Grand Bellevue Rail Dining Experience — Restaurant in Portsmouth

Edited 7/28/2024 - Firstly, my pronouns are She/Her as I am not male or otherwise gender neutral. I find it offensive that I am referred to as disguising myself as someone else. Rather, I am someone who represents the LGBTQ+ community in Central Florida. Secondly, my review is honest and accurate as a paying customer who was visiting Newport and the Ocean State on vacation and who saved for months to do so. There are many other negative reviews of the "Newport Dinner Train" currently at 3.1 stars. They keep creating new Google Business Profiles to try to change their image. My name actually is Ginger and I am reviewing this business using my own Google account so I am quite confused by the response from Grand Bellevue assuming they know who I am as there was not a birthday celebration within my party of 2. It appears to be yet another erroneous and pathetic attempt to mask their shortcomings rather than vow to improve from honest customer feedback.

Original Review on 7/27/2024: Save your hard earned money and don't bother dining on the rails with this organization. You are better off riding along on Thomas the Choo-Choo train instead. Even the trolley to the Neighborhood of Make Believe is a better experience than the Grand Bellevue. In fact, the Neighborhood of Make Believe is exactly where the managing staff exist thinking this is a fine dining theater experience. After months of looking forward to what was promised to be an elegant, upscale, nostalgic, and fun experience, this overwhelmingly overpriced sham of a "4 course" dining experience fell absolutely flat to feeling price gouged at $135 per person for what should be a $25 meal (no filet mignon option or surf and turf) and a $20 train ride. After seeing and hosting many Murder Mystery style interactive plays, I cannot say that the actors were any worse than adequately amateur. However, the major complaint is with the quality of food, overall price for what you get in return, and the incredibly poor management who cannot follow through on simple host requests. Further, the $135.00 plus tax and gratuity "4 course" meal consisted of a low quality soup shooter, followed by a small scoop of a raspberry sorbet which in and of itself should never be considered a course, but rather a palate cleanser between courses, followed by the main entree of a sirloin steak, small piece of dried overcooked halibut possibly cod in disguise topped with a small dollop of tastelessly bland cracker and crab stuffing akin to a baked stuffed shrimp, the ever cheap roasted half boneless chicken found at any hotel menu of catered wedding affair, or something that remotely resembled a duck breast. Each entree accompanied by the usual and boring green beans, single carrot, baby potatoes, asparagus, and bland creamed corn sprinkled with microgreens that were absolutely pointless. As if dinner was disappointing at best, lastly, the 4th course, namely what should be the crescendo of a so-called fabulously elegant meal, was the biggest let down of it all. Having a choice of key lime pie that tasted like it was right from the refrigerated case at the grocery store, to a creme brulee with unripened berries and a slice of orange, to a chocolate lava cake served like a warm dried out bland muffin coated with powder sugar and not an ounce of a molten chocolate center that makes Domino's Pizza's lava cake look like a gourmet dessert that is a thousand times better for a fraction of the cost!!!

All in all, I can honestly say that the nostalgic feel of the train itself was the only thing that did not feel like a first class rip-off. We are happy to pay for first class experiences, but this was a far cry from first class and felt more like the caboose in...

A realistic evaluation of a delightful experience.

Google maps will get you right there, parking is ample and it is a short jaunt to the ticket house. Grounds are clean and well manicured setting the stage for a well-run, high quality experience.

The first interaction with the staff is at ticketing in which the young man, dressed appropriately in period-correct rail house attire, happy helps and answers any questions guests may have. As we boarded, the friendly staff were lined up at the entrance to greet us. Walking into the dining car was like entering a time machine back to the days where rail travel was the only high-class way to go.

The car was spotless, even the fancy beaded chandeliers and ceiling fans, perfectly maintained, well lit, and elegant. We were there for the murder-mystery dinner and arrived early enough to enjoy a delicious cocktail before the train got underway. The drinks were priced as expected for an experience such as this, and were of high quality and adequate volume. There was a note in another review about a short pour of wine, however there never appeared to be a lack of volume in anyone's glass, or dissatisfied faces for that matter.

I never used the restroom, but by the guests accounts I was with it was noted the bathrooms were clean, and sanitary.

The actors for the murder mystery were delightful, and set the tone immediately for the fun that was to insue and last the duration of the nearly 3 hour adventure that was to come. In the interest of not giving anything away, If I could rate the Murder Mystery Co. Separately they would receive 5 stars. The entire train car would laugh, gasp, and were fully engaged in the adventure of solving the heinous crime. This made the car a little noisy at times, however it was the sound of joy, not of a brouhaha, or obnoxious behavior.

As the train lazily meandered along the track there was never any mechanical noise, smell of the engine, or clanking to deal with. It is a train, however, so some minor rocking and a few small jostles are to be expected. The views at sunset were just breathtaking, and a reminder of how truly beautiful Rhode Island is.

The meal was paced perfectly through the entirety of the experience. Our waiter (Brandon I believe, but I could be wrong) was continuously attentive, kind, and quick to respond. He was bery additive to the overall experience. The manager on board did come by to assure the experience was exceeding our expectations. The Food quality was that of a entry-level find dining experience. The food was beautifully presented, and cooked perfectly. Flavors were not overly complex, but fresh and high quality. A different garnish aside from the edible flowers that were placed directly on the food may have been warranted, as they tasted overly earthy in comparison with the savory favors of the food. The attention to detail continued, and even the vegetables were perfectly cooked, cleaned, and filled with flavor. Get the chocolate lava cake for dessert, you will not regret it!

The over all cost ended up being a little under $200 per person for our group. That is not the kind of price tag many can just drop on a whim, however that kind of money buys you a unique, engaging, and fantastic evening for a little more than one would spend on a quality dinner and after-drinks in Newport, or nosebleed seats at a Patriots game. I believe this is where the Grand Bellevue Rail Dining Experience builds a pretty extreme value. I would definitely recommend this experience for special occasions, or fancy evening out. It certainly exceeded my expectations, and so long as you are realistic about what to expect from a train-based quality dining experience and show, it will...

We were really looking forward to this experience but were severely disappointed. We booked the luncheon service. It’s worth noting that you cannot pick your seats when booking the train- this is fine, but my main issue is that your viewing experience depends quite heavily on where you are seated in the train. We were seated on the opposite of the seaside (we were on the right side facing inland). All of the beautiful scenic views were on the opposite side of the train, sans one point at the very end of the ride where we paused on a bridge. We had thought that perhaps the train was going to turn around on the way back so we could see the water on the return trip, but that is not the case. 90% of our views were of overgrown weeds and the backs of people’s homes. Definitely not the experience that was advertised. The food was also not worth the price at all. We had a three course lunch- tomato soup to start, with the main course being a salmon salad for me and a Caesar wrap for my husband. The soup tasted like warm marinara. My salmon was dry and bland. My husband noted that his wrap was bland as well. The dessert course was the best one- both our desserts (a lemon square and chocolate torte) were fine. I would be less harsh on the food if it weren’t so expensive. It definitely was not worth the price at all. Honestly it felt like eating lunch on an Amtrak train. The entire ride, the door to the outside was open and there was nails-on-a-chalkboard screeching of the train interrupting the ambiance. It was really grating on our nerves. I feel bad leaving a low review but this was our honest experience. I would not recommend this to anyone visiting- save your money and just book a nice reservation at a restaurant on the waterfront instead. To the Grand Bellevue staff, the main issue (for me) could be resolved if you either a) allow people to select their seats either inland or seaside, and include a difference in the price, or b) note somewhere on your website that there is a difference in experience based...