Le Rive Sud — Restaurant in Estavayer

Crazy day, well we THOUGHT we had kicked the mountains butt today. We started out early, only for me to get a flat tire about one mile into the ride. We quickly fixed the tire, although I never found the entry wound. The climbs were lighter than expected although we went up and down for 20 miles. Found several nice villages as the photos show. The weather was unseasonable hot this weekend approaching the high 90's, which has been the case every day so far in Switzerland. We pulled into our hotel in Le Rive Sud at Estavayer around 2PM and headed to the bar celebrating our victory over the 40 mile ride. We were thinking our luggage would soon arrive and we could explore the area. A little strange that they did not have a reservation for us but they had had, Bike Switzerland before many times so they gave us a great room. About 4 PM we started to worry that something was not quite right. We reviewed our documentation and found that our papers were inconsistent. Our route information, maps and GPS tracks all said we should be in Estavayer, but we additionally found a reservation for a hotel 10 miles back down the mountain on our hotel list along with a hotel voucher. (OHN)... OH Hell! No we immediately called the tour director and yes he said, in fact that we were supposed to be ten miles in the rear at the bottom of Neuchattel pass and we should back ride to that location. ( I don't think so. Hommy no fool.) After some discussion with the owner of Bike Switzerland and expressing our concern, John Klemme stepped up to the plate and had a taxi deliver our bags to our hotel. We ordered a bottle of Pino Grigio to down our sorrows and proceeded to wait for 4 hours. During this time our waitress Le Rive Sud TIFFANY was more than fantastic. Making phone calls for us, checking on our luggage, recommending food, wine and we even saw her stop a cop from giving someone a parking ticket at the hotel. (wouldn't you love to have her for an employee). The taxi finally arrived and tried to bill Frank $70. Frank was ready to pay. However the owner of the hotel (Carole) stepped up and said; NO the guests DO NOT pay and took the bill from us. (Amazing) So here we are with the Swiss, showing us how customer service used to have in the US. Our impression of Switzerland, Bike Switzerland and the people continue to impress us more each day. PS: probably this full bottle of Pino didn't hurt. LOL (PS: my butt is killing me from the ultra hard road bike seat)....

Crazy day, well we THOUGHT we had kicked the mountains butt today. We started out early, only for me to get a flat tire about one mile into the ride. We quickly fixed the tire, although I never found the entry wound. The climbs were lighter than expected although we went up and down for 20 miles. Found several nice villages as the photos show. The weather was unseasonable hot this weekend approaching the high 90's, which has been the case every day so far in Switzerland. We pulled into our hotel in Le Rive Sud at Estavayer around 2PM and headed to the bar celebrating our victory over the 40 mile ride. We were thinking our luggage would soon arrive and we could explore the area. A little strange that they did not have a reservation for us but they had had, Bike Switzerland before many times so they gave us a great room. About 4 PM we started to worry that something was not quite right. We reviewed our documentation and found that our papers were inconsistent. Our route information, maps and GPS tracks all said we should be in Estavayer, but we additionally found a reservation for a hotel 10 miles back down the mountain on our hotel list along with a hotel voucher. (OHN)... OH Hell! No we immediately called the tour director and yes he said, in fact that we were supposed to be ten miles in the rear at the bottom of Neuchattel pass and we should back ride to that location. ( I don't think so. Hommy no fool.) After some discussion with the owner of Bike Switzerland and expressing our concern, John Klemme stepped up to the plate and had a taxi deliver our bags to our hotel. We ordered a bottle of Pino Grigio to down our sorrows and proceeded to wait for 4 hours. During this time our waitress Le Rive Sud TIFFANY was more than fantastic. Making phone calls for us, checking on our luggage, recommending food, wine and we even saw her stop a cop from giving someone a parking ticket at the hotel. (wouldn't you love to have her for an employee). The taxi finally arrived and tried to bill Frank $70. Frank was ready to pay. However the owner of the hotel (Carole) stepped up and said; NO the guests DO NOT pay and took the bill from us. (Amazing) So here we are with the Swiss, showing us how customer service used to have in the US. Our impression of Switzerland, Bike Switzerland and the people continue to impress us more each day. PS: probably this full bottle of Pino didn't hurt. LOL (PS: my butt is killing me from the ultra hard road bike seat)....

We ended up here because we had to stop for the night, by chance. La Rive Sud is the kind of place you are looking for, but you only find by shear luck. The restaurant is run by a young couple, Carole and Bertrand Chardonnens. The rooms are pleasant, comfortable and squeaky clean. The hotel is very quiet. The restaurant is roomy and has a very cozy warm atmosphere. The service is of a personal, attentive quality that is ver hard to come by in Europe these days. The food is excellent. We both had a very good green salad. My colleague had a chicken dish with a pepper sauce that was excellent and I had a risotto with mussels that the chef specially adapted to my taste and totally exceeded my expectations. For Switzerland, the prices were very reasonable, certainly compared to the quality delivered. In one...