Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a great Presidents’ Day Weekend. I just got back from my Amtrak trip from Denver to Emeryville (near Oakland/San Francisco) and will share my experience. First up, I will cover the meals offered on the California Zephyr. If you are traveling in a Superliner Roomette, Superliner Bedroom, or Family Bedroom, all of your meals are included with your ticket. There were 2 dining cars on the California Zephyr with 8-10 tables per car. Each table can fit 4 people.
Here is the menu for the California Zephyr. When I compared the menu from my Coast Starlight trip (Seattle to Los Angeles), the menu items were almost the same. The prices listed only apply to coach passengers who are paying for the meals. If you have a premium Amtrak ticket, all your meals are included (excluding alcohol and tips). Here are the items you can order for each meal:
I was traveling with 2 friends and we each seemed to order different items for each meal. I will rank all the meals on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being very good and 1 being very bad. For breakfast, the buttermilk pancakes were great (4/5) while the bacon was disappointing (2/5). Maple syrup is plentiful, but not pictured (5/5).
Below is the continental breakfast. There are many variations for this item, so you can pick and choose which items you want. The Frosted Flakes and fruit were great (5/5) and the yogurt and croissant were good (4/5). For some reason, they always have the yogurt upside down which makes the yogurt kind of messed up when you open the container.
Fresh fruit was tasty (5/5) but the omelet, potatoes and biscuit were decent (3/5).
For lunch and dinner, you can ask for a complimentary salad with your meal. The salads didn’t look very good, but were tasty (4/5). There were also giant baskets of condiments and salad dressing on the table. There were only 3 salad dressings to choose from, but the balsamic vinaigrette was very good (5/5).
The steak burger was respectable (4/5) but the veggie burger was bland (3/5). The toppings and potato chips were tasty (4/5).
The smoky BBQ pork shanks seemed a little undercooked (2/5) and the kids macaroni and cheese was fine (3/5).
For lunch and dinner, you have your choice of 8-10 different non-alcoholic beverages. You get 1 can and 1 cup of ice per person per meal. The bread rolls were only available for dinner (4/5).
The Amtrak signature steak was very tender (4/5) and the tofu pad thai was good and a little spicy (3/5).
There were a few specials available for lunch and dinner. One was chicken and the other was pork or steak. Both items were ok (3/5).
For lunch and dinner, you can select 1 dessert item. In the first photo, the chocolate tart was very rich (5/5) and the strawberry cheesecake was delicious (5/5). The presentation is not great for the desserts, but the flavor is perfect. In the middle photo, we had 2 small vanilla Häagen-Dazs ice cream cups (4/5). In the last photo, the sugar free vanilla pudding was tasty, but I’m not much of a pudding guy (3/5).
After every meal, we tipped $5 per table to the waiter. Even though the food is not amazing quality, it is much better than the snack bar food located on the train. All in all, we had 5 meals (2x breakfast, 2x lunch, and dinner) so we paid $25 in tips.
If you have any questions about the food onboard the California Zephyr, please leave a comment below. Have a great day everyone!
Excellent job covering the food selections! This actually helps me a lot knowing exactly what to expect for meals. Thanks!
I hope you enjoy the meals and the desserts.
I’m traveling this train in the other direction next week and was wondering about the dining options, so thanks for that! I’m traveling on a bit of a budget. Can I take food along with me?
You can take food and drinks on board, but you can only eat/drink in the parlor/observation car. Are you in coach or a bedroom/roomette?
From my own experience, I’m in general agreement with your assessment of Amtrak’s dining car food. It rarely rises to “restaurant quality,” but it’s usually more than edible.
The issue of tipping on Amtrak is an uncertain and contentious one. No one really seems to know what to do. I have read that Amtrak’s servers receive good union salaries, so there’s no reason to tip them as generously as you do restaurant waiters. That would actually be a windfall to the Amtrak employees, who would essentially be earning double salaries. FWIW, I’ve tipped about the same as you, perhaps a little more at dinner and a little less at breakfast.
I feel like $5 per meal for 3-4 people is more than fair. If I was dining along, I would tip $2. I feel so cheap if I only tip $1.
Yeah, throwing down a single seems pretty cheap. But I’ve tipped 4 bucks for breakfast for 4 people. I do think your “fiver for the group” strategy, regardless of the meal. does make sense.
From what I’ve read, Amtrak servers earn about $20/hour plus benefits. I know that some people feel uncomfortable “tipping low,” but it’s really not reasonable to tip “restaurant-style” to Amtrak employees who are already receiving living wages.
True, it depends on the person/group. We alternated tipping $5 between the 3 of us, so it’s not that big a deal.
Thanks for this. My wife and I are traveling from Chicago to San Fran October 3-5 to celebrate her 50th and our 20th wedding anniversary. We’re planning on dressing up for dinner. Is that sensible or is it really paper table cloths and people in t-shirts? I guess we kind of have a nostalgic, romantic view of train travel.
Yes, it is really casual in the dining area. You’ll be the only ones who are dressed up. More power to you though :)
Just wanted to drop a note, thanks for posting this incredibly useful information! We’re taking the Zephyr from Chicago to Sacramento in about a month.
You are very welcome, I hope you have an amazing experience. Is this your first long distance Amtrak route?
Is there a wine tasting experience from Sacramento to Chicago similar to the Sacramento to Los Angela’s trip?
That is a great question, unfortunately I have not taken that train route before so I’m not sure if wine tasting is offered. You can contact Amtrak directly and they should be able to tell you.
We will be travelling from San Francisco to Chicago next September standard room, can you tell me how much do they charge for an upgrade ? The information you have given is very useful for a 1st timer.
Thank you, Bob Williams
Hi Bob, I don’t know anything about upgrading, but I would suggest calling Amtrak and asking them directly. Have fun on your trip.
now im kinda curious. since sleepers get food included for free. is it you get one dish per breakfast/lunch/dinner, or if you loved your hamburger so much can you order a 2nd right then and there? lol kinda curious if by food included for sleepers if it means buffet haha
I don’t know what the technical rules are for meals, but I think roomettes and sleeper cars are for 2 people, so 2 meals are included per meal time. If you order a hamburger and your travel companion orders a hamburger, you could eat their hamburger. You can also order additional items off the menu, but you would have to pay those costs. The prices are not bad and the food is surprisingly good.
Hello there!
We are going to take this train in July and bring 2 kids, 5 and 2,5 years old. Thinking of the family bedroom, do you think it should be ok with them? I wonder if we need to buy additional meals for them…
Thanks!
You should be fine with a family bedroom. You have at least 2 meals per meal time and you can purchase food on board for kids. Have a great trip!
What are the meal times? We board at 9:01 am. Will we be served breakfast or should we eat first? Also we arrive at our destination at 5:10 pm. Will we be served dinner?
I believe you will be served breakfast but not dinner. Double check with Amtrak.