Spirit of Washington Dinner

User Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

Rickety Split: I've heard a lot about this Dinner Train so my wife and I decided to go for our anniversary this year. I know everyone has their own personal interests, tastes, and opinions. I am just sharing my experience.

Let me start with the good. The train station was clean and well cared for. The employees were helpful and polite. Our food server, Celia, was very good. She had one train car all to herself and she did a very good job of taking care of everyone. She was happy, friendly and efficient. The food was actually quite good I thought. You only have about 2 or 3 choices which is understandable given the nature of the moving restaurant. The prime rib was not great, but it was good.

Now for what we didn't like. Do you picture a nice, comfortable, relaxing train ride while you enjoy your meal? Sorry, that ain't gonna happen. The train ride is much rougher than we ever imagined. It was like being on Disney's Matterhorn ride, only slower. Like trying to eat in the back of a pickup while four-wheeling. Amazingly, the food remained on the plate and the drinks didn't even spill out of the glasses! But getting the food and water to your mouth was more than a little tricky. I stabbed myself in the cheek with my fork a couple of times when I missed my mouth. Two days later, my wife and I are still suffering with sore muscles from trying to hold ourselves steady. I could not recommend this dinner train to anyway who is unsteady, elderly, or has any sort of chiropractic problems.

There isn't much of a view from the windows. I didn't expect much so I wasn't disappointed. Most of what you see is backyards, tops of houses, and the backs of warehouses. Occasionally you pass something nice to look at but the scene passes so quickly you don't get a chance to appreciate it.

When you get to the Columbia Winery the "tour" consists of standing in one big room of wine barrels with a person standing on a ladder holding a little microphone who tells you a very brief history of the winery. Then the tour is over and everyone moves to the tasting room where they have about 2 or 3 bartenders to help about 150 people. They do a pretty good job of getting samples out to the people but there is no time to learn anything about the wine.

Then you're back on the train for the trip back. I don't know if the train driver or conductor or whatever they're called was late for a date or it was down hill or what, but the ride back seemed to pick up speed. And we shaked, rattled, and rolled like Bill Haley and the Comets never believed possible.

A lot of people on the train were complaining and saying the herky jerky ride wasn't what they expected. I can't quote them because one of the directions for writing a review is you can't use profanity.

Since antique train cars aren't very wide, you are sitting quite close to the other - what would you call them - passengers? diners? If you end up sitting near a person or people who are loud and obnoxious, you are pretty much stuck listening to them for the entire trip. It's not like you can escape. You're trapped until the train arrives back at the Renton station.

I know the dinner train is a tradition and unique to the area, and that makes it special. But, I'm sorry, I just cannot recommend it. The whole time I was on the train, I wished my wife and I had gone to a nice restaurant that didn't move. To sit and eat where you can have a quiet, intimate conversation, not have ice rattling around in the glass like a maraca, and where you can walk to the bathroom without gripping stranger's shoulders to steady yourself, is much better than enduring this little excursion.

My opinion is, for the money you spend on this train trip, you could have a much better time somewhere else.

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