I hadn't been to a Swiss Chalet in over a decade and I have to say that they have really upped…read moretheir game, and for a mega chain family restaurant that I have always associated with a place that teenagers go on dates (maybe because many of my dates as a teenager were at a Swiss Chalet, lol), it delivered much more than I expected.
My father-in-law was craving some of their ribs, so I went there with him and my husband recently for dinner.
The last time I was at a Swiss Chalet, they pretty much only had rotisserie chicken. They had chicken pot pies and wraps, but I'm pretty sure everything was chicken. Well they now have ribs, rotisserie beef, and even shrimp! They had lots of healthy salads (with trendy kale and chickpeas) too.
We started off with some chicken spring rolls ($7.49), and I got the rotisserie beef and garlic shrimp with the kale Caesar salad as my side ($15.49). My father-in-law was originally going to get the ribs, but then decided to get the same entree that I did, except he got regular fries as his side. My husband got the rotisserie beef and half rack of ribs with Parmesan fries as his side
($23.49).
The spring rolls came 4 per order. They were actually a lot meatier than I expected. They were filled with mostly shredded chicken, with some onions, red peppers and spices. They were hot and crispy and overall pretty good.
My rotisserie beef and garlic shrimp dinner came with 8 medium sized shrimp, a small serving of coleslaw, horseradish sauce, a dinner roll, and some beef in gravy. The kale Caesar salad came on the same plate and I asked for the dressing on the side and it arrived as requested.
The salad was a mix of kale and romaine, with real bacon bits, real shaved parmesan cheese, and croutons. Ingredients were fresh and the salad was really tasty, especially since I was able to control the amount of dressing (as I always feel that restaurants overdress their salads for my liking).
The shrimp were ok, some were plump and tasty and some were a bit dried and rubbery, at least they weren't overly greasy/oily. The beef tasted a little bit like processed roast beef to me, but I liked that it was mostly lean and not full of fat or gristley bits. It was however, a bit too salty for my liking. Overall though, pretty good for a casual chain restaurant and for the price.
I'm usually not a fan of coleslaw, but this one was not overly creamy, so I didn't mind it.
I had some of the parmesan fries and some of the regular fries too. Both were good. The parmesan flavour was really mild, and they tasted more like herbed fries. Swiss Chalet fries are not as crispy as I like, but they are still good, and at least not mealy.
Our server was friendly and upbeat. She checked up on us appropriately.
The air conditioning was blasting that evening. It was about 30 degrees Celsius outside, so I was dressed appropriately for the weather, in a sleeveless mini dress. I was freezing in the restaurant, lol. Other than that though, it was a pleasant dinner.
I'm giving this place 3.5 stars (rounded up to 4) for what it is, a casual mega chain family restaurant with reasonable prices and large portions.
There's lots of free parking in their parking lot.