Swiss Chuchi Restaurant — Restaurant in Zurich

Update: I emailed them immediately after their response below (Sept.21,2025) and it is now Oct. 6th in Zürich and I have never received any acknowledgement of the email which is why I changed the rating from 2 stars to 1 star. ——————————————

I don’t like to post negative reviews but in this case I feel as though it’s necessary. I had made a reservation in advance and we came here looking forward to our last dinner in Switzerland because of all the great reviews but unfortunately, it was a total disappointment and waste of money.

We had fondue in Lucerne on our first night which was incredible so we had high expectations thinking this experience would be similar if not better. All throughout our trip we saw people order fondue with truffle at other establishments and the fragrance was so aromatic that we could literally smell it, walking by or sitting two tables away. When we got to Swiss Chuchi, we knew we wanted to try the truffle fondue!

Despite our reservation we were tucked away at a table almost in the back corner with only one other small table occupied on the side while the rest of the restaurant was hustling and bustling. We thought the server helping that one lone table was ours but she wasn’t. Ours was cordial but he didn’t give the same service the large table at the end of the room received. My guess is because he was hoping for a large tip from this group of tourists.

We saw in the menu that each person must order their own entree which was no issue as that seemed to be the standard everywhere and assumed the cost was just per person/portion. We had no idea that the pots were individual sizes and we could have ordered two different types to try.

When the meals arrived, at first we were excited and impressed by the presentation because it appeared like there were quite a lot of truffles in the fondue. But at closer inspection, we observed that there was zero fragrant scent of truffle. We also noticed there were quite thick, broken/cut up pieces of “truffle” and not a single slice of a whole truffle. We began eating and the fondue was very bland. You could not taste any truffle especially considering the amount supposedly used or much of anything really or much of anything else either.

As someone who has worked in the culinary industry for over 20 years, I confidently believe mushrooms were used and not truffles. It was also strange that our fondue barely thickened like melted cheese usually does at the end.

We were trying to make the most of it so didn’t initially say anything, plus our server never came back to us like he was consistently with the large table, but when the server finally came to see us so we could pay, he asked how everything was and I had replied, to be honest it was a little disappointing… he really didn’t care and his response was, Ok well here is the total.

We were extremely low maintenance, and in no way were we expecting anything in lieu of the disappointing meal but there was zero acknowledgement or even question asking what we were unhappy with, if anything just to share the feedback with the kitchen. There are so many great options for fondue in the city and I would recommend...

We are tourists from London and visited this restaurant twice within the last few days. Unfortunately, both experiences left us very disappointed due to the service.

On our first visit, we ordered a fondue and a soup. The staff accidentally brought the wrong fondue, but they apologised and we decided not to make a fuss since we had already started eating. However, at the end of the meal, the waiter pressured us to leave a tip, which felt uncomfortable given the earlier mistake.

Despite that, we decided to give the restaurant another try today, as we really enjoyed the food. This time we wanted to order a raclette and a soup. The waiter, Barkat, told us that the soup was not considered a main course and that we had to order two mains. We tried to explain that during our previous visit, we were allowed to do so without being corrected, and we only wanted clarification—not to argue.

Unfortunately, his attitude was extremely rude and dismissive. He responded in a disrespectful way, saying, “If they let you do it once, then you’ll keep doing it again,” implying we were trying to take advantage. We tried to explain calmly that it was likely just a mistake from the previous waiter, but his tone and behaviour made us feel very uncomfortable and embarrassed to even remain seated.

We went ahead and ordered two mains (a raclette and spätzle) with tap water. He mentioned that tap water is normally charged but that he would make an exception “as a favour,” which was irrelevant to the issue we had raised. The situation escalated again with his attitude, and one of us ended up in tears during the meal.

While we were sitting there, we also noticed several other guests leaving shortly after being approached by a waiter, and we overheard the same discussion about being required to order one main dish per person. It seems this is a recurring issue, and it’s clearly causing discomfort for other customers as well.

The food itself was excellent, but the way we were treated completely overshadowed the experience. No guest should ever be made to feel disrespected or unwelcome. The restaurant seriously needs to improve its customer service and train its staff on how to communicate politely with customers, especially when...

Summary: 9.5 CHF for a 750ml bottle of water destroys any positive experience from this restaurant (see evidence in attached photo). It also caused me to reflect on Swiss cuisine as a whole (see below).

Details: Having spare time in Zurich, I sought out traditional Swiss cuisine. I was excited to discover and try real Swiss food in a major Swiss city. We ordered Rosti and the fondue recommended by the waiter. The rosti was made with decent quality Swiss cheese and average quality condiments. It was basically a premium loaded mac and cheese, and it tasted decently well. Not great, but decent. I do not understand why potatoes were included on this dish. The fondue was quite good; while, fondue is not very hard to replicate (toast garlic, boil wine, melt cheese, maintain heat), it is worth trying for the experience.

Upon reviewing the check, I noticed the “Swiss” 750ml bottle of still water (offered right when we sat down) cost an astounding 9.5 CHF! Yes, 9.5 CHF for ONE bottle of water. This caused me to reflect ontologically on Swiss ”cuisine”, and more specifically, the food in Switzerland, to which I arrived at the following conclusions:

1. Switzerland’s food is a disappointment to Europe. Switzerland neighbors have produced some of the best cuisines in the world. You would think the Swiss (specifically the city of Zürich), would have learned how to make a dish taste good by now. Most cuisines are influenced by their surroundings, but Swiss cuisine (consistent with their political stature in Europe) appears minimally influenced. Swiss cheeses are chocolates are phenomenal creations, but unfortunately the few meals we ate in the country were expensive and lacking excitement.

2. HDI and GDP per capital do not guarantee a worthwhile cuisine. Per point 1, Switzerland has no excuse not to have phenomenal food (other Swiss restaurants we tried were letdowns). Perhaps they are working too many hours to make food taste good? Zürich residents would do well to visit Italy or France with no work laptop/access for a week.

3. 9.5 CHF for a bottle of water is completely and utterly unacceptable. Dollar for dollar, Food in Zürich is to...