Swiss Chalet — Restaurant in Ottawa

Had a long business day on the road (over 12hrs and I was tired and wanted a comforting meal) and stopped for dinner very late on a Wednesday on the way home.

I awarded a full five star rating for all aspects of the meal and will explain the reasons below.

For starters I have dined at other Swiss Chalet restaurants in the Ottawa area, and while one would think they are all standardized in terms of food and service they are not! I visited another location at 9pm one evening because the website said they were open until 10pm and they were closed. The food at other locations has not been consistent with Swiss Chalet standards as well.

Now for why the full five stars for this location:

I arrived at 9pm and the server said they are open until 10pm as the Swiss Chalet states. No disappointments with business hours at this location.

I ordered the half chicken dinner with garden salad as a the side. The chicken was well done to perfection and yet moist with a pull away from the bones with a fork tenderness. The way you expect Swiss Chalet chicken to be. This is not the case at other locations where I have had chicken with tough skin and dry white meat. The salad was plentiful on the plate and fresh. Again this is something not consistent at other locations. The dipping sauce was hot which is also something not consistent at all locations.

I placed my order, and then started looking at things on my phone to catch up after a day on the road with not time to catch up. Within around ten minutes the server showed up with meal. Talk about super fast service!

The interior of the restaurant is up to date with furnishings and décor along with being clean in all respects. I hate floors that have not been mopped or tables and seats with food stains on them. This is one of the cleanest restaurants I have been in. The ambience is favourable with lighting bright enough to see but not hurtful on the eyes after just coming off the road at night. There was music in the background which also was not overpoweringly loud.

Lastly I want to mention my server Rachel B who has customer service polished to a T. She greeted me with a smile and a question of whether I wanted a table or booth. I chose the booth for privacy and a comfy seat to stretch out. She gave me a menu and asked what I wanted to drink before she left, and brought a glass of water with lots of ice within a few minutes. She inquired if I had decided and I placed my order. As I said, the meal arrived in around ten minutes along with a small plate for bones which is something I have never seen at Swiss Chalet before. She popped by to ask me if everything was ok twice during the meal, and also brought a finger bowl which is something I have never seen before at Swiss Chalet either. Then within a couple minutes of me finishing she dropped by to ask if I wanted dessert or anything else. When I said just the bill she came with it in a couple minutes and brought the machine to the table when I said I would be paying by credit card. She also explained how I could use input the Scene+ account number into the machine since I did not have the card.

This was the best experience I have ever had at a Swiss Chalet location, and will be dropping by again if I am travelling the 417...

Update: I called the restaurant and asked to speak to William (the manager I've been dealing with). I provided the young lady who picked up the phone my name in case he wasn't sure who i was. I was shocked to hear him say "Just tell her i'm not here" then she said "Well, I already told her you're here". He finally comes to the phone. And as upset I was to hear what he said, I confronted him to say how unprofessional that is and how frustrated I am with being avoided. He apologized and started making excuses. Look, I am a very understanding person, but to be avoided for a month while we're going through a pandemic is extremely frustrating. Not everyone's financial situation is stable and that refund is a few days worth of groceries.

He finally provided the case manager and case # to me at their corporate office who notified me it can take up to 30 BUSINESS DAYS for a refund to appear. So I probably won't get it until the end of MAY?? What a joke. BAD BAD service. If you ever go here, order on the phone or in-person. The app isn't up to date with their menu and their customer service is clearly awful. I wish i could give this place ZERO stars.

When COVID19 first broke a few weeks ago (April 6th) I placed a $60 order on the Swiss Chalet app. Upon arriving to pick up in the drive thru, I was informed by the worker a few items I ordered were not available at that location. Naturally I asked to substitute but my order was cancelled and someone was supposed to call me (NO CALL received!!) they also charged me for the full order??

I had my hungry 2 yr old daughter in the back seat so I had no choice but to make a brand new order (which in their defence, gave me 50% off). Regardless at this point I am out $100+ for food that tasted like it was left sitting out as the buns were stale and the fries we received looked like scraps, not a full fry or even half a fry in sight.

I was contacted by someone from the restaurant that I would receive a refund in a few days for my initial charge. STILL haven’t received it, and when I call them they don’t pick up. I even contacted my bank to see if there’s a refund on hold and nothing. Considering the circumstances of financial uncertainty during this difficult time, I’m extremely disappointed with this restaurant’s lack of communication.

Never ordering from this location again. Unfortunate because every other location I’ve been...

Staff just didn't care and were full of excuses. As a table of 6, we got there early around 4pm for dinner knowing there would likely be a wait times later and it's harder to get tables for bigger families. When we got there, it was practically empty. However, we were sat right near the entrance and every time the door opened a gust of cold air. Within 5 mins of sitting down (and before seeing a server) we asked the hostess to move. We were told we could not move because the restaurant was "full". Apparently, there were reservations (later to find out there were two 8-person reservations at 5 and 530pm). When we asked if we could move tables together, we were told it was a fire hazard. Note: These same tables were moved together as we were leaving around 545pm (apparently not a fire hazard at that time!). If that was the only problem, we could overlook the issue. But the service was so slow and we were given even more excuses - we had an appetizer (one meal included spring rolls and they asked if we wanted it with the meal or before. We did not realize this would hold up the meal service for more than 30 minutes!). There were also issues with the kid's chicken fingers which was another reason for the delay. We also had to ask for our festive chocolates because they were forgotten when we got the bill. At the end of our stay, we spoke to the manager (after our 3rd request to do so). She finally came out after we waiting some time and the first thing she told us was the only reason she came to talk with us was because she heard customers were berating her staff. This couldn't be farther from the truth! (Although when speaking with Stacey, the manager, her dismissive attitude did get us a little fired up and we left even more upset). She fed us so many excuses that they were busy, she didn't know we requested to move, she didn't know that was going on in the restaurant because she was busy with the take-out side, etc. There was no empathy or willingness to listen on our suggestions for improvement. All in all, this was not a good experience and we were there to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary with my family. Very...