Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad & James H. Andrew Railroad Museum — Attraction in Boone

This is a review for the dinner train ride-

(Side note: I am astonished at all the positive reviews, I feel as if I was on a COMPLETELY different train.)

1st our server was insanely loud, rude, and careless. She audibly SIGHED when I asked for coffee with my dessert. There was an elderly, handicap gentlemen who she repeatedly asked to scoot in when he was unable to move his leg under the table. She very loudly and abruptly broke into a very personal past story of her husband leaving her. There was also another man who had accidentally mistaken a bowl of sour cream for cheese and put it on his bread, she very loudly decided to point out the mistake. He was terribly embarrassed about the whole thing! When I'm spending $67 per person I anticipate top notch service. I was so disappointed

2nd the food was so sub par! Both my husband and I had the prime rib, it was so well done it was rubbery. The food was cold, the only thing remotely warm was the backed potato. Don't expect any extra sauces or kapow flavor. So bland! The only good part was the cheesecake for dessert. We could have had an excellent meal elsewhere for that price... Uhg... The regret...

3rd the dining atmosphere was not as elogent as the pictures depict. Very, very dated and crammed. Understandably they can't do much about the space.

4th it was not as clean and well maintained as I would expect, be sure to go to the bathroom before because the facilities onboard are anything but clean.

Lastly I would not really say this was a bad thing, the scenery was of Iowa and should not come as a shock that it was mostly farm land. There were a couple bridges that allowed for a good view! That would be the only positive!

If I had paid $30-40 I might not have been so disappointed, but that $67 per person sets he bar at a height that they did not meet! I would definitely recommend going to another fine dining establishment for better food...

After reading reviews, I feel like we caught them on an "off day"/bad time of year...? Did the Easter ride, it was supposed to be 1hour long, from 10-11am, we left home at 8:45am to make it on time, and had planned on lunch and had a 7yr old bday in des moines afterwards. This ride went 2 hours instead of 1.... Outside it conflicting with our personal schedule and making us late, it was NOT convenient with small kids...!! We didn't plan for it going into lunch time and didn't have any snacks or spare diapers. Everyone on the train was ready to get off by the end. Almost all the Kids on the train were fussy, hungry, & squirmy. Not much scenic beauty, just trees, trash and dead trees and 2-3 short openings where you could see the landscape from into the distance. No fun things to point out to the kids and see along the way, trolley attendant talked for about 15 minutes with some Easter jokes and trivia, a man in bunny suit came by for 30 seconds, then it was just sitting there in the quiet trolley the rest of the time. For the amount of money they charge, I would have expected someone pointing out neat things along the way. Or putting out their own props along the way to excite and keep the kid's interest... Could even turn that into a "I spy or Bingo" type fun game where they win prizes or candy. At the very least play some music when the attendant isn't doing anything so we're not just sitting there for over an hour in church voices trying to make our kids listen and mind us in the silence.... Again, for the price, I was VERY let down. SO MUCH potential to be really fun, interesting and silly for the kids AND parents, but we seemingly got the bare minimum. Needless to say, we're not booking another ride...

This experience was really not worth the money. My fiance brought me here for my birthday. He bought first-class tickets to the Wolf Dinner Train. The directions said that people needed to arrive at least an hour ahead of time. The directions also said that there was a dress code. For ladies, this would be a nice dress and for men slacks and a polo. We followed all directions and had to spend over an hour in the attached museum. The museum was a collection of somewhat random train artifacts. It was okay, but definitely did not take more than 15 minutes to view and read everything. When we returned to the station, most of the other passengers were in casual clothes, which was a little awkward. Obviously they knew information that was not on the website or included in the email. It took a really long time to board the train because they stopped after each name to comment on it's national and ethnic origins. The train cars looked really nice on the inside and outside. The table was set with salads, chips, and dips. The dips had a thick skin on them from sitting out for awhile which was concerning. The entrees were not very good, though hot. The steak was very overcooked (not medium as advertised) and bland. The chicken my fiance had was also overcooked and bland. The cheesecake served at the end of the meal was the best part. The train ride itself was somewhat scenic for Iowa. Unfortunately the train ride did not exceed 10 mph, so it was a little boring. Overall, the experience wasn't great and definitely was not...