weren't necessarily part of Amtrak on A-Day. I have heard lots of reasons, but not sure what really to believe.

Cafe service on the Downeaster has always been provided by a private contractor who in my opinion does an excellent job (and whose prices are lower than what Amtrak charges for comparable fare). This was possible because it was a startup service rather than a situation where Amtrak union jobs were being replaced by a contractor... starting from scratch, NNEPRA (the funding authority) was able to negotiate a different deal.

Are the cafe attendants amtrak employees? Do they wear amtrak uniforms?

Are the cafe attendants amtrak employees? Do they wear amtrak uniforms?

No and no. They work for the contractor, a company called Epicurean Feast.

BTW, beer is only $3.50.,

Menu looks a lot more appeasing than it did a few years ago when I last rode Amtrak.

Murjax wrote:Menu looks a lot more appeasing than it did a few years ago when I last rode Amtrak.

For reference, here's the 2005-06 menu.

R36 Combine Coach wrote:

Murjax wrote:Menu looks a lot more appeasing than it did a few years ago when I last rode Amtrak.

For reference, here's the 2005-06 menu.

Complete with magic-marker deletions! I love professionalism. Would it be too much to ask to have a few little square matching-font "SOLD OUT" stickers printed to cover up the price of the no-longer-available items?