Swiss Chalet — Restaurant in Guelph

I've got to give management credit for being consistent. It's unfortunate that the consistency is that their service is well and truly abysmal. My one-year-later update.

Strike 1: Placed order online at 5.46 PM for a 6:20 PM pickup. Arrived at 6:25. Woman in front of me had a 6:30 scheduled pickup time but luckily for her, it was ready when she arrived. When I gave the manager my name he told me that the food wasn't ready and that he would bring it to my car when everything was finished.

Strike 2: Waited 8 minutes in car and meal had not been delivered. Returned to take out window and food was sitting behind the counter. (I'm curious how long it had been sitting there getting cool.)

Strike 3: Get home, find that two side orders of french fries had not been provided. Ate dinner with my family (because we didn't want to have the food get even colder) and my wife returned to the returned to the restaurant to get two orders of fries. Was told by the employee working the counter "Oh yes, you got the fries, they are crossed off the list." (Teaching point for management - If a customer returns and claims they didn't get fries I assure you they are not trying to rip you off. If they're trying to scam you they're going to go for a lot more than fries!)

NOTE TO POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS: IF AT ALL POSSIBLE AND YOU'RE DESPERATE FOR SWISS CHALET, TRY THE STONE ROAD STORE. THEY CAN'T BE WORSE THAN THIS PLACE AND YOU MIGHT GET LUCKY AND GET A SATISFACTORY MEAL. BOTTOM LINE, IT APPEARS THAT THESE GUYS RELY ON SWISS CHALET'S CORPORATE REPUTATION TO STAY IN BUSINESS BECAUSE FROM MY EXPERIENCE THERE'S NO OTHER WAY THEY WOULD BE ABLE TO SURVIVE.

2020 review: Extraordinarily bad. Waited at least 15 minutes for a table even though there were numerous empty tables. After being seated, it took another 15 minutes for a server to come to our table. (There were empty tables in our section.) Took 33 minutes for food to be served. (I timed it on my phone because it had taken so long to be seated and order placed.) Further, while our order was placed correctly in the system, the plates that we received were far from what was ordered. Finally, the food was mediocre at best. Ribs were cold and dry and drenched in barbecue sauce in an attempt to cover up the inferior product. Chicken was also dry, but not as bad as the ribs. At no point did the server or anyone else ask about our meal. All-in-all it took approximately two hours from start to finish.

Edit: Hey owner, I submitted my comments shortly after the incident. Submission...

First time in years we haven’t left a tip. Once we were seated, nobody even said hello to us for over ten minutes. Felt totally ignored. My daughter ordered the festive special, and I asked for extra butter. Food came, they gave her a regular quarter chicken dinner. No extra butter.

Again, didn’t see our server for over 10-15 minutes so we had to flag down the hostess. She said she’d get the stuffing and cranberry sauce. And I asked for the butter again.

Ten more minutes go by, we finally see our server. Of course he wasn’t going to check on us - even ONCE - during this entire lunch. So I had to tell him as well that she didn’t get the festive special she ordered. He said “so, you want the stuffing and cranberry?” … uh, yeah. We do. You could barely understand a word, he mumbled the whole time. And no basic manners, like saying “you’re welcome.”

After about 10 more minutes the stuffing and cranberry sauce finally came to our table.

In the meantime drinks were never offered to be refilled. Not even water.

We were so sick of waiting for our practically non-existent server that my husband went up to the hostess AGAIN and asked her for our bill and some water.

The bill took another ten minutes. You could tell we weren’t happy. You’d think he would hustle to get us paid and out of there, but nope. His tip had already long vanished, anyway.

The food was good but it felt like pulling teeth just to eat here and spend $75.

On the other hand, we ate at this same location a few weeks ago and had the BEST experience, with a server who was amazing! She was fantastic and we tipped her generously.

My advice to the owners is this: hire people that are meant to work in hospitality. Not people who are rude, lazy and thoughtless. Hire more people like the wonderful lady we had the pleasure of meeting a few weeks ago.

And when someone wants extra butter, please just bring the extra butter. And straws. I hate feeling like I’m begging for straws...

I ordered for pickup. Paid online via my Mastercard in advance, as I normally always have in the past (though not in awhile). When I got there, I was told my payment was not received so I had to pay again…paid via debit, believing them and trusting their word that something likely happened on my end on my computer (even though I have never had this issue before and am experiencing no issues on my accounts). As I am waiting over 15 minutes in the waiting area past my emailed confirmation pick up time of 5:17 pm (wasn’t ready until after 5:30), I see another woman with the same issue come in after me, but shows her credit card and the money that came out on her phone via an app I suppose, so they don’t make her double pay. They mention this has been happening to numerous people that evening. When my food is ready, I ask about what I should do (after witnessing this, I was concerned), given I have now paid likely twice for the same meal. I was told to contact my credit card company, and to call the restaurant the next day and save my receipts to explain the situation.. I get home, and am at this point really frustrated that this has become my ‘problem’ only to confirm the amount has indeed been debited from my credit card, and now I have paid twice for the same meal. I need to call tomorrow to get my money back now and explain the whole situation, and likely go back to the location to make that happen. All in all, I understand that mistakes happen, but when it is happening to numerous people, maybe stop to think and question your own systems? To charge consumers twice for the same meal is not acceptable, especially if they are literally showing you a receipt on their phone confirming it was paid. I will update this review if/when this is rectified. I won’t be ordering online again, and if I do, will pay at pickup, because this was really a Wednesday headache that will now carry forward to tomorrow, over a...