Frau Meise Café und Boutique — Restaurant in Baden

LOCATION: Pension FRAU MEISE is located at Untere Halde 15, just a stone's throw from Holzbrücke. Baden is a pretty small town, so most of its attractions & sights are within easy walking distance. The Landvogteischloss (local history museum), Teddybär-Museum & Stadtturm (medieval city gate & clock tower) are a quick 5-min walk away. ||||Ruine Stein or Schloss Stein (ruins of a 13th century castle perched on a hilltop park) is well worth a visit for its panoramic view of Baden's Altstadt & River Limmat. It takes about 15 mins on foot if you walk from the Pension, part of the way involves a steep uphill climb.||||Museum Langmatt can be reached in a leisurely 15-20 mins' stroll. The lovely villa (built circa 1900) has on display a modest but exquisite art collection, mainly featuring French Impressionist paintings. The serenity of its picturesque gardens will lure you in & tempt you to linger... ||||DIRECTIONS: If arriving by train, walk down Bahnhofstrasse towards the Limmat Footbridge & take the Promenade Lift down, walk along the river until you reach Holzbrücke, walk up Untere Halde to find Pension FRAU MEISE on the left (about 8 mins' walk). ||||There is another route through the Old Town but dragging suitcases along its cobbled-stoned streets might pose a problem for some... ||||OVERVIEW: This is an unusual 3-in-1 enterprise comprising a 2-Room Pension; a Café serving light refreshments; and a Boutique carrying a small selection of accessories, women's wear & miscellaneous items. The Café & Boutique are on the ground floor while the Rooms are on the 1st & 2nd floor. The building is situated on a sloping, cobbled-stoned path in a tranquil area of the Altstadt.||||ROOM: We stayed in 'Kuckucksnest' on the 2nd floor. There is no lift in this old building so request for other room on the 1st floor if you do not wish to climb up & down too many flights of stairs.||||The spacious room was furnished with an eclectic mix of vintage pieces & IKEA items which somehow complemented each other to exude a quaint, homely ambiance. There were twin beds with side tables (1 of the drawers couldn't be opened) & lamps (1 of which didn't work); a small desk with chairs & lots of cushions; flat-screen TV atop a storage cabinet; wardrobe with hangers; portable fan; dining table with chairs; and a kitchenette.||||BED: fairly comfortable with clean linen & floppy pillows. If not mistaken, there were extra blanket & pillows inside the wardrobe.||||BATHROOM: tiny & simply furnished with a mirror above small wash basin, minuscule shower-stall (barely 50x50 cm) & toilet. Shower-head had adequate water pressure & hot water supply. The provision of basic amenities included liquid hand-soap, shampoo & shower gel, clean towels & toilet paper. Fresh bed & bath linen and extra toilet rolls can be found in the cabinet outside.||||KITCHENETTE: compact & equipped with a stove; sink; mini-fridge; and electric kettle. The cabinets were stocked with pots & pans; kitchen utensils; crockery, cutlery & glasses several were noticeably chipped and/or stained. There was a jar of assorted teabags on a shelf. Dishwashing liquid & sponges were provided too. ||||F&B: our room rate included daily breakfast which is served @ Café Frau Meise from 9:30am till 3:30pm. The Continental Breakfast comprised 2 slices of bread & 1 croissant served with butter & jam and a hot beverage. ||||If you prefer to have breakfast before 9:30am, you need to inform the staff the day before so that they can deliver the breakfast items to your room in the evening. ||||The Café serves light refreshments such as baked goods and beverages; it is open daily (except Tuesday) from 9:30am till 6pm.||||SERVICE: Booking request was made via email & we received a prompt confirmation. Official Check-In Time was stated as 3pm but due to a missed train connection, we arrived in the late evening to find no one present on the premises. After some poking around, we discovered an envelope addressed to us in a mailbox outside Café Frau Meise; it contained our room key and a note informing us of Breakfast Hours & the password for accessing Free WiFi. ||||As the Café only had a few tables and these were often reserved, the staff usually had to put us up @ a vacant but reserved table when we dropped in for breakfast. We had to rush through the meal before customers arrived to claim their reserved table this haphazard arrangement made for a harried start to the day... || ||Official Check-Out Time was 12 noon but we had to leave early to catch a morning flight so we settled the bill the day before. Payment could be made via cash or credit card (except PostCard & American Express). Upon departure, we simply dropped the room key back in the mailbox as instructed. ||||Room was not serviced during stay, not a problem for us but others might appreciate having their room refreshed once in a while.||||The 2 ladies who attended to us were clearly more comfortable speaking German but nonetheless, could converse in English as required. Since we had minimal contact with the owner/staff during our stay, the overall experience felt a tad cold & impersonal... ||||IN SHORT: As accommodation & dining out are expensive in Baden, Pension FRAU MEISE is a good option for the budget-conscious. It offers clean, spacious & quiet rooms with self-catering facilities & daily Continental breakfast @ an affordable rate. If you don't mind a tiny bathroom and minor lapses in housekeeping & maintenance, you could have quite a...

Apologies to those who are expecting a Restaurant review but our comments are primarily aimed at B&B guests. If you are lucky enought to visit Baden can we recommend this wonderful B&B. It scores highly in every respect and is a truly unique experience but to summarise I shall just give some pro's and con's.||Pro's: Excellent value for money, friendly, comfortable with own cooking facilities, beautifully decorate ( a work of art) and convenient to the railway station ( 5-10 mins walk -use the lift to the river level), wonderful ambiance.10 mins from the not-to-miss public spa.||Con's: Breakfast is basic but nice, on sloping cobbled street, reception is only open at certain times to coincide with the restaurant opening hours.||But don't let any of this put you off it is...

Located in the lower half of the Old Town of Baden, this small (2 rooms) Pension is pretty and very well equipped - big room with armchairs, TV, small dining table and mini- kitchen with sink, fridge, and 2 hob cooker. The latter is not only very unusual but very welcome, given the price of eating out in Switzerland, and makes it particularly good value.||||The en-suite shower room is tiny, but otherwise everything is very comfortable. ||||If you're not good at hills walk along the river and take the big glass lift up to the...