As you may know, I took the
ATW▸ Premier Train from Newport - Wrexham General Last Friday (08/02/2012). The journey for me was mixed opinion so here goes:
2 Premier Trains run per day, 1 Southbound AM, 1 Northbound PM. The stock is as Follows: ATW Liveried Class 67, MK3 Buffet, MK3 Coaches and
DVT‡. (Very similar to the defunct Wrexham & Shropshire)
The train was slightly late into Newport which was rather fortunate as my train into Newport was also late. I boarded the train at the rear door straight into First Class and was greeted with this:
Looks reasonably comfortable and it was. The seats all had power points just below the tables which worked no problems at all. Couldn't get my iPhone to charge which later turned out to be a defective charging cable
A staff member greeted both myself and another gent who boarded, She was smartly dressed and very pleasant. She asked where we were travelling to and brought around liquid refreshments straight away
Ticket checks were done twice. I was checked just after Abergavenny and the chap was exceedingly pleasant. He came back just after Hereford and checked the few new occupants. Even went as far as having a look in the vestibule in case anyone was hiding or
stuck in the loo 
The table was pre laid out for Dinner minus the lemonade cans which I had just been given and the coffee cup from my inbound
HST▸ .
I was provided the menu which was both in Welsh and English... Negative Points were that the text was possibly a bit too small. vegetarian options weren't identified easily: No (v) etc. Fortunately it was worked out as being the only option that had no mention of meat or fish
There looked to be a good selection of Alcoholic Beverages as well
The first course was brought to me and was very well presented in crockery terms. (Cauliflower and Cumin Soup) The quality wasn't amazing, the Soup was very watery and slightly bland. The butter was rock hard and took me a while to get to melt against the soup bowl. Bread was spot on. Although the soup was watery and bland it was still nice and I was hungry having skipped lunch so just tucked in.
Finished the soup and decided to check my laptop. Opened it up and discovered something I wasn't expecting... A Premier Service marketed at Business Travellers... No WiFi
As I couldn't get my iPhone to charge I didn't attempt to tether it
Next the main course arrived and this is where things began to seriously let themselves down. The main course was presented to me and looked very good indeed. I cut straight through the middle into the Mushroom Wellington and took a fork full from the bottom. Once I placed it in my mouth I discovered it was more than cold. Infact it was completely frozen in the middle. A poke around with my fork showed the frost on bits of mushroom
here was the meal:
Needless to say I was no longer hungry after that...
I went to the Staff in the Kitchen and asked if it was meant to be cold (Sounds odd yes, I'd never had a Mushroom Wellington before though so had no idea) She said absolutely not and asked if everything was ok. I said it was completely frozen and the chef seemed slightly concerned as well. She relieved it from me and I wasn't impressed with the stains left on the table cloth from the plate:
The course reappeared about 10 minutes later. I was further unimpressed as it had simply been chucked back in the oven for longer. Even then it still wasn't that hot either. I was beginning to think that a McDonalds at Wrexham might be in order! The meal once I was reunited with it.
The veggies were ok and I especially liked the roast peppers. The tomato sauce was a tad on the "spicy" side for me. I probably could have asked for the course without it... But to be fair to the staff I didn't.
I ordered another coffee. I believe it was filtered or cafetiere coffee as it had that sort of taste to it. Not my personal preference but it was a much welcomed coffee nonetheless.
Next was dessert. Chocolate Cake. Can't really go wrong there. Indeed it was served with cream which possibly I would've elected not to have. But didn't ask. Anyway I was glad it did have the cream as the cake was exceedingly rich and good. The cream helped with the richness. It was also served warm which was good:
Finally was the bathroom which was retrofitted into an empty MK3 Buffet Cupboard. Indeed I have never come across a MK3 Buffet with a toilet where it would normally be. Normally just an empty cupboard. I wasn't impressed with that to be honest either.
It seemed very much to have the "Stainless Steel Town/City Public Toilet" image about it. The window had been covered completely and the stainless steel made this even more oppressing. Indeed this made me feel like I was in a run down public loo in a city centre as opposed to a First Class Toilet (The final picture
)
So that brings me down to the crunch point of the scoring:
Quality of overall service: 7/10
Quality of food: 3/10
Quality of food choices: 2/10 (Based on their being 1 vegetarian option)
Value for Money: (Given that NWP - WRX was ^50.10 and
FRO» -
SHR» & SHR - WRX was ^65.00) 8/10
Train Journey on ATW overall 4/10
Would I use again? Possibly yes, but I probably wouldn't jump at the oppertunity
Also thanks to trainer for suggesting the word "trouted" - I'll use this excellent word for future reviews and/or rants etc
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