After finishing a 2 week All Line Rover a few days ago where I travelled on 30 LNER services in first class (of various journey lengths) I can say that overall the majority first class service on LNER was as expected, with a few services being much better than expected and a few services being worse than average but not bad with only 1 service where I was left disappointed.
On all services I used boarding at the origin station food orders were taken withing 15 minutes of departure with some form of drinks service being offered within this time as well.
One thing that I wish was improved on here is on a few services departing in the afternoon, originating at Newcastle, the hot drinks were offered effectively with the food orders but no cold drinks, including water, were offered until well over half an hour into the journey after food had been served. On rest of day menu services (everything but breakfast) I would much prefer a cold drink first and hot drinks later, after eating.
On some Edinburgh originating services crips and water were brought round immediately after departure which is something I would like to see on all services.
On services I boarded at an intermediate station the service was much more mixed depending if they had just finished offering a certain service.
For food service almost all services joining at an intermediate station orders were taken either within a few minutes of departure or after the following station where stations are closed together (such as Peterborough, Grantham). I thought this was fine as I would not expect food for journeys under around 30 minutes anyway. 1 service which was delayed after departing Doncaster I was waiting nearly an hour for food orders as they were planning on coming round after Newark, however the delay meant a long wait until food orders were taken when really they should have come round after it was clear the delay would be relatively significant.
For drinks service joining at intermediate stations, this is where I was more disappointed and had the only genuinely bad experience. If joining just after a hot or cold drinks service had finished it meant a long wait for that service. A few times staff were happy to get me a cold drink if requested which was nice to see.
The only genuinely poor service I had was on one journey where I boarded at Darlington heading towards Doncaster all I wanted was a water which I asked staff about when hot drinks came around but was told to wait until the cold drinks service was provided. The cold drinks service did not come around until around 2 minutes before Doncaster (over 45 minutes into my journey). They even came round with food immediately on departure from York so on a 50 minute journey I could have had a hot drink and full food service but not a simple still water. I can understand not offering any other soft drinks until the full service is provided but for a first class service a water should be provided if requested. The staff members attitude was not great here either with them just stating cold drinks are provided at regular intervals. Compared to basically all other first class intercity operators where catering is advertised, including Cross Country, this is the only time ever where I have effectively been refused a water.
The quality of food was good enough, although I would like to see one more hot dish on dish services.
I do wish they would bring back the file showing which services have which menu as I needed to put my own together using the LNER website booking tool which tool a while.
I also want them the be accurate on their booking site as to which menus are provided as some service switch from Signature to Dish mid journey but when booking, even if only travelling between dish stations, it shows up as signature.
Overall I was quite satisfied with the LNER services I used over the 2 weeks with most providing the service as expected. There were few standout journeys compared to Avanti West Coast but the offering was mostly consistent and as advertised.
I personally do not have an issue with the service feeling slightly rushed at times as LNER first class is usually quite busy so it makes sense to get through everyone as efficiently as possible.
