Eating in the dining cars on the long-distance trains is a great experience, combining good food, good scenery and pleasant company. It's one of the really nice aspects of traveling by train.
For dinner, an attendant comes through the train in the afternoon to take reservations. Breakfast and lunch are usually first-come, first-served.
The tables each have four seats. If you're with a party of two, you'll be seated with two other people; if you're a single individual, you'll be seated with three others. It makes it very easy to start conversations with other passengers.
The meals are well-prepared and the dining car attendants are friendly and efficient. The people I ate with gave the meals positive reviews, and there weren't any complaints (unlike airline food).
The menu in the dining cars on the long-distance trains has a range of choices. For dinner: Steak, salmon, chicken, vegetarian rigatoni, or a land-and-sea combo (steak with a crab cake). For lunch: Angus burger, veggie burger, entree salad, mussels, or baked chilaquiles. For breakfast: Scrambled eggs, omelet, pancakes, cereal or oatmeal with yogurt, or a breakfast quesadilla.
On the long-distance trains, meals in the dining car are included with the fare for people with rooms in the sleeping cars. Passengers in coach class can also eat in the dining car, or can choose to eat in the cafe or lounge car (simpler menu than the dining car) or bring their own meals on board.
The short-distance trains don't have dining cars, so eating in the cafe car or bringing your own food are the only options. Even though it's not quite as pleasant and relaxing as being in a dining car, you still have the advantages of interesting scenery and good company.
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| Salmon for dinner on the Coast Starlight |
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| Dinner on the Coast Starlight |
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| Dining car between meals |
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