Swiss Chalet, You got it right, back in my good books again! Great Chicken & Ribs!

Today I was trying to decide what I wanted for lunch, I had an hour to until to my next appointment .

I decided to use the $25.00 Gift card that was given to me by Swiss Chalet  because of a bad experience at their Chatham store a couple of weeks back.

You can read all about that in my previous blog post.

I walked into the local Oshawa Swiss Chalet restaurant at 1:10 pm and within two minutes was directed to a nice table. It was very busy with a lunch crowd.

I have never been to this location before even though I do visit the Walmart Supercenter that is in this complex from time to time.

A waitress came to my table very quickly and took my order which I placed at 1:14 pm to be fair I ordered the same meal that I did not enjoy in Chatham which was the 1/4 Chicken & 1/3 rack of Ribs Combo.

My meal was brought to my table at 1:21 pm so only 7 minutes had elapsed, I was very impressed by that. I had not even finished checking my phone for messages, it was that quick.

I noticed the restaurant was very well staffed and the servers were all very pleasant with smiles on their faces.

This restaurant was built a year or two ago to replace the restaurant on Simcoe Street that was smaller and was in an old plaza. This was a nice upgrade from the old location.

The food was very well plated with the ribs on one side and the chicken on the other with a huge helping of yummy French Fries that were cooked perfectly.

The Hot Chicken Gravy is really good for the fries and as a dip for the chicken which I found to be tender and hot with a nice skin for Rotisserie Chicken.

The Gravy was a different style to the tomato based sauce that I really enjoyed at Haugen’s BBQ which I reviewed in an earlier post. But make no mistake both types of sauce are nice on chicken but the Swiss Chalet Gravy is perfect on their French Fries.

I enjoyed the creamy Coleslaw but it is a pity that there was so very little of it, I only was able to get 3 fork fulls from the container.

The bun that came with the meal was nice, and soft with a great taste with the supplied butter.

Now for the star of the evening the Ribs! I now wish I had ordered the 1/2 rack meal, Wow, these were fantastic Ribs that were fall of the bone with a tasty though maybe a bit plain sauce, they were so much better than the ones I could not eat in Chatham.

Part way through eating my meal my server brought over a bowl of warm lemon water which is the perfect way to clean stick fingers, that was something that was not supplied in the Chatham experience.

The waitress asked if my meal was alright, which it was and she asked me if I would like anything else, I needed to get to my appointment soon so I said no thank-you and a minute later brought me my bill, As you can see it came to $21.45 I gave her the $25.00 Gift card

She returned with the change which I left as a tip,

For my American readers the largest coin is a toonie which is a$2.00 coin and the Brass coloured coin is a $1.00 coin or as we affectionately call the loonie! because there is a Loon on the back of them, Canada had abolished the 1 and 2 dollar bills a long time ago.

Ratings

Chicken – A+

Ribs – A+++

Gravy – A

Bun – A

Coleslaw -B- (only because not enough!)

Cleanliness – A++

Service – A++

I am glad that I had given Swiss Chalet a second chance to keep me as a customer.

They have won me back, would I give that same second chance back in Chatham? Hard to say for sure, but I will not be back to Chatham until at least May or August 2011 so we will see.

Thank-you Swiss Chalet.  Proof that a company that is willing to work with its customers and give away a little bit of customer good will can make a huge difference in the public’s perceptions.