Swiss Chalet — Restaurant in Edmonton

I went here because I was given a gift card, but I will never return.

Everything from the minute we walked in was, at best, off putting.

The floors were disgusting, with food and debris across the entire dining room and under most tables. The server took a drink order and then disappeared for 20 minutes, only to reappear and act like it was illegal for my 11 year old to order from the bizarrely “10 and under ONLY” kids menu, forcing me to buy more expensive food she wasn’t as interested in, in double the portion she’d want to eat. Since when are kids menus age restricted? What if my kid wants smaller portions? Or the better value to the parents with the drink and small dessert?

She settled on tenders and fries, while my son got the kids meal (only available to him for one more year lol!) with cheesy noodles and rice, and I got the half rack and half chicken combo.

First issue: the fries were cold, flavourless, and completely unsalted. This lack of flavour was a theme throughout the meal, which made sense once I looked around the dining room and counted the number of geriatrics present. Salt would probably kill off half of them, and they seem to be the primary audience for this relic of a restaurant.

Speaking of relics, half the “decor” on the walls was hanging at a strange angle, which I initially thought was just poor decorating, until my son pointed out that they had fallen, as he could see the damaged parts of the walls where they had previously been supported. If a 9 year old boy notices your place is falling apart, it’s probably one step from completely collapsing.

My ribs were mushy, again flavourless, and still somehow sticky from the honey garlic sauce without any of the sweet kick you’d expect.

The buns my daughter and I were given were clearly re-heated frozen garbage, and the butter provided was still frozen solid.

Her strips were some of the worst looking frozen chicken strips I’ve ever had the misfortune of gazing on. For a place that’s built on fresh chicken, this was a disgrace. The menu photos sold us a fake bill of goods.

My son’s cheese sauce was again, flavourless and watery, with a sad, hard scoop of rice shoved onto the side of the plate.

Getting my coffee refilled was like pulling teeth. I got a single refill during the meal and only because I interrupted our server when she was clearing plates.

Finally, my son’s “sundae” was a fairly standard order, until we were told they were “out of sprinkles”. SPRINKLES. There’s a Dollarama across the parking lot, just go stock up! Given how empty this place was on a Saturday at lunch in a busy shopping common, and the apparently octogenarian clientele, that $1 expenditure could last them until Christ returns.

Sad, flavourless, dirty, disappointing.

P.S. Don’t even ask about that awful “Chalet Sauce”. It was gloopy and had an absurd amount of cinnamon for...

SWISS CHALET HAS SERIOUSLY DECLINED and no longer feels like the traditional Canadian restaurant it once was. We arrived at 5 pm for our family Thanksgiving dinner, and waited 10 minutes to be seated. The hostess then informed us that there would be NO CHICKEN FOR 30 MINUTES,AND THAT THEY HAD RUN OUT OF RIBS. We were fine with waiting since we hadn’t been seated yet, so we stayed.

Our server, gave us the poorest service we’ve ever experienced. We sat for 20 minutes before being offered water. Since we knew we had to wait for chicken, we ordered right away when she finally arrived. However, not only were we told there was still a 25 MINUTES WAIT FOR CHICKEN, BUT ALSO THAT THERE WERE NO BAKED OR MASHED POTATOES AVAILABLE. This was starting to feel like a joke.

We had two kids with us, under the age of 10. One ordered milk, and the other a Shirley Temple. The milk arrived with the rim of the glass visibly dirty, and the server didn’t even apologize when we pointed it out. The Shirley Temple tasted off, and when we asked to swap it for milk, the server refused, saying we couldn’t change it because the order had already been placed. It was frustrating, especially since it was for a child.

When the food finally arrived, it was a disaster. The presentation was awful, and the Thanksgiving dinner they advertised looked nothing like what was served. It was as if everything had just been thrown on the plate. The cranberry sauce was a tiny dab, barely there, and obviously from a can. The bread pudding was doughy. To top it off, the Chalet sauce didn’t come until we had already finished our meal. THAT WAS SUPPOSE TO BE THE BEST PART! When we asked for the bread that was supposed to come with the meal, the server casually informed us they were OUT OF THE ROLL BREAD,, without an apology.

The people around us also seemed disappointed. At one table, someone’s potato was hard as a rock, and they looked just as frustrated as we were. Our server clearly seemed disengaged and unbothered by the poor service she was providing.

It’s clear that the management and staff composition at this Canadian chain has changed, and unfortunately, this shift seems to have impacted the quality of both food and service. We will never be returning to...

I took my family to Swiss Chalet in South Edmonton Common yesterday after back to school shopping, hoping for a nutritious meal that would appeal to not only my husband and I, but a 10, 7 and 4 year old. We will never go back. The service was absolutely terrible. When we arrived, a lady who appeared to be a manager indicated that she needed a few minutes to get a table ready for us. She then proceeded to help a number of people picking up take out, even though there was a staff member already there doing the same thing. At no time did she advise another staff member to prepare a table. After about 10 minutes, we were directed to a table in the lounge area that had been sitting there ready the entire time we were waiting. Once seated, we placed our order in good time, but it then took an inordinately long time to get our meals. We had arrived after the dinner rush, the restaurant was not busy (the parking lot was about 1/3 full) and there didn't seem to be any reasonable explanation for what seemed to be a 45 mintue wait. During that time, we also observed kitchen staff in dirty uniforms and hair nets serving other tables (where WAS the waitress?). When our dinners arrived, a different member of the wait staff arrived with some of our meals, and obviously didn't know who had ordered what. Well, I guess at least we didn't get the woman in the apron and hair net. Our waitress checked up on us only once during the meal, and because she was so remarkably absent during the rest of our stay, my daughter was unable to place another order for a glass of milk. We had to ask for our bill when our waitress did appear but was walking past our table, at which point she cleaned the table but didn't leave the bill. We asked again, paid and left. I'm tired of wait staff treating their patrons as if its somehow our fault that they didn't get the job with the corner office right out of high school. Just came back from New York City, where staff take pride in their jobs - I don't need anyone falling over me and treating me like a queen, put some geniune pride in doing a good job...