Swiss Bear Cafe Bistro & Express — Restaurant in North Kawartha

We wanted to like this place but geez… we stopped in on an incredibly hot day. We thought there was a selection of pre made food / baked goods, but there’s nothing like that. There are no washrooms and no store but they do they have a nice little takeout / chip truck area.

We had hoped to buy some tarts, but at $44 per dozen, we skipped it. We ordered a medium poutine, one fruit tart and lemonade for lunch instead. It cost over $20 with tip, which is on the expensive side but ok - we thought the potions would be good.

We waited in the 30 degree plus August sun for well over 20 minutes (for one order of fries…). There is no shade. At about the 20 minute mark, I grabbed my reusable water bottle from the car while we waited for our food, and had a few sips of water.

Almost instantly someone came running over to tell me “No outside drinks on the patio!! No outside food!”. They told the table next to us (who had ordered food for 4 people and waited almost half an hour with young kids!) the same for having a travel mug with them.

Sorry, but I’m dying of heat with no shade, and I can’t leave or even drink my water in the car because I’m still waiting for the overpriced drink and fries I already paid you for.

Eventually the food came. The poutine was a very small box of fries with no cheese curds (although there was a sprinkle of something that might have been shredded mozzarella?) and a bit of reconstituted gravy. The tart was small and gluey, although the filling was decent. The lemonade was a 12 ounce cup of ice with about 4 ounces of lemonade.

Really expensive, mediocre food and super slow service? Plus getting kicked off the patio for having a sip of water while waiting for our food? No thanks.

We definitely won’t...

The restaurant seems to get good reviews. However, when we dropped by at 4 pm on Sunday afternoon on our drive back from cottage, the main restaurant had closed at 3 pm. Schnitzel Express was open. We order a schnitzel dinner $17.40 and a small polish schnitzel $10.00. The service was very slow and the teens in the booth seemed overwhelmed. When the food finally arrived we were very disappointed. The sandwich was small (which I had ordered) There was one piece of playing card size schnitzel, 1/4 inch. It was totally lost in the tasteless bun. At the price should be triple the amount of schnitzel. The dinner had two slightly larger pieces of schnitzel, fries, coleslaw and apples. My husband has a healthy appetite and would have thought that at a cost of $19.67 with HST that there would be enough to fill him up. It was not. Totally underwhelmed, disappointed and feeling ripped off. Won't chance it and return to restaurant which does seem to get better reviews. Not willing to risk being burnt again. Keep driving. Seems odd that hundred of cars are driving home and owners close...

This was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had. Stopped with my family who paid approx $60 of food and sat down on the patio. Due to health reasons, I did not order food and had a reusable water bottle with me. I took a sip of my water bottle while waiting for our food and the psychotic man who owns the restaurant came out of the kitchen door and started glaring at me in a frightening and aggressive way. This man is UNHINGED. After staring at me for 5 minutes I asked him what the problem was and he started yelling about the no food and drink policy and how he wouldn’t serve us etc. I was absolutely shocked by how aggressive he was, it was insane. I’m still shocked a day later. My family had spent $60 on food, we were customers and he thinks he can treat people like that? And it’s a reusable water bottle, no one should ever be told they can’t drink their own water. To top it off, my family said the sandwiches were tasteless and overpriced. Also there’s no washroom which I’ve heard could be illegal??!! I would never...