I didn't have a good experience the last time I took Amtrak and had dining on board. It was the only time in my life I felt I was discriminated against in a dining setting. It was near the end of dinner time and food was likely running low so i didn't expect much. However after seating us, she took on two other groups and continued to fully serve them drinks and meal before coming back to our table for drinks. And by this time, nearly every item we wanted of interest was out of stock. With this kind of service, I rather they just serve premade airline quality food.
Were you dining à la carte or without a reservation? Maybe the later arriving parties had already had their food set aside in the kitchen because they were traveling on a ticket with meals included and/or had a reservation. I travelled only once with bedroom accommodations and recall we were assigned reservation times when to show for our pre-paid meals.
Yes without a reservation. However, the first half of dinner hour was for reservations then they took people in without reservations. By the time we were called, anyone with reservations would have long been accommodated. I understand that food might run out but they could have atleast asked us about drinks.
