The Wine Fairy

The Amtrak Mimosa Hack. Hey, that rhymes!

So, have you ever been cruising down a wide open plain while someone else is driving, looking at cows, looking at clouds, looking at garbage fires in people’s yards, four hours to go until your destination and thought, “Well, this is fine…but it would be better with a nice fresh mimosa?” Sure you have! We all have. What I’m here to tell you today is that on Amtrak, you can! And it won’t even set you back $16 like it does in a big city.

I was recently on the Heartland Flyer route between Oklahoma City and Fort Worth. Now, the Heartland Flyer is the little cousin of the Amtrak train family. A short little train. The normal consist for the Heartland Flyer is four cars–two locomotives (so the train doesn’t have to turn around in OKC) and two Superliner coaches, which are the double-deck passenger cars. In the lower level of one of the cars is the cafe. This is where you need to go if you want to have a good time on the train.

On my trip, I was celebrating a special occasion, so I ordered a split of the La Marca Prosecco and two glasses (Do not knock La Marca, especially when it is the only thing available! If you order it and then criticize it, I will drink your glass as well as mine. Fair warning.)

The cafe car attendant said, “Miss, would you like me to make you a pair of mimosas? I make a really good mimosa!” Then he proceeded to open a small fridge of juices, which I presume is for breakfast and offered a choice of cranberry or orange juice. (Cranberry!) Then he set me up with the bottle, two neat sippy-cups with lids, limes, stirrers, cocktail napkins, and a cute little cardboard tray to carry it all back to my seat. When I went to swipe my card for the mini bottle of Prosecco it was $11.50! $11.50!!

Now, I know everybody says that nothing is free, but in the Amtrak cafe car, these things are free if you buy bubbly: Napkins, sippy cups, limes, stirrers, cranberry or orange juice, ice, souvenir Amtrak tray, friendly and attentive beverage service. (Same bartender told me I looked like Geena Davis….AWWWWW!) Usually a brunch bar will charge you extra for the privilege of diluting your wine with some subpar fruit juice. Once you mix in the juice and optional ice (heathen), a split (187 ml) of Prosecco will make two or even three mimosas. You can tip, of course–and you should–but I was thrilled! I had all the stuff to make mimosas for me and my honey while we rattled down the rails.

So here is how you get the secret mimosa service on Amtrak Heartland Flyer:

1. Wait until they announce the cafe car is open. (The crew is small and has to complete their safety and paperwork stuff before they can start with snacktime.) The announcement will be audible throughout the passenger cars and will usually be about half an hour after departure.
2. Go downstairs to the first level and wait behind all the jittery kids until they get their M&Ms.
3. Be extra, super nice to the attendant and ask them if they have mimosa fixin’s.
4. Go back to your seat and enjoy the scenery! (Some Amtrak routes have a lounge or observation car where you can sit to eat/drink, but there’s no lounge seating on the Heartland Flyer.)

If you’re not the trusting type, you could also bring your own mixers and cups aboard. Amtrak allows outside food and beverages to be consumed onboard–but no outside alcohol. And if you do bring your own bubbly aboard (I see you, LaMarca haters), just don’t be obvious about it–I don’t want to hear about your flying corks and autolytic aromas leading to a crackdown on all us law-abiding train boozers. See you on the rails!

Review disclosure: I was not compensated or provided any free products for this review. Opinions expressed on The Wine Fairy blog are entirely my own.