Swiss Chalet — Restaurant in Ontario

A Resurrected Bird, a Battle with Fries, and the Dance of the Dinner Rush

Stepping into the Swiss Chalet on Wonderland Road, London, that uniquely Canadian institution, I was greeted not by the tired, familiar veneer of yesteryear, but by a pleasantly surprising, indeed impressive, revitalization. This isn't your childhood Swiss Chalet; the space feels genuinely refreshed, comfortable, and inviting. The newly added "watering hole" bar, complete with flatscreens and a well-stocked back bar, is a significant, welcome upgrade – a testament to their efforts to evolve. The ambiance throughout the dining room was pleasing, with comfortable seating and an undeniable cleanliness, even as the evening progressed into chaos.

Yesterday, Tuesday, June 3rd, my Aunt Dianne and I arrived, squarely in the crucible of the dinner rush, around 5:30 PM. The house was full, a lively hum of conversation, though I'll admit, as a hearing aid wearer, the decibel level pushed the limits of comfortable discourse for a while. Service kicked off promptly enough; a quick offer of drinks, though my hopes for a Coke were dashed by the ubiquity of Pepsi. A minor quibble, perhaps, but a detail nonetheless.

Then, the main event. My 1/4 white meat chicken dinner arrived around 6:20 PM, looking generously portioned on what might have been a deceptively small plate – a subtle challenge for the eager diner, as evidenced by a few rebellious fries attempting to escape to my lap. But oh, that chicken. It was, to put it mildly, spot on. Perfectly moist, tender, and bursting with flavor. And the skin? Absolute heaven. Crisp, golden-brown, with that perfect salty, savory snap – it was everything one hopes for in a rotisserie bird and so often misses. The fries, though only warm rather than piping hot, were crisp and ably rescued by the Chalet Sauce, which was as robust and delicious as ever, perhaps even more so, and thankfully, hot. The white roll was fresh, a simple, perfect accompaniment. Aunt Dianne's chicken stir-fry also looked appealing, contributing to a sense that the kitchen here is operating with a renewed purpose.

However, the rhythm of the meal shifted noticeably post-delivery. Our server, Krista, seemed to be engaged in an intricate, almost invisible dance across the dining room, her appearances becoming increasingly infrequent. A good twenty minutes after we’d finished, she reappeared to check in. I asked for a coffee, and it arrived about five minutes after my request. Feeling the clock tick and getting antsy to settle up, I eventually had to flag down another server just to request the bill. Krista eventually materialized with the check, only to vanish again, leaving us to wait for the card machine. We finally settled up around 7:50 PM.

To be fair, the restaurant was genuinely bustling, and I only observed two other servers, suggesting they were perhaps running a lean crew against a tidal wave of hungry patrons. This context, while not erasing the delays, offers a more nuanced understanding of the service hiccups.

Despite the extended intervals between server visits, the overall experience provided good value for the cost – about $55.90 for two, which felt entirely reasonable for the quality of food and the modernized environment. This Swiss Chalet, particularly with its stellar chicken and welcoming new look, is certainly worth a visit. Just perhaps bring a good book for after the meal, or brace yourself for a slower pace if you venture in during the dinner...

Tuesday evening Quarter chicken dinners:

The chicken portions were horribly small and barely warm. I should have actually taken a photograph at the time, yet I can hardly believe how much smaller and smaller the quarter chickens are becoming. It was probably no more than a 3 inch, circular piece.

My side order - green beans were dried out, old and not even warm. My partners side order - fries, were barely warm. This is unacceptable.

The buns? They're getting even smaller.

The service was absymal. After taking our orders, a different woman that delivered our food forgot 2 items: A straw and an extra chalet sauce. When the orginal waitress came over, she also forgot both items. At this point - neither of women come back to our table for at least 10 minutes. My partner gets up from the table and goes to the kitchen to ask. At this point, the waitress comes over and delivers both items. She never asked if I wanted a pop refill and we really didn't see her again for quite awhile. Although - finally, later on, she asked how the meal was and I did explain that the beans were dried out and not even warm.

So much for the nice warm lemon finger dip. That doesn't exist anymore.

A few months ago, we were there as well. The major issue at that point was dripping air conditioning vents onto the floor. Multiple waitresses actually continued to notice, yet did nothing! We told them about it as well as another woman that litterally went to the kitchen to complain. A customer behind us actually got up and moved 2 chairs over the wet area, in an attempt to make the area safer to walk around. A waitress within 5 minutes, actually moved the chairs back to the table. She didn't seem to care. Eventually, a man - from the kitchen area, put out cone(s). I'm surprised there wasn't an injury that night with people walking through the soaked area.

Swiss Chalet is but a shadow of its former self. No question - it used to be amazing, but that must have been decades ago. To me - it's not remotely worth paying $15 for a quarter chicken dinner, when the few occassions that we do go, never gets better. In fact, in our opinion it keeps getting worse.

If I were the manager/owner of this restaurant, I'd be incredibly embarassed to even continue operating this so-called restaurant.

I highly encourage CBC Marketplace to run a story. I fully plan on reaching...

Came with my wife to celebrate an occasion. The restaurant was fairly empty but it took 15 minutes for a server to come to our table to take our drink order. When we ordered food, we specified that my wife has a gluten allergy and can't have the roll.

When the food came out another 30m later, there was a roll on her plate, and my wings were still frozen inside, literally ice cold and fully raw. When they fixed the food, the server specified that they cooked them "extra long" which is not reassuring whatsoever as they should be cooking them to an internal temp of 165° fahrenheit. They made no additional efforts to compensate us for the terrible experience.

I left a review on their feedback form online, and the manager called me apologizing for the experience and offering me a free meal for two.

When I called to redeem the offer, I was ordering for pickup and paying in the store. The manager insisted I couldn't use the offer for pickup since he's doing it manually. This makes no sense whatsoever because I am physically picking up the order in the store.

I tried to tell him that one of the meals was gluten free and needed to be packaged separately, but he kept interrupting me to ask other questions about my order. When I arrived at the store, there was indeed another roll included in her order. Since he didn't take the time to listen to me, he told his staff to repackage it into 2 bags, which was never what I asked for. They did this at the back of the kitchen where I wasn't able to correct them. When they finally came back and I could explain the situation to the cashier, she understood that the meal needed to be remade because they had packaged an allergen with the meal that I had repeatedly warned them about.

When she told the manager, he told them to remake it, but was extremely rude to his staff in the process, and unclear to them about how to handle the payment before storming off to do something else. The server apologizes for the inconveniences.

When I got home, all the food was ice cold again.

Never ordering from or visiting this...