Amtrak Upgrades Capitol, Lake Shore Food Service

Amtrak has upgraded the meal offerings to sleeping car passengers traveling on the Capitol Limited and Lake Shore Limited.

Effective this week, those passengers will now have a choice of three hot lunch/dinner options plus a hot breakfast offering.

Dinner and lunch now includes chicken penne alfredo, beef provencal, Asian noodle bowl, antipasto plate and a children’s meal.

Breakfast offerings are deluxe continental breakfast items that include muffins, yogurt, fresh fruit, hard boiled eggs, cereal, oatmeal and now a hot breakfast sandwich.

The menu also shows that improved Kosher meals have been included on the menu.

However, the basic concept of the “fresh and contemporary” dining service that Amtrak launched on both eastern long-distance trains on June 1, 2018, remains in place.

That service, which relies on prepared box meals served in a passenger’s sleeping car room or in a dining car devoted to sleeping car passengers, has draw criticism for its limited menu, particularly at breakfast.

The Rail Passengers Association described this week’s changes as a first step toward restoration of “more traditional dining options.”

RPA said Amtrak has outfitted its dining cars with new type of oven that can cook up to 24 meals simultaneously.

That replaces the former practice of heating one meal at a time in a microwave.

The new high-speed convection oven will reportedly cook food more evenly.

Tags: Amtrak, Amtrak dining car menus, Amtrak dining cars, Amtrak on-board service, Amtrak's Capitol Limited, Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited, Capitol Limited, dining aboard Amtrak, dining cars